Meeting Tomorrow offers business customers easy access to audio visual equipment. Hotels often charge extortionate prices for renting a projector or display screen, and other meeting venues don't always have the equipment needed for a presentation. On Meeting Tomorrow, you choose the equipment you need, order it online or by phone, and the equipment is delivered to your home, office, hotel or meeting location on time. Advance orders are delivered the day before the meeting, and same day orders are welcome. (Meeting Tomorrow offers same day delivery to 95% of the US, and next day service to the rest of the country.)
The beauty of the concept is how simple it is for customers, who can rely on the equipment arriving on time and don’t have to go out of their way to pick up or return a projector. For returns, Meeting Tomorrow takes a cue from Netflix: pre-paid adhesive FedEx return labels are included with projectors and laptops. After using the equipment, customers slap on the label and drop the cases in any Fed Ex drop box. Bulkier equipment, such as screens or sound systems, are picked up after the event. Pricing is straight-forward, too: no matter where the equipment is needed, customers pay the same rental prices and a flat delivery fee.
As pointed out by Seth Godin, the easy-return rental approach could be applied to any number of products that customers only need from time to time. For more inspiration on profiting from a burgeoning rental economy, check out: Marketplace for P2P rental and One-stop shop for transumers.
Website: www.meetingtomorrow.com
Contact: info@meetingtomorrow.com
Spotted by: Seth Godin
This could work really well if the company is able to keep a perfect delivery record. In these days of transparency tyranny, one false move could mean that a client is without the necessary equipment to give a presentation - and everyone in the world will hear about it!
Thanks for including us in your site. I'm the founder of of Meeting Tomorrow and Kelly (the previous poster) is absolutely right. We're not shipping CDs or shirts where a late delivery is at worst a minor annoyance. This only works when you are absolutely, completely committed to making sure that we deliver on-time, every time. If a customer's presentation is blown because of a late delivery, an apology and refund isn't going to cut it. If there's a delivery problem, we use any and all means necessary to get them equipment (which can sometimes mean spending $1,000 to salvage a $200 order). Seth is right - there are tons of applications for this type of biz model / approach. I'm happy to discuss with anyone interested in starting a related business.
Mark Aistrope
marka at meetingtommorrow.com
You make some great points, Mark, and your business policy sounds like a great one. Once you build up a solid reputation for reliability, you have a loyal client base who will always use your company - even after changing jobs or moving cross-country. Nice one!
This concept is offered in Colombia and other Latinamerican Countries by small rental equipment companies since 8 years or more. They rent PCs, video beams, DVDs, etc. for small fees and they warranty the safety of the equipment. It is a very affordable service and you do not need to worry about the thieves.
Just used them! Awesome. Called in on Saturday and needed an LCD in Sonoma CA on Monday. They got it there by Noon! Bravo!
nizam
Toronto
Peekamo.com id: niz