Keeping a Promise

Feb. 1, 1999
Jim Bruner was in danger of breaking a promise and losing a customer. In business for only a year, he had guaranteed a nearby client that he could deliver

Jim Bruner was in danger of breaking a promise and losing a customer. In business for only a year, he had guaranteed a nearby client that he could deliver any tool within 20 minutes.

On this particular day, his delivery truck was way across town when he received a call for an electric jackhammer from Ryland Homes, one of Cincinnati's largest home-building firms. Bruner could have put the jackhammer into his car and just driven it over, but his help was out sick and he was all alone at the counter with customers in the store.

So Bruner called a taxi. When the driver arrived, he told Bruner there would be a $3 delivery charge in addition to the fare. Bruner gave the driver an extra $10 and told him to make sure he got it there on time. He did, and the contractor spread the story all over town.

"I got more mileage out of that $10 bill than any advertising I ever did," Bruner says. The word-of-mouth helped establish Bruner's reputation as a reliable operator who keeps his word and delivers the goods when he says he will.

In business since 1991 in a small location in a shopping center, with only 2,000 square feet inside and 2,000 square feet outside, word-of-mouth and contacts have been key components to Bruner's ability to grow his small rental company.

Jim Bruner joined Cincy Tool Rentals, then owned by his father, George, in 1981, after having owned a restaurant for 15 years. During those years in the restaurant business, Bruner learned about the food industry and developed contacts with caterers and other professionals in that field. During his years at Cincy Tool, he differed with his father and his brothers Bob and Don, who now run that business, because he was interested in providing party and catering services along with tool rentals. Eventually, he made the decision to go into business for himself.

Although he rents generators, pumps, jackhammers, pressure washers and other general tool items, Bruner's All American Rental Center now specializes in big tent rentals for corporate events. Bruner provides tenting for functions such as pre-game parties at Cincinnati Bengals and University of Cincinnati football games as well as events at Xavier, Miami and Northern Kentucky universities.

Bruner also rents tents for events for a number of corporate clients, including Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati's largest employer. Bruner, who worked for that company as a salesman in the paper division for five years after college, got the account almost by accident.

"They called for something obscure and we had it," Bruner says. "I said to the person on the phone, 'I'll give you a good price because I'm an ex-P&G guy.' About two days later, I get a call from somebody in a different office and the guy says, 'Are you Jim, the Procter & Gamble guy? We want to start doing business with you as a preferred vendor.' We started doing 30-by-60-foot tents about every other week."

Bruner also used his status as a University of Cincinnati grad to develop his tent business with his alma mater. A regular contributor to alumni fund drives, Bruner told a telephone marketer that he would no longer contribute to the drives because he was shut out on the bidding for tenting at football games. The word got around and soon Bruner was offered a chance to bid and got the contract.

Although its tool inventory is limited by lack of space, All American supplies a half-dozen of the area's largest homebuilders as well as corporate clients, and has a strong homeowner clientele as well. In addition to renting heaters - during the snowstorms last month, All American had more than 120 heaters out on rent - Bruner sells large quantities of propane, for heaters in the winter and barbecues in the summer. A solid cash business that generates about 15 percent of the company's gross, propane refills also bring walk-in clientele into the store.

Starting his business with about $50,000 of capital from the sale of his restaurant, Bruner got a break when U-Haul, divesting itself of involvement in tool and equipment rentals, held a massive tool auction in Canton, Ohio, several hours away. Bruner bought "$80,000 worth of tools for about $2,000," he recalls.

He also owes his beginning to a couple of vendors, MTA Distributors and M.J. Miller & Associates, who gave him lines of credit. "The combination of finding the right people who were going to give me those credit lines and that sale [set me up in business]."

One of his biggest problems is his small location. "I've lost a lot of rentals because I don't have the space for the equipment," Bruner says. A primary goal is to find a new location on a main street that would give him more street visibility and several times the space he has. Additional square footage would also give him a chance to supplement his business with storage containers.

But becoming a lot bigger is not a Bruner goal.

"There will always be a market for businesses of this size," says Bruner. "Ideally, you get your best return on investment if your annual volume is between $500,000 and $750,000 and that's where I want to stay, within that market."

Owner: Jim Bruner.

Founded: 1991.

Locations: One.

Employees: Three full-time. Increases to as many as 15 in the summer, including part time.

Annual revenue: Slightly less than $500,000.

Customer breakdown: More than half corporate events, mostly tenting and food-preparation equipment. The rest is contractor, homeowner and industrial tool rental.