What separates one rent-to-own (RTO) business from another when pricing, products, and promotions often look similar? According to Vance Morris, it comes down to the experience customers remember long after they leave the store.
In a recent episode of The RTO Show Podcast, host Pete Shau sat down with Vance Morris, a former Disney executive turned customer experience consultant, to talk about how small operational changes can dramatically improve loyalty, retention, and customer perception.
Morris spent more than a decade with Disney, including helping launch the now-famous Chef Mickey’s restaurant experience. During the conversation, he explained how Disney built systems around creating memorable customer interactions instead of simply delivering products or services.
Building Better Customer Experience Systems
One of Morris’ biggest themes was the importance of customer experience systems. According to him, businesses do not create consistency through luck or personality alone. They create it through simple, repeatable processes.
“If your systems are on a higher plane as far as guest experience is concerned, now you can pretty much ensure that your employees are going to deliver the experiences that you’re looking for,” Morris explained.
He pointed to common operational breakdowns, like unanswered phones, broken website links, or inconsistent greetings, as examples of where businesses quietly lose customers every day. Morris shared a story about abandoning a pizza order after being repeatedly placed on hold with no communication from the restaurant. The issue was not the employee, he said. It was the lack of a system.
For RTO operators, Morris emphasized that differentiation rarely starts with pricing. Instead, it begins with creating a smoother, more thoughtful customer journey.
That can include simple improvements such as:
- Greeting customers consistently
- Improving delivery presentation
- Creating cleaner showroom experiences
- Following up after customer visits
- Anticipating customer needs before they ask
Morris also challenged operators to stop looking only at competitors within the RTO industry for ideas. Instead, he encouraged business owners to study companies known for strong service experiences, including Chick-fil-A, Nordstrom, and Ritz-Carlton.
Another major point from the episode focused on retention. Morris explained that businesses often spend heavily to acquire new customers while investing very little in keeping existing ones engaged. He discussed how newsletters, follow-up communication, and community involvement help strengthen emotional connections with customers over time.
“Money goes where money is wanted,” Morris said during the episode, reinforcing the idea that customers notice when businesses create intentional experiences.
For many RTO operators, the conversation offers a practical reminder that customer experience systems do not have to be expensive or complicated. Small improvements, repeated consistently, can become a competitive advantage.
Listen to the full episode of The RTO Show Podcast, proudly sponsored by APRO, on Spotify or watch it on YouTube.
