DIY and tool rental companies: Boost your equipment rentals

1. Rental market trends

The COVID 19 pandemic has revolutionized the use of tools and equipment. A new, more environmentally-friendly mode of consumption has emerged, and digital rental has also developed .

So what are the trends?

‍ Niche products such as electric or hybrid equipment, demands for quieter, more environmentally-friendly equipment is gaining momentum, encouraged by utilities.

Le rôle de la location numérique ? 

For Joël Fruchart, Chairman of DLR's "Rental" group, the situation is simple: tool and equipment rental companies need to move towards digitizing their business. 

Il nous explique pourquoi :

Professionals know that this evolution is inevitable. For small and medium-sized rental companies, e-commerce will become increasingly important over the next five years. Networks will have to be structured and rental companies federated.

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For Yves Rallet, Marketing and Sales Director of the Loxam Group, the challenge will be to transfer trust between the customer and an application.

Il nous explique pourquoi :

« L’évolution à venir sera le développement de la réservation directement par le web ou le portail client, probablement au détriment du téléphone. Cela permettra au client un meilleur suivi de ses réservations et locations. »

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2. Review your organization?

a. General assessment

Comment s'est déroulée la saison dernière ? Qu'est-ce qui a fonctionné ? Quels sont les points à revoir ?

Posez vous et prenez le temps de réfléchir aux différentes frictions qui ont conduit à des erreurs l'année dernière.

💡- Le conseil de Lokki

Questionnez votre équipe ! Sur l'organisation interne, votre management, le quotidien de l'activité de location. C'est souvent positif et vous aide à évoluer 🤝

Et demandez des retours de vos clients ! Ils sont vos premiers ambassadeurs.

Si ce n'est pas déjà fait durant la saison, reprenez votre fichier client.

Envoyez un mail et demandez des avis sur Google, ou Facebook. Et par retour de mail, des conseils pour améliorer votre service ✨

C'est le deuxième point essentiel avant d'entamer votre saison. Les points positifs ou négatifs que vous imaginez ne sont pas toujours ceux auxquels pensent vos clients.

Quelques axes de réflexion pour tirer un bon bilan :

✅- Calculate your sales
✅- Determine the points that are economically fruitful
✅- Detect faulty tools and equipment
✅- Analyze your costs - What costs me the most money on rentals?
✅- Measure your online communication and visibility - Is it effective?
✅- Evaluate your customer feedback - Google/Facebook - Is it positive?

b. Implement actions

La première étape est très importante avant de continuer. Prendre du recul va vous aider à appréhender cette nouvelle saison de bonne manière.

En faisant ce travail vous arrivez à une liste de problématique. Maintenant il s'agit de les trier pour les prioriser. Ne vous attaquez pas à tout en même temps.

Etudions ensemble 3 types de problématiques rencontrés chez nos loueurs 🤓

Piste de réflexion :

L'attente en magasin, surtout avec les conditions actuelles, doit être une priorité.

La digitalisation de vos tâches administratives apportent beaucoup sur ce point :

• Moins de tâches rébarbatives
• Plus de contacts (distancés) avec le client

Comment gérez vous vos demandes de location ? Vos contrats de location ? Les confirmations etc.

S'équiper d'un outil pour vous accompagner dans votre quotidien est une bonne solution. A l'approche d'une nouvelle saison, et votre activité de plus en plus florissante, cela vous aidera à mieux vous organiser et réduire la pression quotidienne.

Une autre solution est primordiale surtout pendant la crise du Covid : la réservation en ligne. Nous en avons dédié un point essentiel dans la suite du guide.

Piste de réflexion 🔍

Fidéliser ses clients est une démarche compliquée. C'est généralement sur du long terme et nécessite plusieurs points de contacts.

Bien que votre contact humain soit exceptionnel en magasin, les faire revenir la saison d'après n'est pas facile. Il faut pouvoir relancer vos clients sans être trop intrusif.

Utilisez le mail :

• Après leur location chez vous, envoyez un mail à vos clients pour les remercier, et potentiellement laisser un avis.
• A l'approche d'une nouvelle saison, relancez ces mêmes clients avec une offre spécifique pour eux, ou simplement un message sympa.

Utilisez vos réseaux sociaux :

• Create a community around your passion and environment. Communicate throughout the year, to maintain constant visibility with your former customers.

▶︎ Want to shine on social networks? Discover the Renter 2.0 toolbox

One example is tool and equipment rental company ESPACE EMERAUDE, which communicates throughout the year and maintains its customer relations:

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‍Piste de réflexion 🔍

Pendant votre pic en été, vous souhaitez peut-être avoir une meilleure répartition des produits loués.

This step applies to all your products. Drills, jackhammers... How do you monitor the use of your products? Are they in good condition? How many times were they used last season? Do you need to buy new ones?

Adoptez un outil pour suivre l'évolution et le cycle de vie de vos produits, de l'achat, en passant par la maintenance, puis la revente des produits. Il faut tout noter !

L'objectif est très simple, il ne faut pas que les coûts de réparation et d'achat surpassent les revenus engendrés par la location et la revente. Comment s'en assurer, si vous ne suivez pas précisément ?

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Il est important d'avoir un suivi très précis du cycle de vie pour un calcul précis du revenu généré par un produit. Sans quoi votre business model est biaisé et vous naviguez à vue.

Cela vous fait gagner du temps, et de l'argent. Et vous permet de bichonner encore mieux vos produits 😊

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N'attendez pas la fin de saison pour tirer un bilan. Mettez en place des processus de suivi continu.

Est-ce que vous aviez toutes ces informations durant la saison, et en temps réel ?

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3. The importance of digitalization ⏳

An innovative offer, yes? But with innovative in-house tools in tune with the times. Don't miss out on the digital revolution, get digital!

The Deloitte report entitled Digital Economy: Digital, an opportunity for French SMEs, reports that "SMEs that make extensive use of digitalization show a higher rate of growth (on average +26%) and profitability (+21%) than SMEs that don't."

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Nevertheless, a recurring brake on digital transformation is the cost of investment, which is the case for 49% of VSEs.

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There are two areas for you to develop:

1) External communication: Modernize your website and develop your presence on social networks such as Facebook, Google and Instagram.

2) Your internal tools: Yes! We tend to forget this, but it's one of the key factors in the success of your projects. Using simple, intuitive tools boosts your staff's performance and satisfaction. 

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Among Lokki users, the conclusion is simple: +26% growth for digital DIY equipment rental companies.

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‍💡- Le conseil de Lokki

‍Adaptto the situation! Renting is just one idea among many: special promotional offers, corporate rentals, home delivery, repair workshops, product testing... etc....

Bref, c'est le moment de tester de nouvelles choses et se réinventer ! 😎

Vous le savez, et nous autant que vous, la réservation en ligne devient primordiale. Ce contexte particulier dû au Covid accélère ce processus.

L'hôtellerie l'a bien compris, d'après Médiamétrie, 78% des français réservent en ligne leur chambre d'hôtel.

And yet, 80% of equipment rental companies are still paper-based. 📝

In today's fast-changing rental world, not matching customer expectations can be fatal.

Nous vous présentons ici les 3 raisons qui vous feront adopter la réservation en ligne pour de bon. ET, à la fin de cette partie nous vous aidons à choisir votre outil de réservation. 😉

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1. Make money, lots of money 🤑

By adding an online booking tool, you'll generate more sales, and for a simple reason: you can get bookings at any time of day. Even when you're asleep! 😴

You can quickly see how your bookings are progressing and how your business is growing, so you can concentrate on your core business.

📊- Le chiffre Lokki

48% des réservations sont réalisées quand vous êtes fermés.

At Lokki, we've noticed that half of all online bookings are made when stores are closed. Our statistics show this with the breakdown of booking hours at our rental outlets:

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+26% growth for our rental companies equipped with online reservations

Integrating online booking facilitates the customer's experience, and your management. Our customers are noticing great growth with this tool.

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2. Save time, lots of time ⌛️

Booking in-store or by phone depends on your opening hours. A customer wishing to reserve in the morning or in the evening will find himself blocked and certainly frustrated.

Au delà de la possibilité de réserver à tout moment, vous ne perdez plus de temps.

❗️ No more hours spent processing your software.

❗️ No more paper, with the risk of losing information.

Imagine having all your customer's information, without having taken a note. 😄

The idea is to combine different reservation methods. From the store, to the telephone, to your website.

N'imposez plus un choix à vos clients, laissez les décider. Laissez les réserver 24h/24, 7j/7.

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3. Build customer loyalty 🤝

When booking, a customer will enter all their contact details. This is an excellent way to advertise your company. Give them an e-mail address, a telephone number and keep in touch with them.

Keep in touch with your customers. Keeping a customer costs 5 to 10 times less than getting a new one.

💡- Online payment secures your reservations. No more customers who don't show up on the day of the rental. They'll have paid before they come 💰

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If they're satisfied with the service, they'll rent again. If you communicate with them, they'll remember you. BINGO, the winning combo for a loyal customer!

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💡- Le conseil de Lokki

Créer son propre outil de gestion de réservation est long et fastidieux. Aujourd'hui de nombreux outils vous permettent de gérer vos réservations de location facilement et rapidement.

How to choose your online booking tool? 😄

The ultimate checklist and questions to ask yourself

✅ The commission

✅ Customization to your image

✅ Connecting to your stock

✅ Automatic generation of rental contracts

✅ Online payment

✅ Acceptance of general rental conditions

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As you can see, online booking is becoming crucial to your business. It facilitates the customer experience. By offering an additional, faster option for accessing your rentals.

Mais surtout, elle vous facilite la gestion ET le développement de votre activité. C'est donnant-donnant, que demander de mieux ?

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Aaaah Google, love it or hate it! But your customers are looking for you on Google, and yes! I hope I'm not teaching you anything! Here are our tips for being the mega boss of the game on Google.

Before you start practicing, it's always important to lay the foundations:

‍1. Local referencing

What is local SEO?

Le référencement local, c'est un outil Google permettant aux commerces de proximité d'améliorer leur visibilité dans leur zone de chalandise .

Pour répondre à cette question et illustrer au mieux nos propos, nous allons répondre à cette question en vous présentant un exemple concret.

Let's imagine a family living in Nantes who wants to renovate an old piece of family furniture, and needs tools to do it. As it's a one-off need, they turn directly to tool rental. They do a Google search for "tool rental" on their smartphone. The world's best-known search engine then geolocates their position and displays the tool and DIY equipment rental companies closest to them.

That's where you come in! Your goal? To be among the "local pack" or the "pack 3", you know that business block that appears under the map.

The photo above shows the position of tool and equipment rental companies in Nantes and the surrounding area. See the advantage you can gain over your competitors.

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Le référencement local, c'est si important que ça ?

Profitez de l'essor des recherches sur mobile :

💡 "Did you know?"

• 72% des internautes qui effectuent une requête locale ont visité un magasin à moins de 9 km
• 30% des requêtes mobiles sont liées à un lieu
• 28 % des recherches d’un objet à proximité aboutissent à un achat
• Les recherches locales conduisent 50% des visiteurs mobiles à visiter les magasins dans la journée
• 78% of mobile searches lead to offline purchases (to a physical store)

Source : Hubspot

Les recherches sur smartphone représentent un trafic de qualité, en effet, ce sont des personnes, étant à la recherche de magasins physiques à proximité de leur position et pouvant répondre à un besoin immédiat.

In other words, local searches such as "tool rental Nantes" come from very interested customers who have very specific requests and are often looking for an immediate solution.

That can be a lot of information in a short space of time, but don't panic! We'll explain it all just below👇

It's not rocket science to be the boss of local SEO! But how do you... How do you go about it?

2. Google My Business

I am a beginner

Google My Business is a Google solution that's simple, effective and free!

This solution enables you to improve your natural referencing in geographically-targeted searches. In short, it's the ideal tool for local businesses, such as tool and equipment rental companies.

A Google My Business listing will also significantly increase your visibility: once your listing has been created and validated, you'll appear on Google Maps, on the first page of search results.

Now that we've seen all the advantages of this solution, we'll take you through the next steps to help you create the best page for your company.

To know ☝️

Before creating your Google My Business page, you need to be in possession of :

📫 - A complete physical address, it must be as precise as possible.

🌐 - A Google account to which you'll connect your listing, i.e. a Google e-mail address. If we can give you a little advice, prefer an email address containing the name of your establishment, it always looks more professional.

☎️ - A valid telephone number, and don't forget to add a personalized messaging service for your business.

Got everything? Let's continue ...😊 :

• Type in the google search bar: name of your establishment + city (where your establishment is located). If your establishment appears, i.e. a listing already exists, you can claim ownership of an establishment profile. How do I do this? Click on the link below:

I claim my establishment: click here

• If your business isn't listed, you'll need to create a profile on Google My Business. We've put all the links for you just below: ‍

Create my Google My Business page: click here

I need help creating my page: click here

Why use Google My Business: click here

⚠️ Don't take the creation of your listing lightly: Google places a great deal of importance on the quality of listings. We recommend :

• Add a redirect link to your website or online booking platform(Lokki for example 😉 ).
• To add photos of your establishment, take the time to take quality photos.
• Regularly update your information whenever the slightest change occurs. Whether it concerns your telephone numbers, opening hours or anything else.
• It's important to fill in the details correctly. It's essential to indicate the correct address of your business.

🎉 You've just created your Google My Business listing!

Don't panic if you don't see your Google listing directly on Google after it's been created - IT'S NORMAL! Google will send you a letter to the address you entered on your Google My Business listing, as a way of verifying your contact details. For your information, this takes about 14 days.

❌ Meanwhile:

• Do not change the name, address or category of your establishment.
• Do not ask for a new code.

✅ As soon as you receive this letter, here's how to proceed: click here

🎉 Your Google My Business listing is online! 🎉.

It's a good start, the Google My Business listing will enable you to significantly increase your online presence. Now let's move on to part 2👇

I'm an expert

If you're an expert, i.e. if you've already had a Google My Business listing for a while, we'll explain the latest and most useful features for your business.

3. Google post

Google Post is one of the latest GMB (Google My Business) features, enabling businesses using this functionality to increase their visibility and local referencing, all free of charge.

You'll be able to personalize and publish directly on your GTM page.

The procedure ⚙️

From any device, connect to your Google My Business dashboard, then click on "Articles" on the left of the screen.

There are 4 types of Google My Business posts:

• The "News" post: This post is generally used to communicate general information about your company. It may concern a new product, service or news item.

• The "Event" post: This post enables your company to promote an event, such as an open day, a company breakfast or a day of sharing.
• The "Offer" post: Here, you can propose your discount or promotional offers on your products. This post can be very useful for sales or holiday periods (e.g. 50% off for 48 hours).
• The "Product" post: This post allows you to highlight one of your company's products, such as a new product, or a star product.
• The "Info Covid-19" post: Thanks to this post, you can alert your customers to your opening hours, your delivery possibilities (if you're a restaurateur) or inform them of the security measures in place at your establishment.

To know ☝️

• The duration of a post is 7 days after publication, but you will receive an e-mail the day before it expires.
• The correct image format for Google my Business posts is 720 x 720 px. However, to improve the visibility of your ad Google automatically crops the image to a square.
• The ad title is limited to 58 characters.
• The description is limited to 1500 characters, but only the first 100 words are directly visible to Internet users. It's a good idea to work hard on the description, as the aim is to encourage visitors to click on your article.

‍Inthe photo above, call-to-action buttons installed by the company Lokki:

The last step is the integration of a call-to-action (CTA) button, here you can choose between several proposals:

• "Find out more ,
• Click on " Reserve ",
• "Order online ",
• Click on " Register ",
• "Take advantage of the Offer,
• "Call,
• "Buy .

From this button, you can associate the URL of the destination page of your choice. For example, to your Facebook page from " Learn more ", or to your website from "Buy" .

In our image, the "Call" button has been chosen.

‍Thingsto remember 🧠

• Google My Business is free, efficient and easy to use
• Google My Business boosts your local listing
• GMB sets you apart from the competition
• Google Posts increase your visibility with a minimal investment of time

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▶︎ Want to shine on Google and social networks? Discover the Renter 2.0 toolbox

Ne l'oubliez pas, votre secteur est prometteur 😉

According to Statista (2019), revenues in the equipment rental market have risen from $31.4 billion to $39.6 billion, posting a growth rate of +26% since 2013. Projections to 2024 show an annual growth rate of around 5%.

Despite the negative impact of the economic and health crisis on the tourism and leisure sector, it would seem that the tool and equipment rental market is less affected than others!

Selon l'INSEE, les dépenses en locations de biens et services de biens personnels et domestiques par les ménages sont restées stables après la crise financière de 2008 et auraient continuer de croitre après la reprise à partir de 2009.

Cela s'explique pour 2 raisons étroitement liées :

• ‍Une baisse du pouvoir d'achat : le manque de trésorerie pour acheter du matériel au comptant de la part des ménages.
• L'incertitude : volonté de ne pas faire d'investissements couteux pour conserver sa trésorerie face à l'insécurité économique (notamment pour les locations BtoB) et la volonté d'ajuster ses capacités de production.

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La situation actuelle ne facilite pas la mise en place et l'organisation d'une nouvelle saison. Mais elle met au défi votre adaptabilité. 💪

Les conditions de votre métier changent. Chez Lokki, Nous sommes persuadés que ces changements passeront par le digital.

Et en même temps, l'essor du numérique vous donne une bonne opportunité de palier cette crise et de prendre les devants sur vos concurrents 😇

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