How to Stay Ahead of the Curve!

 This episode from Pete lays out a practical framework for differentiating your rent-to-own location before the competition gets there first. The premise is simple: staying ahead of the curve means being the initiator, not the follower. Three areas to focus on.

Innovation. Pete points to delivery and service text updates as something almost no RTO store is doing consistently but every other consumer business already does — Dominos, Uber, Amazon, Lowe's. He walks through a full text sequence: a delivery confirmation text when the order is placed, a prep text on the day of delivery, a 30-minute ETA text when the truck is en route, and a post-delivery satisfaction text asking for a 1-to-5 rating. The rating text alone replaces the callback file system most stores talk about but rarely execute, and it creates a built-in spiff opportunity to reward drivers for high scores. The same approach applies to service updates — received, parts ordered, completed, returning — so customers stop calling the store wondering what's happening to their product. He also calls out the RTO2 platform from Paidit.com as the most significant innovation he's seen come out of RTO World, and urges dealers to be among the first to adopt it.

Customer programs. Three ideas here: a 30-day service-free guarantee on pre-leased items (with accountability built in), legendary customer service as a stated promise that issues are resolved within 24 hours, and a loyalty program built around three metrics — total revenue spent, on-time payments, and purchase options or paid-in-fulls. Pete notes that 90% of businesses have a loyalty program and 43% of customers are more likely to keep buying from brands that have one. He also revisits the Castle Rental & Pawn trade-in idea — letting customers trade in old furniture as a down payment, then donating those items to people in need — as one of the most community-centered customer programs he's encountered.

Employee investment. Pete argues that the most underutilized form of standing out is investing in staff education beyond basics. Two specific ideas: online furniture repair certification (through sites like International Open Academy or Skillshare) so drivers and account managers can handle small repairs on the spot, and an interior decorating certification for sales staff so they can build packages that actually look good in a showroom and a customer's home. Once someone is certified, they become the trainer for the rest of the team, multiplying the value of one investment across the entire store.

Transcript

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Pete Shau 1:22

Hello and welcome to the RTO show. I'm your host, Pete. Today's episode is sponsored by APRO, the association of progressive rental organizations that is the home of rent to own's latest education, new product and vendor connections, and legislative review. APRO is virtually the heartbeat of the rent-to-owned industry and this year's prime sponsor, the RTO show. You can find out more about APRO at rtohq.com. And now to the show. Today I wanted to talk to you about staying ahead of the curve. Staying ahead of the curve just kind of means that everything is going to follow suit, but are you the initiator or are you the follower? And the one way to be the initiator is, I mean, let's be honest. To be initiating, you have to become familiar with the actions and what's going on in other businesses around you. And the way to do that is to talk to everybody in your industry, your fellow RTO professionals, and you really want to find out how they attack your everyday items, what's going on with customers, their services, your sales, your reporting, your showroom, and what what do they do differently than you do, right? And to get ahead is basically you want to put distance between you and them by initiating something that they aren't doing. So some of the best ways to put distance between you and RT other brands is to just do what they're doing, but better. And that's easier said than done. I know it is, but here are three strong areas to focus on that I think is really going to help you set your brand apart. And the more time that you work on these areas, the more that you'll be able to set your brand a little bit ahead than everybody else. And the first one is innovation. What are you able to offer that's different or better than your competition? Example of innovations that have already been introduced to the industry that we are dealing with now that have changed us and changed everything the way that we're doing, well, number one is social media. Has that not become a staple of day-to-day marketing? Has it not become a staple of how we reach out to our customers, how we show them what's going on? How do we show them the latest and greatest deals that we have in our showroom and the new product that we have? Do you remember the days of no social media? I know that I do, and it was for years that we had that. But now that social media is around, it's a free process that gives you access to a ton of customers who are looking for products that you have for free that we didn't have a few years ago. We didn't utilize it a few years ago, I should say. I mean, think about it. Even as of 10 years ago, remember when we started taking credit cards over the phone? Now we can do that over text messages. You can pay online, you can even make ordering online through your CRM. Somebody can order something that they've seen that you have on social media or they can go to your website. These are things that absolutely changed the way we do rent to own. That's innovation. Well, when you're talking about innovation, how do you make it so that you have a set of innovations that are going to change what you do every single day and set you apart from everybody? Because not everybody has a lot of money to invest in a whole lot of things, right? You're not the one who invented paying text over the phone. You're not the one who invented online pay. Somebody invented that and we all took a piece of that. But what about things that you can do on your own? Well, one of the things I was thinking about that you want to set you use to set yourself ahead of the rest is what about delivery progress updates? Now, this is something that I wanted to do and I've been dying to do with my staff for a long time. And this is something I'm going to start implementing very soon. But delivery progress updates to me, sent through text messages, will set you apart. Now, I don't know anybody who's doing this right now consistently, but I mean, you can do it with deliveries, you can do it with returns, you can do it services. I mean, think about it. There are delivery trackers on almost everything that we do nowadays, right? Dominoes, you order a pizza, you know when it gets started, you know when it's on delivery, and you know when it's here. Uber, nobody stands on the side of the street just hoping that somebody's gonna drive by soon, when I have no idea. Uber tells you, it'll be there in two minutes, one minute. Uber Eats tells you when it's gonna be there. I literally ordered something from Lowe's not that long ago. I actually ordered a gazebo for my home. And we had progress trackers throughout the whole thing. We would get messages and emails telling us where it's at, how long delivery is gonna take, if it's been set up, if it's on the truck. Amazon does the same thing. If you guys have tracking or prime, it tells you exactly where everything's at. Why can't we do that and rent to own? I think it's something that's gonna set us apart real quick. I mean, let's let's walk through this, let's see what it's like. Let's walk through this. The first text could be like a delivery setup text, right? So somebody's in the store or somebody's at their home right now, they're setting up a delivery. I'm talking to my CSR, I'm talking to my salesperson, they're just not closing the sale. And they can receive a text sent from the store. You don't even have to have it and part of your uh your software or your iOS or your POS. Um, right now, you can just send them a text message and say, This is the company we have a delivery address of with a scheduled date and delivery time of. So you could say, This is Rack with a delivery address of 123 Sesame Street with a scheduled date of 5.4 2023 at a time of 4 to 6 p.m. Please confirm yes to complete setup or change and an employer reach out to you shortly so that you can change the time of delivery. And that's it. Now, once you've said that, you get a reply text. They're gonna say yes to the address, they're gonna say an ad uh yes to a date and yes to the time. You're setting up that with a customer, but you're also getting that text message reflected with them and saying, hey, we're gonna communicate with you through this medium. This is how we're gonna do it. All right. The second text can be an update text. On the day of delivery, you can put Mr. or Mrs., the customer's name, Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The merchandise is being prepped for delivery. Items include a sofa love, three-piece table set, lamps, rug, whatever the case may be. If you have any questions, please call at the store at waiting 800-555-1234. That gives them someplace to call and say, hey, I'm ready for it, I'm not ready for it. They know what's going on, they know that you guys are getting ready to deliver it. It eliminates phone calls, it eliminates people not knowing what's going on. The third text, again, you can do this from the store. Your merchandise is out for delivery with an ETA of 30 minutes, ETA of 15 minutes, ETA of five minutes. I'm not saying you need an ETA of each one of those. What I'm saying is you can set a time limit for your store when you guys, when you know that your delivery guys are 30 minutes out, send a text message. And it doesn't have to be spot on, it could be 30 minutes, it could be there in 25, it could be there in 32, it doesn't matter, but it gives them an estimated time that they know that you're coming. They already got it set up, they already know that it already has already been wrapped up. Now, you're gonna say that you're out 30 minutes. You can set a text message or call at the door, and then you have the last satisfaction text at the end. You can set it up to say your delivery is complete. Please rate your delivery one through five, one being poor, five being great. If you have any additional comments, please add them to your message after the number of rating. Now, the reason I say that is how many times do we say we're gonna do customer callbacks and we don't? Guys, I'm gonna tell you right now there are people out there doing it. I'm not gonna say there isn't, but I'm gonna tell you that the majority of our GMs are not doing the customer callbacks like they should. They're not going over the files and when they're getting delivered, they're not going over the files like they should. This is an easy way to do it. Send a text message when your guys get back and find out how great did they do the delivery. Did they mess something up? Did they forget it? Did they just give good customer service? And when you send that text message, one being poor and five being great, that reflects on your drivers. So if they get a couple of fives, you can let them know every time that a customer hits me back up with a five, maybe it's a five dollar spiff, maybe you get a check in the box, and so many checks means you get a free company lunch, maybe uh you get a day off, maybe you get a $50 gift card to our $20 gift cards wherever you want to go. That incentivizes your drivers to do a better job, but it also gives your customers a feeling like they can reflectively tell you they did a good job or they didn't do a good job. And then after the number, they can say, This is what happened. I forgot the remote, they didn't set up a TV, they didn't put it where I wanted to, or they did an awesome job. They got here on time, they set it up for me, they took care of my kids, they took care of the bunk bed, they really did some good customer service. So it gives you a way to stomp out the negativity and also gives you a chance to reward the positivity. It's a training lesson and it keeps the customers within the know. But it's not the only area that you can do that, right? How about service text? Service texts are also something that you can do that you don't need to have your software to do. You can literally do it through a phone or your service system. Uh we have Versorent, and our Versorent has Amy, and we can allow us to do free text. And in doing those free texts, maybe you can do service text. So the first text would look like to the customer, your product has been received and is now awaiting service service technician. It allows the customer to sit back and go, I know that they received it and I know it's being serviced. The second text, parts have been ordered, warranty department has been notified. So as soon as you talk to somebody and you get an ETA or you find out what's going on with the parts, or somebody's gonna visit you, how about just say, hey, in a text message, parts have been ordered, or warranty department has been notified, somebody will be here. And then at the end, service has been completed, someone will reach out to you within 24 hours to schedule a return of your merchandise. Now, this is something that you can do easy, simple, quick, and it gives the customers a sense that they are in they have in the know of what's going on with their product. It's gonna keep them invested, and it's gonna keep the calls from coming in. And every time that I come across a customer complaint when it comes to a loan or when it comes to delivery, is that they just don't know what's going on. It's not that we're not taking care of them, it's that they just don't know what's going on. We can use this as a way to get that customer knowledgeable, feeling important, and a way to reach out to us in case something happens, right? The second way that I think, just not just innovation, but the second way I'm thinking is, and just a side note on innovation, pay it.com or paid it, paid it has an collections automated software. That unveiled in RTO World 2023. Richard Formo, CEO and co-founder of Paid It, they did their thing. That's something that's gonna change rent to own as we know it. And I'm telling you, mark my words today, that is gonna change rent to own as we know it. That is something innovative. Jump on that train first, be one of the first people. That's how you're gonna stand out, and that's how you're gonna get ahead of that curve. Now, number two, the big number two is gonna be customer programs. Now, these are things that put customer at ease when they're dealing with your brand. These are not something that you have to write in stone as the way I'm gonna put it, but these are gonna be examples of what I'm thinking will help you be better in your customer programs. How about offering a 30-day service-free guarantee? Now, I said that to some people earlier. I said that in one of my speeches, and they were kind of looking at me like, but we service it anyways. I understand that we service it's part of the rental agreement. But how about letting the customer know if you get a pre-leased item, I'm going to give you a guarantee that nothing is gonna be wrong with it within the first 30 days. And if there is, you get to hold me accountable or the company accountable by saying this by we're gonna investigate it, we're gonna look at it, and we find out we're at fault. Maybe you'll receive a $50 gift certificate to the company. Maybe you get a free upgrade, maybe you get your money back on your COD. It doesn't necessarily mean that it has to be one or all. It's just a way for your customer to hold you accountable. The better the guarantee, the better attention. Just saying. So you have to be dedicated to the guarantee, though. You can't just say it and then sometimes you're going along with it, and sometimes you allow it to happen, and sometimes you do and you don't. If you look into it and it's just product problems, that's part of the guarantee. Give it to the customer. Now, is it gonna guarantee customer loyalty? No. But by offering this guarantee, it helps you with your reputation, it helps foster long-term customer loyalty. That's what we're looking for. We're looking to make sure that the customers understand that they can come back and we have that guarantee and they can hold us, they can hold us to it. Okay, it's always about the positive experience. And if not, they have the ability to hold us accountable to what we say or what our guarantee is. Every time that there's a guarantee, people flock to that. Okay? A second part of that in this second customer program, how about legendary customer service? So when we say that, how about saying we're gonna solve issues within 24 hours of reporting a problem? Now I know a lot of guys are gonna say we already do that. But do the customers know that? When's the last time that you've actually just said that out loud before they even asked you? Before something broke and you didn't have to say it? Did you say it during the closing? Did you say it when you were selling it? When they first walk into the door and you started selling them and they decided that they were gonna take that, did you say, listen, one of the things that we're gonna give you is not only we're gonna make sure that you get it, we're gonna keep you in the know with these texts about delivery, the text about service. We also want you to know our legendary customer service says we're gonna solve all the issues that you have within 24 hours of reporting the problem. And if not, here's a customer guarantee. You're basically guaranteeing them the service that they decided they're gonna get, and everything that's gonna happen is gonna happen quickly. I mean, customers are really feeling it. And they're letting us know. Customer support requests are up 14% over last year, if anybody didn't know that. 70% of the buying experience is based on how the customer's treated. So why not say it up front? Talk to them, let them know what's going on, tell them how everything's gonna be, and then give them a chance to track it and hold you accountable. More than 60% of customers expect these companies to take care and meet all of their needs. All of their needs. 60%. That's a lot. I mean, let's be honest, customer service directly affects the revenues of any RTO location. The third part of my number two is how about a loyalty program? Now, loyalty programs are a hit and miss in the in the RTO world, and there's a lot of different reasons for that because you don't always get to punch a card and you're not buying something, right? So when you walk in, you're not just buying something, you're renting it, so you have the option to return it, you have the option to return it quickly, you have the option to return it later, and then you have the option to purchase it early, you have the option to do it full term, you might have services. So a customer loyalty program might be a little bit difficult, but the thing, the reason I mention a customer loyalty program is the customer loyalty program, it's something that's gonna keep people coming back for more. It says it time and time again customer loyalty programs are where it's at. A loyalty program can have a significant impact on your customer happiness, just so that you guys know. A loyalty program is gonna keep your customers happy. I mean, that's the truth. Loyalty programs are 59% more likely to have your customers choose your brand over somebody else's, and 43% more likely to just keep on buying from you. 43%. Who doesn't want a customer who's gonna keep on who's not gonna keep on buying? That's what we need to do, right? In all aspects of loyalty programs, basically it's been proven to increase customer spending, increase your loyalty from the customer, increase brand loyalty, and then it attracts new customers. Because now they know that they can track what they've spent. And it's not just about tracking the dollar, right? But they know they're gonna get points for interactions with what they do. And every time they spend their hard-earned money or every time they interact with you, there's gonna be points put towards something. Now, in all aspects of the loyalty program, it can be in rent to own, my thought process is gonna have to be three different areas. These three different areas for me are I would say are probably gonna be overall revenue spent, right? Because this covers the entire history of the customers that you have. One-time payments accrued. So on-time payments accrued, which as long as they're making on-time payments, these are for your thrifty customers, right? So if somebody comes in and they get a low-priced item, let's say it's 1088 a week, 1988 a week, well, it's gonna be hard to compare to somebody who has a larger weekly, month, or monthly rate. So you don't want to do just the dollar amount, you also want to do the the way that they pay. And if the way they pay is on time, you want to reward that because if you have an 80-16 inch TV versus a 43-inch TV, they're both important to you. So those on-time payments are gonna make a difference. And then purchase options or paid in fulls. That's another way to do it. Just because somebody has a 43-inch TV, if they make on-time payments and they pay it off, they might not have the overall revenue spent, but they have the two out of the three. Or if they made a purchase option, they can also do a paid in full. So if they went full term, that also means something. You have so many points for that. Now you can go full term on a 43-inch TV, or you can go on a purchase option and pay it off early on an 86-inch TV. Those are gonna help one and the same, but you want to get those points built up because the truth is 90% of businesses have a loyalty program. 90% of businesses that have a loyalty program, and I think rental owner needs to catch up. And once we do that, you gotta understand, we are getting more revenues as a company for taking care of our customers and even providing the loyalty program. Now, on a side note, there is a company in Arkansas, Castle Rental and Pawn, that I had the opportunity to talk to Ben Macaulay a few months ago, and one of the things they did also was they took trade-ins. How's that for a customer interaction? How's that for helping out your fellow man? How's that for a customer program? They take trade-ins on old furniture, let's say an old sofa love or an old recliner, they take the trade-in, they use it as a down payment, they deliver it, and then they take that product and they take it to, let's say, a needful uh veteran or somebody, you know, they take it to their local Red Cross. I mean, this is for people who are in need. And they take those and they give it back. That's a great customer program to have. And I'm telling you right now, there's nothing better than being part of your community and getting sales from it. Now, of course, that leads us to number three. And number three seems pretty solid, it seems pretty straightforward, but I want you guys to listen to the whole thing. The first thing is invest in your employees. And then when you invest in your employees, I know everybody's like, yeah, it's workplace culture, we're gonna make it. No, when you're talking about investing in your employees, this is what I'm talking about. Make them an integral part of the customer experience. Now, training is important. You always got to train. But I'm not just talking about the basics. I am talking about getting them to understand first and foremost that customers are not just numbers for the past dos, they're not just numbers for sales, but they're actually people. Okay, so train train your staff to know that customers are not just numbers, but people. Making relationships is always super important in the sales game right now. Customer attention is probably the most important thing that it's ever been in the last few years. I mean, this has been rough. It's been a rough couple years, right? I mean, it's been ups and downs, and we got COVID and everything's great. Then all of a sudden our economy starts changing, and now we're going through a very crazy time. Well, customers are more important now than they've ever been. And uh when I was talking to Mike Tissett, the president of Countryside Rentals, uh, when we were talking, he was mentioning Todd Humberger, who is, you know, a legend in this industry, but he was saying that Todd had said one time that every store that's been open for at least two years has a thousand customers. They just don't all have them at the same time, right? So the truth is you have a ton of customers. How about utilizing these new programs and getting each new customer in? So you've got innovation, you've got customer programs, and you've got training. And how does the training work? Well, I want to tell you this, okay? One way to get an employee bought in and not just investing in employee, but is employee education, right? So a strong culture that fosters teamwork and inclusivity. Listen, guys, companies with a robust culture have up to 72% higher employee engagement. 72% over those who just aren't getting it right. So that means they're more invested in our work and they're having a better time doing it. Now, how do we introduce something to these people that have a great workplace culture? Well, some of the differences can include, and this is what I feel about extra training. How about online furniture repair classes? How about taking your driver or taking your account manager and giving them online furniture repair classes? Getting them certified on small furniture repairs. This is basically gonna help to increase resale value of return merchandise. It's gonna improve service calls when they go out there to take care of things, that they can take care of it right there on the spot and they're certified. You know they're gonna do it right. And it's also more valuable for the customer. They see that we have trained professionals taking care of everything and on the moment. Because remember, we have a guarantee that we're gonna take care of it within 24 hours. We're gonna have a guarantee that we're gonna send you a text message so that you know everything that's going on with it. Now, if you want to take advantage of this, you know, there's a there's a couple places to do that. You can do it at international openacademy.com, you can do it at Skillshare.com or open to educationonline.com. Now, they're certificates that you can get. Now, of course, you don't want to do a certificate for everybody. You want to give it to people who are going to use it, number one. And number two, is you want to take advantage of giving them this certification and using it towards helping customers. That's the best thing about this. Now, you got the other side, right? We're talking about taking care of the furniture. What about sales? Well, we can do the same thing. How about an interior decorating class for your CSR or your sales manager? Wouldn't that be great? You have a certified interior decorating class that they can take so that they know what they're doing, when they're doing it, how to make things look right, how to accessorize, what the difference is between contemporary and traditional color choices. They can start building packages that are gonna sell. They're gonna look good on your showroom and they're gonna look even better in the customer's home. Now, if you want to do the interior decorating classes, you can go to someplace like interior design institute.com. Now, of course, some of these courses are a little bit more costly than others. So, what you'd want to do is you really do want to invest in somebody who's invested in you. You create a good work code. And then you start picking them out. You are the head of the class. I'm going to take care of you. And I guarantee you that the other employees that are taking a look at, let's say, John, you're going to have John there and you're going to give him the class. Well, other employees are going to look at John and say, hey, this guy knows what he's doing. They've invested in him. I want that too. And I'm going to guarantee you it's going to pay off in the long run. Now, once somebody's certified, you don't have to keep on sending certifications, right? You can have that one person train your other staff members. So if you've done somebody in small furniture repairs and you've trained somebody in interior decorating classes, why can't you utilize them because you've invested in them to train others? That would be where it's at. Get them to train other staff members and even in other stores. Empower them to give that information and push it down the line. And the truth is, you get better repetition. So if they're getting better at repetition, what does that mean? They can have a class every month, every two months, and you can further their education and they can further the education of your other employees and make it work. That's the beauty of investing in your employees. And I want to say, I don't think there's a better way to do it than that. So those are my three main topics on how to stay ahead of the curb. And listen, at the end of the day, staying ahead of the curb is great, but your intent is to make sure that you leave a positive, lasting impression. So always stay positive and just remember these simple rules. When you're dealing with customers, the first thing to do is always remember their name. People love having their name used. I love when I go somebody and somebody mentions my name. I feel like they took the time to remember, they do care about me. And the truth is, the moment they mention my name, I'm probably going to make a purchase. Whether it's good, bad, or indifferent, that's just the way it is. Be present. Make sure sometimes that, you know, sometimes we underestimate how important being present is when we meet somebody. And our mind is thinking about the next few things we're going to say or the next few things we're going to do or what we were going to do in the past and somebody stopped us from doing it. Listen, guys, be present in the moment. That is so important. Try to make them laugh. Make eye contact and a firm handshake. Ask them how that you can help them. That's always a real great way to just let them know that you're interested and what gets them there and staying ahead of the curb. Be real. Don't be animated or over the top. Be yourself. It doesn't matter how much you innovate, it doesn't matter how many customer programs you have, and it doesn't matter how much education you get. Be yourself is the number one rule. Smile without any expectations and make genuine compliments. All these things, those three set areas and these rules are going to keep you ahead of the curve. And let me tell you, in the end, my RTO friends, stand out, be innovative, give the best customer service you possibly can, and in the end, invest in your brand and your people. Now, with that being said, guys, today's episode was sponsored by APRO. We are so happy that they decided to be a prime sponsor of the RTO show. We couldn't ask for a better prime sponsor. You will start seeing us around more, and APRO is the prime sponsor to get it done. Also, remember RTO World just passed by. We had such a great time. If you guys want to know more about that or anything that's going on in the RTO industry, go to their website at rtohq.com. Whether it's future events, what's going on in their calendar, or what's going on legislatively, it's very important to stay informed and you can do that at Apro RTOHQ.com. Now we appreciate you guys listening. If there's anything that you have to talk to us about, anything you want to say, or you just want to comment on the show and have it said on one of the podcasts, hit me up at pet at the rto showpodcast.com. If you want to go to the website and just see what we're doing, it's the RTO Show Podcast.com. And listen, we appreciate everything you do. See us on social media, look up the RTO show on Facebook and Instagram, drop a like, drop a follow, and then you can catch us on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else that you get a podcast. Subscribe, that way you don't miss an episode that's coming up. And again, we appreciate everything that you guys do. So remember, if you want swag, go to our website. If you want to say something, go to the website, drop a line, or you can hit me up at Pete at the RTOShow Podcast.com. And remember, as always, remember to keep your credit low so you can get your sales high. Thank you, and we'll talk to you next time.