SS Kanga Hire
Member
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2014
- Messages
- 18
I'm curious to know how others operate, so here's what I'm doing at present: I own two Kanga SSLs; one Kid (small machine) and one 8 Series (equivalent to S70 Bobcat.) I have two guys who subcontract to me. They own their machines. One has a Kubota K008 and the other has a Case loader that lifts about 500kg at a time. I pay for advertising/find the work and do the estimates, and they just turn up and drive their machines. I pay them about $15 less than their normal hourly rate, since I'm incurring costs to get the work. I know that the biggest weakness most tradesmen (these guys are licensed, structural landscapers by training) have is the administration side of their business, so I have deliberately set things up to minimise the amount of paperwork they have to do in order to get paid. They simply send me an invoice at the end of each day of work, for the number of hours worked and I pay them EVERY DAY. Because they know they will get paid immediately, they are willing to do work at short notice and they are extremely happy about not having to follow up invoices/chase money from clients, etc. I get great work and loyalty from these guys by making their lives easier and paying them promptly. I honestly cannot understand why other people don't do the same thing! Another thing that distinguishes my business from my competitors is that I have a mobile EFTPOS/credit card reader which my clients can use to pay their invoices. This means I get paid on the spot and my clients get the rewards points for using their credit cards (if they have a rewards scheme, which most do). I tell my customers up front that they must pay their bill on each day worked. The machine I have is supplied by the largest bank in Australia, so my customers know it is a secure and legitimate transaction. Again, it makes things so quick and simple that I am at a loss as to why others aren't doing it. One other thing I've found that seems to work really well is simply being willing to actually go and meet potential customers face to face, rather than trying to give quotes over the phone. Women are especially responsive to this. How does this compare to how you guys operate?