 APRO: The Official Voice of the Rent to Own Industry
|
 
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
APRO's Exclusive Rent-to-own Audio and Podcasts
| ||||
Rent to own Audio & Podcasts: Xavier Dominicis, Rent-A-Center vice president of public affairs
Xavier Dominicis, 44, is the new vice president of public affairs for the world's largest rent-to-own company, Rent-A-Center.
With more than 27 years experience in public relations, most recently as head of public affairs in field operations for Toyota, where he worked for 16 years, Dominicis will serve as Rent-A-Center's point man for all official contact with the public and media. The change is an exciting one for Dominicis, and he's already put in a few days work at a Rent-A-Center store, met with legislators on Capitol Hill and attended a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute event. Spanish is his first language and he looks forward to spending more time educating the Hispanic community about the virtues of the rent-to-own transaction. "I hope to bring some clarity about exactly what it is the rent-to-own transaction provides," Dominicis said, "the virtues of the transaction and, frankly, the flexibility. As we all know that's where much of the merit of rent-to-own lies is in its flexibility. As a PR guy, it's a wonderful opportunity." While Dominicis acknowledges the industry is generating a buzz as a "recession proof" business in the media, he prefers to guide reporters toward the bigger picture — the positive role rent-to-own is playing in people's lives. "The news media is interested in stories that are related to the economy and tightening credit," Dominicus said. "There's a timeliness to it, it's very topical right now. The credit crunch is a natural segue into the discussion of rent-to-own, "We're seeing consumers who formally had not availed themselves to the rent-to-own transaction and are suddenly saying, 'Here is an opportunity I had not considered before.'" | ||||
 | ||||
2012 APRO Convention and Trade Show July 24-26, Memphis, TN
| |||
|
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.
| |||
|
Association of Progressive Rental Organizations 1504 Robin Hood Trail Austin, Texas 78703 800/204-2776, ext. 103 Fax 512/794-0097 |