Didn’t get pre-registered for the APRO Convention & Trade Show in Little Rock?  That’s okay, you can register on-site beginning Monday July 11!

Want to get text updates on your cell phone while at the convention?  Email your cell phone number to lhill@rtohq.org/ and we’ll add you to the list so you won’t miss a thing.
 
The Peabody Little Rock will honor APRO discounted room rate as long as possible, so call 501/906-4000 for availability.
 
For full details on the APRO Convention, click here
 
 

Want your badge waiting for you when you arrive in Little Rock?

You can pre-register through Friday for the APRO 2011 Convention & Trade Show in Little Rock. For registration forms and schedule, click here.

Although the deadline for hotel reservations at the Peabody Little Rock has passed, you still may be able to get a room at the APRO discounted rate of $129. Call the hotel at 800/732-2639 for availability.

Note: Registrations will be taken on-site beginning Monday, July 11 at 2 p.m. at the APRO Registration Desk, Statehouse Convention Center, lower level of the Peabody Hotel.

No longer can a company just fill an open position in a store and expect it to thrive.

Wayne Outlaw’s sessions, Tips for Hiring Top Performers in RTO and Everyone Wins: Training RTO Employees for Success, address the “Best Practices” of top companies.
 

This is a member benefit available ONLY at the APRO 2011 Convention in Little Rock!
 

We would like you to help us identify the staffing and development challenges rent-to-own dealers face and the Best Practices used to address these issues.
 

Please complete Outlaw’s confidential online survey at: www.outlawgroup.com/APROSurvey.htm.

Results will be shared only at Outlaw’s APRO 2011 Convention seminars. The FIRST FIVE organizations to complete the survey will receive a free copy of Outlaw’s book, Smart Staffing: How to Hire, Reward and Keep Employees to Grow Your Business. All others will receive a White Page report which will be a compilation of results.
 

Complete information regarding the APRO 2011 Convention & Trade Show can be found here.

Got rooms?

The APRO room block filling up fast!

If you have not yet made your hotel reservations with the Peabody Little Rock, you still have a few days. The hotel has given APRO Convention attendees until this Friday, June 17 to make reservations.

Call the Peabody reservations line at 800/732-2639 or go to http://www.peabodylittlerock.com/ and enter APRO’s group code 271302 for discounted rates at the 2011 APRO Convention & Trade Show in Little Rock, July 11-14

Everything you need to know about APRO’s 2011 Convention.

In order to take advantage of the discounted hotel rate for the APRO Convention in Little Rock, you must make your hotel reservations at the Peabody by Monday June 13! 

Book your room online at The Peabody Little Rock Hotel (APRO reservation in the block must use group code 271302) or call 800/732-2639.

Find full detail on the convention here.
 

To encourage future leaders of the RTO industry, APRO is inviting students currently enrolled in high school or college and who are employed in the rent-to-own industry to apply for a COMPLIMENTARY FULL REGISTRATION to APRO’s 2011 Convention and Trade Show in Little Rock.

Just tell us in a one-page essay what you’ve learned about the industry and/or how you feel RTO might fit into your plans for the future.  Owners, this is an opportunity to send your most promising young employee to the APRO Convention to help them learn more about the RTO industry and advance in their career with your company.

Go here for full details.

Entries must be received by June 13.

Apparently Not! 

One of the premier retail and design industry experts, Martin Roberts of Martin Roberts Design, will show you ideas for the most effective use of your square footage in Store Makeovers for Increased Rentals at the Peabody Little Rock July 12.

This new and exciting seminar has been researched specifically for the rent-to-own industry.

Win a FREE Convention Registration!

Submit photos of your best store design and Roberts will explain what works and what doesn’t and why.

APRO is even giving away one complimentary convention registration for the best submission, so email yours today to smartinek@rtohq.org/ or share with us on Facebook.

Deadline is June 10 for the contest. For a full convention schedule and registration information, click here. 

Martin Roberts is a design industry veteran with design credits recognized across the globe. Roberts’ most respected work is included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 2010 Martin founded Martin Roberts Design, a specialized design firm that incorporates scientific methodology to inform and enrich design.

Does your marketing program need a boost?  Are you looking for new ideas to help your RTO business grow and prosper?  Do you know the value of sharing ideas with your fellow rental dealers?

Then do we have an opportunity for you!

At APRO’s 2011 Convention & Trade Show in Little Rock, the Innovation Marketing Session on July 12 will be followed by Information Exchange Roundtables for small, medium and large RTO companies. See full roundtable schedule.

The APRO roundtables are always a place where rental dealers share information for the benefit of each other and the industry, and this year’s sessions will have more focus on the topic you ask for the most…marketing.

The roundtables will follow a dynamic presentation by marketing expert, Jill Adams McDonough.  McDonough has formulated a specific marketing plan for the rent-to-own industry based on the recent focus groups of potential rent-to-own customers, as well as years of APRO research on behalf of the industry.  You won’t want to miss this one-two punch for your business success!

Registration deadline at the Peabody Little Rock is coming up soon, so make your travel, hotel, and convention registration arrangements today! 

Register for APRO’s 2011 Convention and Trade Show here.
 

Jill McDonough

The results APRO’s recent "Potential Customer" surveys will be compiled into a specialized RTO Marketing Plan provided free to those attending the APRO Convention in Little Rock July 11-14.

The marketing plan, to be compiled by Jill Adams McDonough, founder and principal of Prevail! Strategic Marketing & Communications of Chicago, is a first-class, first-of-its-kind marketing roadmap for the rent to own industry.

McDonough has created award-winning PR and marketing programs and built and managed best-in-class operations at the world’s top advertising and public relations agencies including Leo Burnett USA and Edelman Worldwide.

Her keen ability to access influencers and build teams that work collaboratively and honestly to create integrated, nontraditional public relations programs is what separates Prevail! from other agencies. Jill listens, problem-solves, and promises an uncompromising commitment to excellence in whatever Prevail! undertakes.  

McDonough was to hired to formulate a first-of-its-kind marketing study specifically for the rent to own industry. She attended the Ohio Focus Group where she met RTO dealers and observed group discussions. 

She will use recorded material and statistical data from all APRO’s "Potential Customer" studies over the past two years in the final marketing plan that will give APRO members new insight into today’s RTO marketing environment.

McDonough will present the RTO Marketing Plan at 8 a.m. July 12 during the "Innovation Marketing Session". See all APRO 2011 seminars here.

Register today for APRO’s 2011 Convention and take home the most important marketing document in the history of rent to own!