Hurricane season has come, and rather dramatically this year. As we go to press with this issue, Houston is starting to dry out from the devastating floods that hit it and Hurricane Irma is poised to be one of the strongest storms in a long time. Obviously these fierce weather events do bring some benefits to the rental industry and we all know that this industry does benefit from increased rentals. I don’t believe many of you delight in making money off the misfortunes of others but it is part of the reality of the rental business.
At the same time of course many rental companies will be damaged from the storms, just as other businesses in their areas will be. And just as many people in Houston and soon in Puerto Rico, Florida, and other areas hit by Irma, will face serious flood damage and even lose their homes; it can happen to people in this industry as well. I’ve already heard some stories of rental employees losing everything they had in Hurricane Harvey, and Irma is likely to bring some severe devastation as well. Our hearts go out to all of those people.
One thing to keep your eyes open for are scammers. They are out there in a lot of different kinds of businesses and it’s a sad thing to see. It’s one thing to run a legitimate service business such as equipment rental and legitimately charge normal prices for generators, pumps, chain saws or other kinds of equipment and tools and in the months to come there will be a lot of rebuilding going on. You can’t very well stay in business without charging for the services you offer. But it’s quite another to gouge people and cheat them. I don’t think many of our readers are doing that. I certainly hope not.
But keep your eyes open for scam artists. A very good friend of mine got taken by some roofers who presented references and photos of their work and appeared legitimate and he gave them a sizable deposit before they skipped town and never returned. This happened in San Antonio after a devastating hailstorm a few years ago and he recently posted the story on Facebook as a warning. For a second I thought how could this friend of mine, an intelligent person, have fallen for such a scam but immediately realized how clever and creative such scammers can be.
They are out there in the world of rental as well, giving this industry a bad name and ruining things for legitimate business people. So watch out for them and if you run into any of them, do what you can to report them to law enforcement personnel. Sometimes disasters create opportunities for scumbags to take advantage of others.
But they can also bring out the best in people who go out of their way to help others. And in the rental industry, this is a great opportunity to show the positive side of this industry, which is, in fact, a service business. You can do that in the way you look out for your own staff and for your customers. It doesn’t mean you can’t charge for your services – but you can do it without taking advantage of peoples’ misfortunes. I strongly believe very few of our readers need to be told this and that most of you can teach the rest of us a lot about what it means to be an honorable business person. That’s the rental business I’ve seen over the years. And, in fact, I ask you to please share your stories about the hurricanes with the rest of us in the months to come.
And above all I hope the best for you, your employees, and your customers during these dangerous times.
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Do you like webinars? If you don’t, maybe it’s because you haven’t experienced a good one, such as those we put on here at RER from time to time. Two of them are coming up in the first week of October, so synchronize your watches! October 4 we’ll cover “Keys to Success in Industrial Rentals,” sponsored by Kohler Power at 2 p.m. EST. There is no charge to log in and listen to this webinar featuring an outstanding panel of industry experts who have been there and done it.
And on Oct. 10, also at 2 p.m. EST, FleetLogic presents “Mining for Gold: Discover Four Strategies You Can Use to Boost Customer Lifetime Value in the Next 90 Days.” Check it out.
