Are you considering adding truck rentals to your business? If done correctly, this addition can be an excellent way to increase the profits of your facility while making your facility more convenient for your renters.
Moving truck rentals and retail sales are some of the best cross-promotional, revenue boosting services that you could enhance your facility with! When you offer these services, you are creating a one-stop-shop for renters who are renting from your facility.
How do you get started in boosting your competitive edge while making life easier for your customers? Check out the following 3 part series for some great tips!
Assess your market
With an average $19 billion in annual revenue and steady growth, truck rentals are, without a doubt, a well-preforming industry. Even though the national statistics speak well to this industry, though, you will want to do a bit of research on the area that you are wanting to bring the business to. Things to look at would be the projected growth and housing market trends. Make sure that your rentals and offerings are well matched with the types of households and their needs that you will be marketing to.
If you are looking at becoming a dealer, try to find someone in the industry that you trust. Talk to them about all the behind the scenes things. Average monthly commissions, experience with the company, and any hidden pain points or opportunities that they have experienced are thing you are going to want to know! Go “secret shop” the other local rentals. Doing this will armor you with more knowledge than you probably think and it will also give you an idea of how much demand there is in your community.
Assess your business needs.
If you are not going to become an authorized dealer and are going to supply your own trucks, there are a different set of things that you are going to need to consider. Among them are buying the trucks, insuring them, paying the proper taxes on them, and preforming the needed maintenance on them. There are obviously pros and cons to both being a dealer and owning your own trucks.
If you are a dealer, you won’t have to pay the costs of owning and operating the truck. Another additional selling point for being a dealer is that consumers are brand driven. They are familiar with brands like U-Haul, Budget, and Penske. Having one of those brands associated with you could help give your business authority. Another added benefit of being a dealer is that if a customer is moving a decent distance away, they won’t have to return the truck to you, but can find the next closest dealer to their new locale. A few of the downsides? You will have to play by their rules. Use their reservation management software, and they will control all of your commissions.
If you own your own fleet of trucks, you will be able to control everything about them! You can decide how the rental process will work and keep all the income from them. Additionally, you will be able to brand them as your own! Stick your logo on there with a phone number and you have your own mobile billboard.
In the next part of this article, we will discuss the pros and cons of owning your own trucks and other points you should consider before owning your own or before becoming a dealer.
