Equip your business for success with our comprehensive guide to equipment rental business productivity. We provide you with the tools and knowledge to streamline your operations, reduce costs, and increase revenue. Don't let your competitors get ahead - optimize your business with Equipment Rental Business Productivity.
From T-rex costumes, surfboards, ice skating, cameras, electric scooters, construction equipment, or sports items. What comes to mind when you think of starting an equipment rental business? No matter how wild your imagination is, all the above-shared names have one thing in common - they all can be excellent ideas for equipment rental companies.
It’s no secret that the past few years have been turbulent for the world’s economy. Covid19 has affected the global economy mainly in three ways - by creating supply chain and market disruption, by affecting production & demand, and by its impact on financial markets. Despite unprecedented constraints, 2022 has been a strong year for the rental business industry. Some areas saw a price increase in double digits over the year.
According to a recent study, the rental market is projected to grow to USD 16.70 billion by 2028.
Workflows are changing from faxes, texts, emails, and calls to touchless digital interaction. Arguably traditional equipment rental companies have to accept the changing business environment. Perhaps you’re already operating a business or having a passion for helping people seeking out adventures. Sticking to one kind of equipment rental that you already know can reduce the learning curve while making your business more beneficial.
Decide on the Most Profitable Rental Business Type
Unless you already have experience in the area, each equipment rental business is different. As you start renting, watch your metrics to find out the following:
- What will be the margins, operational costs, seasonality, and revenue goals?
- Can you afford the overhead to store equipment year-round?
- Will you need seasonal staff to manage tasks?
- How much do you have to rent it to start turning a profit?
You can also focus on additional selling by way of online or up-and-cross-selling. The main difference between upselling and cross-selling is - upselling encourages customers to buy the latest version of the product. Instead, cross-selling encourages customers to buy another product or service in complement to the one they’re already purchasing. Once you decide on that, you should start investing in making your rental venture accessible online so that it will be easy for prospective customers to find you.
To help you further evaluate, let’s see some combination of costs and margins to help you supercharge your equipment rental business productivity.
Study the Market
Starting the same business in two locations, with the same investment and planning can result in completely different outcomes. For instance, a swimming equipment rental business downtown will have different customers than one near the beach. So before you start, study your market well and know what your customers are looking for. The approach to start this is quite simple - talk with them. For example, if you own a construction equipment rental business, talk to local construction companies and collaborate with them. Own canoes and kayaks? Keep an eye out for tourists. Proper marketing research can show what kind of new products can bring more profit to the business.
Know Which Product/Service Are Most Popular
Pair what you know about your target customers’ needs and purchasing habits with your most booked products & services. This can help you maximize your up-and-cross-selling techniques. In today’s distracted world, where the consumer is bombarded with options and information, discover what your customers want before even they do. By making one of your products or services popular in the market, you can entice more customers, and they’ll want to see why that product & service is becoming so popular.
Improve Connection Within Your Team
Managing rentals without reliable channels in place of your team's communication and workflow can result in operational inefficiencies and breakdowns. This could lead to poor performance and service delivery, which could wreck your customer relationship. You can prevent this while improving customer satisfaction by organizing and clarifying your team’s workflow. Here are a few tips to increase your rental business productivity and improve the bonding of your team
- Recognize and respect the ideas and efforts of others
- Trust yourself, trust your peers
- Stay undaunted to accept and offer constructive feedback
- Appreciate the skills and talents of your teammates
- Divide the task & duties proportionately
- Share the goals with your team
Don’t Buy More, Buy Smarter
You can make smarter decisions about the equipment you buy by being aware of your target market and what your customers are looking for. Avoid overspending and buying idle inventory at all costs. Instead, based on your market research, invest in minimum viable inventory in the starting phase to make your rental business more productive. To track your equipment inventory and for buying decisions, use management software to stay ahead in the industry.
Use Picktime, simplified equipment rental scheduling software to manage your resources and equipment items. Using Picktime you can track your customer & team engagement effortlessly. With Picktime, you can ease the concern of security and permissions while allowing users to manage their own schedules without any intervention from you.
Build Strategic Partnerships
Start with one question - What services or products are your customers looking for?
Partner with competitors, assess what other companies do well, and determine the best way to work together and establish a win-win situation for both businesses. There are several advantages you can have by partnering with other businesses, such as
- Shared burden
- A new perspective and varied expertise
- Increased work-life balance
- Better client experience
- More learning opportunities
- Upsell opportunities
Introducing customers to each other can lead to a win-win situation. But always be well-informed about the referrals you make. These referrals will eventually reflect on you and your business - so only share recommendations you’re confident about.
Get Your Paperwork in Order
Before operating a storefront, you need to get a local business license. An important but not very interesting topic! Some commonly required insurances are - Commercial General Liability (CGL), Property Insurance, and Accounts Receivable Insurance. You'll have different tasks depending on where you're starting the rental business. Besides the formalities of starting the business, a rental business has a few extra insurance liabilities. Your entire business will depend on trained or untrained people interacting with your equipment. So if you’re not interested in investing in a commercial rental, your customers can be at the biggest risk. In addition to this, your rental agreement should outline common FAQs, clarify the expectations, and give customers an idea of what to expect in case of any mishap.
Establish your Rental Business Online
Like most other businesses, equipment rental business owners aim to boost their revenue. Technology advancements can improve process efficiency, resource utilization, and business visibility. But it’s not the only thing to aim for.
Convenience is top of mind for clients, followed by the quality of items and a seamless booking experience with a rental company. It doesn’t matter whether you want to rent bikes, camera equipment, luxury cars, musical instruments, party supplies, or sports items. Picktime can increase your equipment rental business productivity within a few clicks. Picktime is a cloud-based equipment rental scheduling software tailored to revamp your equipment rental business productivity.
Ease of Booking
To track and gain more online visitors, making the booking process as rhythmic as possible is important. With Picktime real-time slot availability, customers can book in advance without you even getting involved. Using Picktime, you can turn your website into a powerful sales tool. Use Picktime and get a customized booking page with a unique URL and a book now button to capture online visitors. With the booking page available in 20+ languages, you’ll get access to unlimited locations. Your rental business will grow faster by getting 24/7 online bookings even after office hours while generating more revenue.
Better Equipment Management
Clients can reserve the equipment beforehand. Using Picktime’s overview feature, you can easily track the number of already reserved equipment, insights on the revenue, staff activity, and upcoming bookings. You’ll also get 24/7 email support for any query or assistance and your clients will get regular automated SMS & email reminders. By giving such remarkable solutions, Picktime simplifies life for every business owner.
Be Available Everywhere
Using Picktime for your rental services management is like having a 24/7 salesperson to represent you. It works round the clock at zero cost so you can be available anytime, anywhere. ith easy follow-ups, reminders, approve bookings, waitlist, customizable emails, captcha verification, two-way sync, import/export contacts, graphical report, zero booking commission, and whatnot, you can keep your clients happy and make them come back for more.
On top of all this, Picktime lets you integrate with other business tools - PayPal, Square, Stripe, Google Meet, Zoom, MS Teams, Skype, WordPress, Weebly, Wix, Drupal, Facebook, Google Maps, Google/Outlook/Apple Calendar, Mailchimp, and CRMs to track customer communication and needs while building an engaging experience.
Renting services allows customers to explore new activities without investing in expensive gear. Instead, experience seekers can rent high-quality items in exchange for a particular fee. Customers can also choose an hourly or weekly time and return the item. Naturally, equipment rental businesses that operate year-round have the most potential. Even if you don’t land an idea immediately, rentals are worth considering because of their simplicity and ease of profitability.