Page 12 - Spring 2013 Hardlines Strategies

12 Spring 2013 • Hardlines Strategies
STORE PROGRAMS
will just pick two or three tools that
complement items they already sell.
We’re very flexible to start at whatever
level you want to start. It’s not a cookie-
cutter approach.”
Get Complete Training
When Frank Dinges started exploring
the rental category, he visited other retail-
ers with rental and asked lots of ques-
tions. He also attended an MTA training
seminar. Training classes from MTA, held
at its corporate offices in Whites Creek,
Tenn., give you everything you need to
know to get started in rental and help
you avoid some of the common mistakes
that can cost you a lot of money down
the road.
In addition to learning how to run
the rental business, you’ll need to learn
how to use each piece of equipment. One
great way to learn is to take it home
and try it out for yourself. Encourage
your employees to take each piece of
new equipment for a test run, too. Keep
instruction manuals handy so employees
can refer to them quickly.
If you rent to a lot of do-it-yourselfers,
be prepared to give customers complete
tutorials on how to use the machines
they’re going to rent. Be prepared to take
phone calls from customers who have
a machine at home but need additional
guidance using it. Remember, it’s in your
best interest to do whatever you can to
keep your customers from getting frus-
trated and damaging a machine.
Diversify Your Selection
When you use the rental program from
Blish-Mize and MTA, you have access to
a diverse selection of products so you can
stock what your customers want.
Bryan Witt, of Gregory Lumber in
Gregory, S.D., got into rental eight years
ago because the nearest rental yard was 30
miles away and he saw a lot of his custom-
ers driving out of town to do business. He
started renting just a few tools and expand-
ed as he listened to what his customers
wanted. “Our policy is if we get three or
four requests for a product, we’ll try to get
it,” he says. “It’s a lot easier having all of
the equipment and accessories I need in
one place. I don’t have to keep track of
separate vendors, and anything I buy from
MTA I can bill through Blish-Mize.”
As Witt listened to his customers, he
also learned they would rent more than
just tools. He recently started party
rental, which includes tables and chairs
for 200 people and an enclosed trailer to
haul them.
Party rentals can also include bounce
houses, popcorn machines and cotton can-
dy machines. The more diverse your rental
selection, the more diverse of an audience
you will draw, which means a lot of new
customers may discover your store.
Some years, certain items will be more
popular than others. “For a while, floor
sanders were popular and we rented our
compactor a lot last year when paver pati-
os were popular. It just depends on what
the trend of the times is,” Dinges says.
Buy Quality Tools
Every day a rental tool is sitting in
your store is a day it’s not making money
for you. It makes a lot of sense to have
quality tools that can hold up to the
strain of continual use and abuse rent-
ers are likely to inflict, all while having
very few breakdowns. The only way to
accomplish that is to buy quality tools.
“Don’t skimp and buy cheap,” says
Witt, “always buy rental quality equip-
ment.” That’s one of the reasons he and
retailers like him buy their rental equip-
ment from MTA.
MTA has heavy-duty equipment
designed for the rigors of rental. While
the upfront investment in the rental drill
or pressure washer, for example, is more
than it is for similar items you’ll sell
off the shelf, tools made for rental will
be more reliable and will pay for them-
selves quickly.
Bryan Witt’s rental selection is diverse. While he rents some large items, like construction equipment,
he also rents smaller power tools and party equipment.
When you use the rental program from Blish-Mize
and MTA, you have access to a diverse selection of
products so you can stock what your customers want.