How do you explain APRO in 20 seconds or less? Formulating this “elevator pitch” is something I’ve struggled with since being named CEO last spring. Sure, APRO is the one and only trade association for the rent-to-own industry. Yes, APRO represents over three-quarters of the industry through our range of member dealers – from publicly-traded companies, to franchisors and franchisees, to multi-unit independents, to single-store operators, to virtual companies with presence both online and in retailers nationwide. And categorically, APRO’s fundamental mission is safeguarding the RTO transaction from bad legislation and regulation at the state and federal level.
These are all accurate, but only graze the surface of why APRO exists, and how we are and continue to stay relevant to your business every day, year after year.
I see APRO encompassing four components: @PROtection, @PROmotion, @PROgramming, and @PROgress. APRO was specifically created and exists to protect the rent-to-own industry. The threats to RTO have evolved from direct legislation and high-profile Congressional hearings to the more nuanced and less overt actions of regulatory encroachment and overreach we see through our consistent, daily monitoring efforts. The risk to our industry and your business is no less existential today than it was forty years ago. But it is less conventional, and APRO is evolving to address these challenges. We do this through a variety of activities – from direct advocacy efforts like grassroots coordination and support of our state rental dealer associations, to stewarding the APRO-PAC and representing your voice with Congressional leaders and state attorneys general.
Promotion occurs primarily as storytelling, sharing your positive stories in this publication – RTOHQ: The Magazine – and in our weekly newsletter, APRO Today. Ultimately, we bring these stories to Capitol Hill during our annual APRO Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. APRO is also all about programming, including our annual sessions at RTO World, keynote addresses on timely business issues, our educational seminars facilitated and presented by industry leaders, our quarterly webinars, our growing library of resources, and industry surveys and data available to our members at www.rtohq.org.
Emerging from these three elements is the fourth, progress. APRO works to fulfill many functions, and if we’re successful at protecting, promoting, and providing programming, then we help drive the rent-to-own industry forward to meet the needs and challenges of the future – ensuring sustainability for the next generations of our dealers, vendors, and customers. Progress is multi-faceted, and includes the collectivization of you, your experiences, your insights, your expertise, as well as the provision of a place to share, to grow, and to make RTO all things pro: protected, professional, and prosperous.
My elevator pitch may not be getting any briefer, but summarizing my @PRO points, I simply offer this: APRO is the voice of the rent-to-own industry, and our mission is to be the rising tide that lifts all RTO ships. I look forward to working with you all to achieve this goal.
