Air Date: 5-16-2014 | Episode: 327
This week Ken Rothmel, Director of Strategic Accounts at Sunbelt Rentals joins the Z-man and Radio Joe on IAQ Radio. Mr. Rothmel has been a highly successful salesman since 1985…
Full Description:
This week Ken Rothmel, Director of Strategic Accounts at Sunbelt Rentals joins the Z-man and Radio Joe on IAQ Radio. Mr. Rothmel has been a highly successful salesman since 1985. He has served as a National Sales Manager and VP of Sales & Marketing with several manufacturing companies. He has always been straight forward and sometimes brutally honest. Ken also realizes that a good salesman can always make the first sale; a great salesman will keep making the sales time and time again. After 9/11/01, the CEO of Sunbelt Rentals approached Ken to join their company and develop a program to focus on people who clean up after disasters. Since then he has developed a Team of 9 Great Regional Sales Managers who are available 24/7/365 and are always willing to jump through hoops to “Make it Happen”. Sunbelt Rentals has approximately 450 locations with a $2.3 Billion equipment rental fleet. They are the 2nd largest equipment company in the world and the largest equipment supplier to the restoration industry. Mr. Rothmel has also served on the RIA Board of Directors for 3 years and he heads the Vendor Council. He still responds 24/7 to his cell phone because according to Ken there is nothing like the rush of helping someone when they have landed a large commercial loss.
Z-Man’s Blog:
The Equalizer
Ken Rothmel, Director of Strategic Accounts for Sunbelt Rentals, oversees the firm’s disaster restoration rental business. Sunbelt is the 2nd largest rental company in the world with a rental fleet valued at $2.3 billion. The equipment and expertise that Sunbelt provides assists remediation and disaster restoration firms of all sizes with the equipment necessary to do projects of any size.
- Too many restoration companies are going out of business because they have too much equipment and not enough work.
- Advantages of renting versus buying: buy the right amount of equipment and don’t tie up cash in equipment that isn’t being used. You don’t need warehouse space for rental equipment.
- Safety-50% of serious construction accidents occur within 20 feet of the ground. Fatalities occur when workers become disorientated and land on their heads. Sunbelt offers training and ANSI certification for workers operating lifts.
- “Have faith that you are going to get the job.”
- Pre-plan and establish a business relationship with a rental company before you need it, fill out the application and contact a rep so that when you need equipment in the middle of the night you’ll be able to get it.
- In the rental industry equipment availability is fluid; equipment is rented and returned daily.
- Insurance? Consider purchasing Rental Protection Plan and having short term rental equipment added to your business insurance policy.
- By using a credit card to pay for rentals, customers can collect mileage and points and have time to pay invoices. Customers with a good track record with a rental company can obtain 30 day billing.
- Sunbelt offers a discount on rentals to RIA members.
- Sunbelt offers variety of media blasting equipment including: sand, soda, water, dry ice blasting and the “ecoblaster” by www.ecoquip.com
- The most common equipment rented by restoration contractors: air-movers, refrigerant dehumidifiers, HEPA air scrubbers, generators, aerial lifts and generators.
- Renters using air scrubbers on HAZMAT sites must replace HEPA filters when contaminated with HAZMAT.
- Sunbelt has 15-53′ trailers each filled with 500 pieces of structural drying equipment which can be delivered as soon as the same day and no longer than 24 hours. This equipment receives special care and is cleaned, sanitized, serviced and maintained.
- You can’t clean, restore or remediate it if you can’t get to it, aerial lifts and work platforms. They design, erect and dismantle scaffolding.
- Sunbelt has the big stuff: generators, desiccant dehumidifiers from 600-15,000 CFM, heaters, air conditioners, chillers, etc.
- Technical support is provided by a knowledgeable and experienced staff that will help estimate equipment needs on projects. Sunbelt has the expertise to run electrical power through a building to OSHA standards, will set up generators, AC units, chillers and desiccant dehumidifiers. Their staff has hands on restoration and remediation experience. Their staff will even wear customer’s uniforms on jobsites.
- Need to lift a bridge or a gym floor? Sunbelt’s Industrial Resource Branch offers exotic equipment capable of lifting an entire gym floor or a bridge.
- Sunbelt only rents equipment and doesn’t compete with customers.
- Satisfaction
- We supply the right equipment, on time, serviced and ready to do the job at hand, or the rental that day is free
- On-Time Delivery
- We deliver within 45 minutes of the quoted delivery time, or the rental that day is free.
- Service
- We repair or replace down equipment within 4-hours of the call for service, or the rental that day is free.
- Availability
- If you visit a Sunbelt Rentals location to rent a guaranteed stocked item that is unavailable, we will provide free delivery from another location directly to your job site.
- After-Hours Response
- Quick response for emergency after-hours delivery and service calls are important. A local operational representative will respond to your after-hours call within 1 hour, or 1 day’s rental is free.
