2008 General Session and Business Meeting

9–11 a.m., Wednesday, August 13
Special guest appearance by U.S. Representative William Lacy Clay 

 
APRO’s 2008 keynote address: Success Is Your Own Fault!
Presented by Ross Shafer
Keynote address sponsored by G.E. Consumer & Industrial
 
   Emmy-Award-winning talk show host, writer and one of the nation’s leading corporate speakers Ross Shafer will be the featured keynote at this year’s APRO convention. “Finally, a motivational speaker without the speech!,” says NBC’s Tonight Show host Jay Leno. “Shafer is one of the funniest guys I know.”
   In his fresh and hilarious address, Shafer will show you how to make the most of your success and nurture other’s talents for their benefit and yours. He’ll reveal how you can enlist your employees’ passions to generate new ideas, improve productivity, reduce turnover and stimulate the growth of your company.
Author of Nobody Moved Your Cheese! (Ignore the Experts and Trust Your Gut), Shafer will encourage you to stop looking to the so-called “experts” such as Tony Robbins, Dr. Laura or the “Chicken Soup” gang to keep you motivated and instead discover how you are the expert on your own life.
He will also focus on customer service—the backbone of the rent-to-own industry. Based on a compilation of 1,000 independent—and unsolicited— customer complaints, Shafer’s book The Customer Shouts Back!: Ten Things You Need to Do to Earn Their Lifetime Loyalty traces the decline of customer service, the dramatic evolution of customer attitudes since the 9/11 attacks and the “10 Big Changes” we need to make to win our customers’ lifetime loyalty. Shafer will share his findings during the keynote address, which promises to open the eyes of everyone who thought they knew everything about customer service.
  
   In addition to Shafer’s address, the general session and business meeting will include an overview of the state of the rent-to-own industry presented by members of APRO’s board of directors. U.S. 
Representative William Lacy Clay—sponsor of H.R. 1767, RTO-industry- supported federal legislation currently before Congress—will update APRO members on the status of the bill. Winners of the 2008 Rent-to-Own Customer of the Year and Employee of the Year competition also will be recognized.
 
   The general session will be your opportunity to vote to elect and/or re-elect members to APRO’s board of directors. Profiles of the candidates running for the board will be posted on APRO’s Web site a month prior to the convention and will also be published in the Show Guide available at the convention.



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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.

Complete issue of RTOHQ: The Magazine | June - July 2008
Download the entire June- July 2008 issue of RTOHQ: The Magazine by clicking on the link above (PDF file size is approximately 11 MB). by APRO

 

The Connectors
By Kristen Card
Taking into consideration APRO’s 2008 Convention theme, “Rent-to-Own Connections,” we debut RTOHQ: The Magazine with a series of profiles on some of those in our industry who use their insights about rent-to-own and their abilities of persuasion to connect with members of Congress: Congressman William Lacy Clay, Steve Kruse, RSSS’ Ellison Crider, Missouri’s Mighty Cs (Larry Carrico, “Tiger” John Cleek and Dan Cole), Lyn Leach, Bryce Company’s Bryan Collins, Tom Bernau and Benefit Marketing Solutions.

 

Identity Theft in the Rent-to-Own World
By Ed Winn III
These days, businesses are being held more accountable for the records they keep and the safeguards they use to protect them. Should your customers’ personal and financial information fall into the hands of thieves, you might be liable for the damages caused.

 

APRO’s 2008 Convention Education: Your Gateway to New Ideas
The education schedule at APRO’s 2008 Rent-to-Own Convention and Buying Show in St. Louis has been revamped to provide an entire day of great ideas that you can take back to your stores. Check out the complete schedule and seminar descriptions in this issue.

Association of Progressive Rental Organizations
1504 Robin Hood Trail
Austin, Texas 78703
800/204-2776, ext. 103
Fax 512/794-0097