Teeco Solutions Dec 2017 6 PG

Teeco Solutions Dec 2017 6 PG

Offering the Best in Tent Washing & Drying Machines

www.TeecoSolutions.com

EARNS IN TURNS

THE ART OF PERFECT INVENTORY

In the tent rental business, understanding the phrase “earns in turns” is essential. For most tent rental business owners, there are times during the year when you make most of your money, and times when income only trickles in. But it makes sense. People are more apt to throw outside celebrations in warmer weather than in cold, which means tent rentals are more commonly needed during the warmer seasons of the year. However, one often overlooked aspect of earns and turns is inventory. Great businesses all have one thing in common: great management. And part of great management is the ability to successfully manage your inventory. During the busy times of the year when cash seems to flow in endlessly, you often feel as though there is no space in your storehouse. People are coming and going, equipment is out and ready for use, and your tents come in and out faster than you can blink.

If your shelves are empty, you know your tents are out making money. You also notice, then, that you are in need of more tents for your growing number of customers. Not having enough inventory can hurt your bottom line and your reputation. Your inventory should be large enough that you don’t run out of tents during your busy season. But what is much worse, in my opinion, is when tent rental businesses have inventories that are too big. When you have too much product, you have made a terrible investment. The only ways you can buy inventory as a business owner are as personal, out-of-pocket investments in the company, or with company funds. Money is hard earned, and when unused tents are sitting on your shelf, you know the money you’ve spent has been wasted. The key, then, is to find the balance between too much and not enough inventory. This can be tricky, and not many have mastered the art. I firmly believe that in the tent rental world, the time between when a tent is rented out and when it is back on the shelf and ready for the next customer determines the amount of inventory you need in your storehouse. Think about it. When a tent comes back from a job, it often needs maintenance, cleaning, and an inspection before it is ready to go out again. When you can minimize the time your tent spends in repairs before it is back on the shelf, you will maximize your profits. The quicker you can get your tent through the cleaning process, the faster you can use your inventory, and the less tents you need. I’ve found that the companies who can get their tents ready for rent within 10–24 hours of them being returned to the storehouse have the smallest inventories and largest profits for their customer base. Fast turnaround means more money for you and less money wasted on poor investments.

–Steve Arendt

Contact Us • [email protected] • 877-712-9172 • 1

Published by The Newsletter Pro • www.NewsletterPro.com

In the beginning, Amazon Prime captured our attention with its famed two-day shipping. Today, Prime members have bulked up, adding music streaming, e-books, and original shows to their list of fan favorites. But would you believe this entertainment Juggernaut can also benefit your business? Check out these Prime perks you might have overlooked. STORE IT IN THE CLOUD All Amazon customers have access to 5GB of free storage with Amazon’s Cloud Drive. However, Prime members are allowed unlimited photo storage with Prime Photos. This is an incredible resource for storing all those stock photos and other work-related snapshots. Need an eye-catching visual for your latest blog or social media update? Prime Photos grants easy access to your entire picture library from anywhere! KEEP THE BREAK ROOM STOCKED Let Prime Pantry replace time-consuming trips to the grocery store. Get break room necessities delivered right to the office for a flat shipping rate of $5.99. Keep the cereal bar stocked with

office favorites, have extra peanut butter and jelly on hand in case someone forgets their lunch, and never run out of paper towels again. You won’t find certain perishable goods on Prime Pantry, but Amazon’s vast selection is sure to cross off most items on your shopping list. SAVE MORE WITH LIGHTNING DEALS Every day, Amazon is full of Lightning Deals — brief but amazing sales on high-ticket items. Amazon offers a limited quality on these sales, so they can disappear fast. Prime members get a 30-minute head start on Lightning Deals, which means you have a better shot at grabbing them before they’re gone. A smart business owner knows the value of small deals, and 20 percent off surge protectors or 72 percent off charging cables can add up fast. As you consider incorporating a Prime account into your business, keep in mind that Amazon does offer a membership geared toward companies called Amazon Business. This service comes with business-oriented offers including exclusive discounts, approval workflows, corporate credit, and perks for bulk orders. However, many businesses, managing finances is a full-time job, but it isn’t always treated as one. If you are starting to wonder if it’s time to delegate this task, that means bringing in help is probably long overdue. The biggest sign you are spending too much time looking at your numbers is when you find your company is not reaching growth or production goals. As one small-business owner, Kelly Barker, learned, focusing too much time on bookkeeping meant she sacrificed the success of her company, Prep Cosmetics, in key areas. Speaking to Inc.com, Barker imparted the following insight: “Whatever it is, find a way to outsource it, especially if it’s not a lot of cost. Because time is such a factor, and if it isn’t driving success, it’s not worth your time.” You might ask, “Isn’t hiring someone to help with finances costly?” Hiring a bookkeeper comes with its fair share of costs, whether you hire someone to work in-house or a freelancer. However, when your finances are in control and under the guidance of a financial pro, there is a good chance your hire will end up paying for themselves, and then some — as long as you clearly communicate your business’s financial goals.

There’s a reality among small-business owners and entrepreneurs. They want to do everything. Whether their business is brand-new or long established, small-business owners tend to struggle with delegation. This includes the financial side of the business. Another reality: There are times when you need to hand over the financial reins to someone else, someone who is more capable and has the expertise to ensure your business has the financial foundation it needs to move forward and, hopefully, prosper.

HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN IT’S TIME TO CALL IN SOMEONE TO MANAGE YOUR BOOKS?

The answer won’t surprise you. It comes down to one primary factor: time. When you, as a business owner, are spending too much time on the finances, it’s time to call for help. When you want to grow your business, time is one of your most precious resources. You have to manage it wisely. For

2

A key component of improving profitability in the tent rental business is and will always be working to realize further operational efficiencies for the business. Teeco Solutions has worked with and studied the best practices of many tent rental operators for over a decade. Certain practices continually resonate as smart, repeatable approaches to improving operating efficiencies. There’s no question that there are a lot of moving parts to a profitable tent rental business. We trust that you’ll find one or two helpful tips that will help you take your commercial tent rental business to the next level. To help further improve efficiencies and profitability for your jobs, get other members of your operations team to take a look at the site and the job description beforehand. Thinking the job through with other members of your team will bring some great ideas to the table that can surely improve operating efficiencies and job profitability. Additional opportunities to increase operating efficiencies may include: • Staging of setup times to allow for setup of smaller tents off to the side in the early stages of the job. By doing so, you may find that valuable time can be saved in the event of inclement weather. • Negotiating start times with the customer. Sometimes events will dictate a very specific start date and time for setup. You will want to identify the customer’s reason for doing so. Often, setup times are established based on issues of space utilization (e.g., the event is to take place at a downtown location, and it would be important to schedule setup at a time when there will be minimal foot traffic, possibly after midnight on a certain weekday). Knowing the reason behind the customer requested setup time will provide greater insight from which you will be able to negotiate a more opportune time for your crew to initiate setup. Additionally, by asking questions of the customer about the site location, you may learn that the customer has a small space that will serve as a perfect staging area to allow for the set-up of 10x10s or 20x20 tops — a day earlier or hours earlier. Then, when it is time to set up for the event,

your crew will be able to carry the tents to the final location. There will likely be times when you can get creative and negotiate with another business or parking lot operator to provide some valuable space for event staging. Taking these extra steps to move the logistics in your favor can help to dramatically beat deadlines for event setup times. All of these actions ultimately can lead to a very satisfied customer that provides great referrals and repeat business. • Labor management. Based on the requirements of the job, it is possible that the majority of the laborers show up at the job site to start their day. This approach will be significantly more efficient than showing up at the warehouse and paying the workers for windshield time to travel to and from the site. These small changes in operating procedures can mount up to significant improvements in efficiencies and job profitability. • A key component to improving profitability in the tent rental business is and will always be working to realize further operational efficiencies for the business. Teeco Solutions has worked with and studied the best practices of many tent rental operators for over a decade. Certain practices continually resonate as smart repeatable approaches to improving operating efficiencies. The challenges of efficiently and effectively operating a tent rental business are plentiful. But many of those challenges can be properly addressed with good planning and resource allocation. When going about the day-to-day operations for your business and planning the work or your crews, be smart and maintain an open eye and an open ear for opportunities to improve both the quality and efficiency of how work is being performed. At the end of the day, it’s the little improvements that will pay big returns in both improved profitability and customer satisfaction.

OUR CLIENTS SAY IT BEST!

" a i o e

“WE BUILT A REALLY GOOD TEAM AT MARQUIS EVENTS AND AN IMPORTANT PART OF OUR TEAM IS OUR TEECO 3000. HE SHOWS UP EVERY DAY AND IS NEVER SICK, HIS CAR ALWAYS STARTS, HE DOESN’T COMPLAIN, WE CAN FEED HIM AS MUCH VINYL AS WE CAN AND HE SPITS IT BACK OUT CLEAN. HE’S A GREAT PART OF OUR TEAM, AND WE COULDN’T DO IT WITHOUT HIM.”

h d f c cl t w

“LOOKING BACK NOW, AFTER HAVING THE MACHINE IN PLACE I CAN’T IMAGINE TRYING TO DO IT WITHOUT IT. IT MAKES THAT MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE IN THE COMFORT LEVEL AND THE WAY WE OPERATE OUR BUSINESS.”

“For us the tent washing machine m and efÞciency; our ability to have t rent faster and the quality and clean material is always what the custome

“Looking back now, after having the machine in place I can’t imagine trying to do it without it. It makes that much of a difference in the comfort level and the way we operate our business”

“FOR US THE TENT WASHING MACHINE MEANS PRODUCTIVITY AND EFFICIENCY; OUR ABILITY TO HAVE THE GOODS READY TO RENT FASTER, AND THE QUALITY AND CLEANLINESS OF THE MATERIAL IS ALWAYS WHAT THE CUSTOMER EXPECTS.”

~Dan Chase, Chase Canopy

So, you’ve finally woken up and realized that social media marketing is more than just the fad skeptics thought it was a few years back. However, keeping tabs on numerous posts across multiple social platforms can easily eat up all your time. After all, you’re a small- business owner, not a savvy social media marketing expert who can afford an entire team just to run the company Facebook page. Enter Hootsuite, a robust, web-based social media management application that allows you to wrangle a nearly unlimited number of social accounts in one place, drastically reducing wasted time spent tracking each platform, while providing you with a number of tools to measure customer engagement with your brand. With Hootsuite, you can integrate nearly every possible social network your business utilizes — from Facebook and Twitter to Instagram and beyond — into a single, seamless dashboard. From here, you can create timed streams for every bit of content you post to any social media account you’re managing, synchronizing or duplicating posts across platforms for maximum impact. Hootsuite plans range from a limited free plan, which allows the managing of three social profiles from a single user and includes post scheduling (perfect for a user brand-new to social media marketing), to a $499 per month business plan, which includes exportable analytic >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6

Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs