Little Talks · 2026-07-01 · 14 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
30 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
Most B2B equipment manufacturers focus marketing efforts on consumer, commercial, and government buyers while underserving the rental market - a critical oversight given rental customers' distinct priorities. Rental renters need equipment that won't fail mid-project, value reliability above all, and operate with time urgency that ownership messaging completely misses. Sam Littlefield and Roop explore how manufacturers like Ditchwitch can drive rental demand through product demos at dealer locations, targeted paid media around searches like "rental skid steer near me," and content that speaks to downtime costs and job completion rather than pride of ownership. The key insight: rental customers who experience your equipment firsthand often become future owners when their circumstances change. By understanding rental buyer psychology, manufacturers can build stronger dealer relationships, generate more qualified leads, and create a pipeline to ownership sales. This requires shifting marketing language away from ownership benefits toward reliability, availability, and getting work done.
Rental buyers prioritize reliability and uptime because equipment failures directly cost them money on active jobs, operate with time urgency, and focus on getting work done. They don't care about pride of ownership, making traditional equipment marketing messaging ineffective for this audience.
Getting them to experience the equipment firsthand through product demos at dealer locations is the single most effective strategy - once renters have hands-on experience with reliable equipment, they will immediately rent it or buy it when financially able.
Most B2B manufacturers lack dedicated content and messaging strategies for rental audiences; they assume rental renters are potential future owners and use ownership-focused messaging that misses rental priorities like downtime costs and availability during critical moments.
Instead of ownership benefits, paid media targeting searches like 'rental skid steer near me' should emphasize that many renters use the brand, highlight reliability, focus on availability, and drive awareness to dealer locations where demos can occur.
Rental counter staff who understand product benefits can recommend alternative brands when customers' competing equipment breaks, creating switching opportunities - but this requires better product training from manufacturers.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The episode has a clear, legitimate thesis about rental-buyer mindset versus owner-buyer mindset, and the 'pride of ownership messaging misses the mark for renters' point is genuinely useful. However, roughly 4 of 14 minutes is irrelevant banter (Prime Day, 4th of July plans), and the remaining content stays at a surface level without developing the ideas into actionable frameworks.
Your rental buyers may not be future owners.
marketing messages are focused on like pride of ownership, which we talk about a lot for equipment. There that is part of it if you're owning it. But when you're renting it, that kind of messaging is going to miss the mark
The core reframe - renters prioritise reliability and uptime over pride of ownership, so messaging must shift - is the one non-obvious idea and is well-stated. Everything else (demos convert renters to buyers, rental as pipeline to ownership) is conventional equipment-marketing thinking that many practitioners already know.
they're about um downtime is expensive. They're about this thing broke on me in my moment of need.
companies that can understand the rental buyer behavior, you can build stronger dealer relations, relationships, generate more leads, and create future owners
There is no external guest; the episode is two agency hosts riffing on their own perspective. They reference a Ditchwitch product manager and a client anecdotally but neither appears on the show, leaving caliber limited to mid-level agency practitioners.
if you talk to this to the Skid Steer product manager at Ditchwitch, what he will tell you, if we can get their feet on the platform, they will buy a Ditchwich Skid Steer or rent a Ditch Ditchwitch Skid Steer immediately.
we're back into our uh B2B marketing world
There are a handful of concrete anchors - Ditchwitch by name, ABC Equipment Rental in Tulsa, and the '33% of annual revenue is parts and service' figure from an unnamed client - but dollar amounts, campaign results, and hard rental-market data are entirely absent, leaving the claims largely anecdotal.
33% of our annual revenue, which is a big number, is um is parts and surface
if we can get their feet on the platform, they will buy a Ditchwich Skid Steer or rent a Ditch Ditchwitch Skid Steer immediately
With no guest, the conversation is two hosts who agree with each other throughout, resulting in no real probing, no productive tension, and no follow-up questions that deepen the topic. Significant airtime is consumed by irrelevant banter that a skilled host would have cut.
Is it is it Jeff? I don't know. The guy in charge. Listen, Prime Day, I'm not all about it.
It's it's and it's it's a viable business strategy, so especially in the interim sometimes.
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
Most equipment marketing is built for the buyer who is ready to own. That makes sense. Ownership is the big, shiny goal. But it also means rental buyers can get treated like a side audience, when in reality they may be the person with the most immediate need in the room. On this week’s Little Talks, Sam and Roop talk about why rental buyers think differently and why the marketing should, too. These customers are not always dreaming about pride of ownership. Sometimes they have a machine down, a job to finish, or a three-week project that cannot wait for a long sales cycle to gracefully unfold. Romantic? No. Important? Very. That changes the message. Features still matter, but reliability, availability, and confidence matter more. It also changes the dealer conversation. If someone walks up to the rental counter frustrated with another machine, the person behind that counter has a real chance to steer them toward something better. That only works if your brand has done the work to make the story easy to tell. Rental can be a smart business strategy, not just a holding pattern before purchase.
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
1 - > SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Little Talks, your weekly dose of 2 - > marketing news, trends, and insights from Littlefield 3 - > Agency. 4 - > Grab your coffee, turn up the volume, and let's get into it. 5 - > SPEAKER_02: You know, it's always nice to see you dancing 6 - > in my peripheral. 7 - > I have ideas.
8 - > I'm focused, I'm ready, I'm I'm writing down notes. 9 - > I just see a little sway to my left. 10 - > And that's my old boy Roop. 11 - > Hello.
12 - > Hello, welcome back to another edition of Little Talks, the 13 - > Littlefield Agency. 14 - > I'm Sam Littlefield with me, is my sway and my dance in the 15 - > moving. 16 - > I'm Roop. 17 - > He's Roop.
18 - > SPEAKER_03: Hey, before before we start, can I get tell 19 - > everybody about my Amazon idea? 20 - > SPEAKER_02: Oh God, yes. 21 - > SPEAKER_03: Okay. 22 - > SPEAKER_02: This is kind of interesting.
23 - > Prime Day is coming up. 24 - > It's today, I'm not sure. 25 - > Is it Bezos or Bezos? 26 - > I don't know.
27 - > SPEAKER_03: Is it is it Jeff? 28 - > I don't know. 29 - > The guy in charge. 30 - > Listen, Prime Day, I'm not all about it.
31 - > I always am frustrated that it's showing it. 32 - > Shocking to me, by the way. 33 - > Yeah. 34 - > I'm always frustrated showing me stuff I've already bought and 35 - > that it's now it's on sale.
36 - > My idea is for people like me, instead of just putting things 37 - > on sale, you could say, hey, we know you bought this in the 38 - > last, let's say, 12 months, and it's on sale today. 39 - > We're going to put that difference back into a credit on 40 - > your account. 41 - > SPEAKER_02: And then they'll lose billions of dollars. 42 - > SPEAKER_03: I think they can afford it.
43 - > SPEAKER_02: Just while you're not in charge of Prime Day. 44 - > SPEAKER_03: I always want to feel excited about Prime Day, 45 - > but I can't get into it. 46 - > That would get me into it. 47 - > SPEAKER_02: I love Prime Day.
48 - > Do you like Prime Day, Claude? 49 - > Yeah. 50 - > Yeah. 51 - > Savings.
52 - > I know I'm in the out. 53 - > I'm capitalizing on savings. 54 - > It's a great thing. 55 - > So happy Prime Day to those who celebrate, minus my uh co-host 56 - > over here.
57 - > Um hey, we're coming off a big episode, Jay Schwedelson. 58 - > We are so thankful that he took the time to do that. 59 - > Yes. 60 - > We hope you guys enjoyed that episode.
61 - > It was uh it's entertaining, it's engaging, and it is uh it 62 - > was a delight. 63 - > You even said today it's truly one of our better episodes. 64 - > Yeah, I I I think so. 65 - > Especially from a virtual standpoint, you know.
66 - > It is. 67 - > It's it's always interesting having someone not sitting here, 68 - > not having Trent or Mike or whoever sitting next to us. 69 - > Um, but to have uh Jay engaged, um, God, he's just he's good, 70 - > man. 71 - > SPEAKER_03: We had it, we we we you know, we we did have that 72 - > one little hiccup at the end.
73 - > But you know what we got out of it? 74 - > Some great singing content. 75 - > SPEAKER_02: Great content. 76 - > If you have not seen that, it is totally worth a look.
77 - > Yeah, it is just it's God, he's good, man. 78 - > He's good. 79 - > So, Jay, thank you. 80 - > If you are listening to this, thank you from the bottom bottom 81 - > of our little field hearts.
82 - > Yeah, very appreciative. 83 - > Last week was a big week for us. 84 - > We had uh H. 85 - > E.
86 - > Williams in house from Carthage, Missouri. 87 - > We were pumped to have him here at the agency. 88 - > Well, it's supposed to be a three-hour meeting turned into a 89 - > five-hour meeting. 90 - > Really good conversation, very, very well, just overall engaged.
91 - > We had Mike at the agency. 92 - > We went up to Grasshopper in Mound Ridge, Kansas. 93 - > We are just cruising and grooving. 94 - > And this weekend, USA 250, it is big time.
95 - > You know, I I feel like in honor of Chelsea Clement. 96 - > SPEAKER_03: Oh, she this was her favorite holiday. 97 - > SPEAKER_02: This is her holiday, man. 98 - > And maybe maybe we bring back the you know, the is it the 99 - > salute that we have of her and the with the American if you 100 - > ever asked Chelsea besides Gangsta's Paradise on her uh 101 - > last uh episode what her favorite song is, it is truly 102 - > the national anthem.
103 - > SPEAKER_03: That was an actual answer on questionnaire. 104 - > SPEAKER_02: Actually, answer on a questionnaire, and everyone 105 - > just and and by the way, your favorite uh animal, no, no 106 - > kidding, by the way. 107 - > Bald eagle. 108 - > Not messing with you, give her a call, ask her, but she loves a 109 - > good bald eagle.
110 - > She loves a good uh What's the matter with you? 111 - > I don't know. 112 - > She likes the Pledge of Allegiance to National Anthem 113 - > and USA 250. 114 - > Um, this weekend, we will say it here at the uh at the end.
115 - > Be safe with your family, um, you know, pop off some 116 - > fireworks, have a beer, grill out, do it, you know, live the 117 - > American dream here. 118 - > Um, but just be careful and then have a wonderful holiday 119 - > weekend. 120 - > Um so we go off of Jay Schwedelson and we jump into 121 - > today's topic, Claudia. 122 - > Yeah.
123 - > Something very different from Jay's podcast. 124 - > SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we're back into our uh B2B marketing world. 125 - > SPEAKER_02: B2B marketing world, and here's here's the thing, 126 - > right? 127 - > Is is as experts in B2B marketing, especially those uh 128 - > manufacturers that sell through dealer and distribution 129 - > networks.
130 - > Um Leslie brought this up and she was like, hey, have we ever 131 - > talked about your target audience of rental buyers? 132 - > Aaron Powell Yeah. 133 - > SPEAKER_03: Most B2B brands that we've interacted with generally 134 - > have, you know, you've got a uh a can a consumer commercial 135 - > rental. 136 - > Yep.
137 - > Um sometimes governments in there. 138 - > Yep, for sure. 139 - > So like there's always different audiences we're always talking 140 - > to and attracting and wanting to interact with, and rental 141 - > sometimes gets short-shifted. 142 - > SPEAKER_02: Yep, no, for sure.
143 - > And the and rental, what we're gonna talk the topic, the actual 144 - > topic today is rental buyers think differently and your 145 - > marketing should too. 146 - > And that's very well said. 147 - > Whoever wrote this, Rupe, was it you? 148 - > Yeah, it was me.
149 - > Was it Leslie or was it you? 150 - > It might have been Les. 151 - > She's not here to claim it. 152 - > Um But the what we have to think through, right?
153 - > Your rental buyers may not be future owners. 154 - > Um we think about your dealerships, what are they 155 - > incentivized to do to sell equipment? 156 - > Um, but there's also money to be made in this rental audience. 157 - > So we're gonna we're gonna walk through this today.
158 - > We're gonna really focus on the messaging side of things and and 159 - > also from the content. 160 - > So I don't know if you have anything you want to open up 161 - > with. 162 - > SPEAKER_03: Um just that when we first talked about this, I 163 - > assumed it was me renting stuff because I have gone to the 164 - > rental, the big boy rental yard before. 165 - > SPEAKER_02: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
166 - > That's a great point of clarification. 167 - > Um there's a by the way, if you hear if we like freak out on the 168 - > podcast, there's a massive storm rolling through here and some 169 - > big thunderclaps if we jump or not fidgety. 170 - > Um but Roop, you bring up a great point. 171 - > It's a Saturday, you need to go rent a skid steer, right?
172 - > And you go and you rent a skid steer literally for the day, you 173 - > got to move some heavy rocks. 174 - > SPEAKER_03: A lot of fun. 175 - > SPEAKER_02: A lot of fun, and then boom, it's back at ABC um 176 - > equipment rental. 177 - > SPEAKER_03: Yeah, my boys at ABC.
178 - > SPEAKER_02: Yeah, which by the way is a real equipment rental 179 - > shop here in Tulsa, and it's it's great and they're 180 - > wonderful. 181 - > One quick uh one-stop shops. 182 - > We're talking about the um, you know, the professional landscape 183 - > crew, right? 184 - > That uh literally needs a skid steer for three weeks.
185 - > Maybe they don't have the money to buy, maybe they're starting a 186 - > company and they don't have the money to buy a skid steer yet. 187 - > Um it could be someone with down equipment. 188 - > Hey, I need to rent equipment for the foreseeable future. 189 - > Um so again, that's a very nice point of clarification of this 190 - > isn't you know, Sam and Tara doing a fun little quick 191 - > project.
192 - > Um, it's people that need to rent your equipment. 193 - > It's the people Sam and Tara will hire to cover the job. 194 - > Hey, I'm hands-on. 195 - > Doug, I'd love to pick up a good stick, baby.
196 - > Come on. 197 - > Um so feature matters, but reliability really does matter 198 - > more here. 199 - > Um in the and what we what we talk through with our with our 200 - > customers, with our clients, is what is that rental buyer, but 201 - > it's not buyer, that rentals renter's mindset. 202 - > And I it is oh, go ahead.
203 - > SPEAKER_03: Well, I was just gonna say, yeah, they're they 204 - > have different priorities, different pressures, they're 205 - > coming in with different needs. 206 - > They gotta get work done. 207 - > Yeah. 208 - > And then you and there's some of usually some uh urgency to that.
209 - > SPEAKER_02: Yes, absolutely. 210 - > They gotta they gotta get work done, they gotta have reliable 211 - > equipment, and uh and then they're onto their next job 212 - > site, or maybe their machine's ready, or maybe they've got the 213 - > money to you know buy set equipment. 214 - > Um but your rental audience is really important and and the in 215 - > the messaging too, right? 216 - > And we've had uh we've come up and talked to prospective 217 - > clients before that we talk about this rental audience and 218 - > we're talking about content strategy.
219 - > Quite frankly, there really isn't there is not one. 220 - > Well, sometimes there is. 221 - > No, no, no, no, there definitely is, but I'm saying for 222 - > prospective clients that I've talked to before. 223 - > Oh, they don't have one.
224 - > SPEAKER_03: Yes, yeah, that does happen a lot. 225 - > SPEAKER_02: Yes, it does, it does happen. 226 - > Well, you know, the the the they know that they can buy the 227 - > equipment. 228 - > Um, you know, they they know that they can rent the 229 - > equipment.
230 - > It's like, no, because what we're trying to do, the biggest 231 - > thing that we found over the years, product demos. 232 - > Oh, yeah. 233 - > And we we've had clients, I'm I'm focusing on skid steer, so 234 - > I'm gonna talk Ditchwitch today. 235 - > Is um if you talk to this to the Skid Steer product manager at 236 - > Ditchwitch, what he will tell you, if we can get their feet on 237 - > the platform, they will buy a Ditchwich Skid Steer or rent a 238 - > Ditch Ditchwitch Skid Steer immediately.
239 - > Yeah. 240 - > It's awesome, it's flexible, it's movable, but that you gotta 241 - > get them into your door, your dealership door. 242 - > Um, for those that don't have authorized dealers and sell an 243 - > array of equipment, and that you go into a dealership and I've 244 - > got 15 different options to purchase or rent equipment. 245 - > How are we getting them in your door through a pull-through 246 - > strategy of I want this equipment, I want to demo this 247 - > equipment, I've heard about all the wonderful things about your 248 - > equipment, Mr.
249 - > or Mrs. 250 - > Manufacturer, and you get it on them and they're sold and they 251 - > walk out that door and they're back on the job site and they're 252 - > ready to go with a rental mindset. 253 - > SPEAKER_03: And even if you know the the other guy in this in in 254 - > this or or woman in this equation is the guy at the 255 - > rental counter, you're the guy who owns the business. 256 - > And if you've got someone coming in to get a piece of equipment 257 - > because they've had one break, this is your opportunity.
258 - > If um brand X just broke on them, they're probably not 259 - > coming in to rent that again. 260 - > They're probably might be in a moment of frustration. 261 - > That's a good opportunity for rental guy to say, oh, have you 262 - > tried this brand? 263 - > You know, they don't have those problems.
264 - > They don't, you know, if the rental guy can understand your 265 - > product or your equipment better, they're gonna be able to 266 - > better serve you and sell it and suggest it. 267 - > SPEAKER_02: Well, and I think too, too, let's talk about AI 268 - > search, right? 269 - > Let's think about um paid media. 270 - > And I'm looking, hey, a rental skid steer near me.
271 - > Um just understanding the messaging and oh, this is rented 272 - > equipment, it's not purchased equipment. 273 - > Hey, a lot of people rent this ditch which set of equipment, 274 - > this whatever what insert product name here. 275 - > Um for them to come through to do their due diligence and then 276 - > to walk into a dealership and say, Hey, I've heard great 277 - > things about this, dealer affirms it, that's great. 278 - > Um, okay, let me let me try it.
279 - > Holy smokes. 280 - > Yep, from I was hooked with the emotional benefit of the 281 - > product, and then I worked my way down through the sales 282 - > cycles of the rent cycles, what I should say. 283 - > Oh, yeah. 284 - > Um, but of those features, of those product features that 285 - > really hit home with that renter is a is a huge thing.
286 - > And just like I said, we it comes into the content. 287 - > The content is so important as we think think through rental 288 - > strategies for those that need it. 289 - > SPEAKER_03: Yeah, marketing messages are focused on like 290 - > pride of ownership, which we talk about a lot for equipment. 291 - > There that is part of it if you're owning it.
292 - > But when you're renting it, that kind of messaging is going to 293 - > miss the mark because they're not owning it, right? 294 - > They that's not what they're about. 295 - > They're about um downtime is expensive. 296 - > They're about this thing broke on me in my moment of need.
297 - > Um they're focused on getting work done. 298 - > So it's a very different message shift for that audience than 299 - > probably what you're used to uh saying. 300 - > SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I think about it too, right? 301 - > If you're in that rental, you're in a place in your career where 302 - > you really do need a rent, and then you fall in love with a 303 - > piece of equipment, and if they're appropriate time you're 304 - > ready to buy, it's a one-two punch.
305 - > It's a beautiful thing. 306 - > Yeah. 307 - > So what we say is companies that can understand the rental buyer 308 - > behavior, you can build stronger dealer relations, relationships, 309 - > generate more leads, and create future owners. 310 - > And again, creating future owners, that is the end goal.
311 - > But when they're in a bind and when they're in a pinch, and you 312 - > were there for them. 313 - > You were rental ready. 314 - > Yeah. 315 - > Um and and I just I we don't want it to get be overlooked.
316 - > We're not gonna uh beat a dead horse on this topic today, but 317 - > it is important to keep in mind just as you go forward. 318 - > Um and talk to and by the way, talk to your product managers. 319 - > You know, they want to be part of these conversations. 320 - > I think this we had uh when H.
321 - > E. 322 - > Williams was in yesterday, they brought up a great thing that 323 - > said, Hey, as we start to get into 2027 planning, we want to 324 - > have a bunch of our salespeople in that meeting, and they're 325 - > gonna do basically like a series of um of sales pitches just so 326 - > our team, our creative team, our media team, et cetera, to hear 327 - > those things. 328 - > So as you're as you know, you as a brand marketer, as you're 329 - > think about this for your team.
330 - > Um here it's probably timely here soon to start having our 331 - > annual planning discussions here for the podcast. 332 - > 2027 planning is coming. 333 - > And for you to go to the C-suite and identify um, you know, 334 - > certain target audiences, of course, we're going after those 335 - > buyers, but hey, there's a there's a low-hanging fruit 336 - > here, and we've got an awesome opportunity with this rental 337 - > audience. 338 - > I think it's a win-win.
339 - > Yeah. 340 - > Yeah. 341 - > SPEAKER_03: It's nice to see rental get some love. 342 - > SPEAKER_02: It is good.
343 - > Yeah. 344 - > It's it's and it's it's a viable business strategy, so especially 345 - > in the interim sometimes. 346 - > So there you have it on our uh on our uh perspective thoughts 347 - > overview on on just your rental audience. 348 - > Um and it's a thing, you know, I I think about a client that is 349 - > still a client today, and they say, you know, 33% of our annual 350 - > revenue, which is a big number, is um is parts and surface.
351 - > And he's like, Man, no one wants to go sell parts. 352 - > They want to go sell the big stuff, right? 353 - > And and make the big commission. 354 - > And no one wants you to rent, but some people have to rent, 355 - > and sometimes that's their that pass-through to that ultimate 356 - > buying decision.
357 - > So a good reminder for us all. 358 - > Yeah. 359 - > Um, so like I said earlier, it is 4th of July. 360 - > Are you doing anything fun?
361 - > I think we're going to my parents to swim. 362 - > Claude? 363 - > SPEAKER_01: I'm going to Nebraska. 364 - > SPEAKER_02: Nebraska.
365 - > She's our corn husker herself. 366 - > How many times have you been to Nebraska this year? 367 - > SPEAKER_01: This will be my oh, this year. 368 - > SPEAKER_02: Is this your second?
369 - > Or is this your first? 370 - > SPEAKER_01: I mean, I've been three times. 371 - > SPEAKER_02: Okay. 372 - > She's heading north.
373 - > Or this will be. 374 - > You know what? 375 - > Quite frankly, probably a beautiful time of year to be in 376 - > Nebraska. 377 - > Maybe.
378 - > Six hours north of us. 379 - > Maybe even further. 380 - > Is it is it further than that? 381 - > SPEAKER_01: We just hope it doesn't rain.
382 - > SPEAKER_02: Well, we hope it doesn't rain here, too. 383 - > Because sunshine and 4th of July and uh and a good barbecue and 384 - > some good fireworks, celebrating our 250th anniversary as a 385 - > country is a cool thing. 386 - > So, Claudia, you travel safe. 387 - > Thank you.
388 - > You be safe, my friend. 389 - > I'll try my best. 390 - > Your audience, be safe, have fun, love those families, love 391 - > our country, and we'll be back to you next week with more 392 - > topics, trends, and news from Littlefield Agency. 393 - > Adios.
394 - > See you then. 395 - > SPEAKER_00: And that's a wrap. 396 - > We hope you found a spark of inspiration for your marketing 397 - > strategy. 398 - > Don't forget to subscribe and follow us at Littlefield Agency 399 - > to keep the conversation going.
400 - > Catch you next time.
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