More Than Software: Life as a Point of Rental Trainer

When people hear the words “software trainer”, they probably picture someone standing at the front of a room showing people which buttons to click.

And yes, there is some of that.

But being a trainer at Point of Rental is about far more than teaching software. You get an opportunity that very few people get: you spend time inside hire businesses, working alongside the people who actually make them tick.

You see the good, the bad, the frustrating and occasionally the completely bizarre.

And you learn a lot along the way.

From Hire to Software

My own move into software training came from the hire industry.

I started out as an agency driver before moving through roles including hire controller, assistant manager and transport manager. The hire company I worked for was implementing a new rental system and wanted people from within the business to become trainers.

That opportunity ultimately changed the direction of my career.

I joined Higher Concept Software in 2007 as a software trainer, long before it became part of Point of Rental.

At the time, I thought I was learning how to teach people software.

What I was actually learning was how different hire businesses operate.

No Two Hire Companies Are the Same

One of the first things you realise as a trainer is that every hire company thinks differently.

You can visit two businesses that hire almost exactly the same equipment and find completely different processes.

One business might have an incredibly structured hire desk where everyone follows the same process. Another might have three people who have worked there for 20 years and somehow keep the entire operation running through experience, memory and a collection of handwritten notes.

And both can work.

That is why good software training shouldn't simply be:

“Click here, then click here, then click here.”

You need to understand why somebody is doing something before you tell them how the software can help them do it.

Sometimes the answer is training.

Sometimes it is configuration.

And sometimes the conversation becomes:

“Why do you actually do it that way?”

Those are often the most valuable conversations.

The Best Trainers Learn From Their Customers

I have always believed that training should be a two-way process.

You might arrive as the person who knows the software, but the customer knows their business.

They know why the yard operates a particular way. They know why transport gets chaotic at 7am. They know which customers always change their orders at the last minute. They know why workshop needs information presented differently from the hire desk.

If you spend the entire session talking, you miss all of that.

Some of the best knowledge I have gained throughout my career has come from sitting beside hire controllers, workshop managers, drivers, accounts teams, depot managers and business owners and simply asking questions.

You start to see the industry from hundreds of different perspectives.

Training Isn't Always Comfortable

There is another side to being a trainer.

You are often introducing change.

And people don't always want change.

Sometimes you walk into a training room and everyone is excited about the new system.

Other times you can almost feel the enthusiasm disappear when you walk through the door.

The existing system might have been there for 15 years. Someone may know every shortcut and every workaround. They can do their job almost without thinking.

Then you arrive and tell them everything is changing on Monday.

That is where the job becomes less about software and much more about people.

You need to understand what they are worried about.

You need to explain why something is changing rather than simply telling them that it is.

And sometimes you just need to acknowledge that learning a new system while still trying to run a busy hire business is hard work.

Go-Live Changes Everything

Training in a classroom is one thing.

Go-live is another.

There is always a point where the test contracts disappear and suddenly someone is standing at the counter with a real customer waiting.

The phones are ringing.

A truck needs to leave.

Someone can't find a piece of equipment.

Accounts has a question.

A driver is waiting for paperwork.

And somebody inevitably says:

“How do I do that thing you showed us yesterday?”

That is when the training becomes real.

For a trainer, those first few days can be exhausting, but they can also be some of the most rewarding.

You watch people go from being nervous about the system to gradually figuring it out.

By the end of the first day they are asking fewer questions.

By the end of the week they are helping each other.

Eventually the new system simply becomes the system.

You See the Entire Hire Industry

One of the things I have appreciated most about working with Point of Rental is the variety of businesses you get to experience.

Hire is an incredibly broad industry.

Access equipment, general plant, tools, traffic management, portable buildings, event hire, specialist equipment and plenty of things I didn't even know could be hired before visiting a customer.

You also see businesses at completely different stages of their journey.

Some are family businesses that have been operating for generations.

Others have grown incredibly quickly and are trying to put structure around that growth.

Some have one depot.

Others have dozens.

Some businesses have incredibly sophisticated processes. Others have built their success through relationships, experience and people who simply know how to get things done.

There is something to learn from all of them.

The People Are What You Remember

Looking back, I don't remember every training session I have delivered.

I definitely don't remember every report or configuration setting I have discussed.

I remember the people.

The depot manager who has been with the company for 30 years.

The hire controller who knows every customer by the sound of their voice.

The owner who started with a handful of machines and has built an incredible business.

The new employee who is terrified on Monday and flying through the system by Friday.

You spend a lot of time with customers when you are implementing software. You eat lunch together, travel between depots, hear the history of the company and learn about the people behind it.

For a short period of time, you almost become part of their business.

That is a privilege that I don't think I fully appreciated when I first became a trainer.

It Changed How I Look at Software

My career has moved on considerably since those early days as a software trainer, but the lessons from training have stayed with me.

The biggest one is probably this:

Software doesn't fix a bad process.

You can have brilliant technology, but if nobody understands why they are doing something, adding another system isn't necessarily going to solve the problem.

Equally, a good process combined with the right technology can completely change how a business operates.

That is why I still enjoy getting into the detail of how hire companies work.

Not just what button somebody presses, but what happens before that button is pressed and what needs to happen afterwards.

If You're Starting Out as a Trainer

My advice would be simple.

Learn the software, obviously.

But learn the industry even more.

Spend time at the hire desk.

Go into the yard.

Sit with accounts.

Talk to workshop.

Ask the transport manager why they do something a particular way.

Listen to the people who have been in the industry for decades.

And never assume that because you know the software, you automatically know the best way to run somebody else's business.

Your job isn't just to teach.

It's to listen, understand and then help.

Nearly two decades after becoming a software trainer, I still find myself doing exactly that.

And I suspect I always will.