Steljes Rental reborn as AV Rental Services – Celebrating a year on

MD of AV Rental Services, Andy Horn, shares his thoughts on the last year, which have seen a lot of change for the business
As we reach the first anniversary trading as AV Rental Services (AVRS), now seems a good time to reflect on the challenges we have faced and the subsequent successes we’ve enjoyed over the last 12 months.
Steljes Rental continued trading for three months after the closure of Steljes Ltd, and then commenced trading as AVRS on 1st October 2016.
Our first challenges were “where and who”. Moving to new offices in Uxbridge made sense due to the proximity of our logistics partner and, after some flexibility in working hours and work-from-home options, I was delighted that the whole team committed to increasing their commute by an hour each way and all remain in the business today.
After being spoilt with every back-office function you would ever need to run a small business the next challenge we were faced with was “how”. IT support, HR, Marketing, Accounts Payable, Credit Control amongst others, were challenges that the team have taken on head first. A year later we now have members of the team gaining various qualifications, including two of the team at level 2 AAT, all truly going above the call of duty.
With the door now open and the ability to look for new revenue lines and contacts, we focused on what we knew we did well. We are now proud to be the preferred demonstration and rental services partner for some of the world’s leading interactive technology manufacturers, a road previously closed to us. Our short-term rental offering for meeting rooms and conferences has grown with the addition of new products helping to add more value for our clients, an area that has always been a strong focus for us.
We now support some of the UK’s largest AV and IT distributors with our rental services and have been able to develop a worldwide channel for the sale of ex-rental products. This month sees us doubling our warehouse space and increasing our headcount to help support our new partners.
In summary, what the team have achieved over the last year is truly phenomenal. From a dark place full of uncertainty and worry they put belief and trust in what I thought we could achieve. Today with new skill sets, abilities to multitask, happiness and lots of tea (!), which are all so needed with running a small business, we couldn’t be better placed to take our next steps.