It’s 2021, and your APRO leadership is leveling up with new goals, improved strategies, and refreshed resolve to continue strengthening your business & this industry.
Now, really – what sounds like more fun than a Zoom board meeting?
OK, there are things, perhaps plenty of things, that might beat a Zoom board meeting in a funoff. But when your choices are between risking either a potentially lethal respiratory virus or a mild case of videoconference fatigue and maybe a tad of “you’re on mute” embarrassment, the decision seems fairly straightforward.
And so it was, that as the pandemic was beginning to wane – stateside, anyway – on April 14, 2021, the APRO board of directors once again convened virtually, because better safe than COVID-19. And the board members were tasked with nothing less than developing APRO’s Strategic Plan for the next three years [a sequel to the original 2018 strategic plan], including five key SMART [Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timebound] goals and specific targets for reaching each of them.
In attendance were board members Dennis Adams [Full-opep Appliances, dba American Rentals], Trent Agin [SKC Enterprises Inc., dba Rent One], David David [Full-O-Pep Appliances, dba American Rental], Chad Fosdick [CR Fosdick Ent. Inc., dba Premier Rental-Purchase], Bill French [O’Rourke Sales Company], Chris Kale [CPL Group Inc., dba Rent King], Shirin Kanji [Impact RTO Holdings, dba Rent-A-Center], Terah Vail Munstermann [Best Tire Concepts LLC, dba RNR Tire Express], Gopal Reddy [Action Development Corp., dba Aaron’s], Jonathan Rose [RNR of Virginia], and Adam Sutton [RNR Tire Express]. In absentia were directors Michael Bennett [Buddy’s Home Furnishings], Phillip Bumbry [Mid-Atlantic Wolfpack, dba Aaron’s Sales & Lease], Mark Connelly [Arona Corporation, dba Arona Home Essentials], David Harrison [Rental Concepts LLC, dba RNR Tire Express], Michael Helton [Rivero, Gordimer & Company P.A.], and Robbie Kamerschen [Greenberg Traurig LLP].
In preparation for their considerable undertaking, the APRO directors first discussed and determined the most important lessons APRO has learned during the coronavirus crisis – insights from the past year that will serve the association well heading into the future. They included:
- There is true value in communicating frequently and staying closely connected with members;
- Despite clear imperfections, virtual meetings actually help some APRO members who might otherwise not be able to engage with the organization and other members; and
- APRO’s response to the pandemic was all-around awesome – demonstrating flexibility, fast adaption to change, and impressive nimbleness, and allowing the association to offer very valuable services to members at a very critical time.
The APRO board then split up into smaller workgroups to hone each of the five SMART goals, establish metrics for them, and brainstorm and adopt high-level strategies to achieve them:
Smart Goal: LEGISLATIVE
Protect Against Adverse Legislation
Workgroup members:
- Robbie Kamerschen, Greenberg Traurig LLP
- David Harrison, Rental Concepts LLC, dba RNR Tire Express
- Ed Winn III, APRO General Counsel
APRO’s top priority – because without it, other issues wouldn’t exist, because the industry probably wouldn’t exist – is protecting rent-to-own businesses against potentially devastating legislation and regulation. Ironically, nothing could take down RTO companies more swiftly and harshly than the government-paced gnawing of a foul bill or an ugly investigation. Which is why APRO remains, as ever, the industry’s devoted legislative watchdog, and why our battle hymn until 2024 – and beyond! – is NO. BAD. BILLS.
Goal:
By April 2024, there will be no adverse RTO-transaction federal legislation passed, and no adverse state laws enacted.
Strategies:
- Continue daily monitoring of both federal and state-proposed bills, and alerting membership as necessary;
- Continue proactive advocacy and education for the industry, public, media, and decision makers; and
- Maintain the APRO Code of Ethics and education for rental dealers to ensure high industry standards and keep them top-of-mind.
Smart Goal: MEMBERSHIP
Grow APRO Membership
Workgroup members:
- Trent Agin, SKC Enterprises Inc., dba Rent One
- Chad Fosdick, CR Fosdick Ent. Inc., dba Premier Rental-Purchase
Members are the nearly literal lifeblood of an association – without them [you], APRO couldn’t survive. And the relationship is symbiotic – without APRO serving as the guardian and unified voice of rent-to-own as a whole, the industry’s survival would be in question. But shoestringing doesn’t make for a powerful protector or a strong voice. APRO could use an infusion of new-member participation, passion, and yes, payments, to continue safeguarding RTO effectively.
Goal:
By April 2024, there will be a 5% increase in APRO membership revenue over the 2020 level, including Associate level, staying within the 2021 dues structure.
Strategies:
- Prioritize franchise companies who are already members to encourage non-members to join;.
- Emphasize peer-to-peer recruitment, including by APRO board members;
- Clarify the value of membership by using the Value Proposition
- Increase revenue from Associate Memberships [vendors], by having board members follow up with their non-member vendors to urge them to support the industry through its trade association.
Smart Goal: REVENUE DEVELOPMENT
Increase Non-Dues Revenue
Workgroup members:
- Terah Vail Munstermann, Best Tire Concepts LLC, dba RNR Tire Express
- Michael Bennett, Buddy’s Home Furnishings
- Jonathan Rose, RNR of Virginia
- Adam Sutton, RNR Tire Express
Over the past few years, APRO staff has worked hard to create the solid, positive financial situation the association enjoys today. But the organization would ideally have a firmer underpinning of revenue to relieve some of its reliance upon membership dues. So APRO is seeking to not only attract more advertisers to this award-winning publication [hello!], but also discover some new and different ways to build an even more secure financial foundation beneath the association as it supports this industry.
Goal:
By April 2024, increase APRO’s total non-dues net revenue by at least 5% over current level.
Strategies:
- Increase magazine advertising through active engagement of the board of directors; and
- Create a non-dues revenue dashboard for tracking overall non-dues revenue progress.
Smart Goal: STATE ASSOCIATIONS
Serve & Support State Associations
Workgroup members:
- Phillip Bumbry, Mid-Atlantic Wolfpack, dba Aaron’s Sales & Lease
- Dennis Adams, American Rentals
- Mark Connelly, Arona Corporation, dba Arona Home Essentials
When APRO is being an effective protector against bad bills of both the federal and state varieties, it seriously lightens the load of state rental-dealer associations – sometimes to the point at which they slip into latency. But keeping these groups alive and active is vital for the rent-to-own industry, as legislative and regulatory attacks do happen, and can rise to the surface suddenly and without warning.
APRO currently works closely with 20 member state associations, and offers three levels of services to all state associations: gratis services for any state association; services included for only member state associations; and additional fee-based support services. APRO wants to keep on building these relationships, while also working with states where once-lively organizations have gone dormant, to breathe new life into them with the tools and support they need to amp up their staying power.
Goal:
By April 2024, reactivate dormant state associations, helping them reestablish leadership and governance, while continuing to support the 20 existing APRO state association members in sustaining their active status.
Strategies:
- Prioritize areas with legislative or regulatory activity, and/or that have expressed a need to reactivate;
- Continue providing and growing the state association services APRO offers, letting the state organizations concentrate on grassroots advocacy and community outreach; and
- Monitor unorganized states to gauge whether there is a need to create a state association.
Smart Goal: VIRTUAL RTOS
Initiate a Dialogue & Identify Common Goals
Workgroup members:
- Shirin Kanji, Impact RTO Holdings, dba Rent-A-Center
- Trent Agin, SKC Enterprises Inc., dba Rent One
- Chad Fosdick, CR Fosdick Ent. Inc., dba Premier Rental-Purchase
During the past year, as the world turned even more virtual than ever, the success and number of strictly virtual rentto- own [VRTO] businesses has similarly skyrocketed. APRO leadership understands that virtual RTOs are part of the industry, that some are already association members, and that we may be stronger all together – especially legislatively. The board of directors is exploring the role VRTOs might play within the association and the industry – including any common objectives or obstacles they might share with established APRO members. The board is also establishing a set of industry guidelines designed to curtail any risky business practices. And the board has determined that it’s essential to meet with these new businesses to talk through how traditional and virtual RTOs could work together to improve and strengthen the industry overall.
Goal:
By September 2021, initiate conversations with virtual RTOs about shared interests, common goals, and the desire to work together for the betterment of the industry.
Strategies:
- APRO board members will develop a strategy and process for initiating these dialogues;
- Identify and define any common goals between traditional and VRTOs that will support the association’s legislative work; and
- Share industry guidelines and education to establish business practices.
This round-two, three-year APRO Strategic Plan, its five SMART goals, and the tactics to achieve them, is just another way APRO staff and directors are working to make sure APRO members [again, you!] receive the greatest value possible for their dedication to a continuously improving industry, and – oh, yeah – also, their dues dollars.
As Zoom meetings seem to be turning into more of an option and less of a necessity, the APRO board of directors closed their springtime meeting looking and moving forward with positivity and hope: As much super-fun as they’ve had meeting via Zoom, board members’ next convening will occur at RTO World 2021, August 23-25, in Tampa, Florida, and – gleefully – in-person.
Virtual RTOs: Part of our “new normal”
Among the myriad lessons taught by the global pandemic was this: Businesses must have a robust online presence, or they perish. Enter: a whole new crop of 100% virtual rent-to-own [VRTO] companies.
As the number of VRTOs climbs, there’s a natural curiosity about them … Are they just like traditional RTOs? If not, then how are they different? And how will they make a difference to the entire rent-to-own industry?
The APRO board of directors talked at length about these industry newcomers, how to find the answers to those persistent questions, and APRO’s approach. Board members discussed in depth the need to protect the RTO transaction and preserve its unique business model in these new relationships. They talked about legal, legislative, and regulatory compliance, and whether or how it applies to VRTOs. They also brainstormed how the association might serve and provide value to this new limb of the industry.
Board members concluded that next steps should include a summit with key VRTO businesses, where APRO members can engage and share information with them, as well as explore potential partnership in which both traditional and virtual rent-to-own companies can use their collective resources to further the whole RTO industry.
APRO remains, as ever, the industry’s devoted legislative watchdog,
