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Post-pandemic realities have forever altered the customer journey in rent-to-own, demanding fresh approaches from industry veterans and newcomers alike. Pete Shau and Jason Winters unpack this transformation with refreshing candor, highlighting how the traditional in-store sales model has been overwhelmed by digital-first shopping habits.

Most striking is their revelation about traffic patterns: "We're not 70-30 anymore. We're 80-20 or even 85-15," with online interactions dominating customer engagement. This shift requires sales professionals to develop entirely new skillsets for closing deals through text messages, emails, and automated systems rather than face-to-face conversations.

The episode introduces a compelling metaphor comparing successful sales teams to gardeners rather than hunters. Where traditional approaches focused on immediate conversions, today's environment demands patience and consistent nurturing. "No gardener plants just one carrot," Shau notes, emphasizing that multiple touchpoints across various channels must be maintained with potential customers. This gardening mentality recognizes that while customers initiate purchase decisions at their convenience (often during evening hours when scrolling through social media), conversion requires persistent follow-up.

Perhaps most valuable is their critique of the "Superman manager" syndrome plaguing many RTO operations—where one person attempts to handle everything themselves rather than developing team capabilities. This approach ultimately wastes resources as stores "pay for five salaries but only get what one person can physically do." Both hosts advocate for training environments where everyone contributes to sales, from delivery techs spotting additional needs in customers' homes to collection managers reconnecting with previous customers.

The conversation wraps with practical advice about following established processes rather than reinventing operational systems. As Winters puts it, "A chocolate chip cookie is delicious. You don't have to invent it every time you want one." This wisdom applies perfectly to RTO operations seeking to thrive in challenging retail environments.

Ready to transform your approach for today's digital-first customers? Subscribe now and join the conversation about evolving your RTO strategy for 2023 and beyond.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hello and welcome to the RTO Show.
I'm your host, pete Schaub.
Today I'm talking rent-to-ownwith the Jason Winters friend of
the show, longtime friend, andyou know, every time that I have
Jason on we're talking aboutoperations.
Sometimes I think that we talkon the channel a lot about some
different stuff and the podcastgoes a lot of different areas
from ownership, retirement,people that are just in the

(00:28):
business.
They want to get to know us alittle bit better.
But sometimes I just want to goback to the roots, right, and
to me the roots is how do yourun a rent to own?
Because I think now more thanever and I don't know if there's
a time limit that I'm going tostop saying this, or in the past
has it been any different?
I don't know, but since thepandemic it hasn't been the same

(00:49):
.
Time and time again, the morepeople that I talked to were
going.
It was like this and you knowthere was roses and rainbows and
butterflies, and then, right tothe pandemic, everything
changed, right, and that hugeshift of hey, I'm going to go
online.
Hey, I'm going to go online.
Hey, I might not visit thestore as much.
Hey, how do I interact with allof my customers, but I don't
really interact with mycustomers.

(01:10):
Now it's all virtual, now AI isin the picture, now we have a
lot of places like Aseema andall the buy here, pay later kind
of things that weren'tavailable, and so my thought
process is this when we'retalking about new school versus
old school, we're in the newschool, now there's no turning
it back.
I mean, right, jason, you tellme there's no turning it back
and they're not going back tothe old ways?

Speaker 2 (01:30):
They're not.
The customers are just notgoing to do it.
They want Amazon delivery, freeshipping, that show up within a
day or two at the most.
You know what I mean, andanything falling short of that
is not good service.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
It's not good enough, and so, to me, the old school
versus old school salesmentality is a great idea.
To just really talk to theoperations crew and go yes,
they're used to the way it was,but they're getting out of it.
Not only that, because the wayI see it, too, is we are at the
end of the baby boomergeneration, where they like to

(02:05):
shop the way we sell, we like tosell the way they shop, but as
these newer generations startcoming in, there couldn't have
been a greater divide of the waywe used to do it to the way
we're going to do it, and so wehave to transition ourselves,

(02:26):
not only to be able to say I cansell to the baby boomer, but I
need to be able to sell betterto the people who have 10 times
more online options than theyhad even two years ago.
I mean, it's all over the place.
Now you can get anythinganywhere online.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
Yeah, and you got to be just the adjustment to get to
getting into this day and age.
It is a big adjustment becauseyou know, back in the day I
could sell anything to anybody,but I can't sell anything to
nobody and I visit stores andI'll see three or four or five

(02:56):
stores and maybe see sixcustomers the entire week.
You know what I mean.
And they have the same pressureto get sales, they have the
same expectation to get salesand somehow the sales happen but
it's just a tremendous drop intraffic.

(03:19):
How are they trying to buy fromme?
And we have to adjust oursystems and we have to adjust
our skill set in order to beable to capture those customers
as well as have those skillsthat we always used to have with
the in-person sale.
You know what I mean and thesteps you know.

(03:41):
At Rent-A-Center it's alwaysbeen like a greet, ask, match,
close.
You know you've got your salesprocess Sales 101.
Right, and you can train that.
That the thing about it is.
That is a skill that can betaught and not everybody's great
at it.
Like there, there's very fewborn salesmen and I don't think
a lot of them decide to come towork in a rental owned store.
I mean, they'd probably beselling bugattis and you know,

(04:03):
maseratis and stuff like that,because if they're a born
salesman they're probably goingto be selling real estate in
Hawaii or wherever they're goingto be.
They're going to be doingsomething with very high
commissions.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
You know what I mean.
I've always said, because whenyou have that natural born
salesman, they're usually moredrawn to the concept of I will
get paid on my merit.
In other words, if I don't pay,you don't pay me.
So it's commission-based thebetter I do, the better I get
paid, right.
So if I can get this guy inhere, I can sell him a high
ticket item and I can close themas fast as I possibly can,
giving the best customer service, and hopefully he'll come back

(04:36):
to me whenever that runs out 10years 10 years plus another home
or another Bugatti, right, thenI'm doing my job.
But they never think of it aslet me go down to the furniture
store, let me sell somebodysomething that they need, and
that's not commission enough forme, that's not high drive sales
for me, that's not that highpressure environment when I'm
really going to shine.
So we get those people that.

(04:56):
Okay, I got to show you how todo this.
When you come to me, I've gotto show you how to get this done
.
And I think the crazy part ofwhat we're having is the new
school versus old school is thatyou have some people that have
been in the industry for years.
They've done it a long time.
This is how I train Bob.
This is how you train.
This is how I train you.
Somebody sat me down and saidthis is how you do.

(05:17):
Let me show you.
Shadow me.
I'm going to go to a customer,find out what's going on and get
their needs.
Sit down, feel it, you know.
Is this the type of fabric youwant?
Does it, you know?
Is it the kind of mattress?
Is it firm?
Is it not?
So now we're taking these guyswho have traditionally trained
this way for years and we'regoing okay, you've got to do all
of what you're doing on thephone or you have to be that

(05:37):
personable online.
You have to answer that emailLike you're sitting in their
living room or you're talking tothem on the stool while they're
going through their phone, andthe truth is they can't do it.
We as an industry have notgotten to the point where we're
training the online sales asgood as if somebody walks in a

(05:59):
door, and the worst part is thatwe're not 60-40 anymore, we're
not 70-30 anymore.
I would say that we're almost85-15.
And if we're not, we're 80-20.
But the online sales, theonline leads, everything that
you interact with, includingbeing online on Facebook or
social media where you're tryingto present yourself as a sales
entity where look at this sofa,or I've got this Nobody even

(06:22):
wants it anymore.
Don't sell it to me.
Do something stupid and funny,right?
You know I want you to dosomething stupid and funny, like
a TikTok video.
At the very end you just giveme a phone or some address or
something I can click, because Ireally don't want to try to
find you.
I just want to get to you inone click and if you can't do
that, I'm not really interested.
But that's how the sales forceforce is going.
And even and I think we hadmentioned this even not that

(06:45):
long ago, or somebody saidsomething that you know they're
getting there too.
As far as an older generation,they might not have been there
five years ago, but when theyhad to transition and learn how
to be online, when they had tolearn, okay, they might not be
on their cell phones as much,but I guarantee you they're on
that all-in-one or they're alaptop or they're on a tablet,
because, even though they'relingering far behind, it is

(07:07):
easier to sit at home andconduct your business.
I mean right now, I thinkthere's like 30% of people that
are actually working from homefull time, that these numbers
weren't even close years ago.
So this new school and oldschool idea is that I have to
train somebody to do that.
I have to train somebody toclose online.
I have to train somebody toclose online.
I have to train somebody toclose AI, and the only way

(07:29):
you're going to do that isyou're going to have to sit over
in that room over there andyou're going to have to text me,
or you're going to have to sendme a picture and, dude, you
can't wait five minutes, youcan't wait ten minutes If you
don't get back to me as soon asI hit that button.
Well, I'm just going to, I'mjust going to text your
competitor and I want to textthe other competitor and it's,
and it's okay.
You're not even going to knowthat I'm cheating on you bro,
I'm just going to.
I'm just going to text it andyou don't even know I'm cheating

(07:50):
on you, Right?
You know?

Speaker 2 (07:52):
Well, the thing is that we got to.
We also got to remember too inthis day like everything isn't
like you do have to be fast,like you have to be, like we
have to catch them in the mood.
You have to catch them whenthey're, when they're scrolling.
But the problem is most peopleare scrolling around looking at
that stuff while we're closed,right.
So you know, after work they'rehome and they're.

(08:14):
You know they're sitting on thecouch with the TV playing, but
they're still just kind ofscrolling through social media,
looking around, sitting on thatlumpy couch and going, oh man, I
need a new couch.
I'd like a new couch.
It's not always neat.
I think that we're really goodat getting the things that
people need.
I think those are the saleswe're trying to exist on right

(08:35):
now the ones that do everythingwe ask them to do, that call us
right back, that jump throughall the hoops.
They give you their you knowtheir blood type and their
mother's maiden name andeverything that you ask them for
and everything that you know.
They think it's weird thatyou're asking for, but they give
it to you and they lay down anddie right in the middle of the

(08:56):
showroom floor and get, it'sbecause they don't have a bed or
they don't have a washer anddryer.
They're sick and go to thelaundromat or whatever it is.
Those I think we get, but whatI don't think we're very good at
getting are the wants, thepeople that want things Like.
I always tell this story Paul,my boss.

(09:19):
He was in the market.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
The illustrious Paul.
We're not going to mention him.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
That's right, paul, if you're listening, paul, it's
you it is.
The story is about him.
So he was in the market for acar, right, wanted a new car,
just you know, it was time toget a new one.
So he put out, he startedlooking online and was looking
at different dealerships anddifferent models and this and

(09:43):
that, and and was looking atdifferent dealerships and
different models and this andthat, and he put out a few
inquiries to some dealerships.
But the next day he had to geton a plane and we spent a week
having a meeting in Atlanta,right.
So that night he just happenedto be looking at car dealerships
.
The next day he gets on a planeand he goes to Atlanta, we have
our meetings and everything.

(10:05):
This phone's blowing up with allthe people trying to get back
to him for the first couple ofdays, right, and then it kind of
dies down towards the end ofthe week.
He doesn't have time for it,like he's in meetings, you know
he's conducting his meeting andhanging out with his people and
everything else.
So then he gets back a weeklater.
He didn't need the car any less, but he did not immediately

(10:25):
respond to all the people thatwere trying to get him, because
he put in an inquiry online.
He has a car.
It still gets him where he'sgoing.
It's just, you know, high miles, whatever.
You know what I mean.
It didn't change the fact thathe wanted the car.
That, and also two things, true.
He did not respond just thenext morning or whenever that

(10:48):
person that's at the store gotback to him.
So I always tell that story tostores because they think people
shop around.
They look around on their phone.
They're looking for a TV.
They have a TV.
You know what I mean.
It might be a little older.
It's got a couple of pixels out.
You know what I mean.
It's probably a flat screen at.
It's got a couple pixels out.
You know what I mean.
It's probably a flat screen atthis point.

(11:08):
But they'd like a bigger TV,they'd like an OLED or they'd
like whatever.
You know.
They want the one with the gamehub in it or whatever.
They want inches, baby, right,they want it.
They want it.
They don't need it.
They can still watch dry, right, that's not a need.

(11:29):
A bed it's lumpy.
I can't really sleep, great,but I get some sleep on it.
These things that we sell,they're not, and if you have one
, that's a lot different than Idon't have one, and I think that
we've become really good atgetting people that don't have
something or moved somewhere andneed something, but the wants.
I think that we what I see alot is stores think, well, I

(11:54):
tried to call them back twotimes and they don't want it
anymore.
Like if they wanted it, theywould call me and they would
jump through my hoops and theywould give me their blood sample
and they would do all the otherstuff that I'm going to try to
get them to do, but that's justnot the case.
Like people buy at their ownpace now more than ever, you
know what I mean.
Convenience Right, and that'swhy your sales calls.

(12:15):
You know people think salescalls are a waste of time and
the reason for that is because alot of times you don't get any
sales from doing sales calls.
You just don't.
But what are the chances thatyou're going to magically call
the guy who just cracked the TVat the time that he cracked it

(12:36):
and goes oh my gosh, I don'thave a TV, what am I going to do
?
And then the phone rings andit's you saying, hey, you guys
want a TV.
The chances of that are zero.

Speaker 1 (12:45):
Mr Right place at right time right.

Speaker 2 (12:47):
Now, if you make hundreds and hundreds and
hundreds of calls, you might runinto a couple of people that
are really in need of something.
Didn't think of you, orwhatever.
That's great.
But the whole point of doingsales calls in any kind of
volume is to be in the Rolodexof options for when that thing
is a need or they're ready tobuy it, they have some money or

(13:11):
whatever.
People don't buy on yourschedule just because you made
some phone calls.
So it is very demotivating forpeople to sit there and make a
million phone calls and think,well, I didn't sell anything,
this is a waste of my time, soI'm just going to start pencil
whipping the rest of thesebecause it doesn't matter.
But the thing is that whenthose things happen in the

(13:31):
customer's life and they go ohman, what am I going to do?
My TV just cracked and it'stime for the NBA finals.
What am I going to watch it on?
Oh wait, there was that niceguy, pete.
Yeah, down at Buddy's right.
I'm going to give him a callback because he seemed like a
nice guy and I've seen his funnyvideos online.

(13:53):
You know what I mean.
You know what Next time I go toHarbor Freight next door.
I think I'll stop in, and thenthey just come in and it feels
like it's out of nowhere.

Speaker 1 (14:02):
Well, I think it's all.
That's extremely relevant.
Everything you're saying isextremely relevant.
But I feel like, when it comesto our salespeople, we have
flopped right.
So before, when we made calls,we would get those answers and
we would get sales right.
So we, as generous as we are,like hey, it worked for us in

(14:23):
the past, let's do it again.
So then we send them out.
They're not getting theiranswers and, like you said, they
get tired, they get thatburnout idea.
Well, I think the rules areflipped now.
So the customers who weregetting those phone calls and
placing orders at thatparticular point in time because
they didn't have theavailability to do it whenever
they wanted to, they jumped onit.

(14:43):
Now, like you said, they havethe availability to do it
whenever I went to Atlanta.
I can just do it when I getback and it's not going to hurt
me, because the truth is, wantsand needs and wants are great,
but that will flatline yourbusiness.
You won't grow and you mightnot go down, but the needs will
always kind of be there.
But you make money on the wantstoo there, but you make money

(15:03):
on the wants too.
You know not.
Just I think you get, you canyou can subsist, you can live on
needs, but you grow Right, butyou grow in the wants.
So, now that the customers havethe availability to go, go, go,
go, go.
Now it's flipped.
Now, as a sales person, as youcall, as you mail, as you door
knock, as you put something onthe cars in the parking lot,

(15:26):
well, now it's different.
Now we're all gardeners, okay,we know that there's going to be
a return.
It's the waiting game.
That's what people have a hardtime with, because now, as
somebody comes in off the street, you hire them.
What are they used to?
Right here, right now?
And the truth is, like you said, it's a need versus a want,
because the truth is on a phone.
I can do all my mail, I cancontact you through the phone, I

(15:50):
can text you, I can check myonline, whatever I want to, I
can order and I can watch TV.
I can pretty much do anythinganywhere.
Now my wants are I want thebigger screens.
I'm tired, my neck hurts and Idon't want to be sitting there
in the middle of the night witheverything turned off, watching
one screen.
It kills my eyes.
All right, I'd like somethingwhere maybe we can all watch it.
The family's going to watch itor whatever.

(16:11):
But do I need it right now?
I'm still going to watch a show, I'm still going to get the
information, but what is my wantversus that essential has
changed to now.
We're gardeners.
Like you said, I got to plantthat seed and now I've got to
water it and I need a little bitof sunshine and I need to stick
it in.
You know one of those roomswhere it gets hot and it gets

(16:32):
humidity and you want to knowwhy the greenhouse is so
important?
Because you've got to feed it.
And I think that's what happens.
I think number one we forgothow to sell.
The online part is veryimportant, but it's still a sale
.
And then the second part is yougot to be a gardener.
Now, man, you've got to doeverything it takes to nurture
that sale from the beginning.

(16:54):
The thing is is that no gardenerin his right mind is going to
plant one carrot.
I'm going to plant one carrot.
I'm going to plant one thing oflettuce.
I'm going to have one potato,and I know it's going to be good
.
What are you doing in betweennow and then?
You've got to live off of it,so you've got to plant an entire
row.
So you've got to make an entireset of phone calls.
And guess what?
Now, your potatoes, I've got todo a whole bunch of door tags.

(17:15):
What else you got?
Well, I got some business tobusiness I.
And then you've got to go back.
You've got to, like you said,you've got to have that
follow-up call.
He was interested at that time.
I called him right.
When he said he wanted it, Ihad all the offerings.
When he said he wanted it, Ihad the car, the model, the
inside, the engine.
He wanted it.
He wanted the damn thing.

Speaker 2 (17:36):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (17:37):
Which is quite possible, right.
And then not everybody leaveslike Paul, but not everybody
heads out of town like Paul.
But what does happen is peopleget business.
Their life is busy.
Kids call I got to go pick upmom.
You know I'm going to theairport.
I got a flat tire.
You know rent's due.
I got to figure out how tohustle that money.
Okay, I put on the back burner,but it doesn't mean that it's
never going to go.
It doesn't mean I don't wantthe TV.

(17:58):
It doesn't mean I don't wantthe stand.
It doesn't mean I don't wantthe bedroom set.
It means, in my life of I wantit right now, it's not right now
.
Something came and bumped itout of the way and now I've got
to figure out how to take careof that right now.
But it's still on the plate.
That's just the peas instead ofthe steak.
So now I'm going to come backto it.
When I come back to it, it's gotto be what did you do to get
that sale?

(18:18):
And it can to be is very slim.
And the truth is, for whateverreason there's well, there's 100
reasons.
Truthfully, I mean you can callme and say, hey, I have this
great deal.
You wanted a 55.
I got a 55 at this great weeklymonthly rate, with this same as
cash price, and I think mostpeople in their head go that

(18:42):
sounds great.
Can I do better?
I'm immediately going to go tosomewhere else or I'm going to
check up on it.
But in a world of convenience,even if I do that, I might not
even reach out to anybody.
I might just look it up.
This is a great deal, but thisis further from my house and I
don't want to let that guy pickme up.
I really like that guy and soyou know it's that gardening
mentality that I think is anewfound thing.

(19:04):
Not only do you have to be goodwhen you reach them online,
when you reach them on the textmessage.
When you reach them is whenthey reach out, but you've got
to be good later too.
You've got to pick the bugs out, you've got to make sure you
weed it, you've got to make sureyou fertilize it, and what I
don't think is we don't have awhole lot of gardeners out there
.

Speaker 2 (19:23):
Well, I don't know.
We're training them to be verygood gardeners.
You know what I mean.
I hope we are and I try to workto make sure that we are, and I
don't know.
I just think that it is a lostart, like training itself and
just being great at showing androle-playing, and everybody

(19:43):
feels weird role-playingplaying,like no one really wants to do
it, but there's really no betterway there.
There isn't.
There really isn't listen.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
If you, if you are watching this, if anybody's
watching this, if you guys arewatching and you never had a
role play man, you are missingout, because you will be nervous
, you're gonna feel, you'regonna feel like this is the most
weirdest thing ever.
It does feel weird and you'relike're like this guy, he's
going to be mean to me, he's notgoing to want to buy, he's
going to make me say all thesethings and at the end he's not
going to buy it.
That's the whole point.

(20:12):
Right To learn, rejection, tolearn to overcome those hurdles,
those obstacles.
If you think that they're goingto say it to you, whoever's not
being pressured on the clock tosay it to you is going to say
it.
Even worse, you're wasting mytime.
Get to the point and you haveto figure out is that the person
that wants to hear about allthe bells and whistles?
Do they want to hear about howit reclines and how good it is?

(20:32):
Or they want?
This is the price.
How fast can you get it to meand I'll take care of it?
Or are you talking to somebodyelse that does want to know?
I, but what do I get for myprice?
And you've got to tailor it in,man, you've got to fit the
issue, I think, training is it?

Speaker 2 (20:49):
That's really all there is.
That's all you really can do,and they've got to be good at so
many different things nowadaysthat we didn't have to worry
about back in the day.
Like you know, when you and Istarted out, like you could, I
don't even think you could makea payment online.
You know what I mean.

(21:10):
You have to physically comeinto the store.
Now they have to do that, andyou know I, as, as the
technology has gone up, though,I just think that there's way
more, there's more ways for themto avoid you than there is.
There were before um, so you gotto be good at so many different
things you got to.
You got to have the amazonstyle.
They see it online, they pickit out, they reserve it, it's at
their house and it goesseamlessly.
They don't even want to talk toyou, they just want to put the

(21:32):
order in and that's it and thenhave it show up.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
It's funny you say that because I in my mind and
I'm telling you this is theGod's honest truth.
About six months ago, I'm onAmazon and I'm looking for some
podcast equipment.
I'm not going to lie, I'malways looking at this or that
or this.
And it was a good deal.
I put it in my cart.
It lived in my cart.
I can't tell you how many timesI moved it or I didn't buy it.

(21:56):
It lived in there for sixmonths.

Speaker 2 (21:59):
I put it if it was safe for later.
And I just keep moving it.
Yeah, just keep moving it.

Speaker 1 (22:02):
I don't take it out and it's like we have to be that
.

Speaker 2 (22:06):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (22:07):
I mean, and the truth is and I'm not saying that we
have done it or we haven't doneit I know that there are a lot.
It's crazy because we talkabout Amazon and they have a few
hundred million users for onewebsite.
We are opposite.
We have a lot of millions ofcustomers for a whole bunch of
websites.
We have all the competitorsthat are out there, whether it
be Renness Center, aaron's,buddies, happies, whatever it is

(22:29):
.
So everybody has their approach.
But do they have those itemsthat live in the basket?
Like if I came back threemonths later, would it be like
hey, you still want that couch?
Hey, do you still want?
Because it caught me bysurprise when you were saying
that.
I was just thinking God, thatthing sat there.
It sat there, but it never.

Speaker 2 (22:47):
You wanted it, but you didn't need it.

Speaker 1 (22:49):
And every time I hit that button to buy something,
they were like hey.

Speaker 2 (22:57):
Hey, something.
They were like hey, hey, by theway, yeah, the robot did that.
Yeah, right, the robot did.
But we have to be good at that.
We have to provide I think yougot to talk to the customers.
The way that they approach you,like if they approach you
online and that kind oftransaction, that's probably how
they want to be talked to andyou have to have that, that
skill set be able to text backand forth and and be, you know,
quick to respond and everythingelse, because they're not going
to sit around and wait in thesedays, like you know, if that

(23:18):
person has made the decision toput their personal information
into your system or give it toyou, provide it.
However, you guys get approvals.
I mean, we're lucky atRent-A-Center.
We have some of the best youknow technology for that that
there is, and I can only imagine, like you know, kind of taking
a step backwards on that, youknow, and what other companies

(23:38):
are dealing with.
So I, you know, I feelfortunate for that, but it is a
skill set anyway, like you couldstill be, you know, have all
that technology in the world,but if you can't close the sale
and you don't get it and make itshow up when it's supposed to
show up, or when it shows up,you get terrible service or I
mean there's still a millionthings that can go wrong.

(23:58):
But you also have to be able tobe that in-person person like
that, you know, becausecustomers do still come in.
I mean, I don't see a lot ofcustomers, but I do see some
stores that, just one after theother customers walking in.
You know what I mean, and thoseare very lucky locations to
just be in a busy plaza or youknow, just right in the right
spot.
But you know, you just have tohave skill sets to be a virtual

(24:24):
salesperson and an in-personsalesperson, and I don't.
I just I think that a great wayto try to improve your results
is to spend a lot of time makingthat a priority, that everybody
kind of does it in the same way.

Speaker 1 (24:40):
This, and you know, someone does have to be sitting
there waiting for those weborders to come in, and they're
not leads anymore, they're weborders I feel like when you have
the online because, like yousaid, they've researched it,
they've looked at it if they're,if they're giving you the
information they're, they'resold.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
Yeah, it's a done deal you can only screw it up at
that point and I think you, youhave to treat it like that you
really should done.

Speaker 1 (25:05):
Deal like you came to me.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
This is it, I'm this is a one deal I like.
They're in their mind and thecustomer's mind so many times it
falls apart after that, whenthey've already made the buying
decision.
We're coming along going allright.
Well, well, I just need to fillout this order form and I need
to get a couple more pieces ofinformation from you and they're
thinking I already I mean, Ialready told you which one I

(25:26):
want and just close it.
When's it coming?
Just do it, just close the deal, just do it.
You know what I'm deal, justwhat I would need a couple of
things to set up for delivery.
You know what I mean and we do.
We have to protect ourselvesand we have to make sure that
we're not making a bad decisionand you know, some different
companies have different toolsto do that.
But that right there, when acustomer goes online and they've

(25:49):
put in an order, you have totreat it as it's a done deal,
sale period.

Speaker 1 (25:56):
I think, man, you're so right about that and I think
that's something that I need togo back and tell my guys Like,
if you get that, don't treat itlike it's a sale.
Treat it like it's a deal.
It's a deal.
They sent you a deal and you'rejust now calling them to close
whatever it needs to happen.

Speaker 2 (26:11):
Get the delivery schedule, get it done Right.

Speaker 1 (26:20):
Knock out any.
Get it done.
Right, knock it out.
I mean that should.
That should essentially be it.
Hey, when are you gonna be home, right?
What time you want this?
Let's, let's just get this done.

Speaker 2 (26:23):
Let's get a payment on this and then we'll iron out
some of the back end stuff incase you need to get that stuff.
But maybe that I.
I think that the customer thatcomes to you that way expects
that, and if you give themanything else, it's gonna be
like well, you gotta, you gotta.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
The number one thing is getting them off the market.
You have to get off the market,right, and?
And the idea is, if you don'tget them off the market, you're
gonna, they're gonna gosomewhere else.
Yep, they're gonna go somewhereelse, and not only are they
gonna go somewhere else, thechances of getting them back on
the hook, bro, that's, it's done.
It's done.

(26:55):
Now, you know, we used to callit the be-back bus, oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (26:59):
It's a one-way trip.

Speaker 1 (26:59):
That's a one-way ticket, right?
It never comes back because theonly time it comes back is to
haunt you.
You lost it.
It didn't make its full rounds,you lost it and it's gone.
And you know some of the thingsthat I do.
I said you know when's the lasttime I've been to a damn rental

(27:22):
home website?
I've been to my own.
But like what about everybody'swebsite?
Dude, you will not know thevariations that are out there.
And I looked and I was like youknow, there is no one way to do
this.
You know because I saw what youwere talking about.
It basically says if you go ona rack website and you open a

(27:45):
pop-up, we'll eventually come upand go hey, you want to know
what you can get?
Just put your information andwe'll tell you.
Right, there's nothing on therethat says, hey, this is your,
is your limit.
Hey, this is how much you canget.
Hey, you know, we'vepre-qualified.

Speaker 2 (27:59):
it just says, hey, put your information, we'll
figure it out and it's like andthey've got it down to where
it's very easy, like you put inyour your email address, your
phone number and the last fourof your social and you're
approved for a certain amount,right and right, and you can go
shopping at that point, and atthat point it's an order, like,

(28:19):
that's a sale, it's sold.
Because if it's that easy, thenyou need to be chasing approvals
.
Like if you put the $2,000 or$3,000 or $4,000 virtual
approval dollars into acustomer's pocket, it starts

(28:42):
burning a hole the instant youdo that and as soon as they get
home to that wobbly dinette orthat tiny TV that they have,
it's getting the job done, butthey're thinking about the one
that they could have and they'reapproved for, but still they're
not going to be.
Oh, I got to get it right thisinstant, every time.
You know what I mean.
But we have to treat it asthough it's an Amazon

(29:04):
transaction.
Now, someone that walks inprobably wants you to do the
whole razzle-dazzle in the store.
Walk them around, sit on thisone, sit on that one, and you
have to, you know, greet themwith a nice warm greeting and
establish some kind ofrelationship with them.
Then ask them like a questionthat starts off to buying you
know what brings you in, typething, and then ask a million

(29:25):
questions as though they knowwhat the item is in the store,
as far as the item number andeverything Right, and you just
have to play a game with themand listen to them and say, hey,
what you know, cause they'regoing to give you all the real
reasons that they're in there.
You know they're going to be.
I got the other one that I haveis too small.
Or you know we got we just itdoesn't fit in our new apartment

(29:47):
, or you know what I mean.
So then you can match what youhave in your inventory that fits
that exact set of circumstancesthat they outlined in the
questions.
Show it to them, show them thefeatures, tell them why that
feature benefits them, and thenyou know, at the end of the day,
you got to ask for the sale andyou got to ask them to give you

(30:07):
a chance.
So if you don't have someonethat's well-trained in doing
that process and just go, well,if they wanted it they would
know what they want and I wouldjust show them one or two things
and that would be it.
Like I just think that naturalborn salespeople aren't going to
walk in.
We have to train them in eachone of those phases and we have
to explain why it's importantthat they do it that way, Cause

(30:28):
every single sale should kind offlow like that you greet them
and you know, thank them, andthen you got to make sure you
thank them at the end as well,and I mean thank them.
Don't don't say have a nice day, yeah, you know what I mean.
It's thank you.

Speaker 1 (30:39):
They just spent their time, their money with you,
like well, you know, that's theonly thing that's going to build
that relationship it's true andI you know, something that I've
I've also noticed is that weused to have guys back in the
day who we would say that guy isa seller, that guy, that guy,
that gal, that person.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
Man and they're still out there, like we still have.
They're still out there.
Yeah, you know what I mean butnow I believe more.

Speaker 1 (31:04):
It's more of a team effort.
Right now, you've got the frontend.
Who's going to close the deal?
We've got signing going over it.
That depends.
Is it online, is it not online?

Speaker 2 (31:14):
that's a lost art right now, too, with the online
business like yeah, and then yougot to be able to figure out
how to make sure that customerunderstands everything.
Yeah, in today's, in today'sterminology world like well I
mean it was back in the day,we'd sit down.
We go through the paper line byline and you, you know you talk
about, you know, just make sureyou pay attention to this one

(31:35):
right here.
This is super important.
But are our guys that deliverthe product?
Because, well, you might nevereven see this customer Exactly.

Speaker 1 (31:43):
Well see, that's what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
Are they doing that?

Speaker 1 (31:45):
It's like a team effort, because now you have
maybe somebody else going overthe closing even though you sold
it, or you could be going overthe closing and somebody else
sold it.
And then guess what?
We live and die by those Googlereviews.
If we have guys that are reallyon top of it and they get their
Google reviews like they'resupposed to, it's also end user.
So they go out to the house andthey do everything, and it used

(32:06):
to be.
You know, I'm just going tocall it like it is.
Every once in a while we'd scuffsomething or whatever.
We could probably get away withit.
Nowadays, they're going to takea picture of it, they're going
to post it, they're going togive you a bad review and they
might even still pay it out.
But you're going to pay forthat.
You're going to pay for thatwith bad reviews or being
skipped over or not looked at.
And so the sales.
You know, I feel like it wentfrom somebody leading or

(32:26):
spearheading it to.
This is a group activity.
This is a basketball, football,soccer activity where we're all
part of this.

Speaker 2 (32:34):
Well, I think everybody is set up to create
sales in a different way too.
In the store, like the typicalRTO store, you got your drivers
or account managers.
We used to have a route.
A lot of places don't even haveroutes or call credit at all,
they just do deliveries.

(32:54):
So those people, they're in thecustomer's home, they can see
what that customer might need inaddition to whatever they
deliver them.
But are they even looking forit?
Probably not, unless you expectthem to.
You know what I mean.
Like I think that driver or agood, a good delivery tech
should be able to be trained totell, to say you know what, that

(33:16):
that they're looking at this TVon a couple of milk crates.
Man, like we'd need to get thema nice TV, a TV stand or a
fireplace over here.
I'm going to come back andbring it to them.
How many of them are going todo that?
Hopefully the ones in the goodstores.
They, they probably are acollection manager, right?
How do they make sales?
They know who they return Likethey know who was at a temporary

(33:39):
issue, who you know.
They had to give up the laptop,but they know that they paid
pretty good and they kept incontact.
You know that's part of ourbusiness.
That's what we want.
Like you know, you got tofreeze the payment and
everything else.
That collection manager shouldhave all kinds of people that
they want to get that right backto them.

(34:01):
So if that guy can give youthree or four a week, and then
the drivers can maybe each giveyou one, or they strike up
conversations with five up, fivedown, or they go to gas station
you know what I mean, becausethey've got a big billboard on
the side of the vehicle they'regassing up, If you could bring
me one and you guys bring methree, and the sales, you know,
the salesperson can bring melike eight to 10 and I can

(34:23):
probably pitch in five to eightmyself.
That's a healthy week, that's agreat week and everybody has
their own little chunk andeverybody's counting backwards
from the expectation of themanager.
Every week you should have ameeting and say how many can you
give me this week?
Well, I could, probably.
I didn't.
I didn't get any last week, soI had an extra one.
Let me give you two.
Sounds great.
So now that guy is going to goout there looking for two.

(34:45):
This guy, I mean, who can we?
Who can we redeliver?
That you know.

Speaker 1 (34:55):
How many times do we have people looking at a list, a
list when I was and God, I hate.
I hate saying this because Ifeel like a hundred years old,
you, I, we could do that, wecould go, you don't.
I don't need a return list, oryou might.
I may leave a return list toremind me, but I can cherry pick
about five off of a two monthlist like that, right, because.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
About five off of a two month list like that, Right,
right, because it's it's notyou already know, like you said,
there are those people that,yeah, they had bad situations
and they want it back.
Right or they were always.
Well they did when they gave itback but it's up to us to make
you know cause we got to makesure they're not feeling
embarrassed when that returnhappens that it's just part of
the process that we're going tofollow, even set a reminder.
You know we've got our systemwhere that collection person

(35:41):
should come back from thatpickup and know when to call
this customer back to see ifthey're ready to get it back.
Yet I mean that is an untappedresource in almost every store.
You know what I mean.
And if everybody grows togetherand everybody sells together,
then because you got five peoplelooking to make a sale instead

(36:02):
of one, because then if we havea bad week of sales, oh, sally's
off her game.
This week we didn't getanything, we only got 10 or 50.
You know well what if sally hasa bad week maybe she's got
something going on outside ofwork that her mind's not in her
what if she?
leaves what?
What if she?

Speaker 1 (36:17):
quits, right, what if she?
What if she goes and she's nolonger here?
And I think that's you know alot of uh.
I've seen this in companies andI've seen it in some rental
homes where they're like wedon't even have a salesperson
anymore.
We're all salespeople, we're.
We are now associates.
You are now a rent-ownedassociate of this brand.
You know whether it be rackbuddies, aaron, whatever it's a
store we're working at.

(36:37):
You're an associate of thislocation and right now, the the
only thing that you're pushingis this brand.
You're this brand.
You are a Renner center brand.
You are a buddy's brand.
This is the brand that you are,and I want you to do this.
And what is that?
Grow, grow, have good revenues,maintain good relationships and
have fun at the end of the day,got to have fun.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
That's what keeps people working there.
That's what keeps customerscoming in there.
It can't be somewhere you dreadto go Like it's got to be a fun
experience.

Speaker 1 (37:08):
I just think we've gone past like the lone wolf
kind of idea where it's likethis guy's going to put the
whole store on his back.
And I think, you know, one ofthe things that I saw at FRDA we
were at FRDA not that long agoand I would love to get him on
the show is Will Jackson wastalking about the difference
between managers and leaders.
You know somebody that you havethat can do the job all the way

(37:30):
around, and you go, hey, let meput them in this position.
This guy can do it, he can doeverything.
He can deliver well, he can getthose Google reviews, he can
close a sale, he can go over theagreement.
He can do all this.
And when they get to thatleadership role, they have a
problem getting everybody elseto do it.
And, man, I'm going to tell youright now, if there's ever a
time that that lone wolfwouldn't work, it's now.

(37:52):
Man, it doesn't work.
It's really a team sport.
It's almost like whether you'redoing it all at once like a
football, basketball kind ofthing, or whether you're in like
WWE.
Man, I just got to tap out fora minute.
I've got to slap hands.
Dude, you got to handle itbecause I'm just not doing a
good job, like you said.
You know, maybe Peggy seemsjust having an off week man,
maybe she's having a baby, maybesomebody got a tooth pulled,

(38:14):
whatever the case is.
Or maybe Bob, he's got to go tothe doctor.
His son failed math and he'strying to figure this out at
home, people are people.
And you have these lives thatare happening.
And how do you overcome that?
Well, you know what?
Number one?
It's a group sport, but I thinkwhat you said earlier is
probably the foremost.
What you said earlier isprobably the foremost, it's the
nut in the shell is are wetraining that?

(38:36):
And then the expectations ofthe training, because sometimes
I feel like, even if we do trainright, let's say that we have
it, let's say we went over sometraining things, I got some new
books.

Speaker 2 (38:47):
We're doing it right.

Speaker 1 (38:48):
I got somebody to say they watched all six videos and
he went through it in fivewhole seconds.
Now they're out there in theworld.
And what do I say?
Well, he read it.
I showed it to him.
He knows, she knows.
But the question is, what wasyour expectation after that?
Did you ever get them to showyou that they really understood,
that they knew that position?

(39:09):
Because I can tell you rightnow, I've read books and
sometimes I got to go back.
And because the application tolife versus what you see on
screen or on paper is not thesame.
I can tell you just to sell,that's easy, yeah.

Speaker 2 (39:23):
You watch the video right.
You watch the video right.
You know how to build a housenow, right.

Speaker 1 (39:27):
You know how to make a sale, you know how to handle
everything.
No, and what's that expectation?
I think we're lacking on theexpectation in some places.
We need to get better at that.

Speaker 2 (39:36):
I agree.
And you got to haveexpectations too, because you
can't hit a goal if you don'thave one.
That's like a cliche, but it'strue.
You got to know what number youneed.
You got to look at your averagereturns and your average
payouts and your averagecharge-offs, right, and usually
you got like a key indicator.
For 13 weeks you say, okay, thisis my even right here, I got to

(40:00):
hit.
I'm going to lose 16, 17 a week, guaranteed, like just from
normal business Clockwork.
So if I want to grow, how manydo I need to sell?
Well, I need to sell at least17, just to say it's zero, and
I'd like to gain three, four aweek.
Okay, so then I'm going to needto get you to 21 sales.

(40:21):
Who's going to get them?
Well, johnny's going to get metwo, because he's out on the
road and he's pretty good attalking to customers in the
house.
The collection manager is goingto get me three or four of
these returns back.
The selection manager is goingto give me three or four of
these returns back.
The sales manager is going tospend the bulk of her time
making sure that his or her timeon there, checking on the web
leads, making sure that they'reresponding quickly and that we
have the right merchandise andthe manager, just to be part of

(40:44):
the team, needs to be kicking insales as well, because I've
even seen where managers don'tsell anything all week long and
say, oh Sally, I don't know, man, it's all Sally's fault.
Well, I mean, they're justdoing what they see.
Like you got to be leading byexample to some degree as well.
It's better.
I would rather have a storefighting over who got what sale
than have a store, you know,putting it all on one person,

(41:06):
yes, and just expecting that oneperson to carry the whole load.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
Well, I mean, you know, back in the day we used to
have these scripts.
Nothing wrong with scripts.
I'm not saying you got peoplethat just don't get it.
And so they run the scripted.
But I think nowadays you canstart with a scripted.
You start with.
This is a baseline, this is howyou get through the
conversation, this is the goaland steps.
But I think the goal eventuallyshould be I don't want to
script it, this is your goal,this is what you want to get out
of it.
You have to say these things.
Number one address who you are,where you're from, right.

(41:42):
Don't just say, hey, how youdoing, you want to see me Right,
okay, so those are things thatyou really got to get out In the
midst of the conversation.
You do want to hit these keypoints, but the truth is I don't
want you to keep reading thatdamn script if you've already
sold it.

Speaker 2 (41:54):
Don't oversell it.
Stop talking and start typing,right Stop.

Speaker 1 (41:59):
Just take the payment Right, just get it in there, do
what you got to do and closethe sale, and I think that's the
part of it where we go.
Oh well, this person has beendoing it a long time.
This person knows.
Ok, I can guarantee you andthis is something that I
actually saw very recently.
I was watching something onYouTube Half my education is

(42:19):
YouTube University and there wasa lady on there and I forgot
what she was doing.
She was selling futures orwhatever it was.
She's young, okay, she was likein her maybe like mid to late
20s.
Now, if you understand the arenathat she's from, people are
usually a younger person wouldbe 10 years older than her in
that arena.
And I mean, when you talk aboutconfidence, this lady spoke

(42:43):
like she was running the damncompany.
I mean, she was just likestraight up and she said
something that caught my ear andit really made me think, and
it's something that I've saidbefore, but it really caught
more of my attention when shesaid it.
She said listen, I have made itmy goal, my purpose, what I do.

(43:04):
I am just as, if not more,experienced than people that are
older and have been doing thislonger, because I do it more
than they do it.
Get that into perspective.
If they're closing one a week,I'm closing five a week.
So it takes them five weeks,I've closed 25.
Look at that.
I've done six months worth ofwork in my five weeks.

(43:28):
They've done six months.
How long do you think it'sgoing to take me to catch them
Now?
Here's the difference.
If you're closing one a week,you're probably doing pretty
good.
She goes.
It's not that I'm saying thatthey don't work good, but I have
multiple drives.
I have multiple areas in whereI have to do this.
So it might be one a week here,but it's five a week in my life

(43:49):
.
And that means that not only amI seeing everything that
happens in these operationalstandpoints five times more than
they are.
That blade that she's honingthat skill set, it's sharp as
all get out because she's doingit now, now, now, now now.
Not one here and maybe onethere.

(44:10):
So when you say you know Bob'sbeen doing this for 10 years.
Bob knows what the hell he'sdoing.
Bob, you know I can't beat that.
There's a point where I want tobe that guy.
And it doesn't mean that he'sbetter than you being in that
seat and having tenureship asfar as length of term does not

(44:31):
mean he's better.
How many deals has he closedand how many deals have you
closed, and how often are youclosing them?
How much are you working on it?
This is something that I thinkand we were talking about this
earlier.
But, like, does anybody ever gohome and work on that skill?
It's all, it's all that work.
So in 40 hours, somehow I'msupposed to learn, grow, sell

(44:51):
open, close, be the best I can,and then you know what I'm a
clock out at 40.
Now, I'm not saying that youknow, everybody should do
something off off clock forbusiness.
But I will always tell somebodyyou invest in you, you will
always have a return.

Speaker 2 (45:08):
And that the companies, like I think they're
great at teaching you how torent and how to collect, but
they very often fall short ofhow to manage.
Yes, like you know, this guy'sa great collector.
He's hitting his clothes up anddown, opens crazy.
You know customers are paying,growing the business.

(45:28):
So you know we're not pickingup the world either.
Like, all right, here's yourkeys.
You're a manager now, you're sogood at that, I know you're
going to be good at this, great.
And then the district managerjust leaves and that's that
right, like it's just what.
Did that happen to me?
It happened to me before.
It happened to everybody.

(45:49):
Like a lot of people that I'vetalked to, they know how to rent
or they know how to collect, ormaybe they could do pretty well
at both.
But most of the time themanagement part was left up to
you and either you werenaturally great at it, just like
that natural salesperson, oryou have to put the work in and
you have to kind of really takesome time.
Read some books, you know, getsome, get a mentor that you know

(46:13):
there's already a great boss ora great leader.
I mean, people are going tofollow you based on your title
for a while, but they're notgoing to be, you know, going the
extra mile for you for verylong if they don't feel like you
have the skill set that theyneed.
And what they need from you isnot to be the best most.
You know, the Superman manageris the worst problem in RTO that

(46:40):
I think.
I mean, they're the greatest.
They work their fingers to thebone all day, they care, they're
there, they go in and they andyou know, but we're still.
We're paying five salaries inthis location and we're only
getting what Bob can do Rightand that's just not going to
work out in the wash, like thebusiness is not, because if Bob

(47:02):
didn't say to do it, it didn'tget done, right, right.
And if he doesn't have time,like he can only do, one person
can only do.
Believe me, if the store couldrun on one person, we would be
running on one, one personbecause that's just the way it
is.
But we are in so many cases thecompany is paying for four or
five salaries and only gettingwhat one person in that location

(47:25):
can do physically themselves.

Speaker 1 (47:28):
A lot of the time.

Speaker 2 (47:29):
And the training away from that is time well spent.
You have to be able to showthem how to delegate, even just
the things like.
You've read the One MinuteManager before.
Oh yeah, you ever read thosebooks.

Speaker 1 (47:44):
There's like three or four of them.

Speaker 2 (47:45):
Yeah, one of my favorite ones is the monkey one.
You read the monkey one and Ihave given that to almost every
manager I ever managed.
And Coaching for Improved WorkPerformance by Ferdinand
Fournier, great book.

Speaker 1 (47:58):
I have not read that one.
I'm going to have to add thatto my list.

Speaker 2 (48:00):
Yeah, that one.
They actually gave it to us atthe Rent-A-Center home office
when we went to a DM trainingand I've given it to everybody
after that.
But that one and the monkey oneare the best because it just
for the people that haven'thaven't heard, haven't read the
book.
It's like when you're themanager that kind of handles
everything in the store.
You got to picture all thoseproblems that happen as a monkey

(48:22):
sitting on the shoulder of thecoworker like customer ask,
customer ask, coworker question,and they get this monkey right
here.
You know they want to know howmuch they have to pay today.
And they walk over to themanager and they say, hey,
manager, johnny wants to knowhow much he has to pay today.
And that monkey takes one footoff of his shoulder and puts it
on that shoulder and then he'slike, okay, who's going to take
me, who's going to figure thisout?

(48:44):
Manager's like I'll talk toJohnny, don't worry about it.
And then the monkey just putsboth feet on the manager's
shoulder and the coworker walksaway free, didn't have to think,
didn't have to come up with it,didn't have to do anything.
Then the manager's got thismonkey and then another monkey,
and then another monkey andanother monkey, and another
monkey, and all these people arejust coming over just putting
monkeys on this guy's back.
You have to learn when you'rein a management position at

(49:10):
store level, you have to answerquestions with questions.
What do you think?

Speaker 1 (49:16):
The number one answer to any question is a question.

Speaker 2 (49:19):
Right, what do you think?
What do you think?
I mean, he's a week past due,so he should probably pay two.
Sounds good.
I knew you could do this.

Speaker 1 (49:27):
Go ahead and take care of it and that monkey stays
on that person's back.
They have to handle it.

Speaker 2 (49:31):
Yes, and it's just, it's management.
That's what it is and it's sosimple.
But it's just so like everybodyfeels like no one's going to do
it as good as me, no one'sgoing to care as much as me, and
no one.
But yeah, you can only havethat cape on so long, like you
could probably have an okaystore for a long time running it
that way.

Speaker 1 (49:52):
Okay you're the octopus right.
You're the octopus right.

Speaker 2 (49:54):
You're the octopus.
You got a bunch of arms.
They're just robots and I justI'm the head, I'm the brain.
So the store has only got onebrain and a bunch of arms.
You know what I mean.
And you can only get so far.

Speaker 1 (50:05):
Well, you got a lot of managers out there who are
focused on how it's done and notthe result of what they're
doing.
No, no, no.
You got to do it like thisbecause this is the way.

Speaker 2 (50:14):
I do it.
This is my way.

Speaker 1 (50:15):
You can't do it that way, because it just gives me
the willies.
How about this?
How about you just empower thatperson to do what they need to
do to get that job done?
You come back and you tell themthe expectations and then you
come back and you follow up onthose expectations and say you
know what the result?
As long as you were in theselines, you didn't kill anybody,
you didn't shoot anybody, youdidn't do anything illegal, you
didn't break any companypolicies.
Great job, it's done.

Speaker 2 (50:38):
They should have a number right, they should have a
number.
They should have a number theyhave to achieve.
Right, it should be a number ofsales.
It should be a close or an openWithin this time frame.
Yeah, Teach them everythingthey need to know how to do that
.
Answer their questions withquestions.
But at some point you got tostart saying, okay, what do you
think?
Because they will go to youlike the coworkers will go to

(51:00):
you.
They don't want to makemistakes, they don't want to get
in trouble, they don't want itto be their fault if something
goes bad.

Speaker 1 (51:05):
Well, you know something you said earlier about
, they'll follow you for so long.
You know, I've noticed that intitles, especially in titles,
right, if two people that don'tknow each other, one knows that
a title is this and the otherperson knows the title is this.
In other words, this is asalesperson and this is a GM,
they both associate those titleswith 100% knowledge of what

(51:26):
that position is right.
So you get a salesperson thatwalks in, like you said you know
what, that's my boss, that'sthe GM, he knows everything that
a GM has to do, right, and whathappens is you get 100%
checkmark, but it only goes oneway.
You can't get 101%, but you canget 99.
So they're going through and, asthey realize, you kind of just

(51:46):
aren't checking a couple ofboxes, you just keep on going
down, and then they're going tofit you how they see you.
So at first they're going togive you how they see you.
So at first they're going togive you this, I mean, I guess.
I mean he's the boss, I gotsomeone to do it this way, and
then they start learning theirposition, maybe a little bit
better, and they're going thisdoesn't make any sense, or well,
I guess, if I just sit herelong enough, they'll call.

(52:07):
If I sit here long enough,they'll close the deal.
If I sit here long enough, Idon't have to worry about making
the tag, or they'll figure outthe tag for me and I can just
put in the numbers.
They'll start equating the realknowledge to that position, and
so that will fall off, andinstead of being the
knowledgeable GM, you will startgoing down.
As to the, you're just anotherguy who gets paid a little bit
more money than I do, and that'swhat you don't want.

Speaker 2 (52:28):
And people in those environments, like the Superman
manager stores a lot of timesthe people underneath them don't
want to move up like that.
Then I want to be like.
I want to live like john john'sgonna have a heart attack like
john's here till 8, 8, 30, 9, 30pm every night.

Speaker 1 (52:43):
John's coming in at 7 in the morning he's here before
I get here and he's here afterI leave right, I don't want to
be that.

Speaker 2 (52:48):
I got a life to live.
I got my.
You know, I want my work-life.
This guy has no work-lifebalance, you know, because
that's what ends up happeningwhen you take on all the monkeys
and you have all the things onyour shoulder.
I'll take care of the inventory.
I know you're going to screw itup anyway, like you know it's
all.
But when you start to let go,it's then you start to get like

(53:09):
you're paying for five salads.
You're getting what five peoplecan do, and what five people
can do a lot Four people threepeople, whatever staff you're
running with you can get it done, as long as everybody is on the
same page.
Everybody is pulling theirweight and everybody has got
their contribution.
But, believe me, if the staffcould be one person, they would
make it that way.
You know what I mean.
It just if it could be two,they would make it that way,

(53:34):
like it's just if it could betwo, they would make it that way
.

Speaker 1 (53:36):
Like it's just, it's not a thing.
Well, it's one of those thingswhere we were here and we need
to get there Old school versusnew school we've definitely got
to take a long look at what wehave been doing, what direction
we want to go in and make surethat we're taking bites out of
that apple so that we can get towhere, from where we are to
where we want to be.
We want to make sure that wetrain right.
We want to hold theaccountability.
We have a team.

(53:56):
Make sure they work as a team.
No Superman managers I mean.
Unfortunately they're out there.
They're out there and I reallywish that you could just go in
there and snap your fingers andyou can see.
I wish you guys can see what Isee in you.

Speaker 2 (54:14):
You are an absolutely amazing worker, but you're
going to burn yourself becauseyou're burning on both ends and
it's not going to work.
Well, the good thing is I tryto set up like a manager.
You got to make them understandthat they're in control of what
they can.
They're only in control ofthemselves and now they're
people.
But they have to have a planfor that, because a lot of them

(54:38):
just come in and flop down on acounter and whatever happens
happens.
They're like oh, this guycalled, so now that's the most
important thing.
And then this happens, sothat's the most important thing.
They start 50 million things.
They don't get any of them done.
They work until they're goingto drop at the end of the night
and nothing got accomplished.
And they feel like they'refailing, even though they are

(54:58):
busting their humps all day long, every day, and they just don't
.
They can't figure it out.
But at some point you got to goin and put the light on and
they got to start managing andthat's just not automatic.

(55:20):
Like it takes training andthought and it takes some
letting go and letting peoplefail and make mistakes, and you
know what I mean.
I've learned.
I'm not a good multi-unitmanager because I know
everything.
I'm good because I screwedeverything up in every way
possible and learned things thehard way all the way through,
bang every mistake you couldpossibly make, and I just have

(55:43):
been through all that and now Ican just hopefully help people
avoid the stuff that I actuallydid.
I like to come in and just tellthem look, I used to do that
too.
I used to be the Supermanmanager.
I used to have all theseproblems because I have and I've
been in every bad scenario thatthey could throw at you.
That's what.

(56:03):
But but I, when I decided youknow what, I'm going to go take
a look at another, look at thattraining program that they stuck
me in the room when I first weI first started and said just
get these books done and thenwe'll start showing you how we
really do stuff around here.
Right, and that's how a lot ofpeople will get trained.
They're like, okay, we'll go doall that mumbo jumbo and then

(56:24):
we'll come in here and you justsit next to him and he's gonna
do it and you do what he does.
And then I was started doingthat.
So I was doing what the guy inthe truck did next to me, and
then I found out that's probablynot the best thing to do.
And then I just kept strugglingand hitting the wall and the
wall and the wall.
And then I said you know what?
You know, I wrote that trainingprogram.

(56:44):
It's probably people that aresuper successful at the home
office right now.
Right, they probably gotpromoted and make a lot of money
.
And I'm doing what John in thetruck does.
I'm going to take a peek atthis and actually try to absorb
it, because they're giving youthe recipe, they're giving you
the perfect recipe.
People say that's how a processbecomes a process.
That's how numbers becomenumbers, because they all grow

(57:12):
from people making mistakes andfiguring it out.

Speaker 1 (57:15):
But just so you know, that's how warning labels also
come around.
Somebody did something sostupid You're like do not inhale
this or drink it or try it.
But it is, it's a trial byerror.
I mean, nobody makes a processjust to make a process.
Processes come because somebodydid something wrong.

Speaker 2 (57:30):
Well, that, well then , how.
They also did it right, becausehow they write those programs
and how they come up with thattraining is what stores had the
best results.
What do they do?
Okay?
Well, they do it this time,they call it this time and they
make this many.
You know, telemarketing calls aday and they do it at this time
of day, and then they react totheir web leads this fast, and

(57:52):
you know, and then they go, okay.
So they figure it out.
Like a chocolate chip cookie isdelicious.
You don't have to invent itevery time you want one.
Like there's a recipe.

Speaker 1 (58:02):
Just follow the process.

Speaker 2 (58:04):
Put this amount of sugar, this much chocolate chips
, some butter and some egg yolksWell, I don't want to put some
salt in here.
Well, there's no salt, butthey're going to taste kind of
funky, right.
And every single one is bakingtheir own recipe in the store
when we already figured it out.
Most of these companies they'rebig companies, like they have a

(58:24):
recipe that they have figuredout over time.
One day someone started acompany and they started doing
it in their garage and theystarted renting to some people
and they think, well, you knowwhat, there's probably some good
people out there that probablyjust need to make some smaller
payments.
And I can, you know, I think Ican work with that.
And they find out that, yes,there are, there is a market for
that.
So they become successful andthey get a store.
Great Store gets a little moremore busy, busy, busy.

(58:47):
Okay.
Now he gets another store, andthe minute that he gets another
store, they start competing witheach other and this guy starts
doing a little better than thatguy.
And that guy says well, whatare you doing over there?
Well, I'm calling it this timeand I'm operating at this
percentage and it seems to beworking for me Okay, well, I'm
going to try it over here.
That guy tries it over thereNext thing.
You know, that's the way,that's the way.
And then someone comes along andwe, and this guy starts doing

(59:08):
better, and they go hey man,what are you doing over there?
Well, I tried this new thingand I'm just doing it this way
instead of that way, you knowwhat?
And they all try it out andthat becomes the way.
They've already done all that,yeah, yeah.
And we think well, I promotedJohnny and Johnny was a great
collector, so he's just going tofigure it out.
Whatever he does is going to begreat.

(59:29):
No man, I don't need you toinvent the chocolate chip cookie
.
I need you to read the back ofthe back and do exactly what it
says, and you're going to havesome delicious cookies.
Well, you know what.

Speaker 1 (59:40):
I was reading something the other day and it
said and I might be quotingLinkedIn right here, but I saw
it and it said you are not areal leader unless you can
promote somebody.
You can promote a leader whocan promote a leader?
Yeah, and so you know, I talkabout promote leader, but have
another leader under you topromote a leader under them, and

(01:00:03):
that's how you know you'vegotten it right.
That's the great recipe of theworld.
If I can do that, then I'veactually hit something on that.
But, guys, you let us know.
Do we have the right recipe,Are we?
telling you the right thing, Oldschool versus new school, and
some of the things that we comeacross and some of the things
that we say hey, I think this isa great idea.
If you guys think that you gota better idea, then absolutely,

(01:00:24):
by all means, hit me up at theshow.
Pete, at the RTOshowpodcastcom.
You're welcome to go to thewebsite at the RTOshowpodcastcom
.
Get on there, buy some swag,help the show out, look good.
You know as you're doing it,you know that's a fancy shirt,
that's a nice shirt, right?
So you can go on there and buyanything.
Also, you can follow us atFacebook, Instagram, LinkedIn,

(01:00:46):
now YouTube.
Don't forget to subscribe.
And, guys, I'm going to tellyou guys, as always, Jason, we
appreciate it Get yourcollections low to get your
sales high.
Have a great one.