Rent-to-Own

What Can the Internet Do for Your Business? by John Rogers

APROfile: Gary Hughes, Going Global by Katie Garza

Remembering Mandalay Bay: A Look Back at APRO’s 2002 Convention

 

 

 

 

 

What can the internet do for your business? log on, key in and find out

Traveling to an Ohio Rental Dealers Association meeting a while back, I sat on the plane next to a fairly heavy-set man whose hands showed a life of physical labor. His name was Chuck.3 He noticed my laptop and began talking about his new computer. He proudly described the “cadgillion” megahertz processor, the 17-inch color monitor, the High-Density hard drive, DVD/CD drive, the high-speed color scanner, the portable satellite dish for downloading movies and a coaxial, “anywhere” connection to the Internet.3 Chuck’s a truck driver and a rent-to-own customer. All this high-tech gear travels with him on the road.3 I thought about Chuck after reading the list of requested seminars for next year’s APRO convention. There wasn’t one listing for anything having to do with the Internet, which is so odd given how technically savvy rent-to-own customers are becoming. I wondered if this lack of a topic was because our industry already knows all there is to know about e-commerce or because it’s still so much a puzzle that we don’t know where to begin.

The strength of the Internet is its ability to share large amounts of information efficiently and economically. This article attempts to show how the Internet can improve productivity and profitability between two key audiences: the customer and the store employee. Customer marketing, company communications, database management and hardware solutions are four key areas discussed below in which the Internet has a great effect. It’s important to state that the Internet will not change the fundamentals of your business. You rent and you collect.However, the Internet can improve the way you rent and collect, allowing you to operate more efficiently and economically and take more revenue to the bottom line.

CUSTOMER MARKETING

E Mail Promotion

More than 60 percent of the rent-to-own demographic today has e-mail access, according to statistics published by the Employment Policy Foundation in Washington, D.C. Also, the Employment Policy Foundation forecasts that by the end of next year, 95 percent of all U.S. households having a computer, regardless of income level, will have some type of Internet access.

The strength of e-mail marketing is the immediate ability it gives the customer to act.With more traditional forms of advertising, such as fliers or mailers, the customer is unable to act immediately on the demand you create. The customer must either call or visit the store.With an e-mail, it’s possible to link to a convenient order form. And for existing customers, most of the rental agreement data is already complete.

In addition, an e-mail can link to your Web site, which allows the customer to browse your entire product catalog. Unlike a flier with a few products, an e-mail allows you to promote all of your products. If your e-mail doesn’t include a product that the customer needs, they can quickly see all the other products you have for rent with just a click.

And with all the free e-mail services today (e.g., Yahoo, Hotmail, NetZero), more and more customers are going online each day. The advantage of free e-mail service is that customer e-mail addresses remain the same, regardless of how many times they move. This allows you to continue marketing to former customers for years to come, even if they move several times.

The low time and cost of e-mail communications is the key. A marketing e-mail can be formatted in just a few minutes and distributed to hundreds of customers at the touch of a button.

Marketing e-mails can be also targeted to specific customers— for example, an e-mail promoting an upcoming sale on DVD players to customers who are already renting a television.

What a great electronic salesperson! All the more so because it sells to the customer at his or her leisure, not just when he or she happens to be in the store. Emails give you an in-home salesperson working 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Direct mail and print media will always have their place— there’s still something about having a piece of paper—but e-mails can increase the revenue from customer marketing because they are inexpensive to send, they allow your customers to act on impulse and include easy access to your entire product line.

Bringing supply to the point of demand—that’s the emerging power of the Internet. Just ask eBay.

Payment reminders

Payment reminders are another good use of e-mail communications. Friendly reminders of upcoming payments provide an easy and fast communication not only for the payment reminder, but also as a vehicle for special offers, company updates and other items of interest. past due notices past due notices as well, where permitted by law, can be easily formatted and e-mailed out. Different e-mails and text messages can be sent based on the days past due from your store’s integrated point-of-sale software system. And for dealers who accept credit/debit cards, what a great convenience to offer this option for paying the past due.

Price tags

New price tags can be quickly and easily printed at the store from inventory data stored either at the store or the home office. Imagine no more illegible printing on the price tag or concerns about employees writing incorrect pricing information. An Internet-based price card system can reduce the time required to price your floor and create a professional and consistent appearance in your stores.

Sales

Customers in your store who don’t find what they’re looking for on the showroom floor can be assisted via the Internet to view other available products. Instead of having customers look at outdated product catalogs filed under the front counter, customers can be taken online to see your entire product catalog. This system eliminates having to send product catalog updates to each store. Your product catalog is always accurate and complete.

Customer communications

Just having a Web site today is not enough to accomplish what’s needed on the Internet. There’s a new concept emerging known as “community of interest.” This has to do with your Web site becoming a common gathering point for the folks who have something to do with your business. Every PC connected to the Internet has a default Web page. Why not have the PC’s browser point to your Web site?

Why would your customers want to begin their day on your Web site or have your Web site pre-set on the PC’s rented from your store? That’s where the “community of interest” comes in. Your customers do so because they want to. The idea is that anything the customer could need or want to do is available at or through your Web site.

“Community of interest” is the foundation of many new or redesigned Web sites. APRO is currently creating a Web site that will serve as the “Internet home of rent-to-own” for dealers across the country. APROVision.org will feature links to industry news, dates, times and calendars of events, links to national news services, travel and discount airfare/car rentals, links to industry educational opportunities, business advisors, surplus merchandise availability, sports scores, search engines and many other useful resources.

The idea is that your customer may not know exactly what they want or what they’re looking for, but whether for home furnishings or general things of life, your Web site can be the place to begin. Just having a Web site is not enough. It must become a gathering point for all those currently or potentially interested in being associated with you. And, of course, a special “preferred customer” section on your Web site is another great way to communicate with your customer.
 
Employment opportunities

More and more potential employees are job hunting on the Internet. Whether on HotJobs.com or Monster.com, people are using the Internet to find their next job. Your Web site can become an efficient tool for posting, updating and archiving all aspects of the hiring process. An additional advantage is that you can post as much information as you want about the job, store location, company history and employment benefits. Unlike newspaper advertisements, you are not limited by space and, also, you can advertise the job until the job’s filled for no additional cost.

Applications for open jobs are also more easily stored and managed electronically.

Every one of these Internet-based marketing tools is available today. They don’t change the fact that you rent and collect, but they change for the better the way you conduct your business by making you and your employees more productive.

Think of the time that your employees spend performing current marketing activities. Targeted e-mail promotions, payment reminders, past due notices, price tags, sales, customer communications and job postings can today be done in a fraction of that time.

What would your stores do with 2-3 extra hours per day? Would the stores look better? Would your employees sell more? Would they be better trained?

COMPANY COMMUNICATIONS
 

Training

Speaking of training, it easy today for you and for your employees to take advantage of training products such as APRO’s on-line training program. Do you also have your own training programs? Are they on pieces of paper or myriad notebooks scattered throughout your stores?

What if you could have one, concise, well organized, easily accessible, training program? What if that program’s materials were easily kept up-to-date? What if employees accessing this training material always accessed the latest version available?

Consistency of training, consistency of training materials, consistency of scoring and grading, consistency of archiving—all of these are benefits of on-line training.

And employee skills testing is right in line with these benefits. Tests can be easily administered on-line and scored, graded and/or posted on-line as well.

Personnel documents

Let’s take a look at today’s employee handbooks. They’re not likely up-to-date and where’s the master copy? Is having a poorly managed and accessible handbook advisable in today’s culture?

How much employee time is spent maintaining and processing insurance enrollment forms? Do the stores have current copies?

Are the new employee enrollment forms in the same condition?

What about forms in general? Petty cash forms, vacation request forms, personal leave forms. Who maintains and processes these forms?

There are numerous advantages to posting documents online, but the primary advantage is that employees will always have access to the correct document or form. They will never be out of a document and will never use an outdated version.

From a maintenance standpoint, posting documents online also allows you never to have to print and distribute documents again. Simply post the document online and it’s available to all employees. The use of login IDs and passwords allow you to control who has access to which documents, both by store and position.

Maintenance reminders

Maintenance of fixed assets is a problem area mentioned by so many owners. Oil changes in delivery trucks are continually forgotten. Computer system updates are continually overlooked.

With e-mail reminders, these important notices can be delivered automatically to the store manager, with return receipt e-mails to document the notice’s opening. What is the cost of just one truck’s diminished useful life due to poor maintenance? And how much time is currently expended ensuring the completion of fleet maintenance schedules? product orders do your employees still submit product orders to your home office by fax? An online ordering process will reduce the time required to order and eliminate unreadable faxes because the information is submitted via e-mail. You will never have to call a store to distinguish between an ‘8’ or a “B.” Online ordering is clean, quick, effective and cheap.

Daily business

Data how much time do you spend currently on long distance phone calls gathering daily business data from your stores? Today this information can all be gathered via an Internet-based intranet

Connection to the intranet at the store level can be via any of the emerging wireless technologies. Today, store employees can send/receive e-mails or check the company Web site via several models of handheld devices. In time these devices will be used to document customer payments taken in the field, with receipts given at the point of payment.

Database management

There are several advantages in the gathering and storing of data in a company-wide database for rental dealers across the country. For example:

Skip/stolen data with a company-wide database, skip/stolen data is more readily accessible for inquiry by a dealer’s stores. So many dealers have said that a competitor’s skips/stolens are not so much a concern as the skips/stolens from their own stores. Customers know that turnover in the store is high and if they return to the same store 18 to 24 months later, they’ll likely be waited on by someone having no idea of their account history.

Having skip/stolen data automatically posted to an internal company database can save thousands of dollars in rental risk and even alert to the recovery of stolen items. Alerts can be returned to a dealer’s inquiring store immediately after a “hit” on a particular Social Security number. Not only the notice, but the customer’s name, last known address/phone number, item listed as skip/stolen and monetary value of the merchandise can all be immediately replied to the inquiring store employee.

Alerts can also be posted based on the number of inquiries on a particular Social Security number.

And along with skip/stolen data, customer pay histories can be immediately shared between stores during the creation of a rental agreement. Fast lookup can be made to see if this customer is or was a customer at any other dealer’s store and, if so,whether he or she should be rented to again.

Idle inventory

Lookup preventing the over-ordering of merchandise is a timeconsuming process. The ability to quickly search the inventory availability in each of a dealer’s stores from a single on-line site increases not only the productivity of the store employee, but also prevents needless merchandise expense.

Customer payments

Anywhere with a company-wide, online database, customer payments can be taken in any store and properly credited regardless of which store the customer’s agreement is with. hardware solutions (intranets) good intranets can be installed today for about $100 per month per store, including hardware, software, virus protection, content filtering and monthly service. Here are the key emerging benefits to these highly secure Internetbased connections:

No-call lists

This new feature—resulting from several recent state legislative decisions—will present enormous tasks for store/home office employees. How will quarterly updates be received? How will existing databases be updated and maintained? Thousands of names will be on these lists. There will have to be an efficient method of incorporating the information into the store’s daily tasks.

A central, online database hosting this information can be easily accessed from each store, without the store having to update/maintain this information on its own.

Twenty-four/seven access can be fast and convenient via the intranet, based as it should be on high-speed Internet circuits, e.g., DSL, from the phone company or via cable modem from the area cable TV provider.

Voice-over-ip in the very near future, the capability to place voice calls over the Internet will be both easily installed and affordable. This will result in significant long-distance savings.

The rent-to-own dealer enjoys a unique relationship with the customer, a relationship unlike a Sears or a Wal-Mart relationship. The rent-toown dealer retains ownership of the products their customers take home and there is weekly or monthly contact between customer and dealer for as long as the rental agreement remains active.

The Internet gives store employees new ways to leverage increased productivity and higher frequency and lower cost customer contacts to add value and build customer loyalty. And that means increased profitability.

Renting and collecting—what a great business! And how much easier it can be today with the power of online tools over the Internet.

John Rogers is director of sales for High Touch Inc., a developer of point-of-sale and accounting software for the rent-toown industry.

 

 

GRAY HUGHES GOING GLOBAL

FIVE YEARS AGO, GARY HUGHES DECIDED TO GO GLOBAL, IN A MANNER OF SPEAKING. 0 “I SET A GOAL TO SEE 100 COUNTRIES BY 2003,” SAYS HUGHES, PRESIDENT OF AAA RENT TO OWN, DBA COLORTYME. “IN NOVEMBER, WE’RE TAKING A CRUISE TO THE SOUTHERN AND WESTERN CARIBBEAN. I WILL BE VISITING ST. KITTS, DOMINICA, GRENADA, VENEZUELA, ARUBA, COLOMBIA AND GRAND CAYMAN.” 0 THOSE SEVEN COUNTRIES WILL BRING HUGHES’ TALLY UP TO 80. YOU COULD SAY THAT WHEN THIS 63-YEAR-OLD BUSINESSMAN SETS A GOAL, HE MEANS IT. 0 “I MAKE TRAVEL PLANS WITH THE SAME DILIGENCE AS I WOULD A BUSINESS MOVE,” HE SAYS. “I MAKE RESERVATIONS EARLY TO GET THE LOWEST PRICES AND THE BEST ARRANGEMENTS, THEN I MAKE ALL OTHER PLANS AROUND MY SCHEDULED TRIP. BELIEVE IT OR NOT, EVERYTHING WILL STILL BE THERE WHEN YOU GET BACK.” 0 HUGHES KNOWS THIS TO BE TRUE FIRSTHAND. HE MAY TAKE TIME AWAY FROM COMPANY HEADQUARTERS IN CLARKSTON, WA, TO REALIZE HIS GLOBETROTTING GOALS, BUT HIS 24 STORES IN SEVEN STATES CONTINUE TO FLOURISH BACK HOME. FOR THE 12 YEARS THAT HE HAS BEEN IN THE RENT-TO-OWN BUSINESS, HIS COMPANY HAS RECEIVED COLORTYME’S “TOP 10 FRANCHISE” AWARD IN THE LAST NINE, CLAIMING THE “FRANCHISEE OF THE YEAR” TITLE TWICE. ADDITIONALLY, HE RECEIVED APRO’S RENTAL DEALER OF THE YEAR AWARD AT THE ANNUAL CONVENTION LAST SUMMER.

The most important thing I have learned is how to hire, train, motivate and retain good people,” says Hughes. “People are everything. We pay more than most, but the most important thing is letting people know that you care for them, appreciate them and want what is right for them.”

Hughes relates how some years back his accounting department confessed that it was too difficult to turn in their statements by the 10th of the month; they needed until the 15th to get the job done. Hughes turned the department’s obstacle into a personally profitable challenge: Get those statements in by the 10th and I’ll give the accounting department a $2,500 bonus each time.

“Never again did I receive statements later than the 10th,” Hughes says, noting that some staffers have even driven over to his house on the weekends or late at night just to make sure the paperwork is submitted on time.

“The other big lesson is ‘what gets measured gets done,’” he says.“We attempt to measure performance on a weekly to monthly basis for everyone in the company and publish the results for everyone to see where they stand.

“People have a right to know how well they are doing and where they stand in the overall operation.”

Secret shoppers regularly test the various services within Hughes’ stores. From telephone sales to delivery drivers to instore clerks and banking services, AAA Rent to Own employees are evaluated for their performances. Employees with stellar scores are rewarded with bonuses and other fun incentives, such as gift certificates and getaways. Hughes also uses the secret shoppers’ findings to determine whether or not company policies need to be amended or updated.

Yet keeping close tabs on personnel issues within a 24-store operation can be taxing, so Hughes also has a full-time human resources person to help his store managers stay on top of their game. “Personnel policies and employee reviews are things that you know you should do, but don’t always get done,” he says, “but I think it’s extremely important in today’s environment to follow through on these things.”

Spreading the word While Hughes focuses much of his attention on the inner workings of his company, the flipside of that coin is that he also makes strides to reach out to potential customers. Two years ago, Hughes decided that AAA Rent to Own needed its own ad agency to design and distribute direct-mail pieces and handle other print advertising projects. Yet Hughes quite possibly has made his company most visible through television.

“Over the years I’ve made some rather outlandish TV commercials,” he says, citing instances in which he’s imitated Clint Eastwood, a NASCAR driver and a WWF announcer. “Colortyme used my commercials nationally in 1999 and 2000.”

Promoting the rent-to-own industry as a whole is also important to Hughes. He says he thinks that the industry is not properly understood by the general public or by lawmakers. After serving only one year as a board member for APRO, Hughes recruited more than 20 Colortyme franchisees to join the organization and speak out on behalf of the industry.

“I believe in APRO because we really need a political watchdog,” Hughes says. “For me, serving on the board is like being a member of Rotary or the Chamber of Commerce; you’re giving back to your community and the industry as you go.”

Community spirit is what drew Hughes to Clarkston, WA, in the first place, which is where he first ventured into the rent-to-own industry at age 51. Prior to establishing AAA Rent to Own with the assistance of then Colortyme field trainer Mark Childers (now AAA’s vice president of operations),Hughes pursued a diverse array of occupations. He calculated mathematical probabilities as a statistician for Boeing; worked in the tax preparation business managing 20-plus store locations and established a manufactured home sales business that eventually expanded to 89 locations in 12 states and turned more than $100 million in sales.

“I sold the [manufactured home sales] business and became semiretired in 1988, moving to a small town to enjoy living and being part of a small community,” he says. But two years into semi-retirement, Hughes wanted back in on the action, if on a smaller scale. “I wanted to do something where I could be part of the community and not travel much,” he says. “But, as it turns out, I’ve ended up traveling about 200 days out of the year.”

A percentage of his traveling, however, has nothing to do with AAA Rent to Own and everything to do with his goal of visiting 100 countries by 2003. Accompanied by his wife (and often his wife’s sister and husband),Hughes has explored the far corners of the Earth, twice and back—and he’s still going strong.

Hughes has witnessed many memorable sights on his explorations, but he lists South Africa, Turkey and a train ride from Beijing, China, to Moscow, Russia, as some of the most remarkable trips to date.

Hughes’ visit to Russia via train in the summer of 2001 wasn’t his first experience in that part of the country. He had been there in 1986 when it was called the Soviet Union.

“Moscow is an exciting and vibrant city, not at all what the media had made it out to be,” he says. “The Kremlin was absolutely beautiful, with colorful onion-domed churches everywhere.When we had visited during the Soviet Union era, everything was gray, including the people’s faces. There were no consumer goods, no shops other than the government store and very little that you could do without your official ‘guide.’

“Now the city is open, free and rich with color,” Hughes says. “There are well-dressed people, a wonderful, efficient subway system, fabulous designer shops, great restaurants and hotels, a circus and so much more. It was wonderful.”

He says the landscapes in Siberia also surprised him. “It was nothing like I expected. It was beautiful, with rolling green hills, birch and pine forests, crystal clear streams and lakes and friendly people,” he says. Driving 2,000 miles through Africa in a rented Land Rover ranks at the top of Hughes’ list as well. The trip was arranged through a travel agent in Windhoek, Namibia.

“My wife and I, with her sister and husband, took a four-week drive around South Central Africa, visiting Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa,” he says, adding that most of the drive followed well-marked roads.

The group stayed in game camps, bed and breakfasts and hotels along the way.

“The animals were plentiful and we were able to get very close to them,”Hughes says, then adds, “but one angry mother elephant let us know we were too close.”

According to Hughes, their group was impressed with how easy their traveling was and that most people understood English. “The facilities, the food and the people were wonderful,” he says. “Victoria Falls is one of the most impressive sights I have ever seen. Today some of the areas are having some political problems, but I feel that Botswana and Namibia are safe to visit.”

On his trip to Turkey, Hughes found Istanbul to be “as mysterious as it is beautful.”He explored bazaars, relaxed at a Turkish bath and was entertained by belly dancers. He said the city, which lies on two continents, is a true mix of cultures.

“Where else can you see a man from Iran with his eight wives, covered from head to foot, sitting next to the pool and then have two topless German girls sitting at the next table?” he muses. Following their jaunt through Istanbul, they spent a week on a chartered, 56-foot sailboat, which they boarded at Marmarus on the southern coast.

“The water was so clear that you could see the bottom [of the ocean] at 30 feet,” he says, “and ancient ruins were all around to explore.”

After completing the Caribbean Island tour this November,Hughes and his wife won’t rest long before setting out again—this time for Delhi, India. From there, they will travel by train through Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Swai Madhopur, Udaipur, Agara and Varanase, where they will catch a plane to Khajuraho and stay a few days. Eventually they will come full circle, back to Delhi, for the return flight to Clarkston, where Hughes knows—quite well now—that AAA

Rent to Own and everything else will still be there, awaiting his return. Katie Garza is a free-lance writer.

 

MANDALAY BAY

APRO 2002: Road to Mandalay, the Association of Progressive Rental Organization’s annual convention and trade show, welcomed more than 1,000 rental dealers and vendors to the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Resort in Las Vegas in July. Here are some of the highlights of this year’s show:

• 2001–02 APRO President Gary Romine took over the helm from Gary McDougal, who served a consecutive three-year term as APRO president.
• There were 218 booths in the exhibit hall representing 110 companies. “Mandalay Bay was a sold-out show! The exhibit hall was packed with exhibitors from previous years, along with new exhibitors displaying products that the attendees were happy to see. The show provides such a great opportunity for the dealers to see what is new in products and services,” says APRO Marketing Director Cindy Ferguson.
• Wayland Russell of Rainbow Rentals Inc., Larry Carrico of Rent One, Gary Hughes of AAA Rent To Own, John Rogers of High Touch Inc. and the Indiana Rental-Purchase Dealers Association all received “Buddy” awards for exemplary conduct and contributions to the industry during the 2002 awards banquet (see page 48 for details).
• The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People President and CEO Kweisi Mfume kicked off the show with a keynote address. Mfume shared with attendees his views of rent-to-own and what the industry can do to improve its public image.
• The 2002 Rental-Purchase Employee of the Year was awarded to Ronnie D. Williams, an account manager at the Harrisburg, IL, RentWay store (see page 45 for details).

2002 state association awards
State Assocation of the Year: Indiana Rental-Purchase Dealers Association

The State Association of the Year award was presented to the Indiana Rental-Purchase Dealers Association. The criteria for this award includes the following: the state association has a well-defined leadership structure, including periodic election of officers; a continuity of organizational structure with annual or regularly scheduled meetings; and, most importantly, the State Association of the Year must have sustained membership support over time and demonstrated strong legislative and educational performance.

Under the guidance and leadership of RPDA President David P. David of Full-O-Pep Appliances in Bloomington, IN, this state association has seen a tremendous success with its annual Mid West RPDA Trade Expo. The sold-out 72-booth show attracts dealers from Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Also this year, with the assistance of software vendor High Touch, RPDA kicked off a new Web site at www.rpda.org/. The site is not only informative, but also is a cut above the rest. RPDA also boasts a very active and loyal membership. As for charitable activities, the state association raised more than $15,000 for the Children’s Miracle Network in 2002.

In 1991, RPDA was honored with this award. To recognize its growth and increased level of activity, RPDA was bestowed again with the 2002 State Association of the Year.

Most-Improved State Association of the Year: California Association of Progressive Rental Organizations

California rental dealers Paul and May Davis took the initiative to reorganize and reactive CAL-APRO, which had been a non-functioning state association for several years. They designed a Web site, printed a new membership kit, culled through membership lists and held the state association’s first meeting this year.With this award, APRO recognized their efforts for assuming leadership of this large state network of rental dealers.

Firefighter of the Year: Wisconsin Rental Dealers Association

Wisconsin rental dealers have had to put out several fires in the past year with the state attorney general’s incessant litigation against rental dealers, the governor’s last-minute veto of RTO legislation last summer and a continuing barrage of anti-industry press in Milwaukee and elsewhere in the state.

Several rental companies have pulled up stakes and quit doing business in the state altogether. Those who remain, however, are united and tireless in their determination to validate the industry’s rights.

2002 Buddy Award winners

The APRO “Buddy” awards are presented every year to those outstanding individuals and organizations that have raised the level of what can be done to better the industry for everyone. At the annual APRO awards banquet, held July 25 at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas during the 2002 APRO Convention and Trade Show, the recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award, the President’s Award of Excellence, the Rental Dealer of the Year, the Norm Smith Vendor of the Year and the State Association of the Year were named. Here are this year’s winners:

APRO Lifetime Achievement Award: Wayland J. Russell, Rainbow Rentals

Not many rental dealers have gone from riding a Harley- Davidson in a biker gang to Wall Street mogul, but this year’s recipient of the APRO Lifetime Achievement Award, Wayland Russell, has.

Today, Russell is the CEO and chairman of the board of Rainbow Rentals Inc., one of the five publicly traded RTO companies in the country. As leader of Rainbow, Russell has not removed himself at all from the fray. He still prides himself as being a “great account manager” within his company. He is still in great demand as a speaker at Rainbow training seminars. In fact, the Rainbow Rental Account

Management Program, based on the concept of “respect and dignity” for the customer, was developed by Russell and is the cornerstone of Rainbow Rentals operations.

Russell has spent 26 years in the industry. He started out his career in RTO under the tutelage of Chuck Sims as a Remco store manager in Houston, TX, in 1977. From there, he went to RAC as operations manager in 1980. He then opened his own rental store in Cleveland, OH, with his father and wife. He sold that store a few years later to Bob White at Crown Leasing and went to work for that company where he rose through the ranks becoming vice president of personnel and operations before leaving to start his own company. Rainbow Rentals started with one store in 1986 and went public in 1998. Today, the company is the fourth largest RTO chain with 113 stores and is the market leader in annual revenue per store. Rainbow Rentals is also the industry leader in computer rentals. In 1999 and again in 2000, the company was named in Forbes magazine’s list as one of the 200 Best Small Companies. Russell also finds the time to serve on the regional board in Ohio for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and is on the missions committee at his local church, Highway Tabernacle. He is on the board of directors of Hope for Youngstown and an honorary chairman for the American Cancer Society. Both Russell and his company are actively involved with Heartreach Ministries, a ministry for inner-city youths, and with Grace Place, an inner-city hospital in Youngstown.

For more than two decades, Russell has been a force for good and a champion of integrity for this industry. He exerts that same influence in his company, his family, his church and his community. His quiet walk along the paths of righteousness makes Wayland Russell a rare, special and valuable member of the community of rental dealers.

President’s Award of Excellence: Larry Carrico, Rent One

One of the highest honors an APRO member can achieve is the President’s Award of Excellence. This is presented to the person who exemplifies the best of the industry through store operations, involvement and support of industry goals. This award can go to anyone who represents what the industry strives to be as a whole. Larry Carrico, owner/operator of Rent One stores, based in Mt. Vernon, IL, was presented with the 2002 President’s Award of Excellence.

An APRO member since 1990, a current APRO board member and chairman of the APRO Education Committee, Carrico was instrumental in getting the Rental Training Online interactive education program off the ground. Today, rentalpurchase employees have completed more than 1,000 sessions of the three courses currently offered.

Carrico has served as president and treasurer of the Illinois Rental Dealers Association. His company, Rent One, is a frequent and generous contributor to United Way and Habitat for Humanity. Rent One has stores located in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois,Missouri and Tennessee.

Carrico has been in the business for 21 years. After four years as a rental employee, he became an owner in 1985. Before his career in RTO, he grew up with a blue-collar background, which has given him empathy and understanding in dealing with his rental customers and has contributed significantly to the success of his business.

He values education and before taking on the APRO Rental Training Online program, he developed a volunteer tutoring program in the public schools where he lives. This program has become very successful and well established.

As a recipient of the Association’s president’s award, Carrico is the only rental dealer to have received the “Rental Dealer of the Year” distinction as well. Carrico was named “Rental Dealer of the Year” in 1998.

Rental Dealer of the Year: Gary Hughes, AAA Rent To Own

The 2002 APRO Rental Dealer of the Year was awarded to Gary Hughes of AAA Rent To Own dba ColorTyme in Clarkston,WA. Hughes has served on the APRO board of directors during the past year. He has focused his efforts toward APRO in the advancement of the rentto- own industry. Since his election to the APRO board, Hughes has singlehandedly recruited more than 20 ColorTyme (a national rental-purchase chain of stores) franchisees to join APRO, tripling the number of ColorTyme APRO members.

Currently, Hughes operates 24 ColorTyme locations in seven states: Washington, Idaho,Montana, Utah, Oregon, Nevada and Hawaii. He opened his first ColorTyme store in 1990. In 1995 and 2001, Hughes was honored with ColorTyme’s “Franchisee of the Year” award. He has been elected to the ColorTyme Franchise Advisory Council for five consecutive two-year terms and has been elected council chairman twice. Hughes also has been awarded a Top Ten Franchise Award for the past nine consecutive years.

As the 2002 Rental Dealer of the Year, Hughes joins an elite group of rent-to-own owners/operators who exemplify the dedication to furthering the interests of the industry, superior customer relations and ethical business practices.

Vendor of the Year: John Rogers, High Touch

The Norm Smith Vendor of the Year award is given to an outstanding associate member who has supported the Association and its activities. This year, John Rogers, director of sales for High Touch Inc., received this award. Rogers has been an active member of APRO since joining in 1984 and has served on the APRO Vendor Advisory Committee since 1997. Rogers is currently the committee’s vice chairman and an APRO board member.

High Touch Inc. is one of the premier point-ofsale, accounting and Internet software companies servicing the rent-toown industry. Due to Rogers’ involvement, High Touch has provided invaluable services to several state associations and APRO in designing and maintaining their Web sites. In addition, Rogers has worked to improve the promotion of new vendor membership in the industry. He has been successful in getting more vendors involved in important industry initiatives, such as the federal legislative efforts in Washington, D.C.

Not one to sit idle, Rogers has attended many state association meetings, conventions and trade shows and has actively vendors’ marketing efforts to the industry. Today, High Touch Inc. serves more than 3,000 rental-purchase stores across the country. Rogers and High Touch always seems willing to go that extra mile for whatever RTO industry group or cause that needs them. For that, he was honored with the 2002 Vendor of the Year award.