Biggest mistakes made by equipment hire companies

There are thousands of hire companies across Australia and each will tell you why their management style is best. Becoming a successful supplier takes time and effort, and more often than not, learning from mistakes.

Whether you're a hire company with 10+ years experience, or a new starter, you're bound to have learn something from trial and error. But always remember that every problem has a solution. We've compiled the most common roadblocks to building successful hire companies and our remedies to overcome these setbacks.

1. Underestimating or overestimating their capabilities

Suppliers can sometimes underestimate or overestimate their capabilities. There are times that hire companies shy away from big clients as they think that their capabilities are not sufficient enough for the client’s needs. On the other hand, there are times that hire companies overestimate their capabilities and end up not meeting their client’s expectations.

How to remedy this: To avoid circumstances like these, prepare a capability statement which you can present to your potential clients – whether it’s a big client or not, show them what you can do and let them decide for themselves. If the client decided not to hire from you, look on the bright side – at least now the client knows that your company exists and could potentially hire from you the next time they need to hire equipment.

2. Ignoring job opportunities

Smaller construction jobs outnumber big project. If suppliers only focus on the biggest and best, they could be missing out on valuable contacts for local work, consistent opportunities and more.

Take this case study for example, where a Victorian-based earthmoving company, Starbuck & Sons, received a lead through PlantMiner for a three-day hire request for a truck & dog in Braeside. They responded to the service request and through hashing out a cost-benefit analysis, they found it was more economical to use a truck & dog a few days a week as opposed to continually bringing their bins back from job sites.

With one conversation, Starbuck offered a solution to the hirer and turned a one-off three day dry hire job into an agreement that will see him do two days wet hire per week. With no end in sight, the contract has been worth $15,000 (and counting) in plant hire work.

3.  Not responding to tender opportunities

Supplier can also ignore request for rates to be used in a contractor's tender. Some prefer tackling confirmed jobs because they think tenders don't offer the same chances for winning a hire contract or that the wait is simply too long. Tenders are a long process, it's true. But it's important to keep in mind that only valuable projects go to tender. We've seen millions of dollars come from tender pricing through PlantMiner for our suppliers.

How to remedy this: There’s nothing wrong with sticking to confirmed jobs, but submitting a bid for a tender will also be advantageous to your company in the future. How is bidding for a tender worthwhile? Your company’s name will be exposed to important people in the industry once you submit a bid for a tender and that exposure will help you generate more leads in the future, so bid away when the opportunity opens.

4. Not bothering with marketing

Marketing makes up a big part of a business’ success – successful hire companies have an outstanding marketing strategy and an outstanding marketing strategy makes your company stand out. A big mistake that a lot of hire companies make is that they don’t put any effort to stand out in the industry, and that’s why they get overshadowed by their competitors.

How to remedy this: Don’t get intimidated by your competitors, whether you run a hire company with less than 10 items in your fleet or with over 20 items for hire. Cook up an outstanding marketing plan and stand out from all the other hire companies in the industry.

No business is perfect, but there will always be a solution to each problem that a company will face. It's just a matter of identifying the right solutions to those problems. There are also multiple companies or agencies who offer remedies to one or more of the mistakes above.

PlantMiner was established to offer such remedies for hire companies. We give equal hire opportunities to all companies listed with us, as well as offer them marketing options to help them get their name out infront of the right people.

We have created a free eBook that contains 9 templates to help you craft the perfect email to accept a job, follow up a proposal or strengthen industry networks. Start handling any quoting situation with efficiency by downloading our free eBook below.