Published: March 10, 2021
In many television shows, a familiar scene plays out: A head pops over the hedge or fence line, or a neighbor appears in the driveway, and asks to borrow some kind of yard equipment, a lawnmower, a hedge trimmer, a saw. The neighbor lends it out, only to lament in a later scene that the equipment was never returned.
If your rental stock is as unpredictable as the neighbor, it’s likely impacting your bottom line, among other aspects of your business. With the rental equipment industry expected to reach nearly $60 billion in revenue in 2021, you need to make sure you’re ready to tap into those profits.
In other words, it’s time to rein that neighbor, and the tools, in. Rental equipment tracking systems can help alleviate some of the common challenges associated with rental equipment businesses. Not only do they help you track equipment, especially if you’ve got multiple locations, but they can also help you manage your stock by monitoring service needs. In turn, your customers are able to reserve the equipment they need, meaning you get a great ROI on that system.
Quick Links
- Benefits of Using Rental Equipment Tracking
- Best Practices of Rental Equipment Tracking
- Protect Your Assets With CAVU ERP
Benefits of Using Rental Equipment Tracking
In any business that offers a product, you’re only as strong as your stock. Being able to manage and monitor stock levels, as well as provide the best products possible, is vital to your business. Rental equipment tracking enables you to know what you’ve got in stock and where it is at any given moment.
This means that when a customer inquires about availability, you'll have an answer. Your ability to provide details about the product as well as accurate information about the status of your equipment helps with building trust in your relationships with customers. This trust can lead to repeat customers and word of mouth marketing.
Furthermore, rental tracking equipment software enables you to monitor and manage your stock. If being able to provide information builds relationships, renting out equipment that’s in rough shape or not working can destroy them. Being able to manage stock as well as track equipment service and repair needs in one place streamlines your business so you can keep cash flowing and customers returning.
Finally, the utilization of rental equipment tracking software streamlines your rental and return procedures, ensuring smooth transactions and quick service for your customers. Not only do your customers benefit, but your staff is then freed up to handle other customers, manage service, or complete other daily tasks.
Best Practices for Rental Equipment Tracking
To make sure you’re getting the most out of your rental equipment tracking software, you’ll want to confirm that you’re taking advantage of all the information, tools, and analysis provided to you by your software. While inventory management certainly simplifies your workplace, poor inventory management can result in significant costs. When considering how you manage your business, software specifically designed for rental operations, such as CAVU ERP, can provide you with ways to optimize and maximize performance and revenue.
Make Data-Driven Decisions with ROI Reporting
It’s likely that you know what you’re spending on equipment and how quickly it depreciates, but are you also tracking upgrades? Service needs? Parts and parts replacement? All of these costs should be balanced against your profit per piece.
In other words, use robust reporting features to determine your stock strategy. You should, with your software, be able to track what inventory generates revenue and what’s not performing well. Making your business decisions based on data and ROI ensures that you stay profitable while still providing the quality equipment customers demand. In fact, organizations that make data-driven decisions are three times more likely to report improvements in their decision making process.
Equally Monitor All of Your Locations
It’s easy to get bogged down and focus on a flagship location, but monitoring across multiple locations is key to saving your business time, money, and effort. You need a solution that enables you to keep an eye on each of your locations so you can monitor supply chain issues, maintenance issues, and analyze performance issues across stock and team members.
A considerable amount of time can be saved if you can improve your forecasting, ensuring that any rental equipment is at the appropriate location, or even the best location based on demand. Similarly, if you’re monitoring for service and repair across all locations, you can identify when that might create a low stock issue.
Monitoring all locations can tell you when and where to invest in improvements, more staffing (or where to shift more efficient techs or sales team members), more inventory, or varied inventory. Without the robust data, like the kind provided in CAVU’s ERP solution, you may be missing strategic opportunities to grow both profits and business.
Install a Streamlined POS That Can Be Used Across Multiple Channels
There are few things that can wreak havoc on your inventory control and management (and thus customer service) like multi-channel reservations or sales that don’t share the same database. When online stores first became available for many retailers, frustrated associates and customers were commonplace because the channels stayed isolated. While an online system reported items in stock and in store, the reality could be quite different. When you have a customer in store reserving or renting equipment, you’ve got to ensure that it can’t also be reserved by someone online.
With only reservations and sales commonplace now, there’s no excuse to have isolated POS systems. Whether it’s multiple facilities or multiple channels, to deliver for your customers, everyone’s got to be on the same page and the same POS system.
Be Proactive with Service and Repairs
Poorly serviced equipment can do significant damage to your bottom line. Not only does it risk dissatisfied customers if items are rented in disrepair, but it has the potential, if not timed appropriately, to diminish stock significantly enough to impact your revenue stream.
Further, you want to be able to manage repair costs, take advantage of warranties, charge customers when repairs are required due to negligence or misuse, and factor all of those issues into your inventory management and budgeting.
Choose the Right Rental Equipment Tracking System
One of the best ways you can ensure your rental equipment business runs efficiently, from stock to service, is to choose the right rental equipment tracking system. It is vital that you be able to monitor your equipment’s status, whether that’s in stock, out on rental, or being serviced, so that you can plan and provide for your customers. Your front line service staff needs to be able to provide up-to-date information to customers, and your technicians need to be able to track their projects as well.
With an all inclusive system, all your teams can stay in alignment, ensuring that the workflow keeps moving, driving your business and revenue. Not only should the right rental equipment tracking system make your life easier, but the data-driven reporting, cross-channel functionality, and full solution from tech to sales means that your customers are getting the best service and best product possible.
Positive customer service experiences can grow your business by 4 to 8%, so it’s worth investing in their experience by empowering your staff through the right rental equipment tracking system.
Protect Your Assets with CAVU ERP
When you’re looking for the right rental equipment tracking software, you want to pick one that’s set to grow with your business and has the functionality you need to oversee multiple aspects of your operations. Many solutions offer bits and pieces, requiring add-ons and additional software to give you all the features you need.
CAVU ERP is different. It’s an all-in-one solution to align all departments in one cohesive system.
Need strong work order and parts management? Check. Need a POS? Done. Need equipment tracking? We’ve got that. Need high level user access, control, and monitoring? We have that too. Need robust reporting that allows you to make data-driven decisions regarding procurement, growth, and strategy? Of course.
Simply put, CAVU’s ERP solution is the best choice for your rental equipment business needs. From attaching photos to equipment details to tracking inventory across multiple locations and rental situations, our ERP solution considers all your needs so you’re free to handle your business. We’re ready to talk with you today about how we can help. 