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

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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 government committee meetings, followed by peer group meetups organized by store size and role, where Pete and Paul Metivier facilitated a session for 15-plus store operators. The afternoon featured the educational sessions, three rotating hours with five simultaneous speakers covering topics from cybersecurity and online sales to merchandising, culture resets, and Jason Winters' now-legendary "Jeff" story about how one employee can derail an entire store culture. The day closed with the Hot Show, where Trib received 187 product submissions and curated the best 40 deals.

Wednesday opened with a keynote from Pam Nimic on brand culture, the State Association Awards, and the ribbon cutting with Charles, Dennis Shields from Trib, Mike Tissett, and Michael Bennett. The trade show hall held 109 exhibitors and 748 attendees — potentially the highest attendance RTO World has seen. The hall's elevated entry via escalator gave an unusually dramatic overhead view of the entire floor. Afternoon featured ice cream, sponsored by Crossley and VersaRent, followed by the Emerging Professionals event — a more intimate space pairing new industry faces with established leaders. The evening experience party was held at the Briscoe Western Art Museum with food, drinks, live music, and line dancing instruction (Pete participated; Charles did not).

Thursday was a half day for final orders, vendor conversations, and the Trib rebate distribution. Charles and Trib president Dennis Shields held a friendly "executive challenge" game on the trade show floor, capped with a hot sauce competition. RTO World branded socks with cash hidden inside were distributed as a giveaway.

On Paidit's RTO2 platform: their booth was slammed from open to close both days, and Charles hadn't been able to get a clear line to speak with Richard Formo since the show. He expects the product to have generated significant leads and signups.

APRO announced it will be hosting a Best of RTO World webinar on October 10th, featuring highlights from the highest-rated sessions for anyone who couldn't attend or missed a session they wanted to catch. RTO World 2024 moves to Orlando.

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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 ever featured on The RTO Show Podcast.

Kopser brings a rare perspective to the rent-to-own industry discussion — 20 years as an Army Ranger, a career in transportation technology that led to a rideshare platform acquisition by Mercedes-Benz, a run for U.S. Congress, and years of building and advising companies through his firm, Greyline Group. When he speaks about adapting to rapid change, navigating disruption, and building agile organizations, it's not theory — it's lived experience across some of the most demanding environments in the world.

Together, Pete and Joseph dig into what it really means for rent-to-own businesses to be both adaptable and agile in today's market — two concepts that sound similar but demand very different skills from RTO store managers, district managers, and company leadership. They explore why challenging your assumptions about your customer base, your business model, and your competition is the most important strategic exercise any RTO operator can do heading into the next 12 to 18 months.

The conversation gets into the future of brick-and-mortar rent-to-own retail, the growing role of online RTO platforms, the shift in walk-in customer traffic, and why emerging RTO technology — including automated collections platforms like Payd — may fundamentally change how rent-to-own businesses manage customer relationships and grow their portfolios. Pete also draws parallels between the evolution of RTO payment technology and the broader lessons of companies like Kodak and Blockbuster, which failed not because the technology beat them, but because their leadership refused to adapt.

From cross-training RTO store teams and empowering frontline employees to think beyond their job title, to identifying untapped customer segments like college dorms and military barracks, this episode challenges every rent-to-own operator to stop assuming the future will look like the past — and start building for the customer base that's already forming beneath their feet.

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

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

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

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

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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 adjacent to the industry for nine years before stepping into the top role at APRO on June 1st, 2023.

The conversation covers what APRO actually does across four areas. On the membership side, Charles is actively getting out to state association meetings, shaking hands, and getting a read on what dealers need from the organization. On scholarships, the APRO Charitable Foundation has awarded over $1.1 million to 485 total recipients — employees, owners, and their families — available to anyone connected to an APRO member company. On disaster relief, a fund started after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 has distributed roughly $500,000 to members affected by natural disasters, with the executive committee turning around approvals quickly so funds get out fast. On legislation, APRO functions as what Charles calls antivirus software — running in the background 24/7, monitoring bills and regulatory activity at the state and federal level, sending RTO alerts when threats emerge, and coordinating with state associations to respond. The annual legislative conference in Washington DC is a key part of that, giving members a chance to walk the halls of Congress and put a face to the industry.

On RTO World 2023 in San Antonio, Charles reports the expo floor is sold out, nearly 700 attendees are registered, and the program includes 15 educational sessions across five tracks. Two headline moments he calls out: Richard Formo of Paidit.com will demo the RTO2 collections automation platform live, with board president Michael Bennett on the panel. And Pete himself will be presenting a session on how to stand out.

The episode also includes a tribute to Shelly Martinick, APRO's longtime director of education and meetings who passed away before the show. She joined in 1989 and spent 30 years building the organization's event infrastructure. Charles credits her directly for the culture of well-organized, well-run shows that RTO World carries forward.

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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 accounting scandal ended his career in real estate appraisal. His brother-in-law Corey Casey got him into Rent-A-Center in 2001. He started as an account manager in khaki pants, white shirt, and tie, learned the business from the ground up, and eventually took over a struggling Port Charlotte store that everyone told him was career suicide — a Buddies was literally opening in the same plaza. He turned it from 400 to 720 agreements. Then Sarasota from 430 to 750. Promoted to DM in Tampa, he spent a decade in that role before Shirin Panji of Impact RTO Holdings made him an offer he couldn't refuse: come build operations for a 40-store southeastern Renaissance franchise group without having to leave his ailing father. That group is now at 79 locations across Florida, Georgia, and six other southeastern states.

On the FRDA side, Paul was brought onto the board years ago as the Rent-A-Center corporate representative, felt completely out of place at first among independent operators and industry icons, but kept showing up. Kirk Kay of Gator Rents became his mentor — taught him why the association mattered, why being at the table beats being on the table, and modeled what a life defined by something bigger than a job title looks like. Kirk passed away in late 2021. At the 2023 FRDA meeting — the first in four years after COVID and Hurricane Ian — Paul introduced the Kirk K. Volunteer Award, presented by Kirk's wife Cecilia. The first recipient was Teresa Hill of Buddy's. Paul admits he got emotional, and doesn't apologize for it.

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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, then scaling the first national accounts division in lease-to-own at Acceptance Now before working with executives at Renaissance in Plano, Texas. That operational experience is what drove him to build something the industry didn't have.

Paidit's core product already serves banks, credit unions, e-commerce lenders, and healthcare companies — collecting 10 to 15 times more than a human on average, with 65% of consumer engagement happening after business hours or on weekends. RTO2 is a white-labeled version built from the ground up for rent-to-own's specific quirks: free time, product returns, card closes, multi-agreement customers, and state-level compliance rules.

The platform reaches customers through SMS, email, and ringless voicemail drops, timed by AI that learns when each individual consumer is most likely to be active on their phone. If a customer clicks a link and doesn't act, they're automatically moved to a new campaign sequence — similar to how Amazon follows up on abandoned shopping carts. Everything is fully customizable: toggling features on or off by state, restricting commitment days, setting collection rules the same way a manager would train a new hire.

The settlement feature is one of the more unusual additions — for charged-off accounts, the system can text a customer, let them counter-offer a payment amount, and negotiate automatically through machine-generated counter-offers until a settlement is reached. No human involvement required.

On the sales side, the same platform can message good-paying customers about upgrade opportunities. A customer who's made 12 on-time payments on a 32-inch TV can receive an automated text offering to swap it for a 55-inch and have it delivered the next day.

The integration with VersaRent is already built — a flip-of-a-switch setup where customers in good standing stay on VersaRent's normal payment flow, and anyone who goes one day past due is automatically pulled into the RTO2 platform. Michael Bennett from Buddy's and David Goldman from VersaRent are both on the advisory board and have been involved in building it. The platform is fully mobile-optimized, PCI Level 1 and 2 compliant, bilingual in English and Spanish, and runs on a per-store monthly subscription with no transactional fees.

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   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 veteran, who was brought in as a consultant to help Dialectic form its rent-to-own department. Lewis called Keith about 90 days in, and the two combined their operational experience to build it out. Both have roughly 20 years in the RTO industry, which Keith says makes the vendor relationship easier because they already understand how the business works — what moves, what doesn't, and how operators think.

Dialectic as a company spans casino equipment, land development, real estate, building supplies, and future tech. The RTO arm is still carving out its niche, and that niche is built around speed and non-traditional product. While major vendors hold the TV and appliance space with slim margins, Dialectic focuses on deals with limited windows — sometimes 24-hour availability on large quantities — and categories that aren't yet saturated. Current examples include international gaming systems (PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo) sourced at a discount through currency valuation and trade regulations, the Coleman XLT portable griddle, and smart glasses. They're also in conversations about potentially becoming a direct supplier for Roku's upcoming branded TVs.

For ordering, Dialectic uses the AmpTab platform — effectively an Amazon-style catalog where individual stores can build carts and route orders to a purchasing coordinator. Keith sees it as underutilized but potentially a significant time-saver for multi-store operators.

The most practical advice in the episode comes from a call Keith had the day of recording. A dealer was sitting on unsold PS5 VR units and couldn't figure out why. Keith's answer: pull the list of customers who paid off a PS5 in the last two or three years and call them. They already own the console, they can't go buy VR at retail, and the rental path is the obvious one. It's a simple application of operational knowledge that a non-RTO vendor wouldn't have offered.

His parting advice to operators is to resist closing off product categories entirely just because they didn't sell a few years ago. If the store across town is moving it, the problem might be placement and advertising, not the product itself.

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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 the Centerton location while also serving as marketing director across all six stores.

Castle's origin is unusual. Founder Ron Connolly started as a TV repairman, moved into a Curtis Mathis franchise, rode the VHS rental wave, then pivoted to rent-to-own when Curtis Mathis went bankrupt. He also opened pawn shops separately under the name 71 Pawn Center. About 15 years ago, the team realized both businesses were serving the same demographic and decided to combine them. Castle Rental & Pawn was born, with some locations exceeding 20,000 square feet — all company-owned, all debt-free for 43 years.

The combination pays off in tangible ways. When rent-to-own slows in January, pawn volume spikes. When tax season drives RTO payoffs in March, retail sales on the pawn side surge with the same money. During COVID, Arkansas classified pawnbrokers as an essential service, so Castle never shut down while traditional RTO stores faced uncertainty.

Ben also walks through three specific ways the pawn side supports collections and sales. First, pawn items can be converted into rental agreements — a customer eyeing a $200 guitar on the retail floor can take it home for $20 down on a rental instead. Second, past-due customers can pawn household items to bring their accounts current. Third, customers without a down payment can use a pawn to fund first-week payment on something they need right away, like a washer and dryer before their next paycheck.

The trade-in program was Pete's biggest takeaway from the conversation. Customers can trade in old furniture or appliances as a down payment — no cash required, no waiting for payday. Castle doesn't rent or sell the traded items; they give them to families in need in the community. It secures a new customer, cleans out the old item, and puts something useful back into the neighborhood.

On marketing, Ben keeps it simple: separate Facebook pages for rental and pawn, a combined website with links between them, and no TV or radio advertising. His philosophy is that heavy advertising is often just compensation for poor customer service. Castle competes directly against Rent-A-Center, Aaron's, and Buddy's in their markets and holds its own — not because of the biggest budget, but because of the people.

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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 Mike an ultimatum over dinner in Charleston — come back or I'm selling. Mike came back in 1997 and has been running it ever since. The first person he met at his first rent-to-own convention was Chris Kale Sr., just as Kale was leaving Buddy's to start Rent King.

On Trib, Mike is clear about what makes it different from other buying groups: it's laser-focused on independent rent-to-own dealers, not retail broadly. When Trib was previously aligned with Brand Source, members were being sent to retail showrooms where vendors didn't want to sell to rent-to-own operators. Breaking from that allowed Trib to serve its actual constituency — small and mid-size independent dealers — without being a retail afterthought. Over 50% of Trib's membership is one-to-four-store operators.

The product conversation centers on the challenge of replacing the PS5 revenue cycle now that pricing and rates have softened. Mike frames it through the Moneyball lens: you can't replace one big product with one other product, you replace it with three. His answer right now is mattresses, bedroom furniture, and high-end gaming laptops and desktops. More broadly, he says the opportunity in the industry isn't necessarily finding the next hot item — it's doing existing categories better and slowing the churn. Every store open more than a couple years has served a thousand customers, just not all at the same time. Getting paid-out or lapsed customers back is where growth actually happens.

On marketing, Mike credits Facebook Live as one of their most powerful tools, citing a store manager in London, Ohio with 4,000 followers who can go live and sell product like an infomercial. He traces the marketing evolution from TV commercials to flyers to direct mail to social, and says the next step is getting better at all three simultaneously — social, direct mail, and old-school guerrilla marketing like visiting lost customers in the field.

On leadership, Mike's mentors are his parents and Gary Fairman of Showplace. His operating philosophy is simple: make Countryside a great place to work and a great place to shop. He runs new employee orientations every six weeks and has for 25 years, always telling new hires that if they don't come to genuinely believe they're doing something amazing for customers, they should go do something else.

The episode wraps with the credit-or-sales question — Mike goes sales, without hesitation, noting that the best medicine in rent-to-own is more rentals, and that everything in collections depends on a sale happening first. His parting thought: the stores that really thrive are the ones where sales and collections work together with no walls between them.

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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 them on social media. Pete watched them all and came away with five takeaways. First, store placement — the best locations pull traffic from anchors customers already visit regularly: grocery stores, auto parts stores, government buildings, post offices. Second, first impression pieces — what greets a customer the moment they walk in matters enormously. Pete saw stores leading with full living room setups, others with bedding front and center (bedding being one of the top sellers in the industry), and some with high-end washers and dryers right at the entrance. Third, signage and displays — modern letter-on-wall signage without frames, platform risers for recliner displays, Ashley dresser risers that let you stack furniture vertically behind a headboard, and bedroom sets with actual curtain and window displays all caught his eye. He ordered the Ashley risers for his own stores after seeing them. Fourth, company-specific ideas — one store had a dedicated "gold customer" area where loyal or paid-out customers got first pick of select inventory. Another had a proper customer refreshment area, not a forgotten coffee pot but an actual dedicated space for customers to sit and relax whether they were buying anything or not. Fifth, products — watching what competitors are carrying reveals what's actually selling in your market faster than any vendor pitch.

The episode also covers the VersaRent User Conference, their first in seven years, which Pete attended. The platform has expanded significantly — custom branded apps for individual companies, field payment collection, digital rental order intake through tablet or laptop. Pete sees it as a sign of where the whole industry is heading and encourages operators of any size to look at what tools are available and how competitors are using them.

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