The best rental business ideas come from meeting a need in the market that no one else is covering. SAB Supply was founded because they saw that access equipment was way too expensive, and there had a be a way to provide them for an affordable cost. They mainly worked with paper to track bookings but recently moved to Booqable to digitize their workflow.
It was common to pay high prices for specialized equipment in the past, but as it has become more accessible, the pricing has lowered. This is primarily thanks to the growing number of rental businesses that offer them at a fraction of the retail cost. It has empowered people to take on tasks that would’ve been a much more expensive endeavor not long ago.
SAB Supply
SAB Supply was started in 2011 after the founder noticed people in the access and plant hire industry were paying very high prices. He knew that there had to be a way to provide them at much more affordable prices without sacrificing profit. To achieve this, he negotiated favorable rates with suppliers that have allowed him to supply equipment at much lower prices.
He was alone in his bedroom for much of the early years, running SAB Supply, but it has subsequently grown over the past decade. Now, the company is one of the UK’s leading suppliers of access equipment, plant equipment, and tool hire. This growth was made possible by providing a personal yet professional service, which is rare in this industry.
SAB Supply sees customers as people that need help with a job rather than just a source of income, and they treat them as such. In addition, because they act as a broker for the UK’s top suppliers, they can offer the most extensive range of equipment in the industry at competitive prices. This means their customers have better access than they would with a single supplier.
Climbing a paper mountain to digitize everything
For almost a decade, SAB Supply used paper to track and manage their customer’s orders. This led to thousands of sheets of paper collecting in their office, which had to be flicked through to find a customer’s order. Of course, this required a significant time commitment that led to many wasted hours and the potential for human error to creep in.
Finally, it was time to transform the company for good and move to a digital booking platform. Booqable was their rental software of choice, and it has been a life-changer for the workflow of the business. Now, they can manage customers’ orders easily, whether they are creating new customers and orders, invoicing customers, or passing details onto suppliers.
Accessing all of this information by simply entering a customer’s details has saved them hours per week. The time would previously have been spent searching through piles upon piles of paper. In addition, the order process has been streamlined thanks to having access to everything while on the phone with customers.
A whole new world
SAB Supply has seen productivity in the office increase massively, thanks to the changes they have made to their workflow. Their sales staff can take down details, check availability, and confirm a customer’s order much faster than before. In addition, they have access to all past and upcoming orders, so they have a much more full picture of operations.
Having dependable and adaptable software for your rental business is incredibly important, especially as you transition from physical order forms to virtual order forms. The ease with which SAB Supply made this transition made the process much easier and has taken their rental business to another level.
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