RENTAL • Market Opportunities
continued from pg 13
“We do a lot of it face-to-face. With our 60-year history, people know about us. Our following has been established,” Watton says.
Vajgrt does a variety of advertising and says radio and TV have worked well. They run humorous radio spots featuring him or his wife, Laura, which generate attention.
“The best thing we do is run stark- white trucks that have ‘Home Rental Center’ in big red letters. They are our portable billboards.”
The dealership’s website name also promotes its rental business: www.
needitrentit.net.
Processes Protect Your Business
Dealers say success in the rental business is as much about processes as it is about inventory. First step, consult with a lawyer or rental expert to draw up the contract. Hubbell says ARA members can access sam- ple contracts from the association. “You have to have a strong contract no matter what kind of business you are,” Hubbell says. Next, establish processes to pro- tect your business, the equipment and the customer. “We take a lot of pride in our machines and we want them to be in tip-top, A1 condition when it leaves. Because we generate so many sales from the equipment, we want to
make sure it comes back in good con- dition,” Watton says.
They take photos of equipment before it leaves. “We don’t nitpick, though. A little scratch is going to happen.” For damage outside of normal oper- ations, they repair the equipment and send the bill to the customer. Kresse says, “We check out the machine with the customer when it leaves and when it comes back. It’s important that it leaves clean and in good condition. Customers can either choose to clean it before they return it or we’ll clean it and bill them for the time.” Having equipment returned clean helps dealers easily identify what
tracked — cost, set-up, rental, deliv- ery, repairs. I can pull up information on that piece of equipment and see what my profitability is to the day,” he says. Vajgrt checks his rental per- formance quarterly and annually and averages 3 years to get an overall view of profitability.
“You can’t look at it weekly. There is no way, shape or form that I can compare March of last year to March of this year. Last year was so wet that nobody was thinking about dethatch- ing and everybody was just concen- trating on trying to get their yards mowed,” he says.
Southeastern tracks rental equip-
“Be committed to what you’re good at. Don’t try to be all things rental …”
needs to be repaired. Vajgrt stress- es keeping good service records and making sure every rental leaves with the operator’s manual. Someone at his dealership always operates the machine first to ensure it’s work- ing properly and to help them talk through operation with customers.
Measure Performance Dealers track rental’s success in various ways. Vajgrt uses software called FocalPoint to track each item. “Everything we do from ‘day 1’ is
ment through its customer manage- ment system, NDS. Watton says they do run weekly and quarterly reports to see the kinds of equipment out on rental to identify trends. However, their main focus is to see whether a rental led to an equipment purchase. “We use our rental fleet to gain and grow our contacts and get customers in the door to buy,” Watton says. Farmers Implement takes a similar approach in terms of tracking rent- al through its regular business soft- ware, Keystone (Dealer Information System). Because rental is viewed as more of a service than a revenue gen- erator, it mainly tracks what equip- ment is out on rental and repair costs. Regardless of the level of tracking, dealers encourage others to see how rental can help a dealership grow. “You have to evaluate it, but it’s defi- nitely something for dealers to look into,” Kresse says.
Heath Watton manages Southeastern Equipment’s Cambridge, Ohio, location. The dealership mainly rents construction equipment. Watton says its rental division helps used equipment sales by giving customers a chance to demo the equipment.
16 RURAL LIFESTYLE DEALER SUMMER 2013
Watton says, “I think if a dealership in our industry doesn’t have rental, they are really missing the boat.” Vajgrt is a rental proponent for dealerships, but advises caution. “The rental business can be a profitable business, if done right. It is definitely not something for everyone.” RLD
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