Jake Dillon, Director of Training & Development at Arona Corporation dba Arona Home Essentials, has a work ethic that may be in a bit of overdrive.
“I began working at the age of eight(!) for my dad, who ran a small appliance business in Knoxville, Illinois, called Goff’s Appliance,” Dillon recalls. “We sold, delivered, and serviced all types of home appliances as well as televisions, VCRs, and vacuum cleaners. As I grew older, I graduated to service calls, delivery, and eventually sales.”
Dillon learned a lot in his family business that prepared him for rent-to-own (RTO) – how to treat customers in the store or in their homes, how sales competition works within a small team, and how to compete with big-box retailers.
“I could have stayed at Goff’s my whole working life,” notes Dillon. “But I wanted to do what my father did – grow on my own, invest in myself, and take risks, proving to myself that success is achievable without a legacy to lean on. RTO has allowed me to forge my own path.”
Guiding Others Toward Their Own Success
Dillon began in the RTO industry 16 years ago, first as a delivery driver, then gradually promoted to sales, collections, management, and to his current position with Arona.
As Director of Training & Development, Dillon spends his days writing, reading, leading training sessions, creating new training content, and studying other companies – both inside and outside the industry – to glean ideas he might adapt for Arona.
“The best part of my job is seeing people grow, learn, and have their ‘aha’ moments,” Dillon affirms. “Every person’s professional journey is different, and helping them navigate that journey is the challenge; watching them reach their milestones and get real results is the reward. As long as I can help people get where they want to go professionally, I’ll keep doing it!”
This year, Dillon has taken the company’s training platform from the virtual to the actual, spending several days with each of Arona’s regions and interacting with team members in person.
“It’s provided me with the opportunity to not only teach face-to-face, but also listen,” attests Dillon. “These training sessions have been passionate, emotional, and enlightening. They’ve helped me evaluate our learning platform so I can continue to refine, adjust, and add to our training content based upon the real day-to-day challenges our team members face.”
Connecting for Real in an AI World
A key challenge Dillon sees facing the rent-to-own industry as a whole is the growing influence of artificial intelligence (AI) on how RTO pros work, think, and market.
“AI is reducing the amount of social interaction we have – affecting our ability to navigate conversations, express empathy, and generate trust with our customers,” states Dillon. “Which means it’s getting harder and harder to find and develop salespeople who know how to read customers, ask thoughtful questions, and build personal rapport. The companies that use AI appropriately – to complement their businesses while continuing to invest in the essential training and real-world experiences their teams need to succeed – are the ones that will survive and thrive into the future.”
“RTO is a business about relationships and authentic human connection,” he concludes. “Always has been, always will be.”
