Construction hire and rental companies, particularly temporary fencing have some unique hire and rental requirements specific to their business sector. Previously many such companies have had to rely on multiple systems to manage their businesses.
Not so any more!

HireEzy v2.1 has been released with all the specific needs of Construction hire and Rental companies, particularly temporary fencing. Such companies need specific functional in addition to normal hire and rental functional requirements.

HireEzy 2.1 includes all standard hire and rental functionality PLUS
1. Estimation tools to support quotes
2. Management of services to support rental or hire solutions
3. The need for staff and contractor management
4. Issuing and tracking of safety data to meet safety requirements
5. Flexible payments and recurrent billing options.

HireEzy is a complete business solution for temporary roofing, scaffolding and fencing hire/ rental companies.

Natural Business Flow

HireEzy is a natural business flow software, part of the next generation of software solutions that are easy to use but also fully integrate with the internet. Natural business flow software follows the natural way businesses operate.

The natural flow in general terms construction rental and hire companies, specifically scaffolding, fencing and roofing rental and hire follows these broad business processes.

1. Market to create leads
2. Quotes supported by simple estimation tools and booking availability.
3. Convert quotes to invoices and confirmed bookings.
4. Manage and allocate materials and labor resources – (either internal or contractor).
5. Delivery, Assemble, Inspect, Dis-Assemble and Collect.
6. Account for the money.
7. Manage existing clients to generate new business.

HireEzy assists you to manage each of these processes with not only the tools you need, but some you may not even have thought of. Each of the processes will now be briefly discussed.

Marketing

The primary purpose of marketing is to create sales leads. HireEzy provides a full range of in-built marketing tools to enable you to produce your own high quality brochures, catalogue, e-mailers and newsletters. Most importantly it enables you to control your own marketing from one location.

Marketing – Integrated Web Option

The internet is now increasing the primary source of lead generation for most businesses. However for it to work for you it must have a high search engine ranking. That is if “scaffolding hire Melbourne” is typed by a prospect, your company web site must appear at a minimum on the first page of listings. It is worth noting, research has shown that prospects will click on a search result (organic result) over a paid ad appearing on the same page.

HireEzy’s web integration option can significantly help here. By integrating your hire or rental catalogue to the web site, any changes you make in the catalogue are published to the web site. Such changes ensure more frequent web site changes. This in turn means a higher search engine ranking, increasing the chances you will appear on the first page.

HireEzy is the only known system in the world to offer this fully integrated functionality – a critical business tool.

Quoting

HireEzy has some simple inbuilt tools to support your quotation process, such as:
1. An inbuilt length estimator,
2. Contractor resource availability,
3. Inventory availability for a given date range, and
4. Discount rate for approved clients

Such tools simplify the quotation process, meaning all information is at your finger tips. Once a quote has been produced, a simple high quality quotation with graphic images can be produced, and emailed to the client or printed and handed to them.

Invoicing

Quotes are turned to invoices with one click. Or allow quotes to be adjusted to reflect any changes in the original quote. Industry payment terms and conditions are included, such as recurring billing for long term rental or hire, part de-hiring of long term rental or hire items, even allows for adjustment of payments for stand down days.

Manage and Allocate Resources

There are primarily two resources you need to manage, your inventory and your staff/ contractors. With HireEzy you can effectively manage both of these key assets.

The inbuilt inventory management tools enable you to manage your inventory purchasing, receipt, maintenance and dispatch to a job. Accurately providing you with real time information on your stock on hand. If you have depots, no problems, HireEzy can manage your inventory at each site.

Your staff and contractors are essential to your service delivery. HireEzy provides the tools to improve your management of your most valuable asset – people.

Like an item, the availability of staff and contractors is managed in HireEzy. Both can advise of leave periods, other jobs etc and these can be added to the system to provide accurate forecasts of availability. Got a new job and want to confirm a contractor availability then just click SMS, and an SMS is sent straight to the contractor with the job details and dates.

Delivery, Assemble, Inspect, Dis-Assemble and Collect

HireEzy comes with the inbuilt transport planning tools to enable you to schedule deliveries and collections, including assigning tasks to drivers and co-drivers such as:

• Assembly/ disassembly tasks,
• Payment collection,
• On-site period inspections, and
• Collections.

It even includes full integration with Google Street maps to provide directions. On site conditions, limitations including access times etc are also included.

Accounting

Most accounting packages rely on data being transferred from business operations. HireEzy accounting package is driven by your hire transactions, saving enormously on double handling of data and the associated risk of errors. For example, creating an invoice in HireEzy immediately creates an Account Receivable record. If you still have other accounting packages then we could provide data export to those systems. HireEzy accounting module has a full range of financial reports needed to run your business. HireEzy accounting module is included with your purchase.

Manage Your Clients

The old adage is that it is 15 times harder to win a new client than to retain an existing client. HireEzy’s inbuilt management tools, such as contact management, newsletter productions and customer discounts etc, ensure that you have the tools at hand to support your on-going client retention.

HireEzy is the ideal solution for temporary roofing, scaffolding and fencing hire/ rental companies who want to grow their business whether in the USA, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom or New Zealand.
If you are interested in more information or an online demonstration then please contact us or book a demo on line at www.makinglifeezy.com.au

About Us

Making Life Ezy developers of HireEzy and AgencyEzy.

HireEzy is the complete business management solution for hire and rental companies. Not only does it include digital marketing, web integration it also includes social media marketing tool integration.

How to Use Social Media Tools

Marketing Problem

Hire Rental Advertising Considerations
Why Traditional Marketing Fails
Yellow Pages Versus SEO

Creating a Digital Marketing Platform

Creating a Digital Marketing Foundation
Hire Rental Web Lead Statistics

Marketing via Twitter

How Rental Hire Company can use Twitter
Business Reason to Use Twitter

Marketing via Facebook

Using Facebook for Business
They worried about Social Media in the 1930′s

Marketing via YouTube

How Rental and Hire Companies can use YouTube
Big List on How to Use Social Media

Marketing via WordPress

Why Blogs are Effective for Small Business
Why Small Businesses Should blog

USA Manufacturers Looking to Bring Manufacturing Back from China?
A report published in the Industry News Weekly cites research by Archstone Consulting that over 90% of USA manufacturing companies surveyed are considering bringing back manufacturing from China. The full report, found by clicking either Industry News Weekly or Archstone above is worth reading.

The study revealed that in the last three years, manufacturers have seen a significant increase in costs related to off-shoring manufacturing for export purposes rather than in country demand, which include:

Ocean freight costs have increased 135%,

Chinese manufacturing wages have risen by 44%.

Assuming this trend also applies to Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and United Kingdom manufacturing companies, then it would be reasonable to assume that all countries could benefit from a slight rise in construction activity. Construction activity would be driven by the need to build new factories, adjust or modify existing ones. This is turn will aid the construction hire and rental sectors.

Change in Construction Union Industry Sector Co-operation
Another article recently caught our attention, and it relates in part to the previous section. The USA Iron workers have created a new model called IMPACT. Amongst the many aspects of the model, is the apparent fundamental shift in attitude, that Unions and their members should be the best pushing the bar for increased ironworker performance, productivity, quality and safety.

This change is important not just in the context of the prospects of increased construction activity due to manufacturing returning but also the construction work pipeline arising from the construction sector stimuli packages in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK and USA. A more co-operative construction sector benefits everyone, companies, contractors and unions alike.

Any lift in the construction sector will benefit the construction hire and construction rental industry – our clients. News such as both of those cited above are welcomed and are hopefully indicators of a brighter future for all. HireEzy the construction rental and construction hire software of choice.

Let’s take a simple example of a Party Rental or Hire Company.

A customer has come in to hire a Spit Roast for the weekend, value say $75.00

Items that may also be of use to the same client, could be serving platters,  carving knives, a condiment holders, an electric meat warming tray etc.

The spit roast hire price, with gas may be have been $75 for the weekend.  But offering the related items may increase the hire price well over $100, an increase of 33%, which would be nice if it could be achieved across all orders.  The 33% figure is taken from anecdotal evidence received from our customers.

So here are some suggestions on how to do it!

Start from the Customers Perspective:

Customers when they are looking to hire or rent something from you have an idea for an event, party or task that they going to have or do.   The vast majority of sales staff merely respond to the customers specific item requests.

Good practise is to aks the client what are they planning to do?

Engage them in a conversation find out what they want to do, it is just a conversation it doesnt hurt.  Once the you or your sales staff have determined what the customers event, idea or task is, then you can begin to suggest other items.

Approached in a conversational tone the customer doesnt feel threatened by a hard sell.  For example:

Sales Rep:  Oh so your having a Spit Roast  for your son’s graduation at you place on the weekend.  That is great, how many people are you expecting.

Client:  About 30 people

Sales Rep:  Wow that is a lot, have you got tables and chairs, cutlery and plates etc?

Client:  Not sure

Sales Rep:  We have a lot of clients who have Spit Roasts parties like you are having, so we put together this Spit Roast package based.  It includes all the common items people were renting from us but we have bundled it in to a specially priced package.

This approach to offer a promotional package, is actually about turning the vast range of choices a customer has into a product offer.  Whilst people talk about liking choice in truth most don’t.  Giving them a “product” that suits there needs eliminates the need for them to think and the risk to them.

In relation to risk, consider the pyschology of a client.  In the above example if the father comes in to hire a spit roast for the Son’s 21st.   His selection of what is needed is based on his planning, so if he gets it wrong they chances of being “stirred up” by his friends and family are quite high.  However if he selects your “productised offer”, then he has in reduced the risk of him being a source of jokes at the event or task.  In effect you are doing him a favour!

Creating a Promotional Package

So how to create a promotional “product”.

HireEzy (the world’s most innovative hire software and rental software)  provides both the analysis tools and in-built marketing tools to both determine what should go in a package and the production of a high graphic brochure (digital or print).

Creating these packages is incredibly easy, but the value they can provide to your business can be exceptional.

Generate Leads

If you do produce a promotional pack, then why not send it out to your previous clients.  Use the inbuilt customer data base to send out emails with the brochure attached to your clients.  Make sure you include an opt out option for them on the email.  These tools for in-built in HireEzy are exceptionally easy to use and the results some clients have obtained have been impressive.

Web Crossing Selling

Research shows that over 50 % of new leads come from the web.  But most hire and rental companies have very limited sales presence on line.  Even fewer have an ability to cross sell or up sell to on-line customers.

HireEzy includes a fully integrated on-line site that allows customers to place booking requests directly into your system.  Not only does this substantially reduce your costs it also includes in-built workflow solutions that enable you to up-sell or cross sell more to such customers.

Summary

The aim of cross selling or up selling is to increase the revenue per client.  As discussed achieving 33% increases in revenue per sale are common.

Achieving this increase requires a combination of good staff training and a supporting hire software or rental software system, such as HireEzy.  The key point is that Sales Staff up selling or cross selling can be assisted by the use of HireEzy.  The result is that you can achieve substantial improvements in sales per customer.  For more information for to www.makinglifeezy.com.au

A construction site fence toppled onto pedestrians after the security guard opened the gate to let a truck leave the site.  A family was injured by the collapsed fence.

On behalf of the Hartwig Family, Berman & Riedel, LLP, brought suit against the responsible defendants claiming negligent erection, maintenance, and handling of the construction site perimeter fencing. (click on the quoted text to go to the full article)

Given the way the fence toppled and that it was a construction site, it indicates that the construction site had erected temporary fencing.
Litigation news like this is always worrying not only to Construction companies and but also to fencing rental and hire companies who supply such fencing.

Mitigating such risks requires good process.  BUT from a Director’s perspective of Scaffolding Rental or Fencing Hire companies, such good corporate governance requires that you can show such processes were followed.  This is where HireEzy is unique and can assist in risk Mitigation.
Imagine you were in court, can you provide documentation to your Lawyers on the following:
1. What Advise was given to and received from the customer during the sales process.
2. What was the actual version of any Safety data documentation provided to the customer at the time? Do you have a auditable trace history of the scaffolding safety eg (load limits, work methods) or fence erection  documentation and work methods.
3. Was such relevant Safety Data documentation sent with the Quote or Invoice?
4. Was the documentation provided to your erection staff or contractor staff?
5. Can you prove the last time that either your staff or contractors were trained on safety requirements and were they tested?
6. Did you schedule an on-site inspection, by a suitably qualified person, to assess the erected structure?

Note such information needs to be stored for years!

Builders can be sued up to 10 years after a project has been completed for a construction-defect issue, and often, no matter what the defect, the lawsuit involves every subcontractor involved from the landscaper to the company that provided temporary fencing,

If you can not answer these questions or are concerned that some of the information is missing, then you really need HireEzy!
HireEzy has the solution for not only efficient management of scaffolding and fencing hire or rental companies, but also the good corporate governance solutions to assist you in mitigating risk.  Remember in some jurisdictions, Directors can face criminal negligence charges for injury caused.
HireEzy will not stop human error or accidents occurring but it can help prove that you took all reasonable steps.
To book an online demo of HireEzy go to www.makinglifeezy.com.au

Audit proof that assembly instructions were documented, and issued is required.  That contractors used were provided with the correct assembly documentation

A survey of HireEzy clients and prospects revealed some interesting insights into the major sales lead sources for rental and hire companies.

Whilst there was a range of results, those that clearly lead in their rental or hire market segments all showed similar statistics.

The clearest result was that the leading hire and rental companies in Australia, UK and the USA now generate over 50% of all new sales inquiries from their web site. This can be a combination of direct web submitted inquiries or customers who have checked out their web site prior to calling.

Secondly that most now find Yellow Pages or Yellow Pages on Line a rapidly declining source of new business. One customer with a long established business, cited that his father use to spend $25 000 a year on Yellow Pages, they now spend less than $2000. The reason is that yellow pages is no longer the major source of new business for them, rather it is business from the web.

Compare yourself to the best performers from the survey!

If you are below these benchmarks, then here is what they were doing.

The websites of those that were successful in achieving more than 50% lead generation, demonstrated some common characteristics:

· Frequent changes to the content;

· Ability of customers to view their hire and rental catalogue;and

· Ability of customers to place orders.

Cost of website development to achieve this frequency of change and maintain catalogue updates was however cited as an issue.

Now this is where HireEzy comes in to its own, HireEzy enables you to make changes in your back end catalogue and have those posted straight to your web site. The Website provided by HireEzy also enables customers to create booking requests, these booking requests then appear as sales leads in your HireEzy system.

The attached brochure provides more information.

This solution is perfect for:

· Party Rental and Party Hire;

· Fencing Rental or Temporary Fencing Hire Companies

· Tool Rental and Tool Hire

· Equipment Rental and Equipment Hire

· AV rental and AV Hire

In fact most companies who hire or rent products or services!

No wonder HireEzy is the innovation leader in the global hire and rental market.

For more information go to www.makinglifeezy.com.au or download our brochure at the top of this post!

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