What's in a name? Some would say almost everything. Why else would sneaker, phone and cola companies spend millions upon billions of dollars to build brand identity? Tiger Woods won another major last month, and so did Nike. Once again, that omnipresent "swoosh" was on his hat and shirt for all the evening highlights.
If you build it, they will come," the line goes. But what Neff Corp., one of the 10 largest equipment rental companies in North America, built hasn't attracted anyone.
Advertising consultants and business development gurus will tell you: Customers want to connect to brands. It's about returning to a product or service they associate with good things (or golfers) as opposed to gambling on one they don't recognize. In the rental industry, it's true, out-of-town contractors will more likely rent from the national chain instead of the unknown local independent.
But unlike with phone service, caffeine beverages or sneakers sold on peer pressure, busy contractors won't remain loyal to a name just because they hear it on the truck radio. If things go wrong in the field, if invoices get mixed up, if sales reps on the other end of a late-night phone call don't answer, brand name goes out the window.
National rental companies are working hard to shore up national accounts and link their locations by computer so that contractors are never "out of town." They can walk into any branch in any town, give an account number and their history, with preferences and prices, pops up on the computer at the counter. That's a form of brand building that has nothing to do with advertising and almost everything to do with competent people at the counter and behind the scenes, applying technology to the real world of equipment users.
And if something goes wrong between the computer link and the job site? Well, contractors talk to contractors, and rental employees move on to other rental companies. In other words, word-of-mouth will build a brand name for a local company that can run a lot deeper than a catchy 30-second radio spot.
In the rental game, advertising might spark a curious phone call for a quote. But it won't fool a disappointed customer. Most kids wearing Nike can't touch the net, much less "be like Mike." People renting diesel-powered machines are done playing games. That's when you become the only brand they care about.
