Call it a light bulb moment. When Shane Morrison, owner of Chesapeake, Va.-based Dominion Rental Center witnessed a demonstration of the Toro Dingo and its attachment package, he knew it would be a valuable addition to his rental fleet. Morrison was especially impressed by the fact that it was clear that Toro had the rental company in mind for the machine.
“To offer that little machine, the 413, with all those attachments on it, it just sent light bulbs off,” Morrison says. “And I thought, ‘This is the absolute perfect thing for a small company like mine to get people into being able to do things on their own.’”
With the new piece of equipment in the fleet, Morrison was unsure how to price it. He began calling around to other rental centers to determine a rate. He noticed that the other companies were renting the package for a set price rather than by attachment.
“I always put myself in the customer's shoes and I thought how unfair is that? Why should they pay for these extra attachments if they're not using them?” he says. “So I thought, well, let me see what I can come up with.”
After a bit of research, Morrison came across a company that makes plastic tags that can be printed with the company's name. Morrison secures the tag to the linch pins that tie the machines down. If a customer is out on a job and wants to use an additional attachment, he's able to take the tag off and use it, knowing he'll get charged for that attachment. Keeping all attachments on the trailer saves Morrison from having to load and unload them for each customer, and it allows the customer to decide, while on the jobsite, which jobs he wants to complete. It also saves the customer from having to return to the rental center for another implement, and it saves the rental company from delivering one — plus adds additional revenue from the rental. The trailer comes equipped with the Dingo bucket, an auger with a 9-inch bit, a trencher, a set of pallet forks and a ground leveler.
Customer response to the system has been positive, as word spread like wildfire from one homeowner or contractor to the next. In fact, his first Dingo was so popular with customers that he has since added three more to his fleet. “They love it,” Morrison says. “They absolutely love it. In fact, I couldn't wait to have the opportunity to buy another one because every weekend I needed two or three machines. They were just constantly going out.”
His one-man rental operation grew so busy that he added two more employees, and is looking to add another. “I can honestly say without a doubt, it turned my business around,” he says. “There's no doubt. I've been able to expand my fleet and keep going.”
Even though Morrison gives credit to the equipment for turning his business around, his philosophy on customer service is what has kept the business improving each one of the five years under his ownership. Dominion Rental Center provides customers with wooden ramps to use when unloading equipment once they get home. Morrison says he wants to make customers feel good about renting the equipment, and by giving out the ramps, it protects the equipment at the same time. The ramps help the customer out, but they also prevent Morrison from getting phone calls from customers with broken equipment.
“Now I'm offering ramps to make it easier for my customers to load and unload, so it protects my equipment, makes the customer feel really good about the rental, and people keep coming back to me,” he says. “And I keep increasing my revenue every single year because I take these extra steps.”
Submit rental company innovations for consideration in RER to Brandey Smith at [email protected].
