The Rental Rag
The voice of The ARA of NJ
March 1st 2004
“Make sure you don’t lose the customers you’ve spent so much energy to acquire.”
FAST FACT
Did you know that the most successful Rental stores in NJ Attend meeting regularly.
· Networking with your peers
· Find out what products and services work
· How to generate business with niche marketing
Officers of our association
President:
Megan Jones
Celebration Party Rentals
PO Box 2151
Flemington, NJ 08822
Phone: (908) 735-7368
Fax: (908) 806-0029
Vice
President:
& Legistative
Dan Mihalko
Do-It-Yourself-Rentals
38 Route 10 West
East Hanover, NJ 07936
Phone: (973) 887-2251
Fax: (973) 887-8770
Secretary:
Judy Boelhouwer
Friendly Rental Center
1709 Rt. 130 -
North Brunswick, NJ
Phone: (732) 297-6100
Fax: (732) 297-6160
Treasurer
Tom Lade
All County Rentals
2 Lackawanna Place
Morristown, NJ 07960
Phone: (973) 267-1255
Fax: (973) 267-4327
Communications
Steve Kohn
Millers Rentals & Sales
764 US HW #1
Edison, NJ 08817
Phone: (732) 985-3050
Fax: (732) 985-4415
National
Representative
Joe Mihalko, Jr.
Do-It-Yourself-Rentals
38 Route 10 West
East Hanover, NJ 07936
Phone: (973) 887-2251
Fax: (973) 887-8770
Education
Chairman:
Dave Hinck
A Party Center
202 Fairfield Rd.
Fairfield, NJ 07006
Phone: (973) 575-1190
Fax: (973) 808-7192
Associate Representative:
Brian Higgins
Kaye Insurance
38 Perrin Ave
Pompton Lakes 07442
Phone: (973) 835-8439
Fax: (973) 835-7312
Executive
Director:
Carl Sparacio
A.R.A. of NJ
28 Refy Ave.
Ramsey, NJ 07442
Phone: (201) 327-2495
Fax: (201) 236-8934
Social
Chairperson
Kristen Redmond
United Rent All
230 Rt. 206 South
Hillsborough 08876
Phone: (908) 359-3663
Fax: (908) 359-4319
Party SIG
Rocky Sconda
Jessica Sorkau
Main Attractions
85 Newfield Ave
Edison, NJ 08837
Phone: (732) 225-3500
Fax: (732) 225-2110
Membership
Howard Heller
M & R Sales
82 Gallinson Drive
Murray Hill, NJ 07974
Phone: (908) 508-0658
E-mail:
mnrsls@bellatlantic.net
Please support our Associate Members:
Air & Electric Tool Srvcs.
Phone: (908) 272-5567
Allied Insurance Brokers
Phone: (412) 231-8383
Anchor Industries
Phone: (800) 808-8368
BT Sales Group
Phone: (516) 420-4111
Cadco Company
Phone: (800) 942-2326
Ditch Witch of NJ
Phone: (732) 446-9600
Dodson Group
Phone: (800) 245-1173
Garden State Bobcat
Phone: (732) 780-6880
GR Evans Associates
Phone: (800) 247-6722
Harrison Products Corp.
Phone: (201) 833-0333
JD Sales
Phone: (908) 704-9761
Kaye Insurance Assoc.
Phone: (973) 835-8439
M & R Sales, Inc.
Phone: (908) 508-0658
Millennium Steel
Phone: (212) 594-2190
Muller Machinery
Phone: (201) 343-2255
National Chemsearch
Phone: (732) 739-2428
National Insurance Specialists
Phone: 800) 556-9288
O’Donnell & English
Phone: (732) 224-1199
Pace Marketing
Phone: (800) 638-8624
R A Markert Associates
Phone: (800) 295-7955
Republic Business Forms
Phone: (973) 616-0080
RLM Agency Inc.
Phone: (973) 835-6171
R S S Distributors
Phone: (800) 233-0175
Stanley Bostitch
Phone: (800) 556-6696
Wacker Corp
Phone: (973) 442-1551
Jersey Talk
by Howard Heller
Congratulations……… To Joe and Lori Mihalko, on the birth of their daughter: Marianna! What a wonderful way to start a new year. Best of Luck!!!
Congratulations……… To Matt Holt, Region 2’s: “Person Of The Year”! Well Deserved, Matt!
Check This Out………… The *NEW* Grand Rental Station, on Rt. 22 in Bridgewater, NJ. It’s a beauty, stop in and say “Hi” to Manager, Larry Reasoner.
Check This Out………… Watch out for, Joe Boege, *NEW* Branch Manager for Taylor Rental, Dunellen. He’s off to a terrific start!
Grand Opening………… Kenny Puff, West Chester Tool & Party Rentals, is getting ready to open his *NEW* party rental warehouse & showroom. It’s going to be beautiful! Stop in and see the “Mobile Kitchen” the hot new rental (sub-rental) item. Contact him for further details!
Any news to add???
Send all submissions for review via e-mail to Howard Heller:
:mnrsls@verizon.net
PLACE
YOUR
ADD
HERE
FAST FACT
A survey released last
week suggests that small businesses may not be able to ignore online
advertising for long, because potential customers
are looking
for them on the Internet.
FAST FACT
Owner-operators of independent rental stores are articulating three key objectives for coming to Atlanta: (1.) to buy new rental equipment to replace dated inventory, (2.) to seek out brand new products introduced at the show for creative, revenue-rich niche opportunities, and (3.) to reap the myriad learning experiences for their businesses that come through knowledge-packed ARA seminars, face-to-face interaction with product vendors and the often unplanned but deeply meaningful networking scenario
Great Places to Check out
Special Events
Rental equipment register
Event Solutions Magazine
The State of NJ
Official Website
Best Search Engine
On Earth
Message from Megan
I was recently in Las Vegas for the Special Events Show. It was not as warm as I had expected in the middle of a desert in January, lows in the forties. It wasn’t until the return trip, when the pilot announced it was a balmy two (2°) degrees in Newark, that I could truly appreciate where I had been for the past week. Sometimes you have to step outside of an area, your business or an association to gain a better perspective.
The topic I was invited to speak on for the convention, looking “outside of the box” when marketing your company, products and services, brought more meaning to me when that pilot said it was two degrees in New Jersey.
As President, of the ARA of NJ, I feel this same concept needs to apply when marketing this organization to the membership. The last article I wrote in the Rental Rag touched base on why members participate and why some do not. And for those who do, what benefits they get from doing so. If it’s been some time since you’ve participated, now is the time to come out again to see how we are now thinking: “outside of that box”.
We are going to bring different concepts and looks to your meetings, your education and your communication. Yes, I say yours, because this is your association and what you are going to see and hear this year is what you, the membership has asked for, but in a way never done before.
Intrigued....I hope so!
The first phase, as you’ll see in this issue, begins with communication and the Rental Rag theme for this year is entitled: “Six Degrees of Separation”. This is the cycle of how everything or one works together or is affected by what you or one of the other people in the cycle does. This year’s format revolves around the Employee with our first issue focusing on Management in the workplace. I hope you enjoy it and welcome your feedback.
I look forward to seeing you all at our first meeting on March 10th where we’ll have some fun surprises in store for you.
Megan
President ARA of NJ
From our future Regional Director
ARA Nationals and Management this should be an easy slam dunk article to write. National is all about Management and helping you manage your company. My challenge is that I know that you’ve all heard that before so let me try this. Tying together last months topic of what we get out of ARA and this months how does ARA help us manage our companies; let me try to give some specifics of what we use from ARA to run our day to day business.
Let me start with a shameless plug for the number one benefit by member’s survey - The Rental Show. This year’s show is in Atlanta Feb. 26th - Feb. 29th. What better way to manage your purchasing time and leverage your buying power than to go where all of the different items to purchase for your business are in one place. Side by side competing vendor’s vying for your business. Each year more and more vendors are offering show only specials for the members who make the effort to attend. We make our wish list and yes, we do the majority of our purchases at the show and the rest of the year from the information gathered at the show. The Rental Show is also where we find we are able to get refocused and retrained for the year. Learn new and better management skills at the seminars on the days previous to the floor opening. Packed with information from experts and folks from our industry if you have questions or issues I’ll bet money there is someone there who not only can, but will help you. Just rubbing elbows with successful rental people enables me to be a more successful rental manager. You’ve heard that old exception "no one is completely useless, they can serve as a bad example". Sometimes what we get out of attending meetings and seminars, nationally or locally, is the knowledge that our management style is “not doing so badly". I don’t care who you are, there are times you question what or how you’re doing something in business; hey maybe that's why you’re reading this article.... Being around others in your same industry can help affirm that, "yeah, I am doing this right"; and almost always "thank goodness it’s not just me". Think about this the next time you over hear an employee griping about your customers or how "it always happens to them”. Bring them to the next meeting and let them hang out with some other rental people. We do and the boys always come back with comments like "gee I thought we had it bad but" or "you know what”? This happens there too and this is what so & so is doing in this situation". You can bring a key employee to Atlanta with you. Sunday is going to be free entry for employees.
You have a computer and it’s probably hooked up to the Internet. Are you receiving and here’s the key reading the RentalPulse. This is our industries weekly heartbeat. You’ll want this to help keep current in rental. National sends it out Sunday and it’s in your mail box Monday AM. The RentalPulse quickly and cleanly gives highlights of the rental industry and what to look for or out for. It’s free to subscribe, go to: www.rentalpulse.com. Keeping with Nationals and the web there are two more web items from nationals we use to help manage our business and train our employees. First is www.RentalHQ.com this site drives customers to your store, without customers it really doesn’t matter how we manage anything. Customize a separate web site, update your inventory listing online and let customers know what you rent. If you need assistance or more information call Mike Savely at Nationals 800-334-2177, ext. 246. The second is Rental U, www.ARARentalU.com this, in my opinion, is The Best Under Utilized program for training and managing from ARA. The program is online employee training. Because it is online and web based there is 24/7 access. The curriculum is vast and varied to cover all aspects of the rental business. You can use these courses to train employees from counter personnel to mechanics to back office people. I must admit we have only begun to utilize this service but what I’ve seen and done myself hands down impresses me. Craig Weiss can give you a fuller accounting of the program; give him a call 800-334-2177, ext. 241.
Like I said earlier, without customers, this is all just ink on paper. We all want and need new customers. Some of which would like to become the dreaded Charge Customer. Well fear no more or at least a little less. Let ARA help you manage your credit approvals and no, it’s not as expensive as you might think. You can run a credit report on an individual for only $10. A commercial Intelliscore is only $17; Small Business Intelliscores $22 and a Business Profile $28. How much more confident are we extending credit or not with the applicants Experian score in our hands? I hope your saying a lot better, how do you do it. Through ARA’s Texas field office, of course. Contact Leon Kothmann in Texas 800-234-7056 or tra@io.com he’ll be glad to get you the information you’re looking for.
I started with a plug for ARA National. I’m going to end with a plug for my first love: ARA of NJ. Being a member of this great organization means one thing for sure, you don’t have to do it all on your own. We have regular meetings right here in NJ which we try and spread around the state. Take an evening and come on out. See what’s what and who’s who. There are a bunch of new board members who are eager to meet you and willing to serve. Our next meeting Wednesday, March 10th is a terrific example of our association coming together. ARA of NJ is sponsoring a REAP advisor from the ARA Foundation. Oh yeah, the ARA Foundation, yet another benefit from Nationals to assist you with your business. Past National President Richard Paquette- The REAP advisor sponsored by ARA of NJ will be visiting three (3) ARA of NJ members’ stores Tuesday and Wednesday. Then, Richard will spend the evening of the March 10th, speaking to our association about marketing in the rental business. Want to know more, interested enough to read this whole article? Grab your calendar now and pen in the date: Wednesday March 10th. Leave work a little earlier: you’re the boss make arrangements now. We’ll feed you when you get there. Grab your wife, bring a key employee or two, come on out and see what we’re talking about. I’ll bet lunch you won’t be sorry you did.
See You March 10th,
Meeting notice:
The next ARA of NJ meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 10th, 2004.
Meet and Greet 6:00 to
6:30PM
Dinner 6:30 to 7:00PM
Business 7:00 to 7:30PM
Key Note Speaker - Richard Paquette - 7:30 to 8:30PM
Questions and Answers 8:30 to 9:00PM
What is happening at the next meeting?
Take this opportunity to get one-on-one expert business advice through the “Rental Executive Advisor Program”!
Reply to this e-mail and your store will be entered into a drawing that will decide which stores will receive a “REAP” Advisor. Do it today! The drawing will be held next week.
Don't let an opportunity such as this pass you by!
The ARA of NJ is proud to sponsor a visit from Richard Paquette. For those of you that have met Richard you will agree he is an excellent wealth of information and is a delightful speaker to learn from. We are fortunate to have Richard come visit us from Canada. If you want to improve your business and take home valuable information that will contribute to your success, we urge you to attend this meeting.
Richard Paquette, president and CEO of Pyramide Rental Centers, headquartered in Chateauguay, Quebec, Canada, was the elected in 1998 as the 38th president of the American Rental Association. Paquette has served in a great breadth of A.R.A. leadership positions as a member, board liaison or chair of committees including Rental Excellence, Next Gener-ation, National Awards, Long-Range Planning, Investment, Governmental Affairs, Budget, Advertising and Marketing, State Association, Membership Definition, Education, Business Development, Political Action, Rental Management Business, BBS/WWW and Buying Group, as well as chair of the General Tool and Equipment Services Special Interest Group and a moderator at the A.R.A. Legislative Caucus in Washington, D.C. He was elected vice president in 1996.
Currently Richard serves on the REAP advisor committee. The REAP Advisors are current or retired rental executives or professionals volunteering time in their areas of expertise to assist new and existing rental companies. Before selection, Advisors submitted an application and biography, then were individually interviewed by a panel from the Foundation Board of
Trustees to validate their qualifications and assure they will comply with the REAP Code of Ethics.
When asked in an interview about his rental philosophy, Richard replied "I guess what I will bring is the big picture. It has always been my philosophy, when I've tackled a job that I thought would take about one hour, to take the first five minutes and plan how I was going to do [the work during] the next 55 minutes, instead of starting the job and planning en route and spending an hour and a half. I think you have to have the ability to change en route. If you can't change, you're dead. I always step back and see the big picture."
Richard will be appearing at our March 10th, 2004 meeting at Fusco's Rental in Flemington, NJ where he will enlighten us on the topic of "Advertising and Marketing your rental business". The evening will feature a meet and great social, along with a very special dinner, a tremendous presentation followed by a question and answer session. This is a meeting you should not miss. Complete details of the meeting will be posted on our website at www.njara.org.
As an added bonus Richard will be arriving a day early in order to spend time with three lucky rental stores to review their operation and marketing efforts and provide feedback. This is an opportunity that if you hired someone it would cost you thousands of dollars. The only cost to you for Richards’s time and knowledge is a donation to the ARA Foundation. (Recommended donation of $50). Whether you are new to the rental industry or have years of experience, you¹ve probably encountered a situation where you wanted to ask someone more experienced for advice. Maybe it was a question of what advertising would be most effective, if you should expand into new inventory or even how you could best remodel your store to increase your profits.
Looking forward to seeing each and every one of you at the next ARA of NJ Meeting.
Fusco’s Rental World
Fusco's was started in 1978 and moved to its present location in Flemington in 1989 when a modern, 10 acre facility was purchased to accommodate its growth. Located at the intersection of Route 202 South and Summer Rd. in Flemington, NJ 08822. It is easily found just 4 miles north of the Flemington circle and 8 miles south of the Somerville circle in Central New Jersey.
Fusco's is open 7 days to service contractors, homeowners and some party rentals. Fusco's carries a full line of heavy equipment, including Articulated Dump Trucks, Excavators, Backhoes, Bulldozers, Trackhoes and Aerial Lifts to 131' all with the contractor in mind. Fusco's also carries an extensive line of Lawn/Garden equipment, Floor Care equipment to 500 HP, Diesel Generators and Power Tools for both professional and do-it-yourselfers. Tents and tables and chairs are available for anywhere from 1 to 300 people.
The Flemington facility includes a full welding, machine and fabrication shop. All of our equipment is maintained, serviced and repaired within our own shop. Fusco's staff prides itself on being able to anticipate the needs of there customers and answer their questions whether a large construction job or a smaller home project.
Please attend the next ARA of NJ meeting at Fusco's Rental World, enjoy a great meal, network with your fellow rental store members, hear a great presentation and visit the showroom and walk the equipment yard.
FUSCO'S RENTAL WORLD
799 Route 202
Flemington, NJ 08822
Phone: (908) 782-4880
Fax: (908) 782-5502
Equipment update
I just read an article in the January issue of Rental Equipment Register magazine. The article is called "25 trends that might matter". It was one of the more interesting articles I have read in this magazine in awhile. This article made me do a lot of thinking. The article predicted a bunch of trends, suggested new markets, made suggestions to make a rental store more efficient and warned of things to watch out for in the future.
In the 1980's, if you were in business, you could make money even if you were an idiot. In the 1990's, all the idiots were gone and you had to watch your expenses because you weren't growing as fast as you had. Now, you have to be at least somewhat techno savvy because all the information you need to run your business presents itself in a different way then it had ten years ago.
So, the main reason I mentioned the magazine article is that I am a strong believer in the exchange of information that you get from ARA of NJ. The board of this organization works hard to bring you information to help you run your business. Come to a meeting, bring an employee and participate in the exchange of information. You will find that you get a lot more out of the rental association then you put in.
E-mail
up to your eye balls
The theme of our upcoming meeting and of this month’s rental rag is management. In sticking with this theme, my column will focus on “How to manage your e-mail”. For all of you receiving tons of useless e-mail everyday, we need to learn how to control what we send, read, forward, trash or save. One thing we have to agree on is people are sick of worthless e-mail clogging their mailboxes every day. Many people believe new computers should be equipped with an automatic “return to sender button”. In a perfect world this would be great, but since we live in the real world it’s time for all of us to take a look at some cold hard facts.
First, e-mail is not the answer to all of man kind’s problems. We tend to forget that there are other ways to communicate. Remember when you use to get up from your chair and walk to the next office to discuss something with a fellow employee rather than e-mail him. Sometimes the best way to communicate a message to a person is face to face. This should save you the task of sending a dozen or so e-mails each day.
Second, let’s stop the SPAM. Just sending an e-mail just to send an e-mail is ridiculous. If you have something really important to share go ahead, but personally I’m not interested in “300 ways to improve my male vitality” or “new and improved methods to stop baldness”. If you’re going to compose an e-mail, state your point in the subject. Use active words such as “rental meeting March 10th” or “information regarding contract 65472”. Basically, cut the crap and get to the point. I don’t want to hear your entire life’s story in an e-mail. Keep to the subject at all times, save the small chat for dinner conversations. Don’t forward those stupid jokes, cartoons and advertisements. Put them were they belong “in the trash”. If you’ve got a good joke call me up, take me to lunch and tell me then. If you want to sell me something, forget it, I’m not buying.
If you receive an e-mail that contains relevant information such as account numbers, pass codes, customer data or meeting information, come up with a good filing system using your mail program. Don’t print and file on your desk somewhere. The whole purpose of e-mail is to manage your life easier. The less printed material the better. Finally before you decide to e-mail, take a moment and ask yourself the following questions: Is this e-mail really necessary? Will this message have better impact if I communicate it differently? How can I make this e-mail short and to the point?
Happy e-mailing.
Manage your e-mail today and go fishing tomorrow.
Respectfully,
If you liked my article sent me an e-mail, I might read it…………………
The Legal Corner
Part of being a good manager is staying on top of things. Laws that affect us all are passed regularly. The ARA can help you understand and even pass or veto laws that pertain to your business. First, you have to be able to vote. The ARA can help you and your employees register so you can vote. That leaves me with one question, “What do we need changed?”
Every day we come across laws that affect us all. Laws that change the way we drive to laws that change the way we do business. Before these laws are passed they have to go through the legislative process. We are the beginning of that process and the ARA can help us get started. Are you a registered voter? Are your employees registered? If not, no problem, you can register yourself and your employees over the Internet. How? Easy, just go the NJARA.org. From there click on the link to ARA National Association. This will take you to their home page. Where you will need to find the heading “ADVOCACY.” For those who don’t know, advocacy means legislative stuff (stuff is a technical term). Highlighted half way through the second paragraph you’ll see “voter registration” and “absentee ballot information and forms” click on it. Next you find your appropriate state then click: go. Bam! You’re there and away you go. Ready to be a voter and a difference maker.
This is only the beginning of where the ARA can help you go. As you surf through the State and National web sites you will find a plethora of information on a variety of topics. I asked earlier, “What do we need to change?” I meant it. If there are any concerns or questions you have, as your new Legislative Chairman, I’d be happy to help find a solution.
Social Etiquette in the Workplace
So many questions arise - should you as an owner or manager socialize outside business with your employees? Do you encourage socialization between employees outside of work? Do you have socials in the framework of business where all employees attend? To all of these questions there are no definite answers. Many factors determine the answer to these questions such as the size of the company, if it is family owned, age variation and if you are personally comfortable socializing with fellow employees. You as an owner or manager must decide what works best for the company.
If you run a small company, you work in close proximity to your employees all day, which tends to create friendships, this socialization is unavoidable. This is especially true if the work environment is all males or all females. This can work to your benefit since owners and managers become close and work as a team with their employees knowing what each person’s strengths and weaknesses are. But conversely, it could be detrimental to your work environment if your employees take advantage of the situation, becoming your “friend”, not respecting you as their manager.
If you have a larger company, there is more of a social structure because as the company grows, so does the distance between employee/employer. At this level, there is a definite management level and labor level. Management is less involved with day to day operations as opposed to a smaller operation. In this environment, you find socialization becomes more structured. You plan an “Employee Holiday Party” as opposed to the small company “Let’s go for a Beer” social.
In small businesses there is no definitive answer or solution; it’s whatever works for you and your company.
ATTENTION ARA OF NJ ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
The ARA of NJ Board has decided to make some changes to the Associate member program in an effort to get more associates involved in the association. The details haven’t been finalized yet but we plan to give your company and its’ services more exposure to the members.
Here are some of the benefits under consideration:
· Include a list of all associate members in each issue of The Rental Rag
· Broadcast an e-mail bi-weekly to the membership highlighting a different associate each time where an associate can advertise their specials
· Spotlight an associate at ARA of NJ meetings. One associate will have the opportunity to showcase their products at the regular membership meeting
These are a few of the changes being considered. If you would like to add something just let me know.
Be the 1st associate to contact me and you can showcase your products at the next meeting at Fusco’s March 10th.
I hope to see you there!
Phone: (973) 835-8439
E-mail: bhiggins@kayegroup.com
I am sad to report that, Chuck DaGraca, passed away August 19, 2003 after battling with a long illness. Chuck was the owner of Astro Rents, Rent-Rite, and Taylor Rental (Dunellen, Princeton) and was an ARA member for over 25 years. He was a friend to all who all who knew him and is sadly missed by his many friends and business associates.
He left behind his loving wife Barbara and his son and daughter, Gregg and Dana.
-Submitted by Hal VanDermark
Next article?
Take this opportunity… submit an article for the next issue of “Rental Rag”. Please submit all articles for consideration via e-mail to: poppicarl@aol.com
And Lets all wish Carl a get well soon. Carl, just recently is home form a hospital stay and is on his way to recovery.
