The Bounce House Blueprint: A Proven Framework for Growing Your Rental Business

Everyone who thinks renting bounce houses is such an easy business to jump into usually gets smacked into reality very quickly. It’s hard work, long hours, weekends are taken away from you, and customers typically want to rent a bounce house on major holidays. But for the people who stick with it, probably due to stubbornness, ask the same question:

What’s the secret to building a successful bounce house operation?

The truth is…there isn’t one secret.

Over the last decade operating my party rental business, I’ve realized that successful companies all tend to do the same handful of things well.

That’s what led me to create what I call the Bounce House Blueprint.

For years, I've wanted to create a simple blueprint for the bounce house industry. A process that will walk anyone through the steps of renting bounce houses for extra money. Not necessarily a way to start and operate a business, but more of a guideline to follow in order to ensure your success. Not everyone wants to start and run a giant operation, some people do, but not everyone. This Bounce House Blueprint is simple framework that anyone can follow, no matter where they are on their journey.

The Blueprint consists of an easy-to-follow acronym. I’ll go into details one by one.

B – Bookings

                The first step in making money renting bounce houses is getting people to reserve a bounce house and give you money. There are many ways people can do this. Word of mouth is the lowest cost method to let people know about your operation. Just tell your family, friends and neighbors that you rent bounce houses, and that they should give you a call. They’ll also tell their other friends, tell people at their church, and inform coworkers where they work. You could also select the more costly method of advertising by paying Google Ads, Facebook ads, Every Door Direct Mailers (EDDM) or by putting door hangers out at people’s houses.

                After people get ahold of you, collect their contact information and stay in touch. Step one is win over a customer, they’ll tell everyone they know, and you’ll start to build your clientele. You can also use a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software to collect your customers information. ERS (Event Rental Systems), IO (Inflatable Office) and BCN (Bouncy Castle Network) are some of the most popular systems out there today in the industry.  Log all of your customers’ information in the CRM and follow up with everyone regularly. Try to win them over year after year and continue to grow your customer database. The goal isn't simply to book an event - it's to build a customer for life.

O – Operations

                After you get your bounce house and you're ready to tackle your first rental, you need to figure out the operations side of things.  Do you have trucks available to deliver your bounce houses? Do you have trailers available and enough of them to fulfill all of your requests? Are you needing to look into a box truck to help improve efficiency? Do you have enough help that is capable of driving trucks and pulling trailers?

                Training any new staff or hiring your first helper may be an area you need to improve on.  If you end up needing to hire someone, how often do you need them? Do you need a full-time employee or just someone available that you can simply call on an as needed basis? Training would also be important to ensure they know what to do and what their expectations are. Are SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) in place so you can hire new people and onboard them quickly?  A well-run operation gives you the freedom to spend less time putting out fires and more time growing your business.

U – Upsells

                This category has the most missed opportunities out of all of them. Offering upsells gives you the ability to turn a $200 bounce house rental into a $500 party. If someone is requesting a square bounce house, offer a larger combo at the higher rate.

I can’t tell you how many times someone has called asking for the smallest cheapest waterslide available. Then, after a few questions, we find out they could potentially have around 30 kids coming over and the majority of them are teenagers. Always try to upsell them to the larger inflatables if you still have them available for their requested date.

                The key is to ask the customer a lot of questions.  What is the party for? How many people are you expecting? What age group will be in attendance? How late into the evening is the event?  All of these questions open the door to offering a higher end product and service. If there are a lot of people in attendance, offer multiple units and tell them it would be more enjoyable for everyone to have plenty of options to play. If they are going late into the evening, offer an overnight rental period with only a 30% increase to their price. Also, don’t forget to offer other items such as tables, chairs, and trashcans. These can all be easily added to a party and it does not really add any additional time or difficulty to your delivery.  

N – Numbers

                This is the section that most people love or hate. Analytical people love the idea of digging into the numbers and really trying to understand what the numbers are telling them. Others might get anxiety with just the thought of looking at the numbers. Just ignoring it doesn't make it go away. Learn your numbers, understand them, and then make necessary adjustments. At a bare minimum, you’ll want to track your labor rate, customer acquisition costs (CAC), average order value (AOV) and lifetime value of a customer (LTV).

                Over the years of operating our bounce house business, I've noticed many of our numbers need to line up in order for me to hit my target goals. For instance, I have seen steady growth over the past 10 years when I consistently spend 10% of gross revenue directly on marketing. I make the effort to spend those marketing dollars and try to never fall short of that target. When I do spend less, I notice I don’t get the growth I was looking for.

                Another number I like to always keep an eye on is labor cost. I have consistently tried to maintain under 40% of my revenue going towards labor costs. That includes my own pay from the company, all employees pay, workers compensation insurance and any payroll taxes. Keeping labor rates at or around 40% has helped to maintain that I keep profits around 20% each year.  Keeping track of all your numbers on a weekly basis is a great start to control the business before it starts to control you. You always want to make good, sound business decisions. However, when you’re strapped for cash because of overspending, high labor costs, and unforeseen equipment repairs, you might feel pressured to make unwise business decisions.

C - Customers

                It’s very difficult to run a successful bounce house rental operation if you don’t have repeat customers. Focus on creating such a great experience that your customers can't wait to book with you again and recommend you to others. When the event ends, encourage them to reach out for future events and ask if they'd be willing to leave you a positive review. Encourage them to tell their friends and family.

Maintaining good customer relationships is very important and it never ends. It starts with the first meeting on the phone and continues after event when you ask them to leave you a 5-star review. Many of your customers will go to schools, go to church, go to youth sporting events and network with others in the community. Always continue to work on building customer relationships.

                You can find customers just about anywhere. You need to continually find new customers, and new customers need to find you. Start by reaching out to everyone you know and asking for them to spread the word about your business. You can join your local Chamber of Commerce and have them share your information in the community. You can work with the local Parks and Rec department and see if you can participate in any upcoming community events. You can run ads on Google or Facebook. You can post regularly on social media. There are tons of opportunities to find customers. The more effort you put into this, the bigger return you’ll most likely see.

E – Expand

                Expanding doesn’t necessarily mean franchising or growing into multiple locations. Maybe for you, that is the goal. But expanding could also simply mean improving your operation. You could expand your operations in areas that are already working well. Simply put, determine what part of your business is the most profitable, and expand that area specifically.  If your combo units are booked solid and you're turning away customers because you're out of inventory, your next investment probably shouldn't be a mechanical bull. You should be focusing on growing your combo inventory and trying to maximize revenue potential in that category specifically.

                Expanding your operation could also mean improving your operations to become more efficient. If you have plenty of inventory but find you could be more efficient delivering tables and chair orders in a box truck, improving your vehicle fleet could be your next move. If you have smaller dollies and are moving giant waterslides, maybe an electric dolly is the best way to expand your operation. Maximizing what is currently working will help you to become more efficient and will result in higher profitability in your operation.

Conclusion

Every successful bounce house rental business I’ve ever met excels in these six areas.

Some are amazing at getting bookings but also struggle with operations.

Others are very good at getting customers, but their numbers are missing the mark.

The goal isn’t to be perfect in every category overnight.

The goal is to continually improve each area a little, year after year.

Where are you at in your journey? Which of these categories are you currently struggling in?

Let me know in the comments and I will see if I can help!