Page 14 - Spring 2013 Hardlines Strategies

14 Spring 2013 • Hardlines Strategies
STORE PROGRAMS
Receive Complete Support
Buying from MTA also assures you will
have complete support in maintaining your
equipment so it’s always rental ready.
Dinges and his staff perform a complete
maintenance inspection on every machine
that comes back from a customer. They
start it up and clean air filters, fill fluids
and repair any broken parts.
On the occasion a machine needs a
repair, Dinges and his staff perform their
own service work, which saves the cost
of sending a machine to a shop. He also
has the confidence they can tackle most
any repair because of the support they
receives from MTA.
“The guys at MTA are very good,” he
says. “If you have a question or problem
with a machine, you can call their service
department and they can give you an
answer to any question you might have.”
The service staff at MTA can walk
you through the diagnosis and repair
of anything that might go wrong with a
machine. They can also ship any repair
part you need.
Sell the Complete Project
Employees throughout your store need
to be well versed in project selling. A
customer might start with a request for
a piece of rental equipment, or he might
start in another area of the store. Either
way, you want any customer tackling a
large project to get everything he needs—
both the rental item and the other items
for the project—at your store.
Train employees to know the add-
on sales that go with every tool rental.
Each rental item may also have specific
accessories that you’ll sell with the
rental, such as sandpaper, drill bits or
carpet cleaner chemicals. Merchandise
these items near the rental equipment.
To make sure you are ready for proj-
ect sales, use Blish-Mize’s RMS tool to
review your assortments. See Page 22 for
more information.
Advertise It
Don’t expect customers to know you
have rental: Get the message out loud
and clear. Don’t make the mistake of
keeping rental items at the back of the
store without any signage to advertise
the service.
When it’s not out on the job, display
equipment in a prominent place in the
store. If you have a lift, for example,
raise it and park it outside. If you rent
a bounce house, set it up outside so it
catches the attention of passersby. If you
have a popcorn machine for rent, use it
to serve popcorn in the store.
Witt uses his store’s website to adver-
tise rental items. Many customers would
rather research online to see where they
can rent a particular item.
“We also advertise rental in our sales
flyer,” says Witt. “It’s a great way of sharing
with customers what we have.”
With the On-Demand advertising pro-
gram from Blish-Mize, you have the flexibil-
ity to feature rental items in your circulars.
This is a great way to communicate to
customers that you have everything they
need to finish their projects. For example,
during the spring as you advertise mulches
and lawn tools for starting up a garden, also
include that you can rent tillers. The flexibil-
ity of the AdBuilder program allows you to
include the specific items you stock and that
are popular among your customers.
Another great way to advertise your
rental category is to add rental to your store
name, like Dinges did when he changed
the store’s name to Dinges Hardware and
Rental. Most shoppers generally know what
types of items they can buy at a hardware
store, but they might not automatically
associate your store with rental. Enhancing
your name can be part of a rebranding pro-
cess that trains your customers to think of
you first when they need rental items.
Start Your Rental Business
For more information on how you can
get started in the rental business, contact
your Blish-Mize sales representative.
Or, visit MTA Distributors in booth
#908 at the upcoming Blish-Mize Spring
Buying Market.
e s t . 1 9 2 9
STYLES TO INSPIRE WHOLE
HOME COORDINATION
Decorative Hardware Bath Hardware Decorative Hooks Functional Hardware
Come see us in Booth #831.