Rent-to-Own

January 22-25, ColorTyme Inc. 2012 National Meeting, Embassy Suites/Frisco Convention Center, Frisco, Texas.
For more information, contact Rhonda Davis at 972/403-4945

Visitation:

Friday, Jan. 20
5pm-8pm
Hodapp Funeral Home
8815 Cincinnati-Columbus Rd
West Chester, Ohio 45069
 
Funeral:

Saturday
11am Hodapp Funeral Home
Then a procession to the Arlington Memorial Cemetery on Compton Rd
 

Mike Courts is a rent-to-own professional who has, for years, wanted to own his own ColorTyme stores. After years of managing four stores for a competitor, Courts made his move at the beginning of this year. He opened his first ColorTyme at 5850 Route 60, Summit Plaza in Ashland, Ky.

“For quite some time I’ve known I wanted to do my own thing with ColorTyme,” said Courts. ”I’ve been in the industry for years and knew I wanted to be with this chain in this area. It’s exciting to introduce the brand here.”
 
Courts has future plans to open a total of four ColorTyme locations in Ohio, W. Virginia and Kentucky.
 
Like all ColorTyme stores, the new Ashland location offers a variety of convenient payment plans without a credit check. The owners and staff intend to give residents a unique rental experience by creating a hometown atmosphere with superior customer service.
 
“Unlike many large, corporate-owned chains, ColorTyme is unique in that we truly create meaningful relationships with customers. We are proud to have this opportunity to serve this area and are committed to providing personalized service and low prices that can’t be found anywhere else.”
 

Premier Rental-Purchase opens new store in Snellville, Georgia

Coe Ecker and David Quinn

Coe Ecker and David Quinn have partnered up to open a Premier Rental-Purchase location in Snellville, Georgia.

They celebrated their Grand Opening last week with a ribbon cutting ceremony. Food and refreshments were provided for their current and soon-to-be new customers.
 
“We look forward to serving our community and providing them with quality home furnishings and flexible economic payment options,” said Coe and David echoing each other.
 
Coe has strong work ethic, superior customer service skills, and great leadership abilities which compliments David’s expertise in training and mentoring of their team. Both entrepreneurs have experience in managing multiple locations.
 
Coe and David became attracted to The Premier Companies because of the flexibility to run their business, while knowing that Premier offers a structured organization, and the support systems to assist them when needed.
 
They have more than 25 combined years in the RTO industry.
 

Coe Ecker and David Quinn

Coe Ecker and David Quinn have partnered up to open a Premier Rental-Purchase location in Snellville, Georgia.

They celebrated their Grand Opening last week with a ribbon cutting ceremony. Food and refreshments were provided for their current and soon-to-be new customers.
 
“We look forward to serving our community and providing them with quality home furnishings and flexible economic payment options,” said Coe and David echoing each other.
 
Coe has strong work ethic, superior customer service skills, and great leadership abilities which compliments David’s expertise in training and mentoring of their team. Both entrepreneurs have experience in managing multiple locations.
 
Coe and David became attracted to The Premier Companies because of the flexibility to run their business, while knowing that Premier offers a structured organization, and the support systems to assist them when needed.
 
They have more than 25 combined years in the RTO industry.
 

In an age of electronic media, the success of Central File Marketing and it’s relentless focus on powerful direct mail marketing campaigns is a testament to the power of the visceral over the American consumer.

"Where do unsolicited emails end up? They go straight in the trash. People don’t even open them," said Dan Chaudoir, Central File owner who founded the company in 1992, "Most of the time, spam and junk mail filters will keep you from even opening it. We put something tangible and personalized in customer’s hands that will get their attention without too much hype and that they can interact with."

Chaudoir said personalized gift cards are a good example. People tend to hang on to them, put them on the refrigerator and eventually, walk into a rent to own store with them. And the fact that mail volume IS down ensures even more of his clients are getting a slice of their customers time.

And rent to own is something Chaudoir and his chief account executives, Al Benson and Paul Gibbons know a little something about. Collectively they have more than 60 years in the industry in various companyies wearing a variety of hats.

Chaudoir and Benson first teamed up in 1982 behind a ColorTyme franchise that reached seven stores before RTO was legislated out of Wisconsin. Chaudoir then went to work for ColorTyme corporate in Texas where the he oversaw the company’s direct marketing efforts. That’s where he first saw the demand for quality direct mail.

He started Central File Marketing in 1992 and chartered his entrepreneurial course with a then state of the art IBM 8088 and a head full of ambition. Benson rejoined him in 1999 and Gibbons in 2005.

"Today you can do with one click what used to take half a day," Chaudoir said. "It was all cut and paste graphics and line art but, that’s where it started.

But beyond the eye-catching "look" of a Central File campaign, lies the data mining that allows Central File to custom build campaigns to get preferred existing customers back in the store as well as bring in new ones.

"We don’t sell exposure, we sell direct response," Chaudoir said. "We know the RTO customer, we know what makes them tick, we’ve pretty much got it figured out. That and our ability to do everything "in house" makes Central File a one-stop marketing destination."

Chaudoir can also tell his clients "to the customer", how successful a campaign was.

"We can actually show our clients how many new customers they’ve gained from their direct mail event," Chaudoir said. "We really go the extra mile in that department."

RTO dealers are justifiably more results oriented these days, and more professional, he said.

"The education level of CEO’s, store managers and employee is just through the roof compared to 20 years ago. That means customer service comes up and that makes our job a whole lot easier."

Though Chaudoir insists — "I’m not a printer; I’m a marketer who owns a printing company." — his new 32,000 square foot, 18 employee facility in Brown Deer, Wisconsin can do it all.

From design to printing to mailing and analytics, Central File is truly a one-stop destination for rent to own direct mail advertising.

For more information about Central File Marketing, visit centralfileinc.com or contact Al Benson Central File Marketing at 414/687-2031 cell or by email al@centralfileinc.com

DSI Systems has reorganized its sales team into separate groups for CE and DirecTV/WildBlue.

DSI has formed the Consumer Electronics Group and the DirecTV and WildBlue Group, with Jerry Satoren, senior VP/consumer electronics, being named to run the CE Group, according to a report in Twice Magazine.

He will continue to report to Doug Robison, DSI’s president, and will be responsible for all aspects of the consumer electronics operation.

Robison will continue to oversee both business groups but will put more of his day-to-day focus on the DirecTVand WildBlue Group.

The most significant change as a result of this restructuring will be within the sales organization, DSI said.

Within the CE group, DSI will continue its commitment to "in store – in person" service by maintaining a substantial team of territory managers that will be in the field conducting business in dealers’ stores every week.

They will be organized into three regions with Jerry Dreyer (West), Tracy Locke (Central), and Bill Hale (East) having been named as the regional Sales VPs. They will report directly to Satoren.

Additionally, Bob Virden, senior VP of specialty sales, will continue his responsibilities heading up two growth areas for DSI: fulfillment management services and the rent to own channel. He will now report to Satoren as well.

Within the DIRECTV and WildBlue group, Mike Moore and Pete Lago will divide the country as sales VPs, managing a team of regional directors and territory managers.

Mike Hensel will remain merchandising VP for DirecTV and WildBlue. All three DirecTV and WildBlue VPs will report directly to Robison. Mike Littman will continue to report to Robison as WildBlue sales director.

To further support the sales effort under the new structure, DSI has formed the Business Development Group (BDG) within the sales organization.

This group will provide inside sales support for DSI’s Territory Managers. Each BDG support rep will be assigned to support specific Territory Managers and all dealers within that territory. This will enable every DSI dealer to have two points of contact, the distributor said.

Supporters of controversial antipiracy legislation face a struggle to regain momentum after the White House sided with irate Internet companies and users over the weekend and complained that the proposal could hurt innocent companies and undermine cybersecurity.

On Saturday, the White House outlined its opposition to two similar bills pending in the House and Senate that would crack down on the sale of pirated American movies, music and other goods on foreign-based websites. The bills would require Internet companies to hobble access to foreign pirate websites, bar search engines from linking to them and prevent U.S. companies from placing ads on them, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The Obama administration’s opposition to the legislation represents a new hurdle for the Hollywood studios and other supporters, who complain that they lose billions of dollars each year as a result of pirated movies or other goods.

Lawmakers appeared to be on the verge of easily passing piracy legislation by a wide margin, but the prognosis for the measure is now uncertain.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, seen in 2010, says he is committed to a bipartisan bill.
The Senate is still scheduled to hold a procedural vote on the legislation on Jan. 24. House backers haven’t announced any plans to advance the legislation, but they said Friday that they will remove a provision that worried some cybersecurity experts.

The proposed Stop Online Piracy Act has stoked wild rhetoric from both supporters and detractors. Opponents, including technology companies, have compared some provisions in the legislation to methods used by dictatorial regimes.

Supporters of antipiracy legislation face a struggle to regain momentum after the White House sided with irate Internet companies and users, Peter Landers reports on digits.

To protest the proposed legislation, the online encyclopedia Wikipedia said it will close down its English language version for 24 hours on Wednesday.

But supporters say the competitiveness of the movie and television industry—and even that of American business as a whole—is at stake.

Major media companies that own TV channels and movie studios have been among the legislation’s supporters. They worry that piracy could thwart their still nascent efforts to get consumers to pay for online content. In the TV business, for instance, channels are increasingly making their shows available online only to paying subscribers to cable and satellite operators—a system that could be undermined by pirate sites.

Google, Twitter, Facebook Inc. and other Internet companies worry the legislation is written so broadly that it will impose new liabilities on domestic websites that aren’t profiting from pirated material. The legislation would give the Justice Department authority to seek court orders to block domain names or search results for sites that are alleged to host pirate content. Opponents worry that innocent sites that host user-generated materials could get shut down.

 RES, Buddy’s come to aid of colleague

L to R: James and Brittany Compton, Michael Gerwe Jr., Jeff Robinson from Buddy’s Home Furnishings.

When RES Accessories CEO Michael Gerwe Jr. learned a long-time Tampa business associate Brittany Compton’s home burned to the ground just before Christmas, he knew he had to help.

Gerwe tapped long-time client Buddy’s Home Furnishings, specifically Jeff Robinson, and the two worked with Victor Crespo Jr., manager of Buddy’s store #8, to outfit Brittany and husband James Compton’s new rental home completely with $4,500 worth of new furnishings and appliances.

"As soon as I heard about it, I immediately got in contact with Buddy’s," said Gerwe who is also co-vice chairman of APRO’s Vendor Advisory Committee. "I wanted to put something together for them and Buddy’s stepped right in and made this happen."

Brittany and James Compton, along with their 5-year old and 8-month old are re-settled in Tampa.

Long time rent to own vendor and advocate Bonnie Nitzsche "The Flyer Specialist" died Tuesday at her home in Cincinnati after a 14-year battle with Myeloma cancer

A former Mary Kay consultant, Nitzsche is largely credited with introducing the industry to four-color print advertising in 1988. She was a fierce supporter of the industry and her clients — mostly small independent rent to own dealers — ever since.

Her artistic talent couldn’t have come at a better time for the growing rent to own industry which was beginning to wrestle with its public image and the negative legislation spawned by it.

When two bills on Capital Hill threatened the industry in 1993, Nitzsche stepped up to the plate. When APRO asked for her help, she designed, printed and mailed out informational posters for dealers to display, fully explaining the rental purchase transaction.

The next year, then-APRO President Kevin Quinn presented Nitzsche with APRO’s 1994 Norm Smith Vendor of the Year award for her contributions to the industry, in what she called one of her proudest moments.

"That really showed that Bonnie’s heart was in the rent-to-own industry." Quinn said, "Without the Bonnie Nitzsches of the world, we probably wouldn’t have gotten our message out."

She was an active member of the Ohio Rental Dealers Association from 1987-1997,  serving on the board eight of those ten years. An APRO member and preferred TRIB Group vendor for more than 20 years, Nitzsche has never taken her role in the industry lightly.

Throughout her illness, Nitzsche’s glowing smile and sparkling eyes are what friends and colleagues remember. A reflection of her inner grace and boundless compassion. 

In 2008, due to health reasons, Nitzsche turned her graphic design and professional "on-hold" message recording business — The Niche Connection — over to her sons. Read more about Bonnie Nitzsche here.

"When I die, it’s not because the cancer has taken me," Nitzsche said in a previous interview, "It’s because it was my time. That’s the way I look at it."

Funeral arrangements to follow.