Spring 2013 Hardlines Strategies

STORE PROGRAMS

Receive Complete Support Buying from MTA also assures you will have complete support in maintaining your equipment so it’s always rental ready. Dinges and his staff perform a complete maintenance inspection on every machine that comes back from a customer. They start it up and clean air filters, fill fluids and repair any broken parts. On the occasion a machine needs a repair, Dinges and his staff perform their own service work, which saves the cost of sending a machine to a shop. He also has the confidence they can tackle most any repair because of the support they receives from MTA. “The guys at MTA are very good,” he says. “If you have a question or problem with a machine, you can call their service department and they can give you an answer to any question you might have.” The service staff at MTA can walk you through the diagnosis and repair of anything that might go wrong with a machine. They can also ship any repair part you need. Sell the Complete Project Employees throughout your store need to be well versed in project selling. A customer might start with a request for a piece of rental equipment, or he might start in another area of the store. Either way, you want any customer tackling a

large project to get everything he needs— both the rental item and the other items for the project—at your store. Train employees to know the add- on sales that go with every tool rental. Each rental item may also have specific accessories that you’ll sell with the rental, such as sandpaper, drill bits or carpet cleaner chemicals. Merchandise these items near the rental equipment. To make sure you are ready for proj- ect sales, use Blish-Mize’s RMS tool to review your assortments. See Page 22 for more information. Advertise It Don’t expect customers to know you have rental: Get the message out loud and clear. Don’t make the mistake of keeping rental items at the back of the store without any signage to advertise the service. When it’s not out on the job, display equipment in a prominent place in the store. If you have a lift, for example, raise it and park it outside. If you rent a bounce house, set it up outside so it catches the attention of passersby. If you have a popcorn machine for rent, use it to serve popcorn in the store. Witt uses his store’s website to adver- tise rental items. Many customers would rather research online to see where they can rent a particular item.

“We also advertise rental in our sales flyer,” says Witt. “It’s a great way of sharing with customers what we have.” With the On-Demand advertising pro- gram from Blish-Mize, you have the flexibil- ity to feature rental items in your circulars. This is a great way to communicate to customers that you have everything they need to finish their projects. For example, during the spring as you advertise mulches and lawn tools for starting up a garden, also include that you can rent tillers. The flexibil- ity of the AdBuilder program allows you to include the specific items you stock and that are popular among your customers. Another great way to advertise your rental category is to add rental to your store name, like Dinges did when he changed the store’s name to Dinges Hardware and Rental. Most shoppers generally know what types of items they can buy at a hardware store, but they might not automatically associate your store with rental. Enhancing your name can be part of a rebranding pro- cess that trains your customers to think of you first when they need rental items. Start Your Rental Business For more information on how you can get started in the rental business, contact your Blish-Mize sales representative. Or, visit MTA Distributors in booth #908 at the upcoming Blish-Mize Spring Buying Market.

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STYLES TO INSPIRE WHOLE HOME COORDINATION

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14 Spring 2013 • Hardlines Strategies