How does your business compare with others in the industry? Are you in the top 25 percent or are you below average? If you are not where you want to be, do you know how you can improve to be more successful?

Those who complete the Cost of Doing Business Survey from the American Rental Association (ARA) can learn the answers to these questions and much more. This survey, available to ARA general members located in the United States and Canada, is the first step toward finding out where you stand compared to your peers to gain greater prosperity, better cash flow, more productivity and a more secure financial position — aspects that every business needs in these challenging economic times.

Participation is designed to be simple. ARA general members can complete the printed survey mailed to ARA members Feb. 1. Participants can fill out the entire survey or complete the top portion and return it with the company’s financial statements. Another option is to fill out the Excel spreadsheet version of the survey that can be downloaded online from www.profitplanninggroup.com/surveys.

None of the information is shared with ARA. All surveys go directly to Business Resource Services/Profit Planning Group. No employee or associate of ARA has access at any time to raw data from individual responses.

Those who complete the survey and return it will receive a free copy of the 2010-2011 Cost of Doing Business Report. This report offers an inside look to help you see what is and isn’t working at your business. You can compare your figures with your peers per rental segment, learn key ratios, receive action plans for success and more.

The report also provides information that can help rental store owners better understand their businesses and offers tools to help improve businesses. Also, for $95 if ordered by April 30, those who participate in the survey can receive a customized Company Consulting Report, which compares your company’s specific ratios with the report’s benchmarks to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses.

ARA also is offering other rewards for taking part in the survey.

• Return your survey by March 15: Become eligible to win the early bird prize drawing for $500.
• Complete the survey via Excel file by April 15: Become eligible for a $500 drawing.
• Return the survey by the final deadline of April 15: Become eligible to win a free trip to The Rental Show 2012 — three nights’ hotel stay, airfare and full registration — a prize package worth up to $1,000.

Plus, ARA state and provincial associations have additional contests:

• U.S. state association contests: The association with the highest percentage of survey completions and the association with the largest number of new survey participants will each win $500 in speaker bucks to be used for educational training. Within each of those winning states, one ARA member who participated in the survey will be chosen at random to win 10 hours of consulting time from an ARA Foundation Rental Executive Advisory Program (REAP) advisor — a $500 value.
• Canadian provincial (local) association contest: The association with the highest percentage of increased participation over the 2008-2009 survey wins $500.

For more information, go to www.ARArental.org/go/CODB or call ARA Member Services at 800-334-2177.