 APRO: The Official Voice of the Rent to Own Industry
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 Rent-to-own News
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Rent-to-own News - FRDA kicks off annual meeting with "Slats" tourney
The four man team of Danny Swafford, Robert Swafford, Jamie Slatton and Kenny Roop took home first place in the Florida Rental Dealers Association Annual Norman "Slats" Golf Memorial Monday -- the opening event of the FRDA's annual meeting in Tampa.
Paul McKean had the 'longest drive", Jim Whitney and Mike Hennen shared the "closest to the pin" and Ernie Alonso won the "straightest drive". Some 72 golfers participated in the event which preceded FRDA's third annual "Casino Night" in which dealers and vendor guest played rounds of Texas Hold 'Em and Black Jack. The proceeds of the tournament go toward FRDA's PAC fund. "Casino Night" winners are as follows: Third place $150 prize - Kevin Gaughan of Ashley; second place $300 prize - Darren Brock of Buddy's; first place $600 prize - Jeff O'connor of Rent King.
Mike Hennen of King of Promotions won the blackjack tournament and a $400 gift certificate to Royal Caribbean cruise line. Participants raised close to $2,500 for the FRDA PAC Fund.
More than 100 attendees from 17 rent to own companies and 32 vendor companies are participating in the state's largest annual industry gathering. FRDA President Chris Kale of Rent Kind opens the association's annual meeting Tuesday at 1 p.m.
Guest speaker and former college and pro football player P.T. Willis. For the past 10 football seasons, Willis served as the color analyst for the Seminole Radio Network alongside Gene Deckerhoff. The former Seminole quarterback writes a weekly column for Warchant.com breaking down the Seminole football team.
Willis was inducted as a member of the Florida State University Sports Hall of Fame in 1998. During his successful senior year in 1989 (his first and only season as the starting quarterback), he led the team to 10 straight victories, including an impressive 41-17 win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Fiesta Bowl.
APRO Executive Director Bill Keese will present and industry update followed by Ronald McDonald House CEO Janice Davis. Kale will also announce FRDA's second annual Employee of the year. Mike Van Heusen of Z-Best Rentals is the Florida Rental Dealers Association's 2009 'Employee of the Year.
Florida is home to 558 rent-to-own stores 3,348 RTO employees. State RTO dealers pay out $117,000,000 in annual wages, $18,000,000 in annual payroll taxes and generate $411,000,000 in annual revenues.
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2012 APRO Convention and Trade Show July 24-26, Memphis, TN
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RTOHQ: The Magazine
RTOHQ: The Magazine is the Association of Progressive Rental Organizations' award-winning rent-to-own industry magazine, and it's available here. | |||
 CLICK HERE FOR OUR DIGITAL RTOHQ: THE MAGAZINE
RTOHQ: The Magazine’s upgraded digital format APRO's new, mobile-ready magazine is now available in addition to our print edition. The digital format provides the same informative content as our printed magazine, but also offers tools to make the reading experience more enriching. Access the table of contents page with one click or tap. Get additional information from advertisers by clicking on the links in their ads. The interface is easy to navigate and requires no special app—read our magazine on your computer, digital table or smartphone. Click here to access the digital version of RTOHQ: The Magazine March-April 2012.
A New Rent-to-Own Experience by Neil Ferguson Here’s the lowdown on APRO’s 2012 Convention and Trade Show, July 24-26 in Memphis. The RTO industry’s big event will offer many valuable experiences, including insights on how to turn your stores into “experiences”–the good kind for consumers
Who Is Your Competition? by Bill Keese In order to expand your customer base, you can learn a lot by observing your competitors. But first, you need to figure out just who they are. If you think your only competition is the rent-to-own store down the street, you’re not considering the bigger picture. APRO’s executive director offers a big-picture perspective.
A Review of Online Customer Complaints by Ed Winn III While rent-to-own companies have not cornered the market on negative reviews posted on consumer complaint websites, it’s no surprise that there are cyberspace beefs against RTO. APRO’s general counsel reviews some of them in search of a pattern and he considers appropriate response to online complaints.
Rent-to-Own Families, Part VIII by Kristen Card Our series of family-run rent-to-own businesses continues with profiles of the Homeiers in Kansas and two Texas-based sets of kindred colleagues, the Spangles and the Weisblatts.
Future issues of APRO's magazine will be available in this same new format. Click here to access past issues that are not yet archived in the new interface.
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Association of Progressive Rental Organizations 1504 Robin Hood Trail Austin, Texas 78703 800/204-2776, ext. 103 Fax 512/794-0097 |