Get FinancingLeppo Rents Reaches Lift Equipment Buyers With LiftsToday
Sales and rentals of Bobcat and JLG equipment are major revenue generators for Leppo Rents. That’s unsurprising, considering the Ohio-based company marked 50 years as an authorized Bobcat dealer in 2023. Leppo Rents is also one of the nation’s top JLG stocking dealers of access equipment for sale and rent, parts, and service, including boom lifts, scissor lifts, telehandlers, and more.
“The biggest thing that sets us apart is that we’re a rental house and a dealership,” says Dave Maier, salesman of the access equipment division at Leppo Rents. “Some rental companies strictly want to rent, and a lot of dealerships strictly want to sell. We have a big advantage of doing both because we have a huge rental fleet and a huge staff focused on rentals and sales.”
LiftsToday advertising helps Leppo Rents reach buyers specifically looking to acquire access equipment. Sandhills Global spun off LiftsToday from MachineryTrader.com, the construction equipment industry's leading buying and selling platform, to accommodate the growing market for lift equipment.
Much More Than Rentals
Leppo Rents is a family-owned company that Roy and Stella Leppo started in 1945 in Akron, Ohio. The company, based in Tallmadge, Ohio, comprises 14 authorized Bobcat dealerships in Ohio, Alabama, and Florida, and also Razor Rents in Carrollton, Ohio.
It’s also an official dealer for JLG, Bandit, Hydro Mobile, and other equipment brands. In addition to selling and renting everything from personnel lifts to full-size excavators, Leppo Rents sells parts and offers repair, maintenance, and training services.
The access equipment division handles new and used boom lifts, scissor lifts, telehandlers, vertical mast lifts, and work platforms from JLG, Gehl, Genie, Skyjack, SkyTrak, MEC, and other brands. Leppo Rents goes the extra mile for customers by offering Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)-compliant training. Meeting such needs is part of the “The Leppo Way," various guidelines the company follows to serve customers.
A Great Working Relationship
Leppo Rents began working with Sandhills in 2015 to market its Bobcat equipment via print and digital ads with Machinery Trader and TractorHouse, the latter being Sandhills’ platform for buying and selling ag equipment. "We have a great relationship with Sandhills," says Maier. "Sandhills is far and away the leader if you want to sell equipment. In my opinion, you must be with Sandhills."
Maier says Sandhills distinguishes itself from competitors with its global reach and by continuing to employ print publications as an effective way to advertise assets. While some competitors try to negate the benefits of print advertising, he says, Leppo Rents sells to many communities, particularly the Amish community, that "love" having print magazines in their hands.
"I've tried what the competition offers. I've been there. I've done that," Maier says. "The quality of leads we seem to get from buyers who follow Sandhills are for real vs. some other platforms. When we get calls or leads through Sandhills, the majority are for real. They're looking. They're buying. The other approaches we've tried have never really panned out."
With LiftsToday From The Outset
Leppo Rents has been a consistent advertiser in LiftsToday magazine since Sandhills launched the biweekly print publication in 2023. In fact, Sandhills sales rep Angela Lee was in Maier's office the day Sandhills announced the publication's launch. Lee promptly helped Maier secure the magazine’s inside cover, which Leppo Rents has used since to showcase its lift assets. The company also consistently runs two half-page editorial ads in the magazine.
Assets in its ads appear as featured listings on LiftsToday.com and MachineryTrader.com, right near the top of users' search results. Being a consistent advertiser also means Leppo Rents can list its entire inventory as general listings on both websites. Having access to a niche equipment brand like LiftsToday has been very helpful, Maier says.
"LiftsToday targets those people buying lifts and allows us not to get lost in the many other varieties of equipment on MachineryTrader.com and TractorHouse.com," he says. "Being able to zero in on buyers looking for a telehandler, boom lift, or a scissor lift makes a big difference."
Building Branch Recognition
Leppo Rents combines print ads with digital marketing efforts to reach an even larger audience and keep its brand name foremost in buyers' minds. It runs multiple banner ads on LiftsToday.com and MachineryTrader.com and uses email blasts to reach each platform's customer base.
"We continually do banners and have done them for several years. Banners let people see the 'Leppo Rents' name alongside photos, so they see what we sell. The email blasts we've done with LiftsToday led to some really good leads," he says. "It's all about getting the name out. People see the banner ads. They see print ads. And then we pop them with an email blast. We're hitting them in all aspects."