The gentler, more customer-focused side
of
the MARSHALL ARTS
BY brian alm |
 |
|
“I’ve learned to embrace change,”
says Nancy Marshall, owner of Reading Rentals in
Reading, Pa. “I used to be afraid of change. But I
have learned that you can have so much personal growth
from change. So I say, don’t be afraid of it. Go with
it. And as things are changing around you, evaluate the
situation and change with it. If what you are doing
doesn’t feel right, keep changing it until it does.”
Change is a much-used word in the
rental business these days, almost a mantra of
management. But for Nancy Marshall, it has a meaning
deeper than for most.
The Ron and Nancy Marshall story is
well-known in U.S. rental circles, but the recent Readex
survey shows that 53 percent of the readers of Rental
Management have been reading the magazine for less than
four years, so for those who don’t know the story,
here it is in brief.
In 1995, Ron died of cancer, but
before he died he wanted to make sure Nancy could take
over the business. So he had her work not only at
Reading Rentals, but also at another store — Allen
Morehead’s Ace Rents in nearby Lancaster — so she
would learn two operating styles and could form her own
style rather than just follow his. Ron did not want her
to be simply a caretaker owner who would stand in for
him: he wanted her to manage her own business.
But he did not tell her everything
— despite the discipline and courage of their plan,
time ran out for Ron, and Nancy still had much to learn.
This story is not about that grim but
determined effort these two people shared. This story is
about the business Nancy Marshall herself is building,
day by day, amidst competitive and financial pressures,
and constant change.
“When I came on board in 1995,
things were starting to change very rapidly in the
rental industry. If Ron were to come back now, his head
would be swimming. Things are so different! Back in the
’60s, you could go away for three or four years and
come back and things would be kind of the same. But now
it’s changing every day. We have to do things
differently now.
“This is a business. We’re here
to make money. I like moving forward. If you make a
change and it isn’t doing all you had hoped, refine
it. Keep trying. Don’t stop trying. Deal with change.
“The most important thing I have
learned is that change is inevitable, but also exciting
— it can be fun. It’s what you make of it. And the
second thing I have learned is that gut instincts are
important. Trust yourself.”
Ron died Oct. 26, 1995. Three days
later, Nancy’s father died. Her first day on the job
was four days after that. There wasn’t time to delay
and grieve; she simply had to plunge in.
“When I came in here the first day,
I had to say to myself, ‘I’m going to do this. I can
do it, and I’m just going to have to do it.’ And I
say that to myself still, every day.
“If you stop and think what I had
to learn! I had to learn everything! I had to learn
business. I had all these employees who depended on me.
I was here only four weeks when my banker changed on me
and I had to meet a new banker. And then eight months
later, that bank was sold and I had to meet another new
banker.
“My faith is what sustains me. God
has put us here for only a short time and we don’t
know how long that is. We have to make the most of it.
“The employees have helped me so
much. I am so grateful to them for staying with me and
helping me make this business grow.”
Like most other rental companies,
Reading Rentals’ greatest challenge is getting good
people and hanging onto them. One year, the company went
through 26 employees.
So Marshall is trying to encourage
everyone to buy into a common mission and future at
Reading Rentals by fostering a common vision based on
appreciation of customer satisfaction and an
understanding of the realities of business.
“I learned at the A.R.A. Baltimore
City Conference in 1999 that some rental company was
putting on the back of their paychecks: ‘Brought to
you by our customers,’” she says. “I started to do
that on our paychecks. I want everyone to think of the
customer first. Customer satisfaction is vital. When you
go to a restaurant, it’s the waiter that makes your
meal good.”
“We’re going for customer
satisfaction. I put our goals in writing — here, I’ll
read it to you: Reading Rentals’ focus this year is to
get even better at what we are doing, to clearly define
what is expected of the staff and provide them with the
information needed to grow, thus constantly improving
customer service. I have this right here on my office
wall and I read it again every day.”
Profitability results not only from big strategic plans,
but also from doing a lot of little things consistently
well, Marshall says. “There was a teleconference
seminar sponsored by STAFDA in which the presenter, Dr.
Alan Bates, said that ‘profitability is everybody’s
business.’
“I took that to heart and started
to share information on the costs at Reading Rentals
with our employees, so they could see how things affect
the bottom line.”
The presentation demonstrated the
dynamics of sales, costs and profit, using a fictitious
company with sales of $5 million as an example. After
subtracting cost of goods sold, payroll and benefits,
occupancy, promotion, GS&A, interest, depreciation
and other expenses, profit had shriveled to $150,000 —
a return on sales of just 3 percent.
“I wanted to show the importance of
the retail items and getting reservations when people
call, and the need for the right mix of equipment,”
says Marshall. The next exhibit showed that just a 1
percent increase in sales could produce $13,250 more
profit — an 8.8 percent gain in ROI. That is the
importance of the person at the counter, in dollars and
cents.
A third exhibit showed what happened
when sales went up dramatically — 7.5 percent — but
COGS, fixed and variable expenses rose accordingly, to
cover the higher volume — and profit actually went
down 8.2 percent. So it was clear: managing a business
successfully amounts to much more than increasing sales
controlling costs and growth is likewise vital.
“I think we have to find the
positive ways that people are contributing and show
them.”
Marshall has found that tools are
good protection from the large competitors — the
homeowner market remains a competitive advantage for
Reading Rentals — and she is careful to find the right
products to carry; she does not try to compete head to
head with them on big lifts, for example.
“We take pride in having good
equipment,” says Marshall. “And we pride ourselves
on follow-up service.”
She plans inventory acquisitions by
monitoring lost rentals, keeping track of the calls and
matching the apparent market demand to Reading Rentals’
ability to market the item and predictable long-term
gains in business. She wouldn’t buy a 90-foot boom
lift, she says, but would direct the customer to a
company that does have it.
“There’s demand for the smaller
sizes. We have a 26-foot JLG that we hardly ever see —
it’s always out. We’re seeing a lot of use of lifts
instead of scaffolding. [See Counter & Yard
Management, RM, February 2001, page 131. —Ed.]
“I might get half a dozen calls for
a shot blaster and decide to buy it. If I don’t have
it, I tell the customer, ‘You know, I am going to the
A.R.A. trade show in February and I am really glad you
called about that, because it tells me that maybe I
should get one. Now tell me, how often do you rent a
shot blaster ...’
“I want to be known as the Concrete
Floor Queen. We do a big concrete business, and I want
to build on that.
“Never just let a customer go away
without an answer or an attempt to help. Find out what
the customer’s needs are, and how often that person
would rent the item.” In fact, the telephone has
become a major marketing tool for Reading Rentals, and
it took only a little tweaking of procedures to make it
so.
“We used to answer the phone with
just ‘Reading Rentals’ or ‘Reading Rentals, how
may I help you?’ But now we answer ‘Thank you for
calling Reading Rentals! This is Nancy. How may I help
you?’ It’s surprising how many people say, ‘Oh,
hi, Nancy! How are you? Say, we have a problem here —
we need a generator …’ And then we talk about that.
It’s amazing what just that little bit of friendliness
does.
“Our sales manager, Dan Vokorokos,
who’s been here a year, is very good at asking the
question, ‘How did you find out about us?’ and
making that connection. He’s a real go-getter.
“Customers have expectations now. I
think the big boxes have alerted us to that. You go to a
Kmart or a Wal-mart and somebody greets you with a
shopping cart and a smile, and thanks you for coming.
They’re helping to establish an expectation among the
public. We have learned from that, and it’s working.”
She saves all her copies of RM so she
can keep Counter & Yard Management articles for
reference. [The most recent Readex readership survey
found that C&YM was the most read single section of
RM, and that the biggest group of those reading it was
large rental companies. —Ed.]
“I am learning how important it is
for all the independents to stay current on everything”,
says Marshall. “You ask what I’m doing to stay
competitive, and that’s a good example. I think the
independent rental company owners have to be going to
the A.R.A.’s seminars and Construction University and
reading RM cover to cover.
“I came in here with a clean slate
— I’m absorbing everything like a sponge. I’m very
adaptable to change, because it’s all new to me.
“This is what I find so exciting
and fun — trying new things. Hey, if it doesn’t
work, change it a little bit and make it work.”
Marshall’s growth plan is to keep
building the concrete floor business, add scissor lifts
and always try to pick possible niches that are
consistent with her game plan for chosen markets and
available capital.
“We don’t have a kitchen or a
laundry here, so we can’t get into table service and
linens, but there’s a lot of party equipment that
doesn’t require a kitchen or a laundry, like tables
and chairs,” says Marshall. [Reading Rentals does do
referrals to other companies and subrentals.] “I’m
choosing not to use my capital to develop a kitchen. I’m
using my capital to purchase things that I can rent.
That’s always foremost in my mind — how can i spend
my money so I get a return on it? I could use a new
truck, but I can’t rent a truck. I buy what i can
rent.”
And she’s trying some new things
— not necessarily big things, but in their own way,
important to a company bent on growth instead of
stagnation.
“I found a great retail product at Ace Rents in
Lancaster — Ironclad gloves. A great product, great to
sell. I brought them in. They’re not cheap, but they’re
tough, they’re washable, we’re the only ones in
Berks County who have them — and they’re selling
like crazy.
“You have to find new things and
try them. Even little things like a new retail item for
sale at the counter can give you a competitive
advantage. They may be the beginning of a relationship
with a new customer.”
Marshall has focused on that
relationship from her first day on the job.
“When I first came in, I wrote to
all the customers and told them that Ron had died and I
was taking over, and they were very supportive. I
familiarized myself with people’s names, so I’d
always know their names when they called or came in. I
did have a lot of challenges.
“But Ron said once to someone, ‘When
Nancy puts her mind to something, she can do anything.’
And I didn’t know that about myself. But it turned out
to be true.” |
