Rental Academy supports Italian renters

Italian rental consultancy and training provider Rental Academy is making the best of a bad situation in Italy by offering free webinars to Italian rental companies.

“We are doing this as a way to remain close to the customer during these difficult times and support the industry,” says Pier Angelo Cantù, Director of Rental Academy and its online portal Rental Blog.

Cantù founded Italian rental magazine Noleggio in 2001, before starting Rental Academy in 2003.

In 2007, the company entered a collaboration with Italian rental association Assodimi to provide the ‘Rental Master’ course to Assodimi’s members. Rental Academy also works with other companies, such as Volvo CE, to provide coaching for team managers.

“We have a portal called Rental Blog, which has 2,000 members – 1,500 of which are rental companies,” says Cantù.

“When the virus started and companies were experiencing difficulty, staff at Rental Blog started asking teachers if they could do some free teaching. As a result, we started offering free webinars.”

The first four webinars, held in March, provided training on subjects ranging from the organisation of staff to the analysis of financial figures. Today [Friday 20 March], there is a webinar about the total cost of ownership, in which Nicola Violini, General Manager of Haulotte Italy, is providing a case study from Haulotte.

On Monday [23 March], there will be a webinar on the restructuring of language for rental services, teaching companies how best to communicate with customers.

“Communication will be especially important over the coming months to maintain a high quality of service,” says Cantù.

Rental Academy is in the process of organising another seminar for Monday 30 March, which will focus on legal activities and how to negotiate contracts with customers.

More free webinars are planned for April; “Next Monday, I will have a meeting with staff to discuss what the content will be,” says Cantù.

This is the first time Rental Academy has provided free webinars and so far there have been 30 to 35 participants in each one.

Speaking generally about the situation in Italy, Cantù says rental companies are still working to support key customers such as hospitals.

“Rental companies in the north of Italy are particularly hard hit, with many cities in lockdown,” says Cantù. “But in the south, rental companies are generally operating quite normally”

All webinars take place from 2.30pm to 4.40pm. To participate, you must be registered with the Rental Blog newsletter (registration is free) and book in advance by e-mailing redazione@rentalblog.it