June 13, 2024
Modern tech efficiencies like artificial intelligence-enabled fleet management, customer service chatbots and the like certainly have their place in today’s equipment and event rental space. But for independently owned businesses that focus exclusively on tried-and-true rental items and are led by well-seasoned staff, running things the “old-school” way can work just fine.
Such is the case with Taylor True Value Rental in Hattiesburg, Miss.
“We’re kind of old school,” says Myers Marshall, president of the business, who emphasizes the point by saying, with a laugh, “I’ve got some guys on the desk who have been here for 30 years, and they tell me that if I get a new piece of rental software they’re going to walk out.”
Myers Marshall
Keeping things simple on the operations side has served Taylor True Value Rental well, considering how Marshall alternately describes the business’s inventory as “basic” and “bread-and-butter rental items.”
“We’re a general rental store — we do event and equipment rental,” Marshall says. “On top of that we do tuxedo rental, so that’s a little bit different. But as far as equipment goes, it’s your basics: backhoes, skid steers, scaffolding, lawn equipment, floor care, aerial lifts, trailers. On the event side: tents, tables and chairs; we probably have 10,000 different tablecloths in stock; a few specialty items like leather couches; dinnerware; chafing dishes — mainly your bread-and-butter rental items for events.”
Marshall doesn’t try to compete with the big players on the rental scene. “We tailor to the do-it-yourselfers and small contractors. We’ve got a nice little niche for the smaller guys,” he says.
Forty years is Marshall’s estimate on how long Taylor True Value Rental has been in operation. The business was launched under a different name by Tom Ingels. It later became Taylor Rental and changed its identity again after Taylor Rentals nationwide were taken on by the True Value organization.
Some of the store’s formal wear rental offerings
“Then, Kim Bradley became the owner, and I took over two years ago,” Marshall says. “I was in sales in the steel industry and wanted to find something new. Kim, a family friend, was also looking for something new. The timing just worked out right for me to take over. The only rental experience I had prior to this was working briefly for Enterprise rent-a-car out of college, so [purchasing Taylor True Value Rental] was a leap of faith. I jumped right in and I’m still learning.”
Marshall joined the American Rental Association’s (ARA) Mississippi chapter board of directors in 2023.
The single-location Taylor True Value Rental operates out of three warehouses on two acres, with 14,500 sq. ft. under roof, and is run by around 15 employees.
Much of Taylor True Value Rental’s equipment business stems from contractor activity. “It’s a lot of home remodels, and we get some downtown projects — contractors will come in to give buildings facelifts,” Marshall says.
Hattiesburg is a college town — home of the University of Southern Mississippi — so campus action provides Taylor True Value Rental with a lot of business on the event side.
“The university is our top customer,” Marshall says. “We do things with them almost daily. From football and baseball to admissions events, we pretty much have our hands in any large event on campus.”
Taylor True Value Rental also values servicing the needs of the community. “The Downtown Hattiesburg community organization is a big supporter of us, and we are a big supporter of them,” Marshall says, listing some of the downtown events his business caters such as “the Crawfish Jam, the Craft Beer Festival, and a new fundraiser called Rise — that’s a hot air balloon festival that we kind of helped kick-start.”
Meeting the rental needs of a metro area consisting of 200,000 people, Southern Miss, and a vibrant downtown festival scene is a lot to manage, but the crew at Taylor Rental True Value keeps getting it done with that “old- school” approach characterized by a sales team with six decades of cumulative rental knowledge.
“On the sales desk we’ve got close to 60 years’ worth of experience,” Marshall says. “I’ve got a guy who’s been here 35 years and I’ve got a lady who’s been here 25 years. I was blessed to inherit these employees and without them the business wouldn’t be where it is today. The customer support aspect of that is invaluable.”
