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Equipment Rental Inspection

Winning rental businesses are transforming their business with inspection management software

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We’ve worked with hundreds of equipment rental operators across the country and the most successful operators we’ve seen follow a simple winning strategy. Three core pillars matter most: 1) maintain quality assets at reasonable prices; 2) develop loyal customer relationships and 3) hire great talent.

 

 

1) Maintain quality assets

The best operators maintain high quality and good looking assets at reasonable prices. The way your fleet looks matters more to customers than it should. They notice scratched paint jobs, dirty equipment and dings. These issues might seem cosmetic. But your customers assume that if the asset appears poorly maintained, then the asset quality is poor. Over time, your brand will become associated with low quality assets, which will drive away your most valuable customers.

At the same time, you need to maintain quality, and the perception of quality, at reasonable prices. You can’t always have the newest fleet. If your fleet age is too young, your fleet costs will be too high. Similarly, if your equipment is always getting damaged and you can’t collect on that damage, your unrecoverable maintenance costs will be too high. The key is to maintain good looking, quality assets at reasonable prices.

2) Build loyal customer relationships

You must build loyal relationships with customers to win. It’s always easier to expand an existing customer relationship than it is to develop a new one. You’ve already won your customer’s trust. You already know how to work with them. Your sales and service teams are already calling on them. Both you and your customer have already made the investment to put the groundwork in place. 

As a result, the highest return on your team’s time will be from expanding your share of wallet with your best customers. Expanding your existing customer base relies on building relationships of trust and accountability so both you and your customer are confident investing further in the relationship.

3) Hire great talent

Hiring and cultivating great talent is critical to outperforming in equipment rental. Hiring and retaining talent is becoming increasingly important given the shortage of skilled technicians, but the principle applies to all functions.

To hire and retain the best talent, you need to build a strong culture that attracts the best talent and you need to build processes and provide tools that make it easier for your employees to be productive so they can flourish in their roles.

Traditional inspection processes threaten operator’s ability to win

Traditional inspections processes threaten the rental operators ability to execute a winning rental strategy. In the old world, equipment rental inspections were done with cumbersome processes and technology like pen and paper, carbon copies forms or using digital cameras and SD cards to upload to shared drives. These poor processes result in poor condition documentation, which makes it hard to charge customers when damage occurs without threatening the relationship you’ve built with them.

Poor documentation directly impacts the three pillars of a winning rental strategy. Equipment damage hurts your equipment quality and brand and increases your fleet costs which compresses margins. Charging customers for damage without good documentation erodes trust and can lead to fights with customers which harms the relationship. Forcing your employees to use clunky processes to do inspection is frustrating for your hard won talent.

Inspection management software is transforming rental

The best operators are transforming their equipment inspection process by implementing modern inspection management software like Record360. Modern inspection management software is cloud-based, includes high quality photo and video, and provides condition records that are easily searchable and shareable. It’s helping the strongest operators execute a winning rental strategy.

First, they’re able to maintain quality assets and a brand they’re proud of.  Renters who identify new damage through careful inspections can more easily charge customers for the damage. There’s simply less to argue about. Using these chargebacks to repair the equipment keeps the fleet in quality condition.

Secondly, they’re able to build customer relationships based on trust and accountability. Sending rental inspections to your customers using a platform like Record360 builds confidence with your customers that you won’t charge them for damage they don’t cause. They’ll feel like they’re treated fairly and trust is built. It also incentives your customer to take care of the equipment because they know they’ll be charged if damage does occur.

Finally, they’re able to provide their hard won employees with simple and easy to use inspection tools that make their jobs easier. Clunky software or hard-to-manage paper processes will frustrate your most valuable employees. Simple, easy-to-use rental inspection platforms make them more productive and eliminate outdated processes.

Inspection management software can increase damage collections by $100K+ per year

A great example of inspection management software supporting a winning rental strategy is the incredible rental growth story of Komatsu West.

Komatsu West has 11 locations and has grown their rental revenue from $5M to $60M – an astonishing achievement. Implementing Record360 helped them on that journey. By using Record360, they’ve not only been able to keep their machines in better condition, but they’ve also been able to increase their damage chargebacks by over $100k per year. Their rapid rental growth can also be attributed to a loyal customer base that knows they’ll be treated fairly and will never being charged for damage they didn’t cause. On top of this, their employees love the simplicity of documenting a rental with a simple checklist and video on an iPad or iPhone. 

According to Joel Cook, the EVP of Mining, Construction and Rental Sales, “Record360 has saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars. It was very easy to implement, everybody was excited to have it, and I never heard any complaints from employees.”

If you’d like to hear the full story, check out our full interview with Joel Cook here.

Investing in inspection management software is key to executing a winning strategy

Equipment rental inspections are evolving. The strongest operators are investing in modern inspection software like Record360 to execute a winning strategy. Times have changed in rental, and those that are adapting are winning.

Interested in learning more about Record360? Schedule a demonstration today.

How to use data to drive rental sales growth

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Heavy equipment rental consultant, Mets Kramer, joined Record360’s CEO, Jesse Buckingham, for an in-depth conversation on using data to drive predictable rental sales growth. They also discussed how to grow rental sales by becoming a trusted advisor to your customers, as well as how to leverage technology (e.g., CRMs, Record360) to build loyal customers. Read on below for a summary of the key takeaways from our webinar, A data driven approach to rental sales growth.

Highlights

  • What are the benefits of becoming a trusted advisor to my customers? (8m 45s)
  • How can I leverage technology to remember key information about customers? (12m 40s)
  • How do I develop systems and processes to scale my rental business? (22m 34s)
  • What sort of data should I be tracking on my customers and their equipment? (25m 56s)
  • How do I get comfortable suggesting to my customers they should buy versus rent? (30m 30s)
  • Who should be in charge of collecting, and tracking, key customer data? (39m 27s)
  • How can I know when I’m buying software that my team will love and use? (45m 36s)

 

Building relationships of trust and loyalty with customers doesn’t stop with knowing their names, likes, and dislikes. As Mets put it, “you need to know your customers deeply to give them good advice.” Those in the rental industry know that they’re in the business of relationships and giving advice. To give the best advice you have to have a complete picture of your customer. As Jesse put it, “The core insight here is about putting yourself in your customers’ shoes so that you understand the context they’re operating in…that allows you to speak from a place where you know their interests and you’re no longer just the guy with the equipment you want to sell.” Having a deep understanding of the equipment your customers use, how they use it, and what they want to achieve are all prerequisites to becoming a trusted advisor.

Becoming a trusted advisor requires you to have lots of information about your customers, and their equipment, at your fingertips. This means you need technology (e.g., CRM, Record360) to overcome the brain’s limited capacity to remember things. Mets shared a story where “a young service supervisor would take calls all day, and I asked him ‘How do you remember to call that guy back later?’” The supervisor said to Mets, “Oh, well I remember everything.” Later that day the same customer called the supervisor, after not hearing back from him. The supervisor immediately remembered the customer, their issue, and the fact that he was supposed to call. The supervisor apologized for not calling back and resolved the customer’s issue. This is not an ideal customer experience. As Mets puts it, “A lot of customer information is tied up in peoples’ heads and peoples’ heads are not great at remembering everything.” To replace the fallible human brain with something more reliable, most rental shops and dealerships have implemented a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, like Salesforce. This is used to house critical customer information. When it comes to remembering things about a customer’s equipment, rental operators rely on an Inspection Management System, like Record360. Remembering what pre-existing damage was on a specific unit before it went out is difficult. Taking photos, video, and completing a digital checklist on a mobile device is simple and reliable. Technology enables you to become the trusted advisor your customers will rely on.

Developing strong systems and processes, like the ones mentioned above, are crucial when building a scalable rental sales team. Mets is a firm believer that, “you can’t build a growing organization around one person…if you want to grow your business you need to be repeatable and scalable.” Put another way, how can you take the best practices from your best employees and make them repeatable by everyone? Mets goes on to say that, “the entire point of putting information, systems, and tools in place for people is to replicate the success you’ve had.” If you’re an owner or manager with a key employee or two, you should be looking for ways to develop systems which replicate that employee’s success across your entire organization. That allows your business to be repeatable, and therefore, scalable.

The core insight here is about putting yourself in your customers’ shoes so that you understand the context they’re operating in…that allows you to speak from a place where you know their interests, and you’re no longer just the guy with the equipment you want to sell.

Now, what sort of data points should be tracking? For Mets, he always begins with understanding the entire ecosystem of the customer’s business. What is the job they’re trying to accomplish? What equipment do they have in their fleet? Once you understand their fleet and objective, you can apply that information to suggesting the best equipment to get their job done. Mets has found that salespeople can oftentimes just ask the customer for their fleet list. He says, “they’ll give it to you because they’ll assume you’re going to do something useful with it,” which you will. After collecting fleet data, Mets recommends tracking the following: residual values on the equipment, operating cost per hour, and disposition planning, among other things. Armed with this data, you can surprise your customers with expert insights on which machines they should be buying and which ones they should be renting. Your customers will appreciate you looking out for their best interest and will, in turn, become more loyal to your business. If you’re not tracking these pieces of data right now, then you’re leaving customer loyalty, and money, on the table.

This data will not only help your bottom line, but it will also help your salespeople. It positions your salespeople as experts and thought partners, as opposed to the person the customer calls when they need a new piece of equipment. You might have thought that focusing on data would erode the ability to develop strong relationships, but the opposite is true. Having this data on your customers allows you to provide valuable insights to your customers, which helps build trust, loyalty, and the relationship.

To wrap up, Mets discussed how to successfully implement new systems such as a CRM or Record360. I’m sure many people reading this have struggled to roll out a new piece of software to their team. How do you get buy in? How do you make the right choice when buying software? From Mets’ perspective it’s critical that you “bring your salespeople to the table in the evaluation phase.” You can make the final decision, though you should involve your sales team in the buying process. “If it attracts your salespeople then you’re onto a winning tool,” said Mets. Additionally, you need to have a mobile version of whatever tool (i.e., piece of software) you’re buying. “You’re out of the game,” if your software is not mobile.

In sum, Mets’ playbook for using data to drive rental sales growth hinges on how you use data to become a trusted advisor. First, you must choose a system, with your sales team, to house that key data. Next, you must curate that data over time (e.g., residuals on equipment, operating cost per hour) to produce expert insights for your customers. Finally, you need to bring these insights to your customers to help inform their decision making. By helping them make informed decisions with data, you’ve built trust, loyalty, and cleared the runway for future sales opportunities with that customer.

Interested in learning more about Record360? Schedule a demonstration today.

How to design the perfect inspection process for equipment rental operators

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A step-by-step guide for equipment rental operators to implement inspection management software into their check-in / check-out process

One of the biggest fears equipment rental operators have when implementing inspection software is figuring out how it will impact their existing processes. They understand that damage is an issue. They know the software will increase damage collections. But they worry about how to implement the change. Who should do the inspections? The technicians or the drivers? Where should we do inspections? In the yard or at the job site? Should we inspect only at check-out, check-in, or both?

At Record360, we’ve helped thousands of rental locations transform their inspection process. From this work, we’ve developed a strong perspective on what works and what doesn’t. This guide contains those learnings. It will help heavy equipment rental operators develop the perfect inspection process that will get adopted quickly and drive immediate results.

Operators should follow two principles when upgrading their inspection process

Equipment rental operators should follow two principles when implementing inspection software:

  1. Simplicity drives consistency, and consistency is key. To benefit from inspection software, you need to follow the same process for every rental, every time. To get consistency in the process, the process needs to be simple so it’s easy to understand and easy to adopt.
  2. You want to upgrade your process, not overhaul it. It’s easier for your team to adjust their process and behavior than to do something completely new. This means mirroring your existing inspection process closely so the new process is intuitive and fits into your existing workflow easily.

When is it better to have drivers do inspections?

Equipment rental operators have two options for doing inspections:

  • Option 1: Drivers can do inspections when they drop off at the job site
  • Option 2: The service team can do inspections before the equipment leaves the yard

Having drivers do inspections has some advantages. If you have your own drivers for the majority of rentals, your drivers will pick up inspection software quickly because they’re used to getting signatures at the job site. They love the ease of using a simple mobile app to take photos and videos after they’ve unloaded the equipment. It helps protect the driver from arguing the equipment arrived at the job site damaged, was dropped at the wrong location, or was damaged in transit

However, if you use third-party drivers, or customers frequently pick up equipment, Option 1 is harder to implement:

  • It’s harder to get third-party drivers to follow the process. They’re more interested in dropping the equipment off, attempting to get a signature, and getting out of there quickly.
  • When the delivery of equipment varies from your own drivers to third-party haulers or customer pickups, it’s harder to enforce a consistent process.

For most equipment rental operators, having your service team do inspections is best

For most equipment rental operators, it’s better to have your service team do inspections as they prepare the equipment for rent. It’s much easier to drive consistency in your process, which is critical for protecting your assets and increasing damage collections.

  • Service technicians already follow a rental-ready process, so it’s easy to incorporate inspection software into that workflow
  • Every asset goes through the same process, so you make sure nothing gets missed
  • Service technicians naturally want to use a simple mobile app because it helps them do away with clunky paper forms or digital cameras and shared drives

Must Read: The Power of a Checklist: A Deep Dive into the Impact of Heavy Equipment Inspection Sheets

What is the perfect inspection process?

The inspection process outlined below incorporates the best practices and learnings from helping thousands of rental shops upgrade their processes. This process is consistent, simple and mirrors existing workflows for most operators closely. If you follow this process on every rental, operators can expect dramatic increases in their damage collections within months.

Equipment Check-Out

  • Customer makes a reservation
  • Rental coordinator instructs yard team to prepare the asset for rental
  • Yard team / shop team uses Record360 to follow a consistent inspection checklist and take photos and videos
  • Rental coordinator adds the specific equipment to the contract
  • Drivers picks up and drops the equipment at the customer

Equipment Check-In

  • Driver drops the equipment back in a specific area of the yard
  • Yard team unloads the equipment and immediately performs an inspection with Record360
  • If no damage is present, equipment is washed and prepared for next rental
  • If damage is present, an email trigger from the mobile app sends an alert & inspection summary to the rental coordinator
  • Rental coordinator immediately sends inspection summary to the customer to notify them of damage
  • Service department prepares repair estimate for damage
  • Rental coordinator closes contract and invoices the customer for damage
  • Service department repairs the equipment

Rental operators that follow this process operate with confidence because they know they have good documentation to rely on in the event damage occurs.

Interested in learning more about Record360? Schedule a demonstration today.

How to double damage collections while strengthening your customer relationships

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Stomaching equipment rental damage doesn’t need to be a ‘cost of doing business’

Many rental operators think equipment damage is just ‘the cost of doing business’. They rely heavily on their best customers for revenue, and they want to build long-term relationships. When equipment comes back damaged, some operators think they can’t or shouldn’t be charging for equipment damage because it will jeopardize the relationship and push the business away.

This is a false tradeoff. Operators think this way because, historically, they’ve never had good enough equipment condition documentation to have a non-confrontational conversation with a customer about damage. When you don’t have good documentation, telling a customer they’re being charged for damage naturally causes tension and frustration. Customers will say: “How do you know it wasn’t like that when you gave it to me? Where’s the proof that it wasn’t damaged on the truck?”.

Having conversations about equipment damage without documentation is also tough on your team. It’s nerve-racking for a rep to have to tell the customer they’ll be receiving an invoice for damage when they have no actual proof. Your sales and customer service want to be building relationships with your customers, not fighting with them over damage.

Operators don’t need to make a tradeoff between eating equipment rental damage costs or fighting with the customer

The best heavy equipment rental operators we’ve seen realize that you don’t have to decide between eating the cost or fighting with the customer. When you have good documentation, it builds a relationship of trust and accountability with your customer. Customers feel like they’re being treated fairly because they know they won’t get charged for something they didn’t cause. Documentation also incentivizes the customer to take better care of the asset because they know they’ll be held accountable if damage does occur.

Good documentation also gives your team peace of mind that they’re not about to enter a fight with the customer when they notify them of damage. Sharing clear before and after videos and pictures takes the heat out of the conversation. When customers see clear evidence of the damage they will generally pay without protest. Even if you decide not to charge for the damage, you’re now able to tell the customer directly that you haven’t charged them for it, which helps you build credits in your relationship with them.

Heavy equipment rental operators should follow best practices to rapidly collect on damage without conflict

When damage occurs, the best rental operators we’ve seen follow clear best practices to get paid quickly for damage and avoid confrontation with customers.

Damage doesn’t need to be a ‘cost of doing business’

1. The customer should always receive a copy of the inspection report when the equipment is checked out.

This sets the expectation that you care about damage and encourages them to take good care of the equipment. It also builds trust because they know they’re not going to be charged for pre-existing damage. The best way to implement this is to have Record360 automatically send an inspection summary to the customer on check-out.

2. You should inspect equipment immediately when it gets back in your yard

If you wait too long to do your check-in inspection, customers will argue that the damage occurred on your lot, not theirs. Build a practice of doing inspections within 2-4 hrs of the equipment returning to the lot, ideally immediately after it’s unloaded.

3. If equipment comes back damaged, you should notify the customer immediately.

This manages expectations with the customer well. Even if you don’t have an estimate prepared, they can see that equipment damage has occurred, and they expect an additional invoice for damage.

The best way to do this is by having an alert for new damage in your check-in inspection that notifies the rental coordinator so they can send the inspection summary to the customer immediately.

4. It matters how you have a conversation with the customer.

You don’t want to poke customers in the eye about equipment damage. Frame the conversation gently – “You might not be aware this happened, but it looks like the equipment was damaged. No worries. Our team is preparing an estimate for repairs that will be sent along with your final invoice.”

5. When you send the invoice for damage, include the inspection summary.

This gives the customer confidence you’re not unfairly charging them – they have a clear record of damage attached to the invoice so they know what they’re paying for.

The best way to do this is to download a PDF inspection summary from the Record360 dashboard with images of the damage selected.

From dents to ripped-off doors, rental damage doesn’t have to be a cost of doing business. With consistent documentation, you can more easily charge customers for damage and build trust with them in the process.

Interested in learning more about Record360? Schedule a demonstration today.

How to minimize exposure and bulletproof your operations

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Leading rental law expert, James Waite, joined Record360’s CEO, Jesse Buckingham, for a conversation on rental contracts, damage waivers, and using tech to minimize the pain and cost of litigation. Read on below for a summary of How to minimize exposure and bulletproof operations. This insightful conversation draws on James’ 25+ years of experience in rental law.

Highlights

  • Why are bulletproof rental contracts so important? (5m 47s)
  • What are some of the most common gaps in rental contracts? (8m 28s)
  • What are best practices for collecting signatures on contracts? (14m 33s)
  • How can I use technology to reduce time and cost of litigation? (24m 30s)
  • How can I use Record360 to reduce my legal exposure? (26m 30s)
  • What are best practices for damage waivers? (37m 44s)

The conversation began with a question for James on the importance of having a bulletproof rental contract. From James’ perspective, rental operators are exposed to a wide range of legal risks (e.g., misuse, damage, valid signatures). These risks have to be “dealt with in very specific ways in order to provide the protections necessary…without those protections it’s anyone’s guess where things will land [in a lawsuit],” said James.

The law, “by default, will side with the lessee,” based on the Uniform Commercial Codes. This is why it’s critical that rental operators layer on the necessary legal protections in their rental contracts. Otherwise, disputes will be costly and typically end in favor of the lessee.

When James works with his clients, he sees a number of gaps in their current rental contracts that leave them exposed. James said that many people get their rental contract from “a guy down the street or a forms website, and they don’t really know where the contract originated.” He goes on to say that “almost none of them have all of the protections that should be afforded to an equipment lessor.” That’s why having a rental contract written for you by someone like James is an essential part of any rental business.

Whether it’s a rental contract from a forms website or from the guy down the street…almost none of them have the protections an equipment lessor needs

As the conversation turned to best practices for collecting signatures, James pointed out that, “like it or not, technology is taking over.” “One of the ways technology is helping,” he said, “is that equipment lessors can get documents to someone they know actually has authority to sign.” Previously, rental operators might’ve settled for having just anyone sign for the equipment. Now, operators can, and should, be more diligent with who they have sign for the equipment. This is a critical first step in minimizing exposure.

For James, it’s all about minimizing exposure for his clients. Getting a proper signature from an authorized signer is just the first part of the equation. He also encourages renters to use geolocation and date and time stamped photos/video to eliminate other questions. Being able to verify time, location, and condition of equipment “can save people thousands of dollars in legal fees” if a lawsuit occurs. Litigation is painful enough as is, that’s why James encourages rental operators to leverage technology (e.g., Record360’s inspection software) to “lower their legal bill.”

This is the core of James’ playbook for minimizing exposure and bulletproofing operations. It starts with him drafting a best-in-class rental agreement. Next, it’s on the rental operator to collect a signature from an authorized signer. Finally, rental operators need to diligently document their equipment with photos, videos, geolocation, and date/time stamps. This combination reduces exposure, increases odds of winning a lawsuit, and also accelerates the lawsuit. It’s a winning combination for any equipment renter.

Interested in learning more about Record360? Schedule a demonstration today.

How to scale your heavy equipment rental business

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Record360’s CEO, Jesse Buckingham, was joined by Shaun Brown from Kimball Equipment and Ken Allen from Mammoth Machinery for a lively, informative discussion on How to 10x your heavy equipment rental revenue. Shaun and Ken have a combined 40+ years of experience in equipment rental.

They shared their wisdom and experience on topics such as developing a customer service culture, overcoming hiring challenges, and growing revenue by leveraging technology.

Highlights

  • How do you start to scale a rental business? (5m 32s)
  • How can I develop a culture of customer service? (21m 3s)
  • How can I develop partnerships to grow revenue? (27m 35s)
  • How do I find good blue-collar workers? (30m 50s)
  • How can I grow revenue by leveraging technology? (36m 31s)
  • How do I bill customers for damage and preserve the relationship? (43m 52s)

Shaun and Ken were adamant that revenue growth begins with an outstanding customer experience. Ken encouraged listeners to ask themselves if “customer service is embedded in your culture and behavior…Is it in your culture from the yard guys up to the owners?” This looks like responding to your customers’ needs and responding to them quickly. Shaun and Ken have seen this become an overwhelming differentiator in recent years. As Shaun said yesterday, “The start of the magic formula is giving your customers exactly what they need as soon as possible.”

The start of the magic formula is giving your customers exactly what they need, as soon as possible.

With unemployment exceeding 10% in the U.S., you’d be surprised to hear about rental operators’ challenges when hiring new people. It’s gotten harder to find good, blue-collar workers. As Ken said, “nobody is growing up these days saying they want to be a diesel mechanic or a field service tech.”

So, how have Shaun and Ken still managed to bring top talent into their businesses? Shaun said it’s all about “culture and growth.” “The culture has to be somewhere people want to work,” and you need to “give people the chance to grow.” Ken added that “you have to adapt to today’s workforce” and “Millennials and Gen Xers require flexibility in their schedule.” Culture, growth opportunity, and flexibility are what Shaun and Ken have relied on to bring in top-tier talent. In turn, this talent has become a cornerstone of their revenue-growth strategy.

Rental leaders like Shaun and Ken have also used technology to grow revenue. Whether GPS tracking or modernizing their rental inspections, keeping their equipment in like-new condition has been critical to revenue growth. You can “build your brand by keeping your machines looking great,” said Ken. Ken says you can do this most easily by “improving damage recovery with technology.”

One component of this, for Shaun and Ken, has been Record360. Before Record360, they used digital cameras with SD cards to photograph their machines. Now, their rental inspections are cloud-based, mobile, and easily searchable through Record360’s platform. Their techs can snap photos and videos on their phones, and the photos are immediately available on Record360 for anyone in the office. Whether it’s Record360, GPS tracking, or a rock-solid RMS, great technology has become table stakes for high-growth rental operations.

Interested in learning more about Record360? Schedule a demonstration today.