Oh, the opportunity is rightful With the economy delightful And since you've made your biz a champ Buy a ramp! Rent a ramp! Buy a ramp!
Man it doesn't show signs of stopping This inclined plane is hopping All our stuff from high to low Business grow! Business grow! Business grow!
When we finally close the deal How I'll hate arranging delivery But you'll turnkey my ramp for real? All set up, and for a low fee!
And the year is now down-winding And my taxman is still replying: "Take the Section 179 Deduction Tax Reduction! Tax Reduction! Tax Reduction!"
When we finally close the '22 books How I'll love having streamlined the place And if you want to know how it looks I gotta say that yard ramp adds grace.
Oh, I know it's three-tons of steel With some wheels and chains and a clamp But if you want to know how I feel Love the ramp! Love the ramp! Love the ramp!
This week, our man McCoy Fields makes sense of cardboard cuts and standardized pallets...and it all makes perfect sense.
We're both humbled and thrilled to announce three additions to The Yard Ramp Guy team. Humbled because our year-over-year growth has put us in the position to hire three people simultaneously. Thrilled because these are three high-caliber people who bring distinct talents to our operations:
Heather LaFreniere
Heather LaFreniere
Heather hails from Yuma, Arizona and now lives with her blended family of five children in Texas. She transitioned from managing the office for lawn care and landscaping companies to managing a shipping solutions center, where they shipped "anything from an envelope to a piano."
All along the way, Heather has learned the value and importance of human contact in business. "That human connection makes a huge difference," she says. We know that perspective will be central to Heather's role as our new Business Development Specialist.
Her impressions of The Yard Ramp Guy so far?
"Jeff Mann's business ethic is wonderful," says Heather. "Hearing him with the customers, it's so obvious that he's not just trying to sell a yard ramp. He really cares about helping them, whether it's selling a ramp we have, having one custom-built, or referring them to another company."
"I like not working with a huge corporation. At The Yard Ramp Guy, one: there's room to grow. And two: you're not just a number."
[Editor's note: "And two: you're not just a number" is just about the funniest thing we've ever heard.]
Michael Herdegen
Michael Herdegen
Born in Orlando, where his front yard was the beach, Michael studied political science in college. His first job was a virtual pharmaceutical rep, and he spent eight years as a sales rep and sales manager of medical equipment ⏤ scooter, wheelchairs, hospital beds, etc. ⏤ designed to help people stay at home longer.
The Yard Ramp Guy's description for a new Sales & Rental Consultant appealed to Michael for a couple of central reasons. "I wanted to get my feet wet in a new industry," he says, "and material handling seems like a reliable, stable industry.
"You always have to be that product expert. Usually it’s the first time that people are buying these products. Making sure everything’s copacetic on both ends is essential."
Michael's first impressions? "I love and am inspired by Jeff’s total detail approach, making sure that his customer’s going to be satisfied with the best possible yard ramp at the best possible price."
Jessica Montgomery
Jessica Montgomery
Jessica studied business and culinary arts. Her work continues to be informed by those two disciplines: applying effective strategies, applying the best presentation, adjusting to customer needs.
Jessica's work has taken her to Okinawa, Japan and Hanover, Pennsylvania, and now South Carolina, where she was born and raised.
She's managed the office for a car repair shop, worked for a catering company, and became the go-to person at a large German-based hand tool company.
Of her Sales & Rental Consultant position with us, Jessica says, "My goal is to provide superior customer service. I want to walk customers through the process to make it as easy as possible, provide the right information, and ask the right questions."
"I'm so impressed with how top-notch Jeff keeps the business," she says. "He has a fantastic processes. He’s patient, very warm, and welcoming. Jeff makes you feel like there are no stupid questions. He keeps everything very honest and straightforward."
Three new and very talented people on The Yard Ramp Guy team.
Says Jeff: "I'm thrilled that we're in the position to bring Heather, Mike, and Jessica into the mix at the same time. And I'm very impressed with how conscientious they are. They've absorbed a tremendous amount of information in a short period of time. I'm so pleased with their individual strengths and with their collective contributions to how this business is growing."
This week, our man McCoy Fields shares fascinating insight on how our brains can be selective.
About March of this year, Gary saw an uptick in financing requests. Smart money is that business owners saw this, as an optimal time to buy. (Quick: before more economic surprises, eh?)
With financing, "you write it off your bottom line," says Gary. "It accelerates your depreciation. Instead of getting the benefit over a five-year span, you receive the benefit immediately, and it’s larger."
Ramping in the Right Financial Direction
There are a number of strong reasons to finance your equipment, including:
Immediate use of a yard ramp from our quality inventory, meeting your specifications and requirements.
Greater flexibility and fewer restrictions than typical bank loans.
With a payment plan, your ledger can better absorb the cost of a yard ramp over time.
Tax advantages (especially the Section 179 deduction): In most situations, you'll be able to deduct the full cost of a yard ramp as a business expense.
Whether cash on hand is a challenge for your business operations, or you just want to keep more of your cash in-house for working capital, the ability to deduct that yard ramp (and other equipment, up to $1,080,000) is a boon to business owners, especially in uncertain times.
Note that the certain time here is putting your equipment into use by December 31st in order to qualify for the 2022 deduction.
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Gary Evonsion is featured in a recent video that's a great primer on equipment financing. Click HERE to watch.
This week, if our man McCoy Fields quickly gets to describing a delay.
To review: we focus exclusively on the business of buying, renting, and selling new and used yard ramps.
As with so many things related to vision, what we focus on does not exclude other elements that are hiding in plain sight, at the edges.
Here are a couple of prominent examples:
Turnkey
We Literally Do The Heavy LiftingThe Yard Ramp Guy respects your time. We know that you've searched our site and connected with our sales team toward optimizing and streamlining your operations. Buying or renting a mobile yard ramp or stationary dock ramp is one thing. Getting it shipped and set up is another.
Early on, we clearly saw our customers' needs for turnkey services. And so we've established a network of professionals, located throughout the country, who collectively are able to deliver, off-load, weld, bolt, and position your purchase or rental.
About half of our customers take advantage of these value-added services, which include:
installing anchors at docks;
spot welding; and
finding and managing equipment such as cranes needed to offload a ramp from a flatbed.
In our professional experience, our competition hasn't expressed much of an interest in providing these options. We didn't invent the wheel with our turnkey services; we just greased the wheel a bit, and the results continue to show a smooth, expedited, and safe way to put your ramp into use.
Our customers choose financing for a couple of prominent reasons: To Finance: Not So Puzzling
If cash on hand demonstrates a challenge for your operations, financing is an excellent way to minimize the pain points.
Cash on hand isn't as central as the simple and understandable desire to keep the company ledger more robust.
Advantages to financing include:
You gain immediate use of a yard ramp from our quality inventory, meeting your specifications and requirements.
Greater flexibility and fewer restrictions than typical bank loans.
With a payment plan, your ledger can better absorb the cost of a yard ramp over time.
Not only does financing allow you to keep more of your cash in house for working capital, it generally also comes with a terrific tax advantage. The Section 179 deduction provides a way, in most situations, for you to deduct the full cost of a yard ramp as a business expense.
We cover the peripheral things, so that you can stay focused.
This week, if our man McCoy Fields seems a bit superstitious...well, maybe he just needs a low-sodium diet.
You might naturally think that scenario involves an invoice: the customer buys or rents a mobile yard ramp or stationary dock ramp from us to help streamline their operations, and we generate an invoice.
Of course, we like that. Everybody wins.
The scenario we're focused on today is a different sort of transaction:
"A communicative action or activity involving two parties or things that reciprocally affect or influence each other."
In these situations, the exchange is of ideas and typically doesn't involve an invoice.
We rent and sell industrial yard ramps big enough for a forklift to pass through. Time was when we received a number of requests for ramps for smaller applications, like smaller, shorter inclines designed to traverse a couple steps from a walkway to the front door of a residential home.
The percentage of our qualified leads is pretty darn great these days, thanks to the work of our SEO guru (whose expertise in the mysterious world of algorithms and word competition has caused us to believe in magic).
Still, the occasional request slips in that's not the right match between what we offer and what someone needs. Example:
We recently fielded a request from someone who needed to place a large RV on a property in the desert. His glitch: the point where the paved road met the unpaved dirt road involved a significant dip. And so, he was looking for an inclined plane.
The Yard Ramp Guy's approach to business includes the notion that the only thing worse than needing to say no is to not answer at all. Here's the response from Jeff Mann, our Founder and President:
"Your application is quite unique. Our ramps won’t accomplish what you describe. But I hate saying that and not providing any ideas or direction. If you send me the location where your RV is going, I could Google Earth and see if I might have an idea for you. I’ll likely have additional questions. If so, I’ll give you a call."
The next day, we received this response:
"Thanks so much for your reply. I knew it was a real shot in the dark, and I came up with some other solution ideas that I’m implementing tomorrow when it’s delivered. So hopefully it works! Anyway, thank you again for the reply and for the offer to brainstorm another solution. I really do appreciate that and it speaks highly of you and your business."
We don't do such things for the accolades (though that feels good, too).
As Jeff Mann says, it's good karma for the business soul.
This week our man McCoy Fields has some issues with sand. And, as is usually the case, his issues are the world's issues.
