The RTO Show: "Let's talk Rent to Own"

Send us Fan Mail The act of passing information these days is crucial to stay on top. The process has to be quick, informative, and most importantly understood. So how do we keep larger RTO companies functioning like a well oiled machine? By bridging the gap between upper management and the employees in the the stores. Mike Skehan Division Manager from the 84 store franchise group Buddy Mac Holdin...

Send us Fan Mail    There is always some insight to be had by looking into the past. Previous trends and successes mixed with hardships and failures can help give us a better look into the unknowing future. Well this week Dan Companion helps us focus on what can get us through the hard times as he to has years of experience to fall back on. From working with Badcock's first attempt in RTO, to...

Send us Fan Mail      The best way to accomplish your goals is to stay hungry and keep pushing until you make it to success. Not sure if that's the way to do it?  RTO company Great Rooms Franchise owner Joshua Ciesicki says drive and determination are key factors for success in the field of RTO and he should know. Josh now Co-owns 3 different locations and is watching his businesses like a ha...

Send us Fan Mail Pete interviews Jess Mahon, marketing director at Countryside Rentals (doing business as Rent to Own) in Ohio — a company with 40-plus stores under Mike Tissett's leadership. Jess came up through the store side, starting as an account manager in 2013 where she recognized half her route from her prior job at a local bank. She became a store manager five months in, built a Face...

Send us Fan Mail In Part 2 of this conversation with 23-year rent-to-own industry veteran Jason Winters, Pete Shau and Jason dig into the economic forces reshaping the RTO industry right now — and what rent-to-own operators, district managers, and store managers need to do differently to stay ahead of them. The episode opens with a frank discussion about inflation, rising housing costs, and how sh...

Send us Fan Mail What does it take to develop rent-to-own leaders who go on to become district managers, regional managers, and multi-unit operators? In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, Pete Shau sits down with Jason Winters — a 23-year rent-to-own industry veteran who spent over a decade as a district manager under the Rent-A-Center umbrella, including roles at Impact RTO Holdings and Accept...

Send us Fan Mail   Pete interviews Joe Luczak, Director of Sales at Majik Rent-to-Own in Pennsylvania — a role specifically focused on sales mechanics, not marketing strategy. Joe came from big-box retail management, connected with owner Dan Fisher, and has been with Magic for nearly eight years, starting as a district manager and proving himself in-store before earning expanded responsibility. Th...

Send us Fan Mail Pete and APRO CEO Charles Smitherman do a full recap of RTO World 2023 in San Antonio — Charles's first as the head of APRO. The week broke down as follows. Sunday was the golf outing at Alamo Basin Golf Course. Monday was check-in and exploring San Antonio — Pete's group did the River Walk boat tour and visited the Alamo. Tuesday opened with Trib Group and APRO governme...

Send us Fan Mail The rent-to-own industry is changing faster than ever — and the operators who don't see it coming are the ones who will be left behind. In this episode, Pete Shau sits down with Joseph Kopser, keynote speaker at APRO's RTO World 2023 in San Antonio and author of Catalyst: Leadership and Strategy in a Changing World , for one of the most forward-thinking conversations eve...

Send us Fan Mail  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 e...

Send us Fan Mail Pete interviews Charles Smitherman, the new CEO of APRO — the Association for Progressive Rental Organizations — just two months into the role. Charles comes from a legal background, spending about 20 years practicing law and eventually serving as general counsel and then COO for a financial services company that provided club programs to rent-to-own dealers. He's been adjace...

Send us Fan Mail Pete sits down with Paul Metivier, vice president of Impact RTO Holdings and president of the Florida Rental Dealers Association. The conversation covers Paul's full arc from entry-level account manager to industry leader, and the episode doubles as a genuine tribute to the people and moments that shaped him. Paul's path into rent-to-own started after the Arthur Anderson...

Send us Fan Mail Breaking news!! Only on The RTO Show!  Pete interviews Richard Formo, co-founder and CEO of Paidit.com, for the first public preview of RTO2 — a collections automation platform built specifically for the rent-to-own industry, set to launch at APRO RTO World in San Antonio. Richard's background spans 15 years in the industry, starting at 18 years old at an Arizona RTO store, t...

Send us Fan Mail    Pete interviews Keith Brock, who handles rent-to-own operations for North America at Dialectic — an international distributor that earned the Trib Group's Rookie Vendor of the Year award in its first year, despite being too busy at the show to even pick up the award. Keith's entry into Dialectic came through Lewis Garcia, former APRO president and longtime rent-to-own...

Send us Fan Mail Pete interviews Ben McCauley, a 25-year veteran of Castle Rental & Pawn in Northwest Arkansas — one of only two companies in the country operating pawn and rent-to-own under the same roof. Ben started as an account manager with no experience, winging it for the first couple weeks after his predecessor left with one day's notice, and eventually worked his way up to running...

Send us Fan Mail Pete sits down with Mike Tissott — president of Countryside Rent-to-Own (40 stores across Ohio and Kentucky) and newly elected president of the Trib Group — for a wide-ranging conversation on family business, buying groups, and where the industry is headed. Mike's origin story is straightforward: his dad started the business in 1985, built it to 10 stores, and eventually gave...

Send us Fan Mail Pete kicks off Season 3 solo and uses the Trib Group's Store Tour Challenge — launched by newly elected president Mike Tissett — as the jumping-off point for an episode about why every rent-to-own operator should be actively studying what their competition is doing. The Store Tour Challenge had operators across the country filming walkthroughs of their own stores and posting...

Send us Fan Mail   After nearly 12 years in rent-to-own and 27 episodes of the show, Danny is leaving the industry. He's heading to a pool manufacturing and distribution company — a complete career pivot — driven by the need for a better work-life balance. With three kids, a teenager about to get her license, and a schedule that demanded he be available essentially all the time, the math fina...

Send us Fan Mail   Pete makes the case for something he thinks rent-to-own has underutilized: the stay interview, or what he prefers to call the retention interview. The numbers frame the problem. In 2022, 75.8% of hourly retail positions turned over — up from 68% the year before. Even store managers and assistant managers saw significant jumps. In stores that typically run four to six people, tha...

Send us Fan Mail Danny and Pete break down how they each approach Monday — the day they both agree is the longest and most important of the work week. The episode covers the GM level, the DM level, and what each position on the store floor should be doing to set the week up right. Danny's GM routine started before anyone else arrived. Driving to work he was already mentally setting goals for...

Send us Fan Mail This is Pete's first solo episode, and he dedicates it to role play — one of the most underused training tools in rent-to-own. The premise is simple: there's always a gap between knowing what to say and actually saying it when a real customer is standing in front of you. Role play closes that gap in a safe environment where mistakes are expected and learning is the point...

Send us Fan Mail      Pete recaps his trip to the Trib Group's Meeting of the Minds expo in Atlanta, Georgia — Danny held down the fort back home. The show covered products, classes, industry networking, and a mechanical bull at PBR that Pete held on to for a respectable 45 seconds before getting tossed. On the product side, the PS5 remained the hottest item, with pricing getting more aggress...

Send us Fan Mail Pete and Danny kick things off with a reminder that tax refunds don't all arrive at once — the IRS opened filing on January 23rd, with Earned Income Tax Credit refunds arriving around February 28th and the filing deadline falling on April 18th. That means stores need to be ready and ramped up now, not waiting for the rush. On the collections and retention side, the guys share...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail Danny and Pete recap their three-day trip to the Las Vegas Winter Furniture Market — and both agree it was one of the most overwhelming and worthwhile industry experiences they've had. Three buildings, 16 to 18 floors each, wall-to-wall vendors covering everything from sectionals and bedrooms to accessories, ceramics, and 30 mattress vendors alone. Pete compares it to being a...