RentalMetrics

What’s Your Style?

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Have you ever found yourself bored to death during a lecture? Do you struggle to read anything longer than a comic book? Do you find yourself looking for pictures or diagrams to understand a new concept? Maybe you find that in order to learn something new you just need to “do it.”

Knowing your dominant learning style (visual, auditory, or kinesthetic/tactile) can be incredibly helpful when trying to master a new subject. Are you an auditory learner? Try getting books on CD. Visual learner? Movies or step-by-step pictorial diagrams are the way to go. Kinesthetic/tactile learners – go get your hands dirty!

At RentalMetrics we recognize and appreciate the diversity in dominant learning styles and the unique viewpoints each group of learners brings to the table. We believe a one-size-fits-all training program is antiquated, biased, and just plain ineffective. That’s why our Interactive Learning Environment (ILE) provides written documents, podcasts, videos, examples, and exercises to best fit your learning style.

Get smart…check out our Free Trial today!

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What Makes You So Special?

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Can you answer this question in one or two sentences? What makes your company “stand out” when compared with the competition? If you’ve been twiddling your thumbs and struggling with this question for longer than a few seconds you’re not alone…read on!

First, think about a best-in-class company. What comes to mind when you think of John Deere or Caterpillar? How about Coca-Cola? Google? You know these names, right? They’ve done a great job of “branding” themselves, creating a noteworthy association between their business and VALUE.

I know what you’re thinking; “Yeah, they’re huge corporations, but I’m just a local guy with a small-fry budget.” Sure, you may be in a smaller pond, but your customers are still looking for VALUE…and when they find it they return over and over again as loyal customers. They tell their friends, family and associates where they find great satisfaction...and where they feel ripped off. You’ve got a reputation to manage, for better or for worse.  (Check out the Word of Mouth Manual Volume II for more on what people are saying about your company.)

Let’s go back to our original question. What makes you so special? Are you just another face in the crowd or do you offer something more? How do you uniquely create VALUE for your customers? Does your logo, jingle or tag line bring to mind confidence, power or customer satisfaction?

Here’s an example of what we believe makes RentalMetrics “so special.”                  

RentalMetrics provides Red Meat - tools, analysis, and insight - providing business leaders the insight to make well-informed decisions, saving their company’s time and money by maximizing Return on Investment (ROI). We do this through our unique 24/7/365 Interactive Learning Environment (ILE), delivering educational content in a variety of multimedia forms to best fit your learning style.

You’re Not Alone

 For those struggling to make a dime in the world of heavy equipment you’re not alone.

Consider our brethren in the agriculture industry. With a high dependence on heavy equipment, little tolerance for high-fuel costs, and high-dollar asset investments that take years to pay off - there more than a few similarities.

The belt-tightening strategies are awfully familiar too. Using GPS and other high-tech gear (often under the guidance of consultants) to cut input costs and increase efficiency is the forward-thinking response by industry experts.

Are you struggling to keep your head above the flood waters of rising energy costs? You’re not alone. Keep an eye on others who are facing the same struggles and watch as the leaders emerge.

When Disaster Strikes

It’s been a tough couple of years in terms of natural disasters, and the tragedies in Myanmar and China over the past few months have brought that reality squarely into focus. In the USA, preparedness and response to unexpected events such as hurricanes (remember Katrina ya’ll?) are of utmost concern to organizations such as the Red Cross.

Companies such as Case, Caterpillar, and Komatsu recognize the importance of their roles in providing financial and heavy equipment resources in dire times. Helping countries repair vital infrastructure and save lives is good PR, good politics, and dare I say…just the right, decent, human thing to do.

When equipment gets lost in these situations (and we know that it does) how do you think it gets found again? Chances are that when chaos strikes it’s harder than usual to get that heavy dozer to where it needs to be, and to keep it running in top form for days and weeks without end. It seems pretty clear - when disaster strikes, managing a rapid-response fleet of heavy equipment with GPS is a very smart thing to do.

Online Education and Training for Rental and Construction

Although there are plenty of firms out there that provide safety training online, we at RentalMetrics are providing "Business Health Training" online. 

• Our target is not safety managers. 
• Our service is geared toward department managers (fleet managers, service managers, transportation managers, general managers) and business owners.
• Our education is delivered via audio, video, and screen cast remotely...on our subscriber's schedule.
• Our topics include:
  • Business Process Management
  • Marketing and Promotion
  • Technology Solutions
  • Project Management

A subscription to an online education and training service seems like pretty cheap insurance against stagnation and getting burned by technology solution vendors right?

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Blue Sky Networks Releases New Tracking System

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Blue Sky Networks announced the release of their D411 System.
As reported on Fleet Owner Magazine (Full article here):

The Iridium-based D411, the company’s simplest and most affordable satellite tracking solution yet, is designed for fleets that regularly operate in remote areas. Integrated with Blue Sky Network's SkyRouter web portal, vehicles using D411 can be viewed quickly and in near real-time by fleet managers. Additionally, companies with other air, land or sea assets being monitored via SkyRouter can view all their assets on the same online screen.

Blue Sky Networks has been interviewed by RentalMetrics as part of our Online GPS Product Showcase.  You can listen to our 5 minute interview here.

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Human Inertia

Why is change so hard?

A great post at the Be Excellent® blog hits the nail on the head. It’s the “people factor.”

Like it or not, change doesn’t happen just by the “supreme will” of the CEO or director.

Change happens by winning hearts and minds, building a groundswell of enthusiastic support through clear and consistent communication.

Remember, people naturally resist change. Think of your organization like a river – millions of tiny drops all headed in the same direction. To redirect the course of all those drops there needs to be a path of less resistance than the current, well-worn riverbed.

It’s a matter of pressure. If a new direction seems easier and clearer, or the old path becomes more difficult (think of a dam or floodwall in the river analogy) then the old direction is abandoned and a new course is set.

Just like redirecting a mighty river, changing human behavior is not a small or easy task. As a change leader, respect your organization’s “human inertia” and don’t underestimate the soft side of change management.

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Web Marketing Strategy: Oudated? Non-Existent?

We talk to subscribers and businesses quite a lot about online marketing strategies.  Many rental and construction firms have "cob web" sites that resemble the first template sites that were include in MSFT Front Page back in 1998.  Look...we understand.  Your website was originally intended to:

1. Make you more findable in searches.
2. Be service brochure so people know what you do.
3. Ensure that potential clients can contact you more easily.

Not much has changed with the goals (all of which are geared towards growing your business)...but most of the strategies and methodologies have.  Many firms have fallen behind.

There's a great piece in Manage Smarter called: Is Your Web Marketing Strategy Outdated?  Author Brad Beiermann speaks to this issue.  He says:

As the U.S. continues shifts from an industrial economy to a services oriented economy, the need for businesses to leverage online Web services continues to grow. As a result, the opportunity for innovation exists in creating an experience that allows greater interactivity between a corporate Web site and the customer. Unfortunately, many companies are still behind the eight ball with static Web 1.0 sites

Many don't associate construction or equipment rental with "high tech" and "early adoption" of Internet technologies...and once we get out of the large firms in the sector, there tends to be a precipitous drop in adoption of the more modern tools of the Internet marketing trade.

We like to navigate and quantify the transformation of an "old-school" business to an online marketing powerhouse.  It does NOT mean that your business has to invest 100k in new hardware, software, or IT staff.  The transformation is simply a process that begins with education.

If this makes sense, you can get more education at no charge.  You can visit http://signup.rentalmetrics.com and select the free trial.  Once in, watch the Introduction to Marketing & Promotions video. 

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The future of business travel: Not doing it

Think Scotty was on to something when he beamed captain kirk around the galaxy? 

Well get ready to be blown away. Are you ready to have virtual meetings with holographic images of team members that really don't look different than their actual...physical selves? Take a look at this video and witness the Cisco On Stage TelePresence project. (click play)

This is truly the future of an interconnected world with no travel boundaries.  Personally, I think the airlines (the ones left) should make a move to OWN this technology.  That way they could offer "book a flight" or "book a holographic conference" at a conference center (airport) near your town.  Imagine how happy people would be knowing they were just driving to the airport to have a meeting vs. fly!

I'm guessing Des Moines wouldn't be on the same hot list as LA or NYC of San Francisco...but we'll wait. 

You see...at RentalMetrics we're already taking the bold steps to embrace this world.  It may only be 10 years before this is a common reality for everyone.  Shouldn't we start getting used to it now?  Flying is already a nightmare.  Now that it costs an arm and a leg to "buy that nightmare", I think it makes sense to leverage all things virtual. 

Our subscribers get a web cam for free when they sign up.  They also get access to an online Interactive Learning Environment that powers them at home, in the office, or on the road. 

We're headed towards the world of tomorrow...today.

Chief Deliverer of Results Quoted in Utility Contractor Magazine

The cover story for the May 2008 issue of Utility Contractor Magazine is called, "The Transmission: Fleet Management Systems Employ GPS and Cellular Signals to Up Productivity

It's a great article.  Here's my quote:

“By injecting actionable data from fleet management systems into the business cycle, leaders can proactively make decisions on fleet composition, replace vs. repair and fleet staging,” says Doug Mitchell, CEO and founder of RentalMetrics, a subscription-based consulting service operating online — allowing professionals to research available GPS solutions for their equipment, trucks and trailers and identify and calculate ROI for solution deployments across the enterprise. “Also, data can become very powerful when used across the enterprise to streamline transportation, dispatching a driver directly to a machine vs. somewhere on a jobsite or in field service, dispatching a technician to a machine with a proper inventory of parts based on a fault code received at the home office.”

We try to take a holistic approach with GPS solutions.  I've been chatting with solution manufacturers the last few days and each describe that "most clients still buy for one or two key reasons." There's nothing wrong with that...but to really extract the value from the solution across the enterprise, we must engage the entire company and break down the walls between corporate silos. 

"Mr. Large Construction company President...tear down these walls!"

(first equipment rental/construction company reader to add a comment with the person who's words I'm making a play on...gets a free 14 day FULL ACCESS trial to the RentalMetrics Interactive Learning Environment.)