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

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Danny and Pete dedicate this episode to the full arc of closing a sale — from the first greeting to the fifth follow-up attempt. The through-line is simple: every customer walks in with their guard up, and your job is to bring it down before you ever talk about a product.

It starts with the greeting. Get their name immediately and use it often. Danny's approach is to skip the sales pitch entirely at first and just have a real conversation — talk about their shirt, their team, where they're from. The goal is to break the mental "no" that every customer carries in before they even sit down. From there, fill out the rental order for them, find out their budget early, and identify what need or problem brought them in. Knowing whether someone wants to solve a problem versus fulfill a want changes how you sell to them.

The three most common objections are "that's more than I wanted to spend," "I have to talk to my spouse," and "I'm just looking." Each one has a specific counter. For budget concerns, figure out whether they mean the payment or the same-as-cash price, then sell the value or find a comparable alternative. For the spouse objection, offer a three-way call right there or ask for a small deposit to hold the item — tell them you'll give it back no questions asked if they decide against it. For browsers, build trust and create urgency. Nobody truly browses; they're interested, they just don't trust you yet.

If the sale isn't closing, turn it over. Statistically, 20% of sales close on the spot and that climbs to 30% with a turnover. Bringing in another face — a GM, an assistant, even an account manager — can shift the chemistry enough to seal it. Always collect name, number, and email before anyone walks out.

Follow-up is where most sales are actually won. Danny notes that 80% of people say no four times before saying yes, so five contact attempts is the floor. Each call should have a different hook — a sale, a new arrival, a birthday deal, a customer appreciation event — so it never sounds like the same ask twice. For web leads, speed is everything. If someone messages you online they've already made their decision; whoever responds first usually wins.

The episode closes with a "Who Said What" feature on Jessica Velasquez of Happy's Home Center in Dade City, Florida — a GM with under two years in the industry who took her store from $55K to over $92K in rental revenues by staying on Facebook Live daily and maintaining a no-walk mentality: if a customer leaves without an agreement, they're going down the street to a competitor.

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What separates the managers who hit their numbers from the ones who keep falling short? In this episode, Danny and Pete break down their personal approach to goal setting — and it goes a lot deeper than writing a number on a whiteboard.

They dig into why most people are actually chasing the wrong goals, how to structure your ambitions so they build on each other over time, and what to do when life, your team, or an unpredictable market throws a wrench in your plans. There's also an honest conversation about the mindset work that most managers skip — and why skipping it might be exactly what's holding them back.

Along the way, they share some real stories from the store floor that illustrate just how powerful the right environment, the right visibility, and the right kind of team buy-in can be. One story in particular — involving a whiteboard, a competitive sales assistant, and a mid-year ranking reveal — is worth the listen alone.

Whether you're a store manager building toward your first big milestone, a district manager trying to get your team aligned, or just someone who sets the same resolution every January and wonders why it never sticks, this episode has something for you.

Danny and Pete don't always do things the same way — but they always end up in the same place. This episode is a good reminder that the destination matters more than the route.

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Danny and Pete close out Season 1 with a look back at everything they built — 15 episodes, a sponsorship, merch, a giveaway winner, and listeners as far as Missouri, Texas, Nebraska, and Idaho. They recap each episode briefly, from the pilot and RTO 101 all the way through Black Friday prep, managing your sweet spot, standing out from the crowd, training, and the fault-admitting finale. Danny's personal favorite was that last one for how honest it got. Pete's most heartfelt pick was the family effects episode, which drew the most personal responses from listeners.

A good chunk of the episode is spent on the campaign videos they made for Rent King — from the hoarse-voiced "Max Your Tax" debut to the controversial Swing and Spring, the Gone Fishing shoot that had Pete wading in murky pond water in borrowed socks for over an hour, and the Christmas video that ended with Pete as an unwilling elf chasing Danny out on an e-bike. The bed scene from the first commercial has apparently followed them into every work trip since.

The bigger takeaway Danny and Pete keep returning to is execution. They both know people with great ideas who never act on them, and Season 1 was proof that just starting — even imperfectly — creates momentum. The conversation with Dan Fisher at Magic Rentals about running a two-million-dollar store is a prime example: they heard it, applied it, and now have two stores approaching that threshold.

For Season 2, they're planning regular guest interviews, a social media mini-series called "Who Said What?" featuring voices from across the industry, and short "Fun Tip Fridays" for listeners who want something quick. They'll also be at the Vegas Market Show in late January and potentially the Meeting of the Minds in Atlanta, mic in hand.

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  As Season 1 wraps up, Danny and Pete pull back the curtain and get honest about where they've fallen short as leaders. The theme is accountability — specifically, how both of them have bent their own standards for top performers and what they're committing to fix heading into 2023.

Danny's central admission is that he's been widening the plate. He borrows the analogy from a speech by college baseball coach John Scolinos, who wore an actual home plate around his neck to make one point: the plate is always 17 inches, from little league all the way to the majors. You don't widen it for a pitcher who can't hit the zone — you send them to training. Danny realized he's been doing the equivalent for his best managers: letting late reports slide, overlooking small acts of disrespect, and making excuses based on how hard it is to hire right now. The pandemic normalized a lower standard, and he's been running with it. He closes with a resolution — stop widening the plate, step back to the 5,000-foot view where a DM belongs, and hold everyone to the same level of accountability regardless of results.

Pete's reflection centers on training. He admits he's gotten away from it with his more tenured managers, assuming long-timers don't need refreshers. He also acknowledges the flip side of being so focused on new hires that he's neglected the people already on the bus — the ones who've been there, performing quietly, and rarely getting recognized for it. His goal for the new year is to train his replacement, because if he can't develop someone to fill his shoes, he can't move up himself.

Both close on the same note: it's not failure unless you don't learn from it. As Danny quotes Denzel Washington to end the season — without commitment you'll never start, without consistency you'll never finish.

Mention:
Larry P. 

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Danny opens with the numbers: according to Edge Point Learning, 20% of US workers leave within their first 45 days, and that figure jumps to 50% in retail. But companies with a strong onboarding program see 91% of employees stay at least a year, and 69% stick around for three. The why behind training isn't just culture — it's the bottom line.

Before any training begins, Danny argues the groundwork has to be laid before day one. Send the new hire a welcome email with a first-week itinerary, dress code details, parking instructions, and even a couple lunch suggestions nearby. It's a small gesture, but it signals that the company is organized and actually cares about the person showing up.

From there, Pete and Danny break down four training methods. E-learning works well for basics — it scales easily, lets employees learn at their own pace, and keeps things consistent across multiple hires at once. The downside is that some people, Danny included, just click through it as fast as possible. Classroom or instructor-led training solves that by putting a real person in the room who can answer questions, read the group, and slow down when someone's lost. On-the-job training is Danny's personal favorite — shadowing, role-playing, situational scenarios, and position rotation all give employees real-world experience with immediate feedback. It's especially effective for developing assistants into GMs by cycling them through every role in the store. Video-based training rounds out the options — older-school, but useful when internet isn't available or budgets are tight.

No single method wins. Pete's point is that the best training programs use all of them, layered in a way that matches both the position and how the individual actually learns. After the first day — which Danny deliberately made tough to filter out who could handle the job — managers should be running a training checklist, following up daily, and making sure employees understand not just procedures but the culture and core values of the store. As Danny closes: training never stops, whether it's someone's first day or their tenth year.

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Danny and Pete dig into what actually separates a memorable local rent-to-own store from the competition — and it starts with personality. Charisma and relatability aren't just nice-to-haves, they're the foundation. People choose to do business with people they like, and no amount of promotion covers for a bland presence.

From there, the conversation gets creative. Beyond standard holiday sales, they suggest leaning into lesser-known observances — National Cookie Day, National Son and Daughter Day, 12 Days of Christmas giveaways — to give customers something unexpected to look forward to. On the promotions side, Pete floats the idea of using odd-number discounts like 57% or 13% off instead of the usual round figures, purely because the weirdness makes people stop, talk about it, and remember it.

Social media ties all of it together. Danny shares a real example of a former employee who came in and bought a sofa specifically because he saw it on the store's Facebook page — but the store manager had no idea, because they weren't asking customers what brought them in. The takeaway: videos and reels outperform static posts, personality has to come through on camera, and every promotion needs to live online. Pete adds the idea of incentivizing employees and customers to create content — offering to pay per like or take dollars off an agreement in exchange for a genuine testimonial reel.

The most developed idea of the episode is a customer loyalty program. Both hosts are struck by how consistently retail stores ask about rewards memberships — candles, watches, clothing — and wonder why rent-to-own hasn't built the same thing. A tiered system (bronze, silver, gold, platinum) with transferable points across locations, bonus status for autopay customers, and even a VIP autopay appreciation event could go a long way toward retaining the customers who quietly pay on time every month and rarely get recognized for it.

Community involvement closes the episode. Sponsoring little league teams, raffling TVs at high school homecoming events, delivering school supplies to underfunded classrooms, handing out turkeys — these aren't just feel-good gestures. Danny shares that three of the turkey deliveries his managers made that Thanksgiving went to customers who had just been diagnosed with cancer. The impact was real and immediate. The point, as Pete puts it, is to let your actions do the standing out — not just your intentions.

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This episode tackles a question every rent-to-own manager should be honest with themselves about: what customer count or revenue level do you actually manage best? Danny and Pete call this your "sweet spot" — the range where you're performing at peak efficiency before the volume starts working against you.

Both hosts agree that customer count is the better benchmark than rental revenues alone, since two stores can post the same revenue numbers with very different customer loads. Pete found his sweet spot around 400 to 450 customers — below that, he was hands-on and in the day-to-day. Above it, he had to step back and start managing through his team rather than alongside them. Danny's experience was similar, growing a store from under 300 customers to over 400 and adjusting his staffing at each threshold — adding a fifth employee at 350, then a sixth around 425.

Staffing ties directly into the sweet spot conversation. Danny's ideal setup above 400 customers is a GM, one salesperson, two account managers, and two drivers — but he's quick to note that payroll, geography, and the quality of your people all shift the math. A truly elite account manager might handle what normally takes two average ones.

The bigger insight is that growing past your sweet spot too fast is just as dangerous as not growing at all. Pete describes it as slamming on the brakes mid-momentum — small mistakes start piling up, customer service slips, and tasks like inventory, services, and digital marketing fall through the cracks. The answer isn't to slow growth permanently, but to recognize when your management style needs to evolve and give yourself — and your team — enough time to grow into the new level.

Danny wraps it with a straightforward challenge: ask yourself honestly what your sweet spot is, whether you've been developed to your full potential, and whether the people above you have given you the tools to grow past it. For him, seven stores is his current max as a DM — an eighth would require a fundamentally different approach. Knowing that isn't a ceiling, it's a starting point.

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Danny and Pete are back together for this one, and the energy is high — because Black Friday is about ten days away and both of them live for this time of year. For Pete, it's his 18th year in rent-to-own and it still feels like a first date. For Danny, the fourth quarter is the make-or-break moment that defines the whole year — not just for sales, but for setting up the following year. Whether you had a great year or a rough one, this is your chance to finish strong.

The conversation kicks off with product prep. Normally, Danny and his team would use the Florida Rental Dealers Association trade show to lock in inventory deals for the fourth quarter, but Hurricane Ian forced that event to be canceled in 2022. Without it, the approach shifted to leaning on vendor relationships week by week to find out what's available and what the deals are. The hot items are still electronics — TVs and gaming systems never go out of style — but both hosts agreed there's always a search for that one breakout product. Last year it was e-bikes. This year, nobody quite knows yet, and the honest answer is to stay in close contact with your vendors and ask what's in the goody box.

Pre-selling is where Danny really digs in. The moment he had deal information in hand, he was calling everyone — active customers, paid-off accounts, return customers — letting them know what was coming and asking for a deposit. A commitment isn't a sale, he says, but money down is. He and Pete would even call neighboring stores to see how many pre-sales they had, conveniently shaving a few numbers off their own count just to keep the competition guessing. That friendly rivalry, they both agree, is part of what makes this time of year so fun.

On the showroom side, Pete is a firm believer in going all out. Decorate for Christmas, move the showroom around, put matching sets together, and create an atmosphere with sight, sound, and smell — Danny's personal touch is cinnamon scent, giving customers that Christmas feeling the moment they walk in. Pete even recalls disco balls, smoke machines, and Santa photo corners from past years. The point is to make it feel like an event, not just a business day. Every item on the floor should have some kind of Black Friday tag or Starburst, and this is the perfect time to blow out your high-idle and pre-release inventory at reduced rates. Danny's goal: an empty showroom by the end of Saturday.

When customers walk in, the opener matters. Danny's go-to is simple and assumptive — "What are you leaving with today?" — which signals confidence and sets the tone immediately. Pete jokes about offering free gift wrapping on everything except sofas. But beyond the one-liners, both hosts stress that all hands need to be on deck. Delivery drivers, account managers, everyone is a salesperson on Black Friday. The phones will ring all day, online leads will come in fast, and whoever responds quickest is most likely to close — because most companies are selling the same products at similar prices. Pete even suggests pulling your best salesperson off the floor and putting them on the online queue if they can type fast and build rapport digitally.

To keep the team engaged and competitive throughout the day, Pete shares his "funky hat" tradition — whoever has the fewest sales at any given moment has to wear an outrageous hat until someone else falls behind them. It passes all day, everyone's got skin in the game, photos get posted, customers get a laugh, and by the end of the day even the person wearing the hat has been part of something memorable. Danny riffs on the idea, suggesting a Santa hat for the top seller and an elf hat for the bottom — and hinting that a future Rent King commercial might be involved.

Beyond the sales floor, both hosts emphasize consistent marketing leading up to and through the day. Facebook Lives, hourly social media check-ins, guessing contests on how many candy canes are on the tree — anything that keeps your audience engaged online, plants seeds for Christmas, and keeps your brand visible to people who may not need something right now but will in December. Because Black Friday is huge, but it is not the finish line.

Danny closes with a piece of advice aimed specifically at newer GMs: the day before Thanksgiving, go buy two or three turkeys and personally deliver them to a great customer, a paid-off account, or someone going through a hard time. It costs almost nothing, builds your reputation in the community, and reminds customers that this business is about relationships, not just transactions. He points to George Hatamillo at Great Rooms Tampa as someone who does this every year and does it right. As Pete puts it — take care of the people who take care of you, and it always comes full circle.

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Pete hosts this episode solo while Danny vacations in Mexico, bringing on guest Teddy Kirvin — a 12-year rent-to-own veteran who started at Rent-A-Center in Goose Creek, South Carolina in 2010. Since then, the industry has taken Teddy across the country, through Buddy's Home Furnishings on both coasts of Florida and eventually to his current role as Regional Sales Manager for the Southeast at RTO National, where he oversees Georgia, Florida, and Alabama in the shed, carport, and steel structure space. Pete and Teddy go back nearly a decade, having worked together at Buddy's and Rent King before their paths diverged — and today they reunite to talk about one of the most important skills in rent-to-own: how to make a slow day count.

The core message of the episode is simple — there's no such thing as a slow day, only an unproductive one. When foot traffic dies down, the first move is to work your files. That means making the callback calls you've been putting off, checking in with customers 24–48 hours after delivery, and reaching out to references on file. As Teddy puts it, birds of a feather flock together, so don't overlook mom, dad, or a cousin who might need something too.

From there, Pete emphasizes taking a hard look at your showroom. Check your tagging, condition-based pricing, and the state of your pre-loved inventory. Refurbish what you can, put it back on the floor smelling clean and priced right, and move on from anything that's a lost cause — get the clearance items out the door before a customer walks in and judges your store by them. Speaking of movement, rearranging the showroom every 30 days works wonders. Teddy jokes that a couch a customer has walked past 17 times suddenly becomes irresistible when it appears in a new spot. And don't let your 90-day idle items sit quietly — spotlight them, move them to your hottest selling spot, and give your team a small incentive to move them.

Slow days are also the best training days. Walk your team through condition-based pricing, sit with them on reference calls, and let them do the work while you coach. Teddy makes the point that this "next man up" mentality applies to everyone — even a delivery driver can benefit from running through a route or doing inventory alongside you. And since younger employees are already glued to their phones, give them a purpose: put them in front of the camera for a Facebook Live or TikTok, let them showcase what's on sale, and hand them the keys to your social media. They know what's trending, and there's nothing like seeing yourself on camera to get someone engaged.

Pete also encourages using slow periods for business-to-business marketing. Visit nearby restaurants, car washes, or dry cleaners and build referral relationships — getting your name in front of people who would never walk into your store on their own is one of the most underrated growth moves in the business. And whatever you do, think twice before sending your team home early. The dollar saved on payroll rarely outweighs the tasks that pile up and derail a busy Friday or Saturday.

The episode closes with a broader conversation about where rent-to-own is heading. Both Pete and Teddy see technology reshaping the industry — RTO National already offers a self-checkout model where customers can browse inventory online and choose between cash, rent-to-own, or traditional financing. Pete believes rent-to-own will eventually live on an app, reaching a new generation of customers who buy everything from their phones. And as Rent King's 12-month same-as-cash option shows, the customer base is already shifting. Through all of it, though, both agree the most important thing stays the same: customers do business with people, not company names. Build relationships, know your customers, and the numbers will follow.

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Ask any experienced rent-to-own operator what separates a thriving store from a struggling one, and eventually the conversation comes back to the same position — the delivery tech. In this episode, Pete Shau and Danny make the case that the rent-to-own delivery driver is one of the most undervalued, underestimated, and underinvested roles in the entire RTO industry, and that fixing how you hire, train, and empower your delivery team may be the fastest path to growing your rent-to-own store operations.

The delivery tech is the last face a customer sees. They're in the customer's home. They're the ones setting the tone for whether that customer makes their next payment, refers a neighbor, or never comes back. Pete and Danny break down exactly what traits to look for when hiring RTO delivery drivers — from physical capability and mechanical aptitude to customer service mindset, area knowledge, route optimization, and collections awareness — and why personality matters just as much as a clean driving record.

They share real stories from the field, including how a sharp-eyed Rent King driver in Winter Haven spotted a customer loading a U-Haul on a scheduled pickup day and prevented a potential skip — saving the store time, money, and merchandise. These are the moments that define what separates a great rent-to-own delivery technician from someone just moving furniture.

Pete and Danny also dig into how to structure the driver role for maximum impact — including building a lead driver position to improve team direction, offering driver spiffs tied to sales referrals and upsell opportunities, involving delivery techs in delivery scheduling decisions, and using route planning strategies that improve time management and increase the number of completed deliveries per day.

The episode also highlights Magic Rent to Own's recognition as one of Pennsylvania's best workplaces in 2022, making the point that great rent-to-own workplace culture extends all the way to the driver's seat — and that stores like Magic, led by Dan Fisher, are showing the rest of the RTO industry what it looks like to invest in every level of the team.

If your rent-to-own store is struggling with customer service scores, collection field visits, delivery efficiency, or inventory accountability, this episode will have you looking at your driver seat differently by the time it's over.

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