Hire leads the way
10 September 2020
Wow! I’ve hit a century! This is my 100th post since launching the blog three months ago.
It’s been genuinely inspiring to hear all the positive stories of hirers and suppliers redoubling their efforts to ensure the safety of staff and customers, and getting on with business in these changing times.
As well as providing a record for posterity, one of the reasons for the blog was to explore the ideas and trends that will shape the so-called ‘new normal’.
Significant changes
It’s become clear that there will be significant changes in the way people live, work and do business. However, it strikes me that in many ways, the hire industry is already meeting these requirements.
So to celebrate my century, here are 10 reasons why I think hire is leading the way forward:
1. Fast delivery. Retailers like Amazon win business by guaranteeing next-day delivery to people who don’t want to travel. However, hirers are used to providing items on a same-day basis if required, not just the following day. It’s all about service.
2. Going green. When traffic volumes decreased during lockdown, reductions in urban pollution raised environmental awareness. More people want technologically advanced green products, and hire is the proven, cost-effective means of obtaining them.
3. Circular economy. Hire epitomises this concept which is aimed at eliminating waste and the maximising the use of resources. The same product can be used by many throughout its sustainable life.
4. Staying local. People have become used to shopping locally for social distancing reasons. A number of blog posts have shown that many appreciate being able to source equipment from hirers near their home.
5. Diversification. More consumers and businesses are looking for a single source of supply. As a result, flexible hirers have added more services like retail activities and, even, designing new products to meet new demands.
6. Training. Site workers need to be trained in new practices to comply with factors like social distancing and sanitisation procedures. Many hirers already run successful training centres to offer industry related courses and are adding more.
7. Health & Safety. Being in the middle of the supply chain, hirers already offer advice and protective equipment to end users on issues like work at height and hand arm vibration. With items like masks and other PPE now required to combat coronavirus, hirers are a trusted source of support.
8. Multi-tasking. Personnel have taken on additional tasks while colleagues were furloughed and new skills like using Zoom software. Indeed, hire professionals are well used to flexibly moving between tasks like managing a hire desk, making emergency repairs and loading vehicles when needed.
9. Carbon footprints. People have become environmentally conscious, but hirers already are. For years, many have been pro-active, not just recycling waste but also installing solar panels at their depots, as well as rainwater harvesting systems and electric vehicle charging points.
10. Contactless working. From taking online orders and arranging customer collections, to running software that facilitates signature capture, hirers have been amongst the early adopters of new technological solutions.
So there are just ten reasons why hirers are in the vanguard of the new trading environment and why people should be doing business with them.
Tell your customers how good you are!
Photo: Floris Andréa/Unsplash
