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All education sessions will be held in America’s Center, which is located directly across the street from the Renaissance Grand. The All- Industry Roundtable will be held on level 1; all other seminars will be held on level 2.
APRO’s 2008 Rent-to-Own
All-Industry Roundtable
Moderated by Tom Krapu
8:30–11:30 a.m.
America’s Center’s
Ferrara Theater, level 1
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The annual rent-to-own roundtable held during the APRO Convention offers  attendees an abundance of new ideas to take back to their stores. In the “all-industry” format, all dealers—whether one-store or multi-store operators—are encouraged to join together for this lively information-gathering session. Potential roundtable discussions include (but are not limited to): community involvement, changing perceptions of rent-to-own, employee salaries, learning from business mistakes, new technologies, an overview of APRO’s 2008 Rent-to-Own Industry Statistical Survey—and more.
Roundtable participants will be able to give and receive immediate insight into the issues under discussion via an interactive keypad- response system that will display poll results throughout the duration of the session.
Roundtable moderator Tom Krapu is a facilitator for Arbinger, a consulting firm that specializes in helping businesses and individuals reach their full potential in the workplace and in life. Krapu has facilitated APRO’s annual board meeting and delivers team-building seminars to APRO-member companies.
RTO BUSINESS OPERATIONS:
Managing Talent:
Hiring and Keeping the Best Jim Corter, Corter Consulting
1–2:30 p.m. and 2:45–4:15 p.m., Room 230
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Are there effective ways to select the right people for the job and keep them? You bet!  In this session you will learn methods to assess prospective employees beyond the initial job interview, how to determine what type of person the job position really needs and how to give specific and effective feedback. You’ll also discover the top three employer behaviors that motivate top performers.
Jim Corter is president of Corter Consulting, a human resource management firm headquartered in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Since 1995, the company has conducted training, surveys and behavioral profiling for more than 70 organizations across the country. Prior to starting the firm, Corter served as a human resource manager for a Fortune 500 company.
RTO BUSINESS OPERATIONS:
2008 Rent-to-Own Legal Update
Ed Winn III, APRO
4:30-6 p.m., Room 230
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Rental dealers face an array of challenges every day: competition, human  resources, inventory control and the ever-evolving legal environment. This session will bring rental dealers up to date on the latest legal challenges faced by rental dealers, including a review of current state legislative initiatives, the status of lawsuits brought by and against rental companies and the implications of those suits for the industry as a whole.
Winn will also address the latest legal developments concerning gas card scams, bed bugs, products liability, warning labels, military reimbursement programs, identity theft, convenience fees, shut-off devices, the tort of improvident extentions of credit vis-à-vis rent-to-own, plus other issues that dealers want to discuss.
Ed Winn III is a partner in the Martinec, Winn, Vickers and McElroy law firm based in Austin, Texas. He has served as APRO's general counsel since its formation in 1980.
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RTO BUSINESS OPERATIONS:
Safety is No Accident: Ideas You can Use in Your Business
Ralph Hood, Speak Inc.
1-2:30 p.m., Room 231
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It is generally accepted that safety on the job is dependent on the safety standards set  by the company—but they need to be the right standards. At this session, you will learn how to develop good safety standards and evaluate your current ones.
Ralph Hood’s proficiency for setting safety standards comes from having spent 39 years as a pilot and aviation writer. He has taught his safety standards program to ISASI—an organization comprised of airline accident investigators—as well as other organizations coast to coast.
RTO BUSINESS OPERATIONS:
Setting Customer Standards: Techniques that Work!
Ralph Hood, Speak Inc.
2:45-4:15 p.m., Room 231
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Customer service is the name of the game in today’s world of rising costs and competition. Learn the two most important concepts of customer service and put them to work immediately.
Ralph Hood has been teaching customer service for more than three decades. The customer training video he wrote and narrated for the world’s largest aviation association is considered a classic. He has written about customer service in many business publications and is the author of the books The Truth and Other Lies and Southern Raised in the Fifties.
RTO BUSINESS OPERATIONS:
Where's the Money?
Financing Tips for Your Rent-to-Own Business
A Banker's Panel
4:30-6 p.m., Room 231
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Bankers and rental dealers measure the success of rent-to-own operations differently—bankers like strong profits and healthy balance sheets while rental dealers like strong revenue growth and low income taxes. This makes it difficult for the small dealer to strike a balance and achieve all the goals required. In this session, conducted by a group of finance experts who’ve worked specifically with the rent- to-own industry, you’ll learn how to obtain financing for your company and what information you should have in hand before approaching a banker. These experts might not be able to “show you the money,” but at least they’ll guide you in how best to find the money you’ll need to grow.
GROWING YOUR BUSINESS:
Growing Your RTO Business—One Customer at a Time
Dave Edwards and Brian Brereton, SEI/Aaron's
1-2:30 p.m., Room 240
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Growing your rent-to-own business begins by hiring the right people with the right  attitude. This session will offer a three-part plan to enhance every rent-to-own operation.  Unrealistic expectations and other factors that keep rental dealers from reaching their full potential will be discussed. Discover specific activities that will add new customers and agreements to your business and, as a result, increase revenue and profit. In short, you’ll learn how to grow the business.
Dave Edwards is president and COO of SEI/Aaron’s. He has more than 18 years of experience in the rent-to-own industry and was instrumental in reorganizing the New York Rental Dealers Association in 2007. Brian Brereton is SEI/Aaron’s recruiter and dean of management development.
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GROWING YOUR BUSINESS:
Imagineering:
Thinking Outside the Traditional RTO Box
Lawrence Helms, Trainergy
2:45-4:15 p.m. and
4:30-6 p.m., Room 240
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Your success is not a matter of luck or happenstance; it’s predicated on new ways of  doing business in a faltering economy. Those who blindly rely on yesterday’s practices are handicapping themselves when they compete with those who are ready, willing and able to abandon less-productive practices and create new “mental boxes” appropriate for a changing business environment.
“Imagineering”—using the imagination to climb out of old, non- productive mental boxes—combines the best use of right-brain creativity with left-brain practicality. In this fast-paced, humorous presentation, Lawrence Helms will examine why some cling to old, comfortable ways of doing business while productivity and sales slide. He’ll address the psychology of change and unveil the WADIT (“We’ve Always Done It That” way) Principle. Helms will help uncover the most common mental locks that prevent rent-to-own dealers from exploring new business practices and how instead you can adapt the strategies that will help your business grow.
Larry Helms, PhD, is one of APRO’s most popular seminar speakers. He brings a unique combination of academic training and practical experience to his presentations.
LEADERSHIP:
Real Communication Skills for Leaders
Lawrence Helms, Trainergy
1-2:30 p.m., Room 241
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Communication is much more than simply talking and listening.
Effective leaders know that the way they communicate affects morale and can either motivate or demotivate employees. They also know an effective communication style can be the first step in long-term staff and customer retention.
This session will explore the psychology of communication, miscommunication, subliminal communication, confusing communication and more. Attendees will learn how to identify and avoid the four deadly sins of the tongue.
Larry Helms is no dry, academic “talking head,” but is instead an “edu- tainer” possessing a talent for blending humor and entertainment with his thought-provoking message.
LEADERSHIP:
Leadership and
Self-Deception: Powerful Collaborative Teaming
Tom Krapu
2:45-4:15 p.m. and 4:30-6 p.m.
Room 241
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Using principles outlined in the book Leadership and Self-Deception, this session will explore the power of relationships in developing and maintaining a highly collaborative team. Upon learning a powerful organizational model of efficiency that inspires good teamwork, participants will leave with some helpful tools for developing better relationships in their rent-to-own businesses.
Tom Krapu is a facilitator for Arbinger, a consulting firm that specializes in helping businesses and individuals overcome the hurdles of self-deception. He serves on the company’s “Results Coaching” team, which helps participants reach their full potential in the workplace and in life. Krapu has facilitated APRO’s annual board meeting and delivers team-building seminars to APRO-member companies.
For more information about this presentation, please email rto@krapu4.com.
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