Leadership, Collections & Culture: Winning in RTO

In this episode of The RTO Show, Pete and Danny interview George Jaramillo, a longtime Rent-to-Own industry veteran who began his career in 2003 with Rent King before moving to Great Rooms in Tampa. George shares his journey from salesperson to district manager and “store fixer,” explaining how he built a reputation for turning around struggling locations by improving collections, training, morale, customer service, and profitability.

George discusses how he transformed stores with high delinquency rates and poor morale into profitable operations through leadership, accountability, and teamwork. He emphasizes that successful leadership means working alongside employees rather than simply directing them. He explains that when employees see managers helping with deliveries, collections, cleaning, and customer interactions, it creates a stronger culture and improves performance. 

A major theme of the interview is customer experience. George explains that successful Rent-to-Own operations rely heavily on atmosphere and relationship-building. He focuses on making stores smell clean and inviting, keeping showrooms visually appealing, and ensuring employees provide upbeat, personable service. He believes the sale begins the moment a customer walks through the door and that long-term success comes from maintaining positive relationships during both sales and collections. 

George credits much of his early development to industry mentor Chris Mueller, who taught him how to evaluate customers during collections by reviewing payment history, account value, and overall customer behavior before making decisions. George says those lessons shaped his management and collections philosophy and continue to influence how he trains employees today. 

The conversation also covers hiring and training challenges before and after COVID-19. George explains that prior to 2019, hiring was easier because more qualified candidates applied and were motivated to work. Post-pandemic, he says employers face major staffing challenges, including candidates failing to show up for interviews or leaving shortly after being hired. Today, he prioritizes attitude, curiosity, and willingness to learn over experience when evaluating new hires. 

George and the hosts spend considerable time discussing the evolution of sales in Rent-to-Own. George notes that foot traffic has declined dramatically while web leads, texting, and digital communication have become dominant. Sales that once relied heavily on in-person relationships are now often completed entirely online through texts, websites, and electronic documentation. While he believes digital communication makes relationship-building more difficult, he acknowledges that younger customers increasingly prefer fast, transactional communication over lengthy face-to-face conversations. 

The interview also touches on how technology has changed the products sold in Rent-to-Own. George reflects on older projection televisions that required multiple delivery personnel compared to today’s lightweight flat-screen TVs. He also discusses the rise of high-tech furniture, adjustable beds, and connected home products. However, he warns that the industry now faces more competition than ever because financing and lease-style payment options are available almost everywhere, including for roofing, tires, appliances, and automotive repairs. 

Finally, George talks about adapting to modern marketing and social media, particularly TikTok. Though initially hesitant about new platforms, he explains that embracing digital marketing has become necessary to remain competitive and relevant in today’s marketplace. Throughout the interview, his core message remains consistent: success in Rent-to-Own comes from leadership, adaptability, customer relationships, teamwork, and maintaining a positive culture inside the store.

www.TheRTOshowPodcast.com
George Jaramillo
Chris Mueller

Transcript

Pete Shau 0:00

Hello and welcome, RTO family. This is Pete. Just wanted to let you guys know that this is our first interview out of the RTO studios, and we did have some technical difficulties, unfortunately, but we didn't want to not bring this to you. It was a great interview. So bear with us. It's going to sound a little crazy at first, but it's going to get better, I promise. Wait till the end. It gets so much better at the bottom half. But here we are, Danny and I doing our first live interview with George Jeremio. Here you go. And welcome to the RTO show with Danny and Pete. I'm your host, Danny. And I'm your host, Pete. And today we're talking to George Geromillo about rent to own and to be an OG in the in the business for years and years and years and get some advice on what's going on in today's climate and rent to own.

Danny Lastra 0:53

George is definitely an OG in the game. If you don't know about him, you're not from Tampa, I'll tell you that.

Pete Shau 0:58

George, introduce yourself. Tell us how long you've been in the business.

George 1:01

Well, um, been in the business since 2003. Started uh at ranking, it was uh just a long shot. That I was actually before that, I was working for Hertz, and uh one of my co-workers had started working at Rankin and said, Hey bro, they need a bilingual. And you're the only douchebag that I know. Um just gonna have you come in and apply for the interview. And I actually went there uh on my birthday and uh applied for the job, and uh that's that's the beginning of a beautiful thing that I remember.

Danny Lastra 1:35

That's awesome. How many how many RTO companies have you worked for?

George 1:38

So so I started with ranking and I uh I worked there from sales, I did uh collections, then uh they offered me a position to uh run a store. It was the largo store. Um took me about nine months to get to that uh level with them, and um hopefully I took that store in and uh make it a very successful story in that store. We started at that store with 1100 uh items on rent, and by the time I got out of there, um I left it at 1500. We we were over 1.7 million dollars collected a year.

Danny Lastra 2:14

Oh, nice.

George 2:14

Yeah, yeah. It was a good profit store, and uh that got noted by um the owners of the company, and they said, Well, you're doing so well, can you do that time six? You know how it is. And I said, Well, I'll I'll try it. I'll try it. So um I got my first gig as a DM back in 2006. Um, and and what you guys do is an amazing job because being a DM is no joke. You just have no breaks, you have no time to family, nothing. It's it's just work, work, work, and when you think you are off in one store, the other store crumbles down, and then there you go up with a fire host, so I put them in more buy more fires. So I work with uh ranking, um, and I did that DM thing, and then I move on to uh put fires out, go in and fix a store after a store after a store. So I run about six stores and just turn them around, get them profit-wise, give the key to another manager and move on and move on. Until I uh find myself uh with one of the owners who said, Hey, you know, I got the same problem about another company in Grey Room. So I moved to Grey Rooms back in 2013, and I've been here since then, I think, just uh government. So two companies to uh to make a love story short, and it really has been very uh very uh fulfilling. Nice coming into a place, clean it, fix it, and move on to the next one. And now I'm just uh enjoy the uh all the hard work that we did in the beginning of this.

Danny Lastra 3:44

And not to mention, uh I'm gonna speak a little facts here, but you are the biggest great room store, correct?

George 3:52

Well, in terms of yes, so to answer that. So we have the most VR online, the most revenue collected, the biggest on-profit.

Danny Lastra 4:01

Yes.

George 4:02

And we love that, but mostly the owners love it. I bet they do. Definitely. We we just like to be part of uh of being something that brings revenue, and then we got the owners uh not yelling and screaming so much by always, you know, hey, thank you for the profits. Now I can afford a new Jaguar and get myself uh a little vacation and roaming that have a good time with my new boat. And we're we're all for that, man. It's just there's no hate, it's nothing but love.

Pete Shau 4:29

Now, have you always been at this location for great rooms?

George 4:32

Uh yes. Uh the other locations are way too far for me to travel in, then they're independently owned by other guys. So this is the one that's owned by Larry Pibble and Chris Kell. So I'm just running the store for the time being. The other guys own and operate their own store. So unless uh you know they get bought out, I have no.

Danny Lastra 4:53

And and we're in the Armenia location.

unknown 4:56

Correct.

Danny Lastra 4:56

Just Daniel. There you go.

Pete Shau 4:58

So we're on Armenian waters in the Tampa Bay area. So you've done Rant King, you kind of almost conquered that. You got the DM roll, then you decided to take a move over to Great Rooms, try something different. Right. So then the question is what what do you consider probably so to date, one of your biggest achievements?

Danny Lastra 5:17

So always work never stops, guys.

George 5:22

Never, and never. I I consider my achievements uh it at various man. It's every time I get to the store, and uh, you know, when you give at the store the best, and you get that day at the store, and it's all in Timbos. You work in there, you walk into the store, it's a mess. Credit is up the roof having lunch, lobster and is out in the 30s and 40s and 50s. Uh, your delivery crew has very little uh knowledge of what they have to do. So once you transform the floor of the store, you get your credit back online and you train all your people, you consider yourself like you have accomplished anything. So you do that a couple times, and uh you feel that it's kind of your uh nick for uh for considering yourself that you do something about it. So it's an accomplishment, guy. I feel like every store that I have and I have touch and I have work done, take it from uh a negative level to being positive and creating profit for the owners. Um you feel like, yeah, this is a good accomplishment. This is something that uh it shows that you're there with uh a good plan, a good execution, and um a good performance. And at the end, and it shows when you uh see the profit from uh red into a black number.

Pete Shau 6:38

So you're a fixer. So that's that's you you know, hands down, that's your thing. You're a fixer. That's even even at a personal, that's what you like to do. The worse it is, the more you come in, you clean it up, and that's that's that's your accomplishment. That's you handle things.

George 6:51

Exactly. It it'll get you excited going to a place where they say, hey, bro, the store is a mess, credit is a mess, nobody wants to work, morale is low, and then you go there and you have to move make a lot of changes. One is you have to perhaps change some of the crew, if not all the crew, and retrain people. But it's a DN of that. It doesn't take a day, it takes a couple months to get from one level to another. Um, I'll give you an instance. We moved to um I moved to the Brandon store, which is it was it was a mess. When you walked in, you just didn't want to walk in. Um credit was high, really freaking high. And um as soon as I walked in, the drivers quit. Oh my god. I didn't know what was that belong or why was that outcome, but um I guess uh I was portrayed as the guy who um was gonna get them fired anyway. So it took me uh a month to get that, get the right crew, uh, get the right guy. I got a guy called uh uh Michael, Michael Marine. Um I got him into the collections and we we worked. He's a great guy, man. I love that kid. He he was into it, and we worked as a team, we cleaned it, we uh we got credit back on track, and then the next month we we hit the start of the month and the properties went back again. The store looked amazing, and then it's just from then on, bro, it's just like wow, we can do this over and over again. It's just the attitude that you have to have when you walk in the store as if like whatever happened before is in the past now is a new reign. Let's all work together, and then when they see you as a DM or as a manager working along the guys, hand in hand, making phone calls, building stuff, cleaning stuff, doing deliveries, they feel like we actually working as a team. It's not just a guy barking orders, have everything done, it's just a guy that does that, plus does the work.

Pete Shau 8:45

Well, I mean, you gotta have structure, right?

George 8:46

Oh, yeah.

Danny Lastra 8:48

You know, it's funny. I'm sitting here talking to both of you, and I'm I'm I'm recapping. George, I know a lot about you, especially at Ren King. So, you know, we went to Largo, blew it up. Uh, Brandon, he holds Pete. I'm telling you, because you ran the Brandon tour, he holds the record for the Brandon for the highest par to date. No one's ever been able to beat that. You know, Pete also, you ran it very successfully when you were there in uh 20 uh 18, 18, 2019, all of 2019. Yeah, and um, so so ran Largo successfully, ran Brandon successfully, ran your division successfully, you've been doing great rooms very successfully. What what is, in your opinion, the number one key rule to running a successful RTO business?

George 9:31

So I I don't know if that's a number one, but it's what I apply. And you know, everybody has a different taste and things that work for them. And with all respect, that that's great. What does work for me is the moment I walk to the store, I gotta start thinking if I was a customer and I walk into this store and one smells good. That is my first impression.

Danny Lastra 9:54

So I mentioned that as soon as I walked in today. As soon as we walked in, George was like, Man, that's it smells like Christmas in here. And your response was, Danny, it is Christmas.

George 10:01

Yeah, yeah. So we activate all kinds of senses into the customer. So my first thing is, hey, when I walk in, I want to smell good. Then the second thing is I want to look something good. So the store's gotta be like, hey, I'm having a big event and our president is coming, so let's have the store clean, tag. Now the third thing is customer service. So it's all about that interaction from the very beginning. I need to have somebody that's very upbid. If I don't have that one, guess who's gonna be? It's gonna be me. And I'm a very update guy. I come in, I tell the stupid jokes, you know, bad jokes, and come with a smile, and and I'm here to serve you kind of attitude. Not to take your money, but to get to know you. And that way we crack some jokes, break the ice, have a conversation with the customer. And from that point on, the sell is going on. And after that, it's all about collections, how you treat the people, how well you know the people, and that in the nutshells, from the moment you walk into the door until the moment you start making the payments, it's all a good experience. And based on that, is how you bank on it.

Pete Shau 11:03

Yeah, that's that's some solid advice right there. So when you when you started, right? Because you've been successful in the business for a while. But when you started, did you have somebody that you kind of mirrored your style off of, or did you have somebody that you went to and said, you know, I I want to do this? Or did you kind of just say, I'm George, this is what I'm doing, and I'm gonna figure out how to make what I'm doing work?

George 11:24

Well, my mentor uh at the beginning was a guy named Chris Mueller.

Pete Shau 11:29

Um get out of here, man. Chris, Chris has been in the game for a long time.

George 11:33

He was uh that guy who has uh me on the interview and uh was a very solid guy, very straightforward. Um so he was kind of my mentor for the rental. Um we knew as uh Hispanics what rent to home means because my mother used rental. Uh all our needs from furniture to appliances and but you know, we were kids and I didn't know what uh those things were getting paid, how we're getting paid, but she was paying on it, and goddamn she paid it all and we moved on. So that was my my take on rent home. But now being on the other side of the spectrum, um I have no idea what rent on was until I walked into the store. So Mill kinda took the uh the time and explained and and this is what we do and this is how we do it. And then after a while, this is how we look into profits, this is what you gotta collect at the end of the month, and and kind of show me all the nitty-gritty of of that. Then I just add my um sales skills that I've obtained on my previous lives, because I was a salesman way before that was mine. And um and then just added, combine them together and and made up a very successful career that I think it is.

Danny Lastra 12:44

I I could definitely see that you've been selling ice, you can sell ISO and Eskimo, George, couldn't you?

George 12:49

Well, well, I mean not not really, but it's too cold. I'm not gonna do it. If they come to Florida, sure they're gonna sell them for the drinks and stuff, but not knowing I know that man, that's the real quick off topic.

Danny Lastra 13:01

You say you like dad jokes, I got one for you. All right, you're ready. Okay. Why do camels have kettlebells? Because their horns don't work. Stop. Stop it. Stop it. You can use that one later. Yeah, you bet I would. Okay. So you you you got trained Chris Mueller, another legend in the game. Uh, you put your own sales twist on it. That's why you've been so successful. So, what do you look for when you're hiring interviewing employees for yourself?

George 13:33

If we look at 2019 and before that, um the interviews were were fun to have. You you actually were looking forward to meet new people, and we did a lot of uh job fairs, and I love the job fairs because I meet so many people and and then it gets me going. Yeah, that's that's that's a great tool to get new new employees. Um so back then we we sat down with people, we analyzed what they're gonna say, and we're always thinking we love that attitude, and then we start just draining them with questions and what have you to give them the best position available to the qualities they have and whatever they bring to the table. So my first take on those days were just an attitude what attitude this guy have for the job, and I'm looking out if you're a driver, all I need to know is can you lift and can you drive? And can you read instructions about how to put things together? And if so, we just I take them to the back and say, okay, build me this table, I gave you 15 minutes, I'll leave you alone, and I'll come back in 15 minutes. And they say, I'm not getting paid for that. No, this is part of the internet. I just want to make sure that uh you can read instructions because it's it's pivotal to this business that you do that. We're both gonna lie to stuff. That's prior 2019. Now, bro, um COVID days to this day. Um I have so many jobs opening and so little people showing up, although everybody said that's coming and you have these phone interviews and everybody's unxcited and they never showed up. The ones that showed up, they're underqualified. And the ones you'd be able to train and and and get and and filter that they don't show up the first day of work. And the ones that showed up the first day of work, they're first they get the first check and then don't go. So it's is now the uh the interview process is is just uh literally uh something new uh for everybody, I mentioned. So when I have the pleasure of having somebody, obviously they have the luck of uh planning his all line up and we be able to sit him down and have a conversation with him. What we look for him is actually what I look for him is the added to what questions do they have for me and for the company? That's a first giveaway that this people really want to do this, and they really want to work, and they really are gonna be invested on whatever we bring them to the table. And then the last thing we always talk is everybody's uh thing is how am I getting paid? Why am I getting and all those things, and we create a long time for everybody? Our salaries are very, very competitive with every other industry. Managers make good money, um, anything between forty to sixty thousand dollars a year, and for what we do really is a good major. Um so it's attitude in a nutshell, it's it's it's you have their attitude, and you're a good fit for our attitude here in the store in terms of collections themselves. And because we deal with you guys as a family, uh as an employees, more than we deal with our own kids. I see my kids maybe two hours a day. I see these guys for eight hours a day. So I I know what they like, I really know what they want to eat, I know their families, I know their issues. And I even know I look at my clock and say, hey bro, it's 11 a.m. Isn't that the time you need to go to the bathroom? Because uh, you know, you're on a schedule. So we get to know our employees that much that long, then um they need to be a good fit for us. And and that's probably the best part of uh interviewing people, getting to add another member to your family.

Pete Shau 17:14

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George 18:16

So um that all depends on what position you work in. Um I I remember the best advice Mueller gave me in terms of uh managing your crew is you always, always are listening. So, you know, it it seems like you just walking by and uh pretending to uh do something, but in reality, you are listening to the conversations of the guys in collections and you linger for a little bit to see the outcome of that conversation. And then at any time, sometimes I I do the same, and sometimes he did that. He goes and and tap you on your shoulders and put it put in a hole. And you have to talk to the customers, hey, let me put you on a hole because I I got something going on and I'd be right back with you. And then he there comes the advice from the mule. Um, I want you to look at this history, I want you to look at the last payment, when how much payment these customers are paying in total since he opened the account, how much he has paid since he had the first account, how late it has been, and um look at the history of all the payments and look what he's got and what value it represents to you. Um, do you think this customer has something that you can resell or has something that you don't want to back? And with that in mind, make the best conclusion out of that conversation. So it's a lot of things to look at, but it's the same advice that I give to my collection team when they are. So it's not like, oh, give me the phone I handle with this customer because then my employee's not gonna learn anything, but hey, I got a really bad customer, let me give you this phone to you.

Pete Shau 19:47

Right.

George 19:48

So for that reason, I I learned that from the mill, and and then that kind of keeps me away from collections while I'm supervising. Collections is being done the right way. So my advice, it'll be that. And now for the drivers, it's always like, bro, you you gotta lift with your legs, not your back. Yeah, because that's and don't ever jump on the truck. And you know, it's funny. I said that, don't jump in the truck, and people look at you as like, why would I jump in the truck? And before they know, they're jumping off the truck and landing on their feet and hurting themselves as I call. Yes, that is that is amazing. So the advice for the sales guy is just like, bro, this is retail. So um, remember the life you had? Yeah, that is over. Over. It's now from uh 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. between calling, getting customers, typing, getting the store ready for the next day. That is retail, and that's five days a week. It used to be six, but five days a week now. So the advice is always uh you're into uh uh you know a twilight zone where you get compensated for the time you're given, you're gonna have a lot of family, new members, and they'll have tons of fun, but it's a change. It's a change, is it's something you cannot see when you have an interview when you first come in, but it's something that as you move in, it will get into you.

Danny Lastra 21:09

You know, speak speaking of sales, um, you've been around for a while. So have you noticed yourself a decrease in foot traffic and an increase in web leads, web sales? And how have you transitioned into this new sales atmosphere?

George 21:27

It is it is so much indeed, bro, that it is an amazing. There's some days that you barely see people in the store, only the ones that come and pay, because uh they they they built on that relationship that somehow they have to come and look at your ugly face and say, Yeah, there's my money, and uh how the heck you're doing. Other than that, man, it is all web leads uh mainly. And uh unfortunately um we have to deal with it as part of our daily basis. So now instead of, oh well, let me show you what I have on the floor, is let me text you. What I have on the floor. Let me send you some price. Pictures, right? Yeah, pictures. Pictures. Some pictures and send you the price. And now they'll be like, oh, I'm looking for this on the catalogs. Well, you can go to the website and then we can do this together over the phone because you don't want them to hang up and you don't have any information about it. So they're looking at the website. You're looking at the website, and it's like, oh yeah, you're looking at my greatrooms.com. There you go. And this is uh the furniture that we have, and I can get you that you see the price. Um, I can order that for you, and we take the other form. You're gonna email me approval income or approval residency or approve your ID, and everything is on. You don't even know the customer, and we'll put them on automatic payment, so we just like we never see this guy. So it's a big difference, but it's still the relationship gets built over text, phones, and messages rather than in person. But it's what it is, and it's something new.

Pete Shau 22:51

Do you feel like it's easier or harder to build that relationship because it's digital versus face-to-face? I know I've been in the industry a long time. I know Danny's been doing it now a while. I I've always been a face-to-face person. I like when somebody comes in, or at least on the phone so they can hear my inflection, or when I say something, or or they know when I'm I'm I'm making a joke. It's not, you know, on sometimes on text it doesn't sound the same, right? You say and you're like, oh god, I hope I didn't offend anybody. But now digitally, do you find it harder to really make that connection?

George 23:19

It is indeed harder to make that connection because they don't know you. They know the voice. Um, and sometimes when they come to the store, they look at you as like, Well, you don't sound like Melissa. It's like, well, I'm not Melissa, I'm not. No, that's what you're looking for. I get it right away. But um, and you kind of lost all that talk that you have, not related to business. Uh, because sometimes you talk to the customer and you find common grounds like, oh, I like old cars. Oh shit, what are you building now? Well, I'm building a 65 caddy, something that on text it doesn't come up, or uh many of the customers they come in and they know um uh I love cooking. Um I used to be a chef back back in the days. So we talk about food recipes and uh new diners coming around or or some food, and and that's something that the test doesn't allow you, but if you are in front of somebody, you can come up with conversations regarding food, holidays, sports, and no, the only thing I'm staying away is politics, religion. And uh and I I think that that's and mother in laws.

Danny Lastra 24:27

See, uh maybe may maybe because I'm a millennial, but see, I I am a texter. I, you know, I love this business, I love generating reports and relationships, but see, I find it so much easier through text and emails because one, I'm multitasking, two, I can talk to multiple people at the same time, I can have meaningful conversations, I can close a sale.

Pete Shau 24:49

Actually, I I just saw some scientific evidence that people who multitask actually don't it's actually less. Um, so if I was devoting myself to just one task, I'd actually do it a lot better than somebody who multitasks.

Danny Lastra 25:02

No, I think yeah, I think I'm gonna be.

Pete Shau 25:03

So you gotta you know you gotta be careful, like like doing too many things at once. If a customer is there, do you really give them all the attention that they should get? I don't know. That's why I kind of like it face-to-face, but I understand that that's not the way it's going. It's actually going to more digital.

Danny Lastra 25:17

I think we can agree though, it's going into that era though. It's already here. And a lot of the millennials, they don't want the chit chat. They want straight to the point, hey, how much is this? Okay, cool with my payments. All right, set me up, talk to you next week.

George 25:33

I agree, I agree, I agree. That is uh what I see the most in younger people. Um, that that is what they go for, and um, then you gotta go with it if you want the business. Now, if you you're looking at older generations, then they're still into some and some. Some texting because they want to be part of it, but some actually rather be talking to people, even over the phone or when they come in. So we have to combine ourselves and mute ourselves to uh uh a new ways of business that if we want to be active, if we want to be profitable, if you want to be in the know if as you will say.

Pete Shau 26:07

So, what do you what do you think in the last 15 years, let's just say the last 15 years, because I think the internet really started hitting big, what, 2005 or something like that, you know, Facebook and stuff like that. What is that the biggest change that you've probably seen in rent to own? Is it going the digital route, or is there another big change that's happened probably in the last decade and a half that kind of sticks out even more?

George 26:27

So one thing that I like, bro, is um I remember when I started, we have this projection TVs. I remember when there was Apex and that 65 inch, it was old wooden case. That thing needs three people to get delivered, and it's got this little wheels that it were not meant to hold anyway, more than two pounds. They break just by you looking at them. So to take that monster of a TV to a second floor, you definitely need to have three guys. Um now to think of that versus a 65-inch TV today. Uh it's just one person can carry that lightly. Um so technology, I I can see the big things uh getting lighter and lighter and better quality and pictures and all that. Um furniture is still the same, couches are still the same, although some couches come with uh, you know, portable chargers, automatics, massagers, and all this. Um beds now come with uh adjustable frames. In a box, right? Yeah, in a box. And adjustable frames with uh, you know, Wi-Fi and massagers and uh portable things for charger phones and what have you. So technology has has improved so much, and and I love that part. The kippos up on our feet. Um But in in terms of rent-to-on, I think that we are doing so well on rent-to-on that we have competition from places that we were never seen. Some of the companies that now start financing anything and everything. Uh they're doing that basically rent-to-on. You can pay them weekly, bi-weekly, monthly. So if I'm gonna do my roof of my house, there there's a company that financed me rent-to-on it. The roof, tires, uh, works like pet boys. You can have your whole engine being financed by another company doing rent-to-on. Um, so now we have so much competition, not only on our furniture, but everything else. So um that kind of sucks because uh it was nice to be the king on rent to on now that everybody's doing it, we kind of are coming down. So that part of uh the last 15 years, it it's it's a scary. It's a scary, but we're still here. We're still here.

Pete Shau 28:37

Talking about like like competition and social media, right? Competition in general, and then you bring in social media, there's a lot of platforms, you know, there's Instagram and Facebook. But you're doing pretty good on TikTok. Where did that come from?

George 28:50

So it is funny, bro. Um my boss was telling me uh you better listen to the new technology. And I was like, bro, I it it's one thing to see them, it's another thing to make them. And and you have to have some some know-how, some qualities. And I'm always looking at them as like, how the hell am I gonna figure this thing out? And I couldn't. So um we have a market manager uh called Amberly, which is she does a fantastic job for all of us in terms of she helps us weigh more than we shout out to Amberly. She's an amazing woman, God bless her. But obviously, she's not gonna have the time to and the patience, mainly the patience, to say, Hey George, this is how you do, and you take a picture and you do this and you do that, and you add the music and all this thing. I I I I wouldn't put her through that because I I I'm actually a normal human being that I feel for people that have to deal with me. So the best way was to look for somebody um young enough, relatable enough, they can do those things. And I have a customer that said, Hey, my daughter just graduated from high school and she's looking for a job to do. So I interview her and said, What do you know about TikTok? She said, Well, I'm all over TikTok, and I can make a million TikToks, and I can post on Facebook, and I can make reels on Facebook, and I can do this, and I can do that, and I know how to use filters, music, and all this. And I look at her like she was talking Chinese to me, and I said, You're higher. I mean, when can you start? That's that's how. So um, she's been doing it, and she's just 19 years old, um, fresh out of high school, and she's going to college. Um, so she's a part-timer, and she's all up in that business, man. I I I couldn't be more happy to have her. Um, very uh very good kid, does very well, and um just just glad to be part of that experience.

Danny Lastra 30:38

I I I personally love watching her TikTok. I follow the store, I love it. You know, this is one of the biggest debates I have with people in this business, especially the older generation offense guys, but um, because a lot of the guys that are not comfortable with the social media, one of their biggest questions always is, well, where's my return? Where's the you know, I'm not gonna get any sales. That's not what the social media is for. The social media, you're not gonna generate sales from it would do is brand your store, your company, brand awareness. Brand awareness. So see, here's the thing like I would probably I can't believe I'm saying this, but you know, Great Room Armenia stands in my mind because of all the funny TikToks she does, right? That it makes me interested. Man, let me go check them out. You know, it's it's not even a deal. It's like, you know, I I can't even think of all the funny stuff she does, I can't even think of something that was really promotional. It was just more of like just funny skits, and she's and she's doing product placement, like she's showing the products. Uh you know, on Black Friday, I saw she that's where she got more direct with the promotions of the sales. But all the other times, it's just like funny stuff. Like the thing that sticks out to me the most, she just did a recent one where it starts off like the universe and it goes to Earth and then it goes to Florida, and then it comes straight to your store. Great rooms and then just a caption, we were meant to meet together, you know. But see how I can remember that? Yeah, I have no idea what sales going on, what's on sale tonight. But I know Great Rooms Tampa is on TikTok and they're funny.

George 32:06

Right. You know, so yeah, and then to add to that is just that it it I see the outcome of all those because um they don't come um and they don't call or come and call and say, hey, I saw your ad on on TikTok and I'm interested on the TVs. Bro, the funny thing is, hey, I saw that she has something called boss diaries.

Danny Lastra 32:27

Okay. Yes, I love seeing that, bro. Yes, and I'm glad that you you're a team player and you let her do that because I actually look forward to those as well.

George 32:34

Yeah, I have to. So just like that, the first thing they say is I feel bad for George, but you look like an idiot in there. It's like, hey, bro, I look idiot everywhere. It doesn't mean there, that's the only, it's just product placement. I'm an idiot, I was there. I can look that bad anywhere. But that instigates conversation. And many of the things that come in is hey, I saw that girl in TikTok, and um, it made me wonder what else you guys do, what do you guys sell? Boom. And and that is that is the thing. They don't come in for a particular reason, but it's the beginning of a phone call, beginning of conversation.

Speaker 3 33:04

Yeah.

George 33:05

I saw that girl in TikTok. That that is the number one thing we hear, and that's the reason they call in.

Pete Shau 33:11

And hey, I'm especially that as a one-two punch. Yeah, because she can she can cast that line out there and get the people to come in. And then when you come in, you got somebody who's seasoned, who knows how to talk to people. Okay, well now we're face to face, this is where I can shine and show you the product, show you how to all the features and benefits to make this happen.

Danny Lastra 33:27

So so, real quick, because I because a lot of people like facts to figure. So, real quick, if you don't mind me sharing, how many customers, active customers, do you have? And there's a reason why I'm asking, I'm gonna tell you why. Right. So, right now we have 340. Okay, 342 customers, but you have over 2,000 followers on TikTok. Right. That's the key. That's what I'm trying to demonstrate. So you could potentially grow more customers by continue marketing because you have 2,000 active followers on that social media platform alone. Yeah.

Pete Shau 33:56

Well, I mean, what's a percentage of 342 to 2,000? You know what I mean?

George 33:59

It well, it's less than 25%. But the thing is, uh, and and that's a great thing to also add to that. On November, we grew up, um, I think it was 47 customers in 23 of those that were related to TikTok. Oh, T. So that is that's what it is. That's the numbers.

Danny Lastra 34:19

Yeah, I was just talking to Larry Pivotal and my team the other day because you know, we just have Black Friday, so as DMG know, I gotta go audit all these rents. And when I'm looking at these new customers, a couple of my stores, half of the customers said Facebook or social media. Exactly. I mean, but it goes hand in hand. You have to ask, how did you hear about us? But really, as I dig into it, and then, you know, oh, I drove by. No, you didn't. Nobody's driving by anymore. Drive by its websites now, first off. Okay.

George 34:46

And that's a different meaning in another world.

Danny Lastra 34:48

But so speaking of which, I'm gonna switch gears here real quick. So, because I'm a big believer in social media, but is there any other marketing, maybe guerrilla marketing that you use that you feel works still?

George 34:57

So the other market is is the old school. So um we I am very picky of doing EDDMs.

Danny Lastra 35:05

Okay, you're a big fan of that.

George 35:06

I I am, bro, and it works for me like a charm. But I I I'm a very systematic. I got my own plan. I know where I'm going with my EDDMs. Um, we have five seed codes that we hit constantly. Um, it is a cost-effective, but it creates results. Um, and again, it's not somebody that walks in with the flags and says, I just got this flyer, sell me. That's not the case. Um, along the conversation, when you talk to the customer, you find out how do you hear about us? So why the hell? But you're here instead of Renaissance. Well, back in April, you sent me a flyer that says this TVs are this much, and my TV was working fine till yesterday. Right. And there you are. Now I remembered where I saw that freaking place, and uh, I'm here because of the flyer I got sometime in the past. Um and and that worked. So as you said it, Danny, it's just creating that brand, that that thing that people say, yeah, I'm not gonna go to great rooms and buy me a burger. But now I'm I have a no TV on my freeze worked out, or I need an AC or my mattress, or my mother-in-law's coming, and I had nothing but nails on the floor for her, let me buy a mattress. Uh, there you go. So that that is that branded. But that works for me. The other thing is I got so many apartment complaints, and hopefully they're not hearing this. So we we go after, yeah.

Pete Shau 36:30

I already know where you're going with the different demographics so they listen to us. I don't think they can listen to us.

George 36:33

Yeah, I I I hope not. Particularly the uh the um managers or the management team. So we go after um all the uh service guys that work on those apartments are gone, and that's about 4:30 to 5. So after 5, we go and just hang doors and all the apartments, because this is the only time we can go there. The people will come right after, grab that, whether they throw it in the garbage or they have it inside the house, but there's no evidence that we did anything because by the next day in the morning, um, they're all gone. Um, so we don't have that blood going on with them. Hey, come and pick up your flyers, you guys were not authorized to come in. And unofficially, we can do that without their authorization, but that's that's the nick of uh what we're doing.

Pete Shau 37:16

Something that Danny and I always ask, because this this business is really divided up into two halves, right? Right. Are you a credits person or are you a salesperson?

George 37:26

No, I am I'm always and I always have been um a sales guy. Even from a young age, my mother and I um were um working together at our home. Um got uh God bless my mom, a single mother, raising two kids.

Pete Shau 37:43

Amen to that.

George 37:44

Yeah. So um she showed me the ropes of selling, and I used to sell powder door to door, I used to sell vacuums door to door. Um I work in her restaurant and I was the waitress, and you know, uh always up trying to sell more people into more food. So by nature and by uh by a long time, I've been always in sales, and it is just my nature, and I love sales. Although when I got in here, it you know, you have to learn the new things, and then collections become my train hobby. I love to train people in collections because you have somebody that is willing to work with somebody that doesn't know and try to get some money, and when we school them on how to do it and how to do it better, and they get that result, they get that money, they get that payment. Um it's good for them because they're learning a new skill, and and you feel like, bro, this is nothing. You just gotta be confident enough that you're talking to somebody that owes you money, that money is yours. Um, and you just gotta get it to the drawer. That that is all there is. So, in a nutshell, I'm more of a sales guy. But you are heavily involved in your credit. Oh, I have to.

Pete Shau 38:52

I don't think you can be one or the other, like away from one too much for the other. Like you can be a salesperson, but you gotta be in credit, or you can be a credit person, but you gotta be involved in sales. But there's always like that line, right? Somebody like, I'm just a little bit more of a salesperson.

Danny Lastra 39:03

I am Danny's more of a credit guy. I'm fit, I'm 51 credit, 49 sales. Like I will I do. I walk in the door and I'm and I'm with you, George. You know, first and foremost is a showroom, sight, sound, smells. Make sure I'm looking good. Because that's the 49% of sales in me. It's like I know that's my silent salesman right there. You can't sell to nobody if, you know, you got a crappy showroom, no product, whatever. But once I take care of, my mind does immediately go, let me start calling my active customers and make sure we're on the same page here. And then I've always need one personally, I don't want an assistant credit manager. I want an assistant salesperson. Let them do a lot of the marketing and reel them in. Now, don't get me wrong, I can sell. I am very confident. You know, I I personally hate telemarketing. You know what I'm saying? Like we mean, me and Pete, we've talked about this. Like, you know, if you give me a pay to full list and tell me to start calling these customers, I'm already rolling my eyes. I do not want to call these, I don't want to make some. Like, let's go. Let's go, let's go. I don't want to do that. Pay to full list, let's go. But but tell me to call her out. Boom, I'm there. I got this.

Pete Shau 40:11

See, that's that's you know, part of what Danny and I wanted to do in the podcast was to show them many sides of the same part of the industry. And it's like, I I will do credit, right? It's part of the industry, it's part of what we have to do, it's part of how we make our money. But man, he gets he gets excited. You see that you got excited. I'm gonna make some calls. I'm gonna call my credit, yeah, let's go. I'm like, man, you give me that pay-to-full list. I that's my bread and butter right there. So, you know, everybody approaches it with such a different view, and that's why we wanted to talk to people in this industry. We've been doing a long time and doing different companies and different things because everybody's gonna have that one thing that they gravitate towards, whether it's having uh, you know, a lot of customers and a lot of accounts or running lean or running heavy or whatever the case is. And man, I'm I'm a sales guy. I'm the same way. I'm a sales guy. I love to make those sales, and and in reverse, my assistant guy would be the credit guy. Right. And then I would go in there and listen, you know, hey, whoa, whoa, slow down, or yeah, no, we need to get that guy now. Right. But then I would go out and say, Hey, how you doing, Miss Jones? You getting that thing today, right? Correct. Where that's just that's just the personality.

George 41:12

And I think, bro, for my benefit, it it works better when I'm concentrated on getting more customers in. Like, come in, buy, buy, come on, this is what we got. Get this, get that, get that. And then I just go back the next day and say, okay, who's who's the one not paying? Who's the one that we gotta get up? What the hell are we doing with this customer that's over 15 and we don't have any information that's valid, none of the phone is working, and uh we gotta go visit them. So always I believe that the success is sell, sell, sell, and then collect.

Danny Lastra 41:47

Well, so so I personally have a saying, it's even my tagline in my email, and the sl and the slogan is credit first, sales always. I'm always selling, but I am a big believer of nice tight credit makes it easier growth. That's why. So the tighter my overs are, the easier it is for me to generate and put more customers on top because I got a good handle on it.

Pete Shau 42:11

True that. True that. So we started doing this to kind of shed a light in the rent hone industry. But one of the things that we come across is that Rent Hone has like this stigma, right? That it's rent home. We got a bad reputation out there. We got a bad rep, and I don't understand why. I mean, now that I'm taking a look at it, we're we're trying to shine not just a light, but a big light, right? You've got your girl that's doing the TikToks, we're trying to do videos, we're trying, we're trying to get everybody to see this is not the boogeyman, right? We're not the boogeyman of the industry. Why do you think rent owners had such a crazy stigma coming unto now?

George 42:41

I and I'm I'm a very, very much uh a witness to that. So, and everything that I have and and I've seen, once I walk to a new store, and let's say this store, one, looks bad, second, the credit is high, and third, all the people are demoralized for whatever reason of previous management. What comes after that is all the customers that were mistreated by the drivers, mistreated by the manager. They couldn't talk to the guy in collections, and now they go about, and everybody in their neighborhood don't go there because they're a bunch of A-holes. From the drivers to the managers. You can't talk to nobody, they're just bad people, horrible people. They're there to rob you, stab you, kill you, take your kids, rape you, and then, you know, hide the dogs, because they I heard they eat hog dogs for dinner. So, bro, it is that. It's just they you build that bad reputation with a bad management in the background. And and then after a while, you come in, you clean the store. Customers come in to make the normal payment, and they said, Oh, this this place smells good and it's looking better. And I see a bunch of new faces, and and look at you, you're smiling. Well, let me tell you about my life. So I got a problem with my dog when I was born and all these things, and they start spilling the gods. When they walked out, they walked out with a better. Attitude that we'll walk in. And now they start talking to the customers or their friends. It's like, yeah, I went there, they went to A-holes before, but now they got no new crew. This new guy is a bull-headed guy. Go there, he's he's kind of funny looking, but very nice. He he treats you well, he listens to you, and then I'm happy. So that stigma comes always from a bad management. And and I can I can tell you that because it happens to every store I went to. Customers go there, nothing but complain the first day. And what we do is just sit back and listen. Let it all vent out. They come out and bro, once they finish telling you the same story four times, you kind of stop and say, Okay, well, that that's then and this is now. Um, so the stigma comes from that bad management, really bad crew, demoralize people. Because if you have a really driver that don't feel like he's going anywhere and he goes to drop your TV and he drops the TV.

Pete Shau 44:52

He's the last thing that they see. Yeah, yeah.

George 44:54

It's the last thing they see. And and they said, he came here and dropped my TV and took off, didn't even turn it on. Now there's crack TV, and I don't even have remote control. He said, F yourself. If you want a more remote screen, you just go get some other place. Don't come to my store. So, you know, that's demoralizing, bro.

Danny Lastra 45:10

Yes, the drivers, we talk about this all the time. The drivers is very an important position in the industry, and we gotta set that tone almost immediately. Yeah.

Pete Shau 45:20

Well, I think it starts at the drivers.

Danny Lastra 45:21

That's why we put out it starts and finishes with the drivers.

Pete Shau 45:24

You want to train the drivers right because if you don't do that, it doesn't matter what you do in a store. It's you know, it's it's it's that that start. You start the the right way. They come in, you greet them, you take care of everything, and then they walk out and they go home. And if they're not treated in their home right, it doesn't matter where they get treated outside. They want to get that treatment in home. Like, okay, they took care of me, they set it up, they looked at it. Yeah, I might have moved it three times. Yeah, I want it over here. Nope, no, you know what, I want it over here. Correct. But they didn't give me that, oh man, like come. They moved it, they took care of it, they turned it on, they asked me if I knew how to use it, they gave me the remote, they plugged in the HDMI to the cable box and even kind of connected it. It was a little bit out of their league, but they did it for me. Oh, wow. You know what I mean? Yeah, and I didn't have to pay for that. That was included.

George 46:06

That that is that is the big seller, bro. And um, to have uh the drivers just ask them before the leave, you have any questions. Do you understand the agreement? Right, right. Do you know when your next payment is? Do you remember how much cash uh you have to pay and how long do you have to pay that same as cash? And now remember if you have any issues with whatever it is that you're having, just call and ask for the manager. They always throw my name in there because I I guess I'm Mr. Fixit. Just ask for the manager, he'll he'll take care of you. Any questions by all means? Just uh that. And we are glad to have you business. Thank you so much for the business. And if we train the drivers to do that and leave the last impression is a good impression, it makes so much of a difference when we call them back and say, Um, this is your first payment. Um is everything okay with the delivery? Delivery was fantastic. Um, there is my money. And it helps collections easier, it helps build a better reputation, and it helps get more things sold.

Danny Lastra 47:03

So, so we've we we've talked about a couple things, uh, interviewing, social media, how how we've kind of evolved, you know. So you you mentioned earlier, you know, when we were talking about the interviewing, like, oh, this was 2019 before 2019 was fun. So, in your opinion, how has COVID and the pandemic affect RTO and what's the pros and cons?

George 47:23

Oh, I um it has helped a lot of things had helped. Um, one of the things I remember being open Sundays and uh working on Sundays is. Yeah, man. Working on Sunday was no fun for anybody. Uh I remember working plenty of Sundays, and the way we we had it is that I work a Sunday, then my sales guy works a Sunday, then my um my assistant works on a Sunday, and then I work the next Sunday. So out of the month I work two Sundays, and it's fine because it's four or five hours, but it's four to five hours that I could be uh doing things at home, uh spending time with the kids or or or just watching TV or doing nothing. But for that matter, I'm very grateful that we're not working on Sundays. We actually work in five days and and I enjoy that. The thing that I don't like about COVID, bro, is uh other than having many of my employees sit constantly uh for A, B, Z reasons, or have we have plenty of of them having the COVID and missing a week or two from employment. I myself did that too. Um that which is not fun. Is there's the uh during the COVID, I I remember days that we didn't see a single soul in the store other than the employees. We were open throughout COVID every single day, but there were many days that we didn't see a soul coming through, not even to make a payment. So that kind of diminished and evaporates with the traffic there, new leads and everything. We learned a new business now, which is all text message and send pictures and and have that. So it it kind of retire some of our good walking customers and to uh just since I've been doing business with you, I'm just calling you and I need a laptop, we'll deliver. I need a game system, we'll deliver. I need a mattress, we'll deliver, I need a bedroom set, we'll deliver. I need a couch. I'm gonna send you pictures of what because I don't know what the hell you want. But we'll deliver. So we we we stopped seeing many customers, bro, and and that uh put a hint on it. Um the other thing is things got extremely freaking expensive. I remember couches that we were purchased at half the price that we're paying now, and they say it always only 10% of increase. It seems like it's a hundred percent, because we used to pay $300 for a couch and now we're paying $600. That's not 10%.

Pete Shau 49:42

Well, if everybody ups it to 10%, right? So you got the 10% on the base price, 10% on the freight, 10% on the fuel surcharge, then it comes into the store. We have to make some of that money back, unfortunately, and and everything it always gets passed on. Right. So then that's another 10%. Before you know it's 50%. Well, hell, I mean that's that's where it's at.

George 49:58

It is it isn't amazing. So now we we understand that, and people still have the same money. It's not like their money has uh increased. They still have the same budget. So now, in order for us to continue doing the business rather than be an 18 months rent-to-one, we we have to tag everything for 24 months and extend it for six more months so that way the customer doesn't feel like, oh damn, I was used to pay $30 for this couch, and I gotta pay $60. I'm gonna stay with the old couch. Now we have to work some way in in the sense that we will get our profits, it's gonna take another six months to get our full profits, but uh there's another adjustment that we have to do, and that's the thing that I don't like about it. But it is what it is, and at least we're bringing some profits.

Pete Shau 50:40

Well, that's the wise words of wisdom from George uh at Great Rooms on Armenia. What are some of the topics that you think that we should cover here on the show? Something that you would want to hear as somebody who's been in the business a long time, not just attracting the new people to Barenta owned, but people that might not know the industry as well as you do. What's something that you would like to hear for us talk about, some kind of topics that we should discuss?

George 51:01

Well, I believe, guys, in in this business, it's all about training.

Pete Shau 51:05

Oh, yeah.

George 51:05

And sometimes, man, um I see that we bring new people to this business with the hopes that the manager will train and all the hopes that somebody else will train. And people get frustrated when you spend one week or two weeks or three weeks in a month, and all you do is the same little thing. You just do that. We don't want you to learn anything. We uh you you just make that phone call and I'll tell you what to make. Or you go ahead and and hit these people and you just go knock the door. If they open, immediately call me, I'll talk to them. So I believe that we should have uh, like many other companies that I used to work for, some sort of a lab where we bring employees that have no freaking clue what rent on is, and you bring them to this lab or school or what have you, and you have already all these scenarios playing out, and this is what we're gonna do. Like for instance, you bring the drivers and you're gonna teach them how to blanket the stuff, how to protect the stuff in the truck, how to strap things the right way, how to set up a TV, how to set up a Wi-Fi, and how to connect all these things, um, how to build uh from a nightstand to a complete bedroom set just for the drivers. So when they go out, they know how to plug a dryer and make sure it works. They know how to test for 220 or 110, they know how to plug a washing machine, they know how to take the refrigerator doors off if they need to deliver to a trailer that only fits you know two feet on wide. Um, all those things gotta be thought. And the same train of thought is just teach how somebody's gonna be doing collections, how to deal with the customer, how to deal with an angry customer, how to explain that history payments, how to look into all those factors that will make the customer understand our process. Because if we don't know about rent on, the customers that start with us know a lot less of rent to on and how these things work. And who better to explain that than the guy who's actually trying to get some money? But if he doesn't know how, immediately goes to the manager. Now the manager is everywhere. Um also, you know, it would be great if we can have the same laugh with training managers that will know everything from the delivery, collection, sales, marketing to the point where you throw them into the store, they'll be like, I can do this because I know how to do this. It's like taking a high school kid and putting it to run a store with no freaking help, clue on intentions or being successful, but yeah, we demand them to be successful at all. So it's like, well, figure it out. Nobody's gonna figure it out everything. You can figure some things out, but at the end of the day, it's it's about how we teach them and what we teach him, and how long are we gonna spend the time because after that it's all repetition, repetition, repetition to get them going well. But to get to that repetition, you have to learn what you're gonna repeat and how constantly you're gonna repeat it. It's is about teaching. So a great thing for you guys, I think, that will be promoting to have some sort of school, R2 RTO school. Um, there will be, you know, from level one to maximum grade will be a manager, and everybody that goes there will come out of there knowing something. Every store is different, and every store will have different type of customers, you have to deal with them different. But the actual essence of rental can be thought in a school-like environment. And that will be great. And I know you guys have between the two of you, have plenty of experience. Danny, you're you're getting collections, and I'm sure you be able to teach these kids everything that you seem to be right for them to at least grab the first phone and start making calls without just being thrown out and they this is a phone and this is how you call. This is the numbers, you press this numbers, and you see the numbers on the screen. And when somebody answers you, you say, Give me my money, bitch, or else, you know, you know, all that and that.

Danny Lastra 54:55

And and you know, Chris Cale said, I remember when I first started in this industry, I went to a uh manager meeting, and he said, If all you're gonna do is call a customer and say, payment or pickup, then I can get a monkey and a parrot to do your job. A monkey to dial the numbers and a parrot to say payment or pickup, payment or pickup. And you know, I it's so funny you're talking about training and we're looking at each other, laughing and looking at each other because we literally just had an episode about that.

Pete Shau 55:24

We've been talking about it because we feel the same way. We feel like it's it's one of those things we're churning through so many people right now. And as the people who are in the business, we gotta look back and go, why? What's going on? Are we not doing something wrong? Because if we're getting them in, they're not staying. There has to be something going on. And I think it's the thing falls into the training. You know, they they they see something like, I have no idea what you're doing. I don't want to call people, I don't know how to talk to people when they come in the door. You know, I might be good at texting. I mean, I can move stuff, but I don't really know how to do this. They walk out instead of us, and I'm not trying to blame any one store or any part of the industry, but if we sat them down and said, this is really what you're getting into, right? This, let me show you how to do this so they can feel secure about it, changes the world. Exactly.

Danny Lastra 56:07

Again, it's a new era, and you know, we've been talking about this, and I know we're really gonna try to implement a new onboarding training class for Rank King 23 because it's so it it's a it's a it's a generation thing. Here's the thing you guys a little bit older than me, but I I went through the same training experience, and it was sink or swim. That was our training. You did you go to a class? Did you go to school for rent owned, or did you learn side by side with Chris Mueller how to do everything?

George 56:35

I learned to get side.

Danny Lastra 56:37

Pete, your first person, right? Same thing with me. It's like this is what you do. You know, you get some very basic, and then it was kind of like let you go out a little bit, bring you back in, let you go out a little bit, bring you back in. And that was the training. But these kids, and I say kids, but millennials, they they're not gonna operate, they're not gonna be successful. Gen Z, Gen Zen Z is really probably far off worse. Like they need the more training. And and in fact, you know, I'm even thinking that might be part of a hiring process. It's more of like a classroom session. This is what you're gonna experience. Are you sure you want to be part of this industry? Because they they might get into it like, whoa, I gotta call, I gotta go to people's houses.

Pete Shau 57:14

Well, that might be you know, that might be one of the things we're talking about. A video that would video would be great for that. You know, put some on-the-job videos and say, hey, this is what you can get yourself into. And not, you know, not the bad thing, because there's always good and bad, but at least to say, hey, you're gonna be dialing. This is what you'll be doing, like computer work where you're dialing, you're talking to people. Okay, done. You might have to go to a customer's home and diagnose things. That's done. You might have to talk to somebody who has no idea what they want. They they know they want something, but they don't know what it what. Now you got to go out there and kind of figure it out and kind of get it out of them without really just going, hey, what do you want? Right? Like you got to get out to what are your needs? You know, how big is your family? What are you trying to do with this? Are you trying to match any type of decor? How many, how many chairs do you want? Where am I? I'm fitting in a trailer or an apartment or a huge house. What what are we doing? And sometimes I think that's daunting for some people, you know. Uh, and and maybe we should do that. Maybe we should, hey, you know, watch this 10-minute video, let me know.

George 58:02

This is where this is what last step of the hiring process is. Definitely. But but you know, also, guys, what what I think is that every manager has a strength and every manager has uh a good team in certain things. So, like for instance, if I was to hire a new driver, I will send that new driver for the week to another good driver that I have in the company and said, hang with this guy, train this guy, have him going, teach him, make sure that he knows how to back up a truck because everybody knows how to do things until they have to do it. And the same thing with collections. I just send that new guy and said, hey, hang out with uh Brownlow or or or anybody that is done collections, don't mind having somebody shadow him, uh, listen to the conversations the first day. The second day, hey, you're gonna make conversations, you're gonna make phone calls to somebody that's five days and down all the way to zero days and see how comfortable you feel. The next day, hey, do from ten days down to zero days, and then now you're having somebody to be able to look at history before he makes a call and somebody that's over and and know what's going on. What does he have, when many payments he made, and be able to talk some sense into the customer. And that will be for collections and sales. You gotta have this person going to somebody that's been good in sales, they don't mind having somebody following, and this is what we do, this is what we say, this is the catalog, this is how the catalogs work, this is how you're gonna price it, uh, and so on and so forth. Um when we release that person to the store, now the manager knows, at least she knows their ABCs. Let me show a little more, but she has an idea of what it is, so you don't have them from that green because there's managers to manager. Some managers can teach, some other managers cannot. And some managers love to delegate, some managers look, I'd rather do it myself because I know it's gonna get right, and you're new, you have no clue what's going on. Sorry about the F. We'll bleep it out, don't worry. So um it is it is uh to the best knowledge to always have somebody that's great on that particular subject to train somebody new. Um, at least it'll give them a better chance to come back to the story and be able to. I'm here to help you, not take time away from you for you to train me. My thoughts.

Danny Lastra 1:00:17

I don't know if that's I agree wholeheartedly. I think you know that is some great advice right there. I you know, um, so you know this this is like a formal interview, you know. So I always ask this for people and in an interview, what what's your end goal? What's your five-year plan? What's your goal, George? What is well I'm 60 right now. You look great, by the way. Yeah, man. I I thought you were in your 50s, to be honest. You know, no, no, I'm 60. Okay.

George 1:00:44

I took a shower today because I knew I had this interview. That helps that young vibe, bro. That young vibe comes out of here. You gotta smell a good man. Yeah, you gotta smell good too. A good presentation. That that's that's not so um five years. I hope to retire and then um on 65, I'm just gonna work in real estate and do some house flipping uh with my kids. And nice that that that'll be uh that that at least keep me busy while uh enjoy retirement, hopefully. Five years my goal.

Pete Shau 1:01:12

You know, I actually thought that you were gonna say something like maybe own uh a rental own franchise. That actually that actually was one of the first things I thought you were gonna say.

George 1:01:20

No, no, I I really I had my chance to do that, but um I I pass it by. Um when they were opening the great rooms, I didn't feel that I will be a good fit to be an owner. More of uh was more than the mind of let me find something wrong to fix it rather than open it a new store, because that I really I'm not familiar with it. I'm familiar with going in there, get the files, get the store, get it clean, call customers, get all this stuff ready and rolling, and and and presenting you with something that it was broken and now is look, bola, it was good, making profit and nice. So um that was my take back then. And mistakes that you uh do in life, but uh I I can't complain. Life has been good.

Danny Lastra 1:02:06

Well, P P's definitely experiencing the opening of a new store. You I I've never done it, and you you never done it before now?

Pete Shau 1:02:12

Out of all the 18 and a half years I've been doing this, not even close to a brand new store. And let me tell you, I I did a lot what you did uh at Rack at Buddies. Go over here, fix that in a year or two or whatever it is. We're doing it. I'm gonna send you somewhere else. And that was a cycle, man. That was that was my cycle, and I really learned how to do that. This new store thing, you don't have old people to call. You don't have pips to call. You don't have a base. You're building your base as you're training, as you're growing. It's a completely different ball game. Um, something that I'm glad I have to be, you know, I'm able to be a part of. But man, let me tell you, it's not the same. It's not what I'm used to. It's it's definitely outside of my wheel set. I'm glad when it's over, whatever that might be, so I can say I did it, but it's not easy.

George 1:02:55

You got one up on me, bro, because I had never done. And that's the thing that I wasn't certain that I was gonna be successful at because it it was always to there's the keys, you're on your own. It's like, God damn it, bro. I it nothing is fixed, and anything is new. I got no customers to call or fix. Um, damn, this is a new business. So, with that said in mind, I just I was like, no, no, I'll give it to somebody else that really is gonna thrive on that. Let me continue doing what I'm doing because I'm good at this. So I don't, I I know I'm good at this, and I can deliver on this and my promise and my word. Danny, know your sweet spot.

Pete Shau 1:03:29

I I was just about to say we just had that conversation in one of our podcasts, was to know your sweet spot. Like you're saying, I know I'm a guy who goes and I can fix that. I know that. There's no question about it. Going and taking a new store, not my cup of tea. Because you've been in the business and you know this. You can say that my wheel set, I know what I got. Can I do that? Shit, I don't know.

George 1:03:49

Like, I don't know, I'm dealing with it now. Yeah, I'm trying to figure it out for sure. And that creates doubts. And when you have a doubt, it's like, bro, I don't want to walk into a place doubting myself that I can deliver as I promise. Because then always your last job is the one you're gonna uh kind of impregnate your what to say about George. It's not what you did, but what you're doing right now. So if I'm failing at this right now, uh you suck. And you know what? My mistake, I put you on the spot that you should.

Danny Lastra 1:04:17

You're definitely not failing, George. Uh Larry talks very highly of you all the time. He uses you as an example for our Tampa market, uh, whether it's your crediting overs, whether it's your your low idle inventory, your low 90-day inventory. And if I hear the movie. We hear that quite a bit all the time. Which that's gonna be a totally separate episode we're gonna do later. Maybe we're gonna get your input on the stream boxes, but you know, but you're definitely doing your thing, man. Definitely doing your thing.

Pete Shau 1:04:44

He's always like, hey, there's only five dollars of inventory in there, you know? Can you do that? I got 125,000, Larry. Just give me a minute. Give me a minute. He's like, well, George can do it, and he made 50 sales last week. How about you? Like, okay, like give me just give me a minute, bro.

George 1:04:57

Give me a minute. That's funny, bro. Because it's is what you hear. I have to hear also when Larry comes in. There's always, and I'm not to be hating on Larry. I got a lot of respect and admiration for the guy. Um, but it's always, uh, you're doing so well, but you're not as good as so and so their profit margins are this, that, and that. But you know, now we we're talking about Frank and look at it, he's got a little story, and his margins are now the money he collects over the month is 120%. Meanwhile, you only collect 100%. What's up with you, man? Can you do that? I'm like, God damn, Mary. I don't know, bro. But God bless you.

Danny Lastra 1:05:33

That's his coaching technique. It is puts everybody against each other to try to make everybody, you know, the cream rise to the crop. Man, it works sometimes. It does work. It gets me like motivated. Like, man, if I have to hear that guy's name one more time, oh my god.

Pete Shau 1:05:49

He will mention the name and I'm not gonna mention it. He would say it all the time. Like, look, man, give me a break, man. Give me a break. I'm working on it, I'm working it.

George 1:05:56

I wanted to be at 120% collective, bro. I didn't I really want to be. Damn, Larry. What's going to be next? But you're doing a great job.

Pete Shau 1:06:03

February number, and the 120% is really high. And you're going, okay, I'll try. You know, we're going to get there. We'll get there. We'll get there. TikTok, baby. TikTok.

Danny Lastra 1:06:11

TikTok. TikTok there. But uh, George, first off, thank you very much for sitting down with us today. Uh, any final thoughts, George?

George 1:06:18

Well, um, I thank you guys. Uh, I think you guys are doing a good job. And uh, one thing that I see is you guys being at DMs that you have out lasted many of us uh that we were that ranking DMs, and that's perhaps because you guys are doing a good job. Um, kudos to you guys. I I see that you put a lot of effort not only on your stores, but through podcasts and and um a lot of social media. Um my heart goes to you guys because there's a lot of work as a DM. And I've been there. I know how uh it can get crazy and then crazier and then super crazy, and then to the point you say, like you start dwelling about should I be doing this or should I just take a gun and start coming out of the case? Yeah, I can imagine, bro. I have that, but I applaud to you guys uh your effort. Uh hopefully this continues being a successful to you guys, and and uh just uh nothing but good wishes and congratulations on your podcast.

Danny Lastra 1:07:14

Thank you for thank you very much, George. Appreciate it. And uh with that being said, this is the RTO show with Danny and Pete.