RM Online - Service capability gives rental stores competitive clout

"Service capability is a No. 1 priority as rental centers face the onslaught of big box stores like Home Depot. Rental centers must sell their service capability first, product second," writes RM Assistant Editor Erin Blagsvedt in this month's cover story (page 34). Rental equipment lives a rough life. It has to be built rental-tough to start with and then it has to stay tough. That demands a regimen of service of the highest order, by people who know what they're doing and do it consistently right, and turn that equipment around quickly so it can keep earning revenue.

This A.R.A. show issue is an appropriate time to remember what suppliers are doing for the rental industry: building equipment that's tough enough to last through the rigors of rental. And a number of those suppliers are taking the next step: helping train rental people to maintain their equipment in top shape.

That's what Erin's story is about. In a nutshell, rental (being what it is) gives rental service technicians an opportunity to become very good at what they do, in fact among the best in the business. This is a distinct and powerful competitive advantage for the rental store. Quite a few have found that their service capabilities have become a major source of revenue and new business, as well.

The technical people can get their expertise the long, hard way - by years of trial-and-error experience, wading through the unhappiness of both customers and owners/managers - or by a much shorter and much more effective route: by taking advantage of that service training available from rental industry suppliers.

Manufacturers that offer service training opportunities are helping rental stores gain that competitive advantage. Our cover story profiles only a few of them - it is by no means a comprehensive list. But it does demonstrate the importance of this contribution to the industry, to the rental customer, and ultimately to the bottom line.

A new feature called The RM Fieldbook is making its debut in this issue of Rental Management. It will call out products that RM editors have seen at major trade shows, press conferences and one place or another out in the field that we believe are especially noteworthy for rental companies. (The products this time were at the World of Concrete trade show in Orlando in January.)

We don't expect to run The RM Fieldbook in every issue - we're reserving it for products of special note. And we're backing it with our judgment alone - no user surveys or readership polls or lab tests, and no buttonholing from the manufacturers themselves. But certainly any professional rental operator who has seen something that he or she regards as impressive and a good revenue producer will get our attention, so when you do see something like that, let us know.

One last thing: we don't make any claim that the products in The RM Fieldbook are the best of their kind, or that our selection is comprehensive in any way; they are simply, in our judgment, products that should be of interest to the rental industry, and there may be many other great new products that we haven't seen. So our system is far from foolproof, but we'd rather go ahead and call out a few excellent products in the interests of the industry than hold back for fear of missing others. We think that's part of our duty, as the rental management magazine. If we stumble, it will be by chance, not negligence.

Amid all the mergers, acquisitions and competitve pressures in the rental industry, many operators may have had the thought of selling their business cross their minds. And if that is the best decision, fine. But we're betting that, given a choice, most would rather stay in business. So we're running some articles that address the issue of how to increase the value of your business - not to sell it, but to keep it, and keep it healthy and prosperous.

This month's observation re. change: ex-chief of the ex-Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev is now doing commercials for Pizza Hut. Remember, in the January issue I noted that the cosmonauts in the Mir space station were doing their Christmas shopping in Manhattan, via the Internet, from their perch 200 miles up.

Let us beam back now to the banks of the Ohio River, where Wagner Rental & Supply in New Boston, Ohio, has taken change by the horns and tamed it by building a new store in a new location. Wagner was like many rental stores that started in buildings that were once something else and went on for years, making do.

Then Mike, Dan and Tim Wagner decided to build, and business has taken off - not just more revenue, but new customers they never saw before. Their story, on page 60, is a true-life tale of competitive management. They're making change their ally, not their enemy.

Last year Megan Jones' and Matt Holt's Celebration Party Rentals in Clinton and Flemington, N.J., was named one of the 25 best private companies in New Jersey by New Jersey Business News. Two years earlier, Celebration won the Hunterdon County Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneur of the Year award. Also last year, John Crabbe Jr. and Cindy Hutchinson of Vermont Tent Co. in South Burlington, Vt., received Small Business Person of the Year awards from the Small Business Council of America. There are no doubt many other rental people who are being recognized for their achievement, expertise and civic involvement, and we applaud them all.

Matt Holt and I talked awhile back and he said something that has stuck with me ever since: "We rental people need to acknowledge our position." He said that rental has matured into a large, sophisticated and highly respect-able industry that others take seriously where once maybe they didn't, and maybe sometimes for good reason. The typical rental store may have been a nondescript, hand-me-down building huddled behind a chain-link fence down amongst the warehouses.

Take a look at the Wagner store, or "40" Rentals in Tukwila, Wash. (page 62), and you see how far rental stores have come. Many today are models for other businesses in their communities.

Matt said the honor he and Megan were paid in New Jersey is more like a recognition of rental in general. "That recognition benefits everybody in rental," he said. Amen to that.

You're going to see some absolutely terrific products at the A.R.A. show - the biggest rental show in the world. Exhibit space has been sold out since last May and registrations have been pouring in at a record rate. If you can't make it to the show, stay tuned and Rental Management will give you an inkling of what you missed; it will be impossible to cover all 725 exhibitors and 727,110 square feet, but we'll do what we can.