Our latest update to HireLogic has brought some exciting new functionality in the form of Bookings. Read more to find out how you can better organise your hire business with an advanced Hire Management Software package like HireLogic.
It’s easy to stick to the good old-fashioned tools we know to accomplish a task, because the newer tools we have invested in just aren’t up to the job, or don’t have the functionality built into them that we need.
Maybe you use a dairy to manage your equipment bookings, and whilst it is hard to argue with the flexibility a blank page and pen can give you, it can be very difficult to make sure all of your staff know when equipment is going out on hire, and who it should be going to. On top of this, these dairies need to be constantly monitored to ensure you don’t double book equipment, something that can be very difficult to manage if you have more than one depot.
A shared spreadsheet could alleviate some of these concerns, however you still have the worry that a member of staff may forget to check the spreadsheet and hire out a piece of equipment that is due to go on hire the next day. Perhaps you have a comprehensive hire software solution that includes booking functionality, but unless the interface is easy to use and staff are sufficiently trained in it, some key information could be entered incorrectly.
All of this can lead to embarrassing experiences with your customers, and cause them to lose confidence in your hire business to provide the equipment they need when they need it.
HireLogic’s most recent update includes the ability to create advance equipment bookings, and it’s just as easy as creating a hire contract. All you need to do is specify the customer and products they would like to book in advance. You can be as detailed as you need to be by specifying a booking for multiple pieces of equipment from a product category, or you can specify the exact items you want to allocate to the booking. You will then be prompted to enter the on hire and off hire dates and times, and whether or not the customer needs the equipment delivered. You can also record any advance payments for the booking, and if you need to add more information, it can be added in the notes section of the booking, just like contracts and invoices.
Any upcoming bookings are easily accessible from the HireLogic dashboard. Laid out in the familiar list view, but also with the option to view it as a calendar, in day, week, or month view. In both the list view and the calendar view, the items are colour coded by their product category, enabling you to quickly scan and see what your availability will be over the coming days or weeks. Active and historical bookings can also be accessed via the customers profile on HireLogic, under the new “Bookings” tab there.
When the time comes to place the items on hire, it couldn’t be easier: All you have to do is click on the “Convert to Hire Contract” button in the top right of the booking details screen. At this point you will be prompted to confirm the exact items that are being placed on hire, when you click “Convert” the items are transferred to a hire contract, along with any payment or delivery information that was provided during the booking process.
Now with your bookings highly visible on your HireLogic dashboard, this will enable you to make more accurate forecasts for product availability, increase your hire companies profitability, and improve customer satisfaction rates. As with all of our features, extensive effort has went into making this as easy to use as possible, and we are very keen to hear customer feedback on this or indeed any of our features, please reach out to our customer success team today if you would like to provide feedback.
Coming Soon…
This is just the first in our series of booking functionality we are hoping to release over the next couple of months. Another feature we are very excited about is a tool to integrate bookings directly into your hire website, so your customer can get in contact directly from it and a booking will be automatically created for you in HireLogic.
Get in contact with us today if you need help getting started with this feature, or if you would like a live demonstration on how it works.