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Rent-to-own News
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Rent-to-own News - APRO General Session focuses on the industry's past, present and future
He cited the unity and strength of not only the national association, but also the state associations, as the reasons why the industry has prevailed in most scenarios. He also focused on good news from the past year, including: flat-screen TVs have boosted yields-per-unit in most stores, Rent-A-Center and RentWay rejoined APRO, new RTO concepts like Rent-n-Roll and Premier gained strength and offered former rent-to-own employees the chance to own a family-run business, new state associations were reorganized in Louisiana, New York State, Pennsylvania, the Northwest and West Virginia; and, finally, the industry enjoyed its largest attendance ever at the 2007 Dave Egan Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. The membership heard reports from the chairs of the following committees: membership, budget, government relations, state association coordination, public relations and nominating.
During the public relations committee report, the members met the 2007 Rent-to-Own Employee of the Year, Jonathan Brown of Bestway Rent-To-Own in Tappahannock, Virginia. He’s a customer service manager who is an exemplary employee who is also active in Upward Bound, a charitable group that serves students from low-income families by helping them succeed academically. During “Tiger” John Cleek’s report on state associations, he announced and presented the 2007 Most-Improved State Association of the Year award to New York Rental Dealers Association President Dave Edwards. Once the general session adjourned, Carrico introduced keynote speaker Lowell Catlett, world-renowned economist and raconteur. Catlett regaled the membership with an optimistic picture of economic trends of the past, present and future. One of his themes was that when the market delivers what you want, when you want it and where you want it, price is not an issue.
Also, “people afford what they want.” He drew distinctions between the various generations, baby boomers, X Generation, Y Generation and the World War II generation and how each of those groups behaves in the marketplace. Catlett made his points about economic trends with humorous anecdotes from his life as an insightful baby boomer. He was met with a standing ovation from the audience. Then, to close out the meeting, APRO’s Keese and Carrico performed the ritual ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the buying show at the convention center to attendees. Click here to view photos from the event. APRO would like to thank GE Consumer and Industrial for its generous sponsorship of the 2007 General Session.
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2012 APRO Dave Egan
Legislative Conference
April 17-19, Washington, D.C.
Mark your calendars!
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RTOHQ: The Magazine
RTOHQ: The Magazine is the Association of Progressive Rental Organizations' award-winning rent-to-own industry magazine, and it's available here. | |||
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CLICK HERE FOR OUR DIGITAL RTOHQ: THE MAGAZINE
RTOHQ: The Magazine’s upgraded digital format APRO's new, mobile-ready magazine is now available in addition to our print edition. The digital format provides the same informative content as our printed magazine, but also offers tools to make the reading experience more enriching. Access the table of contents page with one click or tap. Get additional information from advertisers by clicking on the links in their ads. The interface is easy to navigate and requires no special app—read our magazine on your computer, digital table or smartphone. Click here to access the digital version of RTOHQ: The Magazine November-December 2011.
Marketing Matters This year marks the launch of a marketing campaign initiated by APRO to build the rent-to-own customer base. It will be a multi-year endeavor employing multiple strategies. In this and upcoming issues of our magazine, we will address the many facets of marketing that affect our industry.
Striving for an A with the BBB by William E. Freeland Consumers often refer to the Better Business Bureau's ratings to help them make rental and purchasing decisions. National Rent-to-Own's human resource manager outlines the steps every RTO company should pursue to help earn an A+ from the BBB.
Creating an Extraordinary Customer Experience by Bill Keese Apple does it. Southwest Airlines does it. Can the rent-to-own industry also garner a national reputation for exceptional service and, in the process, attract new customers?
BB and BBQ on Beale Street Memphis' reputation for tremendous food, groundbreaking music and Southern charm is well deserved. It's not too early to start planning your trip there next July for APRO's 2012 Rent-to-Own Convention and Trade Show.
Card Talk by Ed Winn III Credit and debit card payments are on the rise in rent-to-own. So are the risks in keeping such transactions secure.
Rent-to-Own Families, Part VI by Kristen Card No, you're not seeing double, or are you? Our latest profiles of kindred colleagues include two sets of twins-the Botkins and the Kimbles. And in Kansas, a son and daughter help their dad keep business running Strong.
Future issues of APRO's magazine will be available in this same new format. Click here to access past issues that are not yet archived in the new interface.
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Association of Progressive Rental Organizations 1504 Robin Hood Trail Austin, Texas 78703 800/204-2776, ext. 103 Fax 512/794-0097 |