When we talk about rental businesses, many things come to mind. There are different niches from real estate, automotive, heavy equipment, audio-visual, etc. Despite the wide variety, there’s one thing they have in common; these businesses have a lot of mundane tasks that can be repetitive. The good thing is that we live in a time where innovation is at its finest, making it easier to find ways to automate your rental business.
Benefits of Automating Rental Business Tasks
Automation is tied to efficiency; the more tasks you automate, the less effort you have to exert, resulting in more time saved. You can allocate more time to essential tasks such as sales and marketing. Time saved is money earned; this is true for almost every type of business.
However, it is not the only aspect you can enhance. Other benefits to automating your rental company include the following:
Accuracy & Speed
Automation improves the accuracy and speed of gathering information, accepting payments, and managing inventory. You can effectively reduce data entry errors commonly caused by manual entry.
Compliance
Government and legal compliance are often time consuming especially when dealing with taxes. With the right tools, audits, taxes, and other regulatory compliance become simpler to manage.
Reputation
Overall, automation does improve not only your business process but also the customer experience. Some possible ways to automate your rental business will eventually result in customer satisfaction and a better reputation.
Flexibility
As automation saves time, you can focus on activities that can catapult your business to a higher level. Keeping an eye on industry trends and making informed decisions about where your business needs to be flexible; can help you reach or exceed your target profit.
5 Ways to Automate Your Rental Business
In general, there are many ways to automate your business. However, we wanted to be more specific to rental companies as we found that many still have concerns with manual labor. While manual work is all good, there is just so much time we can save by applying automation. We made a list below while considering the five most important processes any type of rental business could have.
Payments & Renewals
Gone are the days when you needed to have your client visit your office or shop to pay via cash or check. Many payment automation methods are available nowadays that can accept electronic payments like credit cards, fund transfers, and other payment gateways. Setting up recurring scheduled payments and handling rent renewals can also be implemented.
Developers can seamlessly integrate the collection of data from your payment system and log them into your accounting software which hits two birds with one stone. Each time a client pays electronically through your website, you will be able to save time. You can also generate income reports quickly and accurately with one button click.
Inventory Management
Automation can also be done when showcasing the availability of an asset for rent. An example of this would be E-commerce integration. Commonly, E-commerce is used for retail businesses. However, developers have been able to tweak it and make it available for rental companies.
Typically, without this feature, clients would be calling you to check if the asset for rent is still available for lease. Then once you have rented it out, you will have to track the number of assets available manually.
A rental company with an E-commerce website would be able to show the rental listing on a webpage which will also indicate the availability of the asset on a specific date and time along with the pricing and terms of the lease; this makes it easier for your customers to manage their expectations and plan accordingly. It also makes it easier because you wouldn’t have to worry about manually counting your inventory. You can easily extract the needed data through a dashboard.
Escalations & Reviews
Concerns or escalations can be challenging to manage if left unattended. It leads to more problems and eventually a lousy brand reputation. A system that can collect data 24/7 about escalations for a rented asset can be helpful in these situations. Setting a turnaround time for these concerns to be attended to would often put your client at ease. A rental company should place this high on the priority list as this can be a great way to gain repeat business.
Another way to increase the possibility of repeat business and attract more customers is to allow online reviews on your website or E-commerce site. It acts as an automated survey where customers can be transparent about their experience. Remember that there might be good and bad reviews, so having someone manage the replies and resolutions might be a good idea.
Automated Reminders
Businesses sometimes underestimate the power of automatic reminders. One way to ensure you don’t lose track of what’s important is to set reminders and notifications. For example, suppose there are maintenance tasks to be completed. In that case, you can set scheduled reminders to have those accomplished for your asset to be in the best shape possible. Automated reminders also apply to many other tasks, such as accounting, renewals, returns, etc.
Some applications that developers can integrate on your website have several features involving automated reminders. The good thing is that there is often a way to centralize these reminders, making it easier for you to keep track of your business.
Electronic Contracts & Signatures
A rental business owner usually has a considerable amount of paperwork required to be signed by both parties. Electronic contracts and signatures save so much time for both. There are different ways to do an e-signature, but you must remember that you should only exchange information through a GDPR Compliant website.
Automating contracts and signatures will minimize the paperwork and process between you and your client. It can sometimes avoid the part where you or your client must travel and meet for a simple transaction.
Takeaway
Nowadays, as the world has experienced a lot of remote work due to unprecedented global events, we can safely say that many businesses have transitioned to be more digital and less physically demanding. Innovators have applied ingenious ways to automate processes related to digitalization and digitization. Many who have adapted to these innovations have experienced a less stressful workflow, increased productivity, and profit.
