NEWSLETTERS - Big changes in store at April 9 ORDA meeting

Big changes in store for ORDA at April 9 meeting

A "regime change" is in store for the Ohio Rental Dealers Association (ORDA), which will elect a new board of directors at the association's upcoming annual spring business meeting.

All seven board seats are due to be filled at the April 9 meeting at the Concourse Hotel and Conference Center in Columbus, Ohio, and the elections will conclude a day packed with housekeeping, training and planning activities.

ORDA President Mike Tissot

Chief among them is a preview and discussion of the upcoming fifth annual Midwest RTO Expo, according to ORDA President Mike Tissot.

The show was a sellout last year with over 200 attendees who benefited from training programs offered by some 30 vendors. The event attracted rent-to-own professionals from seven states including Kentucky, Michigan, Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Although buying will take place at the Expo, Tissot, owner of Countryside Rentals, emphasizes the event is a "training" show, which will focus on vendor-led education sessions that train rent-to-own dealers and employees to use and sell the products they carry.

"Rental dealer employees will leave the show armed with the knowledge to increase their ability to rent more merchandise," Tissot says. "The idea of every association having a tradeshow in its own state is kind of a dead idea."

Tissot says the Midwest RTO Expo gives rental employees who may not get the opportunity to attend a large APRO, TRIB or RentDirect show, the opportunity to see they are part of a much larger rent-to-own community.

"The idea of having a show and bringing in six or seven states is very efficient," Tissot says. "And it shows store managers that they are part of something bigger, something unique."

International speaker and published author Mike Frank is scheduled to speak at the ORDA meeting beginning at 11 a.m. Frank's topic is "How to hire, train, motivate and keep good people."

Following lunch, Susan Matthews of Benefit Marketing Solutions will discuss how to grow membership in insurance and discount benefits programs and why doing so creates a "win-win" situation for both dealers and customers.

APRO Public Affairs Director Richard May will wrap up the meeting with a legislative update on the progress of H.R. 1767 -- the industry supported legislation making its way through the U.S. House of Representatives. May will also advise dealers on how to improve their store's public relations efforts.

Tissot says positive public relations are key to keeping customers.

And those relations start in each and every dealer's store, he says.

"There is a deep sense of customer loyalty created in our business," says Tissot, a ten-year RTO veteran. "Our transaction is so unique, there's nothing like it. When you treat people with respect and dignity, you can keep a customer for life. That's powerful."