Running an AV equipment rental business is quite a struggle. It not only involves keeping track of AV items but also their accessories and kits. As an AV rental business, you want to rent out your equipment as much as possible.
For that to happen, you need to keep your equipment in good shape and track them well. You also need to make sure they are properly managed so that they continue to work smoothly.
Let’s take a look at 5 tips to help you improve AV equipment rental tracking.
1. Make an inventory list
You must have a variety of AV equipment rentals on the move in your business. And you probably have a vague idea of all that AV equipment you own but do you know exactly what equipment is present in your inventory?
Keeping track of all your AV equipment sure isn’t easy because each video camera or professional camera will come with tons of accessories like the lens, wires, tripod stand, etc.
A list of equipment in your inventory from a year ago isn’t helpful as your inventory list should be current and updated.
The list should be complete, mentioning all the kits and accessories. It should contain enough relevant information like the value, specifications and capabilities of all items on there.
Preparing a consolidated list of all your AV inventory is important so you know what you have. With a single list, you will have only one truth that can be utilized by your team members in order to check for availability. They can see if the item requested is in repair, sold off or out for rent.
No need to have duplicated lists or inaccurate stock count leading to frustrated customers and staff. Using rental software to always keep your inventory list up-to-date is also a good idea.
2. Keep your rental terms crystal clear
Keeping your customers satisfied is vital to your AV equipment rental business. Neither do your customers like arguing with you nor do you like arguing with them.
The best thing to do is spend a bit of your time communicating your rental terms to your customers and making the conditions of renting your AV equipment crystal clear.
It is best to keep your customers on the same page with you to avoid all future arguments. Let your customers know how you expect them to use your equipment and what is considered as acceptable wear and tear.
In case something goes wrong with the AV equipment or it turns out to be faulty, they should know who to contact. Moreover, make them aware of the penalties involved in case of loss, theft, late returns, and damage.
The answer to such issues should be made clear then and there. It is a good idea to have your terms in writing and signed by both you and your customers. Make sure you don’t hide anything by writing them in small unreadable fonts.
Everything should be thorough and complete, leaving nothing to doubt. If something is actually difficult to read and decipher, then it shouldn’t come as a surprise to you if your customer doesn’t know about it.
3. Conduct scheduled maintenance
You could spend an entire day every month fixing broken equipment as usual. Instead, wouldn’t you rather spend an hour every week to make sure your equipment remains in good condition?
The latter seems like a better option as it lets you plan your maintenance ahead of time, before it’s too late and your equipment gets broken.
This is especially important when dealing with AV equipment that is rented out all the time and is, of course, the most valuable to your business as compared to equipment that is rented out once every two weeks.
Equipment that is more in demand has more chances of breaking down, which means it needs regular maintenance more than others. You can plan out your maintenance schedule on the basis of rental trends rather than having a fixed schedule for all AV equipment.
Simply check your rental schedule and see when your equipment is most likely to be idle. Then schedule its maintenance so that it doesn’t negatively impact the rest of your AV equipment rental business.
4. Implement a time management plan
Dive deeper and get to know where your team tends to waste time. Do they take a lot of time to locate items or struggle with booking equipment? Maybe the check in and out process is not as clear as it should be to everyone.
You need to make efforts to get to the root of your problem. Once you get a hold of it, you can prevent it in the future.
You can always use software that generates real-time reports and identifies who always returns your equipment late or who doesn’t complete a job on time.
Set goals for your team members and set deadlines for your customers who contribute to the vicious cycle of wasting time and disturbing rental tracking.
Make use of the availability calendar for items and kits in order to take care of resource management ahead of time.
5. Look for underlying inventory problems
You may be annoyed when a piece of equipment breaks down once. What if it repeatedly breaks down? With a repetitive trend in breakdown, you now have the data. Use that data.
You should always keep looking for trends as they help you find out underlying problems rather than just scratching away at the surface.
The breakdown could be because of the mishandling by customers or your staff members who don’t know how to properly use the AV equipment.
In that case, replacing the equipment is not the answer to the problems as it is only going to cost you more.
You can make use of rental management systems in order to help you as they offer accurate reports, helping you analyze problems with your rental inventory.
By tracking your workflow and highlighting weaknesses in the process, it helps you take corrective action to fix an underlying problem without any delay.
This prevents major losses in your business and helps you stay on top of your AV equipment rentals.
Smooth sailing ahead now with AV Equipment Tracking
Your equipment is an important part of your business. You not only have to keep them maintained but also track them well to make the most of them.
Each tip above is designed to help you manage your equipment well, track it closely and save you money. Spending time on these little tips are going to have a major impact on the efficiency and profitability of your business.
Read more: 6 Handy Tips for Storing and Organizing Your AV Equipment
About EZRentOut
We are a cloud based AV rental system that offers AV equipment rental businesses seamless rental management. It also comes with a host of other features like asset tracking, maintenance management, a customized webstore, and much more.
