Top 10 Ways to Grow Your Jumper Business
The jumper/bounce house/moonwalk rental business is highly competitive. With low entry costs and substantial returns on investments….
For the individuals with a full commitment to their event and party rental business, it can be tough competing against fly by night businesses with low prices. To help the true business owners, we’ve compiled a list of ten ways to grow your jumper business and beat out your competitors.
1) Bold vehicle graphics
Imagine this: you’re driving down the street and you happen to pass buy a truck and trailer with a large colorful logo, bold colors and big text. 9 times out of 10, you’re going to glance at that truck.
One day of driving with full vehicle graphics will expose your business to 30,000 – 70,000 potential customers. It also makes a statement when you arrive to a customer. Neighbors won’t question the unmarked vehicle on their street, plus it shows your complete investment into your business.
What You Should Do
Hire a company to design your vehicle graphics and have them installed. The investment may be a bit hefty, but it’s long term benefits outweigh it all.
2) Build and maintain your digital presence
Your digital presence includes your website, rankings, online listings, social media and reviews. For potential organic leads, your digital presence is a representation of your business. A strong, consistent presence states your business is reliable, thorough and trustworthy. A lackluster, inconsistent presence states your business is not committed and untrustworthy.
What You Should Do
First, check all of your business’ online listings. Confirm the information listed is correct and create listings on the platform you do not have.
Second, respond to customer reviews. On Yelp, Facebook and Google, respond to all of your reviews with solutions or appreciation.
Third, invest in a full scale SEO campaign to increase search rankings. High search rankings will generate organic leads.
3) Interactive and engaging website
For a product based business centered around children and events, it’s important for your jumper business to have an engaging website. Bold colors, clear images and easy navigation are all keys to a great website design with high conversions. Cluttered, illegible and dark websites will not ensure long term success.
What You Should Do
Explore the options available for your website design.
There are low cost, D.I.Y options including website builders and WordPress themes. In some cases, a DIY option is a great, temporary solution to fit your brand and serve your immediate needs.
DIY Pros:
- Budget friendly
- Shorter development time
- No need for special skills
DIY Cons:
- Less design flexibility
- Less technical support
- Not inherently SEO-friendly
Another option is hiring a website design company to build a custom website. Custom-built websites are created from ground zero and your developer will have the ability to build a website will all your must-have features.
Custom Design Pros:
- Unique, custom design
- Flexible and adaptable
- SEO Friendly
- Scalable with growth
Custom Design Cons:
- More expensive than DIY
- Longer build time
4) Embroidered apparel
Embroidered apparel is a statement that you are fully invested into your business. It is also the first impression a customer gets when you arrive to their home. An embroidered polo or Dickie’s shirt speaks louder than a screen-printed T-shirt.
What You Should Do
Invest in the right apparel and embroidery services.
The type of shirt you are wearing makes a difference. Take a moment to visit your local sports store and find the shirts that are comfortable and conducive to your work related tasks… not t-shirts. Then contact a local embroiderer and have your logo stitched on your shirts.
5) Maintain sanitary rentals
ALL rentals should receive a detailed cleaning and sanitizing after every single usage. If your jumpers are dirty in any way, parents will make it known. Bad reviews about your company’s sanitation is a reputation that is hard to overcome.
What You Should Do
If you do not have a strict cleaning process in place, take the time to create one and stick to it.
Promote your cleaning process and sanitary requirements in your marketing. Also, make potential renters aware of your company’s commitment to cleanliness.
6) Geo-servicing
A service area is a reasonable geographical area that you can service in a day. It may appear profitable to service an entire metroplex, but traffic, gas and travel time between locations are all factors that make it illogical.
For a one man operation, a service area is not how far your truck can drive, but where you can reasonably service multiple customer’s needs within hours. An immediate service area should be no larger than a ten mile radius for a one man operation, which is still twenty miles from one end to the other.
What You Should Do
Create a map of your the city/cities you service and create a ten mile radius around your base. Target the areas within your radius in your marketing and SEO campaigns to maximize the potential interest.
7) Incentivize reviews
For nearly 9 in 10 consumers, an online review is as important as a personal recommendation. You could have hundreds of happy customers, but if there are no online reviews to document the satisfaction, no one will know.
Incentivize your customers for reviews to increase the credibility of your business. Offering a deal on their next rental or a coupon to a local restaurant are great methods of increasing the likelihood a customer will write a review.
What You Should Do
Create follow-up emails and questionnaires that are sent to your customers after they receive service. You should also hire a company to design printed materials that you can hand to customers with QR codes that link to review platforms.
An additional method of obtaining reviews, is reaching out to past customers with incentives for reviews. If you have a database of past customers with their email address, setup an email campaign with a feedback questionnaire and links to write reviews.
8) Eye catching collateral
Business cards, door hangers, magnets and post cards are great collateral to have on hand when servicing a customer. Well designed collateral has the potential to make your brand stand above the competition while promoting your values and connecting with customers.
Even in the day and age of the internet, printed materials are still as necessary as ever. If you want professional growth, you’ll want to give customers items that stay in their home, desk or wallet. This increases the possibility of them calling you in the future and recommending your business to friends and family.
What You Should Do
Explore the options available for design.
There are low cost options that be a budget friendly solution to fit your brand and serve your immediate needs.
DIY Pros:
- Budget friendly
- Shorter design time
DIY Cons:
- Less design flexibility
- Less technical support
- Professional look not guaranteed
Another option is hiring a professional graphic design company to design your collateral. A graphic designer’s primary responsibility is to translate your brand concept into a aesthetically pleasing look and feel that engages your current and potential customers.
Also, some design companies offer printing services with the design cost eliminating the need to look for a printer.
Custom Design Pros:
- Unique, custom design
- Flexible and adaptable
- Scalable with growth
Custom Design Cons:
- More expensive than DIY
- Longer design time
9) Interactive social media posts
3.2 billion people use social media. That’s 42% of the population. Though, having a presence on social media is important, it’s even more important to post interactive content about your business.
Interactive content increases customer interest and engagement. By staying consistent with interactive content, you’ll break through the white noise of social media.
What You Should Do
Post every rental and job on your social media. Whether its via a website blog or a direct post, document every thing. Posting actual customers and rentals will appeal to potential customers more than any other content.
10) Know and control your process
A goal to have in operating your business is guiding your customer from the moment they call you. Customers should fall right into a tried and true workflow that you’ve already established.
From the initial conversation about the event to the acceptance of payment and delivery, your business should operate like a well oiled machine. This reduces the possibility of losing potential customers, making mistakes and avoids unnecessary headaches.
What You Should Do
A few steps you can take to establishing a business process are:
- Develop a call script
- Develop a standard email to follow up with web inquiries
- Utilize an invoicing software
- Utilize a CRM and booking system
11) Lighting fast replies
Now that we know who you are, I know who I am. I’m not a mistake! It all makes sense! In a comic, you know how you can tell who the arch-villain’s going to be? He’s the exact opposite of the hero. And most times they’re friends, like you and me! I should’ve known way back when… You know why, David? Because of the kids. They called me Mr Glass.
What You Should Do
Now that we know who you are, I know who I am. I’m not a mistake! It all makes sense! In a comic, you know how you can tell who the arch-villain’s going to be? He’s the exact opposite of the hero. And most times they’re friends, like you and me! I should’ve known way back when… You know why, David? Because of the kids. They called me Mr Glass.
