The Ultimate Guide to Building an Equipment Rental Software Stack

Running an equipment rental company means balancing a variety of moving pieces. You need to manage a fleet. You likely have an expansive inventory to maintain. You must foster and build customer relationships. This is in addition to your day-to-day operations.Manual processes and outdated systems will simply not cut it. To really excel and take your equipment rental business to the next level, you need the right equipment rental software foundation.

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems are the natural place to start. These platforms integrate core business processes like finance, inventory management, human resources, procurement, and sales. They centralize equipment rental operations. This makes managing resources, tracking rental assets, handling billing, and analyzing business performance easier. They form a unified platform to reduce inefficiency and enhance data accuracy. ERPs scale companies, in short.

We would be remiss not to mention that point solutions also exist that perform these functions independently. However, the benefits of an ERP make it well worth the investment.

Beyond an ERP, equipment rental companies also need software to manage other core functions. These software tools help you automate the tasks that power growth. From inventory management and outside sales to email marketing and social media management, these are the tools that scale business operations to new levels of revenue.

Choosing the right platforms with many available vendors can be a tall task. First, you need to identify your company's paint points.

Ask yourself these questions about your business as a starting point:

• Are you struggling to keep track of your inventory?
• Is your website modern?
• Is outside sales having trouble keeping up with customer visits?
• Do you need to elevate your social presence?
• Is customer communication in need of improvement?

Once you have identified your priorities, you can move on to finding the software that address your needs most effectively.

Key considerations include pricing, scalability, and ease of integration with your current systems. Look for vendors that offer solutions designed specifically for the equipment rental industry. These tools will be easier for your team to adopt and offer customer support tailored more to companies like yours. The right vendor selections will give your equipment rental business a competitive edge and the potential to scale to new heights.

The following sections explore the best software for equipment rental companies to build your infrastructure. Each platform addresses a specific area of business. These are the best equipment rental software tools available on the market.

Note: Pricing accurate as of September 2024.

Point of Rental: The Best ERP & Inventory Management, and Equipment Rental Software

Company Summary: Point of Rental is a trusted inventory management platform with decades of experience in the rental industry. Its tools help equipment rental businesses manage equipment, customers, and finances among its core functions. Its Elite plan also operates like an ERP, making it a fantastic all-around performer for equipment rental businesses.

• Pricing: Unavailable
• Solutions: Complete inventory management, real-time rental equipment tracking, automated billing, and maintenance management. It also integrates with a wide variety of software platforms.
• Who It is For: Ideal for equipment rental companies of all sizes, particularly those that need product tracking and management.

RepMove: The Best Outside Sales Software

Company Summary: RepMove accelerates outside sales with a platform built specifically for outside sales teams. It combines a leading mobile app with sales route planning and optimization, note-tracking, and mobile customer relationship management (CRM) connectivity with all the cloud CRM functionality managers need on desktop in one easy-to-use platform. It serves numerous leaders in the equipment rental industry and offers specific, purpose-built tools such as jobsite management.

• Pricing: $19.99 per month or $199 per year for individuals; $49.99 per user/month or $499 per user/year for teams with custom pricing available for enterprises.
• Solutions: Route planning, follow-up organization, note, purchase order and expense report tracking, document management, CRM, real-time team activity tracking, mobile accessibility, and jobsite creation. Designed to make sales reps' lives easier in virtually every capacity.
• Who It is For: Outside sales-driven organizations and teams that need to increase daily visits, track customer relationships, create more deals, grow revenue, and stay on top of sales activity.

Watch On-Demand RepMove CRM Demo.

WordPress: The Best Content Management System

Company Summary: WordPress is the world's most popular content management system (CMS) and powers over 40% of the internet. It offers a highly customizable platform for building and managing your company's website. A modern web experience provides the foundation for your company's customer-facing presence. It is absolutely pivotal to maintain an experience that makes your solutions easy to find and understand and your product easy to rent. WordPress' massive plugin suite also makes it easy to integrate with thousands of other platforms.

• Pricing: Premium plan starts at $8/month. Advanced plans with hosting and additional features range from $25 to $128.33/month with custom pricing options.
• Solutions: Complete website management, customizable themes, plugin integrations, and search engine optimization (SEO) tools. WordPress is user-friendly and scalable for businesses of any size.
• Who It is For: Companies that need a customizable, scalable platform to manage their online presence, from small businesses to large enterprises.

Mailchimp: The Best Email Marketing Software

Company Summary: Mailchimp is a leading email marketing platform for businesses to communicate effectively with their customers through targeted campaigns and automation.

• Pricing: Email marketing plan starts at $20/month for up to 500 unique contacts and 6,000 monthly emails up to $800/month for 100,000 contacts and 1.2 million emails. Other plans available.
• Solutions: Email marketing, automation, analytics, and customer segmentation. Mailchimp helps companies stay connected with their customers by sending personalized campaigns and tracking engagement. SMS and other packages available.
• Who It is For: Best for companies looking to grow their customer base and maintain high engagement and that have a relatively modest marketing budget.

Sprinklr: The Best Social Media Management Platform

Company Summary: Sprinklr is a social media management tool that helps businesses manage their platforms from a single interface. You can schedule posts, manage social customer service, perform social listening, manage advertising campaigns, and more.

• Pricing: Starts at $199 per seat/month (paid annually) with more expansive packages and custom pricing available.
• Solutions: Social media scheduling, analytics, customer engagement, and campaign management. Sprinklr helps companies track their social media performance, engage with customers, and improve brand visibility.
• Who It is For: Ideal for companies that need advanced tools to manage social media at scale, particularly those with multiple social media accounts and customer touchpoints.

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It is no overstatement that the right software platforms can transform your equipment rental business. They will help you manage operations efficiently, engage with customers, and drive higher sales. But they will not do this for you. You and your team need to master these tools and use them regularly to see a return on your investment. If you deploy these tools properly, your company will grow and thrive.