Did you know that “how to save money” was the 89th most frequently asked question on google? It will probably remain within the top 100 because it is an easily relatable question. Another easily relatable question is “how to save time.” Saving money and saving time are two sides of the same coin and people continue to seek answers to these questions.
Businesses, on the other hand, often try to apply ingenious ways to achieve their goals. Outsourcing, automation, technology, and digitalization are a few words that come to mind when companies think about saving time. In this article, we’d like to indulge rental businesses by sharing what we have learned through our experience. Below are some time-saving tips for rental operations.
Rental Operations Process Automation
Automation is important for activities related to sales, marketing, accounting, finance, admin, and operations. Although there is a lot of software that can individually automate these channels, we suggest looking for a platform that can manage each aspect on a single screen.
If simplicity and efficiency are what you want to achieve, customized rental software is what you need. Rental systems integration and automation continue to help the rental industry grow at a faster pace. IT integrations company can upgrade your legacy system to fit your needs. When choosing a provider to automate your rental business, you must discuss the following functions:
Sales & Marketing
Sales & Marketing are the bread and butter of any business. You have to make sure that your employees can reach far and wide with the tools that are available to them. A rental software that has a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) feature can make things easier for your employees when keeping track of potential new and repeat sales.
However, the goal of rental software is to make things easier for the business and increase customer satisfaction by making your services more accessible. Having an integrated eCommerce storefront can help you achieve this goal by neatly showcasing your assets and providing a way to process a rental reservation.
Accounting & Finance
One of the most labor-intensive departments in a company is accounting and finance, having concerns with reports will directly affect your company’s profit. For example, tax filing errors can lead to fines, mismanaged account payables can lead to bad relationships with providers, and unattended account receivables can lead to issues with managing capital.
Having software that has accounting capabilities can minimize or even eliminate some of the usual risks associated with accounting and finance. When choosing software, you have to assess its capability to automate the following functions:
- Account Payables & Receivables
- Tax Management
- Payroll
- Financial Forecasting
- Purchasing
- Expense Management
Admin & Operations
When talking about rental administration, we often think about logistics, storage, maintenance, and overall inventory management. We can manage administrative tasks more efficiently by using digital data linked to each asset.
For example, having an asset tag that can be read by a scanner can minimize the time spent trying to know a certain item’s history. Data management can be a lot easier with the help of digital transformation.
Going Digital
It’s a great time to go digital because it induces operational efficiency. For starters, you have to reimagine your business in the digital age. This process involves using up-to-date technology and fundamentally changing how your business operates. The whole transformation can simplify processes and tasks that were once notoriously time-consuming such as but not limited to generating financial reports, inventory management, billing, and collection.
Also, if you have a brick-and-mortar store that typically reaches potential clients within a certain perimeter, going digital will expand your reach by making your business available to a wider perimeter of customers.
Have Trusted Providers
No matter what your rental product may be, there will always be a need for preventive maintenance, repairs, spare parts, etc. an asset’s profitability relies on its lifespan and how long it can provide service to your customers. Minimizing downtime by having go-to providers for any of these instances can increase the profitability of your assets.
At the early stages of a rental business, the company should build relationships with other third-party service providers that can be trusted with your assets. It is best to have at least three options in case there are concerns with availability. Look for partners who can offer multiple services related to your business.
For example, if you have a car rental company, it might be good to look for a one-stop-shop type of service provider who can tailor their services to your needs, car wash, interior detailing, engine maintenance, and oil changes are some services that you might require regularly.
Proper Training & Work Delegation
Stakeholders should make sure that each employee can manage their roles efficiently. It saves a lot of time and money if employees are fully knowledgeable about their job. Also remember that having a certain achievable target for each employee reduces the chances of burnout. There are three things we would like to highlight for this tip:
- Training should be provided regularly. people can be experts at a certain field but even experts can learn new things as technology progresses.
- Set realistic and achievable key performance indicators (KPIs) for your employees. Remember the saying “What gets measured, gets done.”
- Avoid making an employee wear too many hats. Having one person manage too many things might be enticing for budget purposes, however, it can be troublesome in the long run as it often leads to attrition. Practice effective work delegation.
Upgrade Office Equipment
Rental assets are not the only items that need to be upgraded or maintained. Office equipment such as computers, laptops, tablets, phones, etc. should also be considered. These tools can eventually affect the productivity of an employee if not adequately managed.
A faulty laptop or computer can lead to a longer transaction time, a phone with limited reach can lead to lost opportunities, and so on. If your company has gone digital and is currently enjoying its benefits, maintaining and upgrading office equipment should be part of your strategies and included in the annual budget planning.
