How can I accurately work out monthly projected sales? (rental business)

[Fezza458]

Hello everyone, I am looking and researching into starting a photography rental business. The issue is I cannot work out a way of calculating projected monthly sales since I have 3 prices.

The 3 prices are per day rental, weekly rental and weekend rental, starting with one of each item will mean I can only hire out one of each item out of the 3 possible rental options.

Thus is there a way to calculate this? Or do I just go wit the maximum potential? Ie every item being rented out every week.

If that is confusing I can go into more detail, regards.

[yourhostingspot.com]

I would not use the maximum potential. Also, what happens is one option is much more popular than another? It sounds to me like your reserving one item for each option when the reality may be that the one day rental option may be 3 times more popular than the one month option.

It sounds like you are starting off small. So you may be best off just estimating and start a test run using free or low cost advertising. You'll have more of an idea at that point. Then you'll have more accurate data for decisions.

[Fezza458]

Thank you for your reply, yes I see where you are coming from and have thought myself that perhaps the weekend rentals (sat-sunday) perhaps might be more popular then full weekly rentals, thus I shall create lists for each possible outcome. Regards.

[guidemesingapore]

Maximum potential is not the right way to go. Is it possible for you to research on your competitors? It would be easy to report projections once you know what kind of business the other guys are doing at the moment.

[veikoh]

Take your customer percentages how much you think will be buying monthly, how much weekend and how much daily. Then take an average of those.

[Fezza458]

Once again thank you for the replies, It is hard to study the competition as there is a single direct competitor and I don't see it anyway of being able do get figures.

Veikoh, thank you I shall give that a go.

[The Stealthy One]

Here's the thing - you can't accurately project when you've got no base data. Startups have no data on which to base projections. Can't think of a way to say this any nicer ... I wouldn't waste the time creating projections, because they'd be meaningless. If you're starting up, don't over-plan - get out there and sell. Get some data, then you can project. Marketing should be your focal point right now.

[Ruman]

I am not sure about photography rental, but i use contractor rental places frequently. I would venture to say, from seeing what is on their shelves/in their lot when I'm there, that their rental % is 50% if they are lucky. They also offer daily/weekly/monthly.

I would be concerned with not creating projections, though. I agree with not over-planning, but if you find out at 80% rental, you're still not making nearly as much as you'd like, then the business may not be the one to get into.

[Fezza458]

Thanks again for the replies, I have decided to start slightly smaller. About half what I wanted to start with and basically trial and and see how it goes. Have had some more ideas too so now I will focus on finishing the plan and securing half the money. Regards.