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

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  In the midst of what has started finally becoming the normal after COVID, and looking through what differences have emerged in RTO we are left with finding out how to navigate this new market. That means learning new sales strategies and adapting to the current marketplace whether it be new customers, new ways of shopping, or new vendor relationships. With these changes comes branding or possibly re-branding your business and coming out above the competition. Andrew Hajduk owner and operator of Vox-pop-uli gives us the insight needed to build your brand and the means to do it. Vox-pop-uli is a full service merchandise and apparel company that can get you started and on your way to being the brand you want to be. They also are a show sponsor so give a listen!

Visit us online at www.thertoshowpodcast.com or email me at [email protected].

Sponsored by APRO, VOX POP ULI, and Dialectic RTO Division.

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When it comes to turning things around in an RTO store there is no better place to start than with the manager. They have the potential to change the atmosphere, attitudes, and drive of their team. The GM is the captain of the ship and in every case they hold the keys to change and improvement. Many of failing stores have been turned right side up with a new perspective from a positive manager. This podcast covers why the right GM is so important and why it all starts with the manager! Plus their is an extra special guest who makes their podcast debut in this episode. You don't want to miss this!

Sponsored by APRO, Vox-Pop-Uli, and Dialectic.

This is the season 3 finally before season 4 starts in January 2024!

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There isn't much in else in Rent To Own like watching a potential new customer walk in the front door. I gives hope and brightens the entire day. When you watch a potential customer leave empty handed is can feel as equally defeating. Why would they leave? Hopefully those potential customers didn't see the silent sales killer in action... Incorrect price tagging. In RTO its part of the business to have different pricing on the sales floor, but without a watchful eye all of the marketing in the world can't make up for some of these unnecessary mishaps. Listen as Jason and Pete discuss how to price correctly, how to avoid every day mistakes, what to look out for, and ways to make the pricing work for you and the RTO company you represent.

Visit us online at www.thertoshowpodcast.com or email me at [email protected].

Sponsored by APRO, VOX POP ULI, and Dialectic RTO Division.

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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 Holdings is going to give us some insight on how to do that. Whether its through in place management or just visiting yourself this is how BMH gets things done.

Visit us online at www.thertoshowpodcast.com or email me at [email protected].

Sponsored by APRO, VOX POP ULI, and Dialectic RTO Division.

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   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 sitting on the board for FRDA in Florida, or having one of the first RTO companies in the North East Dan Companion has seen a lot. So check out this podcast to see what Dan thinks is coming to the RTO Industry in the next 12 months.

Visit us online at www.thertoshowpodcast.com or email me at [email protected].

Sponsored by APRO, Vox-POP-Uli, and Dialectic. 

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     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 hawk. Plus he visits Capitol Hill with APRO's legislative team to make a difference in the way RTO is seen in Washington D.C., and has even earned the 2023 Emerging Leader Award for his efforts. Listen in on how Josh doesn't let his past control his future. You don't want to miss this!

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Visit the website at www.thertoshowpodcast.com.

Sponsored by: APRO , Vox-POP-Uli, and Dialectic.

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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 Facebook presence for a small store that gained more friends than the store had active customers, and transitioned into marketing in 2016 without a formal marketing background — a degree in business and psychology, but no advertising training.

The conversation covers what it actually looks like to run marketing for a mid-sized RTO company. Jess and her creative director Kate are a two-person team. Their website is r2o.com, and they've staffed a rotating group of five or six people who handle live chat in shifts — not AI, actual employees working from home who field customer questions, help with account lookups, and capture leads directly into their CRM. About 87% of their web traffic is mobile, which drove their recent shift to clean, even-dollar pricing — easier to read, easier to say, and more honest since everyone rounds up anyway.

On SEO, Jess breaks it into four areas: blast your URL everywhere, focus on keywords that describe what you do rather than what you sell (compete on "rent" and "lease," not "furniture" or "electronics"), make sure your site has fresh mobile-friendly content, and partner with someone who actually understands how RTO differs from retail. Their partner is Wow Brands, who helped build the R2O digital platform and CRM specifically for the industry.

The biggest learning moment she shares is a product called "R2O to You" — a fully automated direct-ship model launched before the pandemic where customers could select, apply, sign, and schedule delivery entirely online without visiting a store. It flopped not because the technology didn't work, but because customers still wanted to come in and talk to Amy or Richie. The experience gave Jess an "aha moment" about the customer journey: they don't view it transactionally the way operators do. For customers, the relationship with the store is part of the value.

On social media, Facebook still drives their primary customer base, with Instagram growing slowly and Instagram Live just getting started. TikTok is on the horizon but with a concern: the best influencers for rent-to-own are the people inside the stores, not outside influencers who don't understand the industry. Real CSRs and managers doing live content outperform paid talent because customers already know and trust them.

Her advice to her younger self: just be yourself. She spent years trying to prove she belonged in a marketing role she didn't feel qualified for. Once she stopped performing confidence and started actually being herself on Facebook Live, customers responded and engagement went up.

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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 shifting customer spending habits are changing the rent-to-own customer base in real time. Jason's take is counterintuitive but grounded in experience: economic downturns and tighter household budgets have historically pushed more customers toward RTO, making the industry more recession-resistant than most — but only if operators stop waiting for foot traffic to return and start going out to find customers where they actually are.

From there, the conversation gets into one of the most important and underserved topics in rent-to-own store operations: RTO delivery driver compensation. Jason makes the case — backed by examples from Bucky's and Amazon — that the rent-to-own industry is consistently undervaluing the one position that has the most direct customer contact. If the delivery tech is now the face of your store, the last person in the customer's home, and the individual responsible for explaining the rental agreement, setting up the merchandise, and making a lasting first impression, then paying that position at the bottom of the market is a direct investment in higher credit, worse Google reviews, and lower customer retention across your entire rent-to-own portfolio.

Pete and Jason also explore how automated RTO collections platforms — like the one introduced by Payd at RTO World 2023 — fit into this evolving landscape, not as a replacement for human relationships but as a tool that frees up store teams to focus on growing the business instead of chasing payments. Jason draws the comparison clearly: there are no more Blockbusters, no more Red Boxes, and the RTO operators who treat new technology as a threat rather than a tool are already falling behind.

The episode closes with a conversation about what great rent-to-own leadership development actually looks like in today's market — investing in the people around you, raising the minimum standard, and building teams where every person, from the delivery driver to the district manager, understands why the work they do matters.

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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 Acceptance Now — for one of the most candid and experience-rich leadership development conversations ever featured on The RTO Show Podcast.

Jason's story starts the way many in the RTO industry do: as a delivery driver in a white shirt and tie, working three jobs before a $13-an-hour opportunity at Rent-A-Center changed everything. From that entry-level start, he went on to run nine different store locations as a general manager — urban, rural, turnaround, and flagship — before ascending to the district manager level, where over the next 13-plus years he developed ten individuals who went on to become district managers themselves. That track record of rent-to-own leadership development is what makes this episode essential listening for any operator, GM, or aspiring multi-unit manager in the RTO industry.

Pete and Jason dig into what actually separates a great rent-to-own store manager from a great district manager, why the jump to multi-unit management is less about knowledge and more about mindset, and why being present in fewer stores almost always outperforms managing a bloated district from a distance. Jason also introduces the concept of the "emotional bank account" — why investing in your people before making demands of them is the foundation of every high-performing RTO store team.

The conversation gets into one of the most honest leadership lessons you'll hear on this podcast: the story of Jason's biggest mistake as a GM — taking over a thriving thousand-account store and managing it down by 200 agreements in a matter of months because he was too rigid to understand how the previous manager's methods were actually working. It's a masterclass in why rent-to-own store takeovers require patience, observation, and humility before action.

Jason also introduces the origin of his now-famous "Jeff'd Up" story — a training concept built around merchandise handling, product depreciation, and delivery standards that reframes how RTO delivery techs understand the true cost of careless handling to a store's P&L and reputation.

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  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.

The centerpiece of the conversation is Majik University, a dedicated training facility built inside Magic's Harrisburg location, decorated like an actual university — murals of windows and trees, U-shaped table arrangement, a drop-down projector screen, and walls displaying core values, award winners, and the "Wall of Fame" recognizing million-dollar and multi-million-dollar store managers. The space serves as the hub for all company meetings, new hire orientations, and the progressive certification program.

That program runs in three tiers. The 101 covers basics — how the business works, what your role is. The 201 is where the real development happens, running over about 90 days with one in-person session per month at Magic University and a weekly check-in between sessions. Each session teaches a specific skill — overcoming objections, identifying pain points, changing paradigms — and then puts trainees directly into role play. Joe calls it the "bull in the ring": one person is the salesperson, one is given a random customer personality and scenario on a slip of paper, and the salesperson has to work through it without knowing what's coming. The 203 is the graduation, where trainees demonstrate they've applied what they learned in their actual store and hit the goal they set at the start of the class.

The pain point framework stood out as particularly practical. Joe's example: instead of walking a customer straight to the dryers when they say they need one, ask why. Find out how long the problem's been going on. Ask how that's been working out for them. Get the customer to articulate their own frustration, then tie the purchasing decision to eliminating that frustration. Once the pain is front and center, walking away from a solution becomes harder than solving it.

Joe also highlighted the "upside-down selling" concept from Chris Kale Jr.'s Sales 2.0 session at RTO World: get the customer on the delivery schedule first, write the agreement, take the down payment, then collect the rental order form last. The logic is that once a customer has a date locked in, they stop shopping elsewhere and are more willing to provide the remaining information as a formality.

On the future of sales in rent-to-own: Joe sees more online and contactless interactions ahead, with AI playing a support role — like using ChatGPT to help a Spanish-speaking associate translate her own words more accurately for English-speaking customers — rather than replacing the salesperson. He's skeptical that AI can fully replicate the adaptive, question-driven nature of a live sales conversation, where 80% of the talking should be the customer and 20% the salesperson asking questions.

His advice to someone new: be patient, be open to feedback, and stop saying yes to everything. Delegation and prioritization are the difference between a salesperson who moves quickly on what matters and one who gets buried in tasks that shouldn't be theirs.

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