How Kevin Silvers Built Relationships Across the Rent to Own Industry

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
What is the craziest thing you've ever seen when you
popped in on the store?

SPEAKER_00 (00:03):
Oh my God.
Yeah, I don't know if I'd wantto say it.
I've seen some fist fights andI've seen alligators in stores.
I've I've seen uh yeah, I won'teven tell you which store had
the alligator, because you know,you would know.
But yeah, I've seen some wildstuff.
I've seen people, yeah, I'veseen some crazy stuff.
I've seen I've come up and I'vebeen, I went to one of Jamie's
stores, uh Buddy store one time,and we got there early and and

(00:26):
the truck was parked in theparking lot and the whole top
was ripped off, you know, likeit been peeled off like a thing.
And I guess they hit a bridgething or something.
And we take seeing a picture,and he takes us back that that
truck was noob.

SPEAKER_01 (00:47):
Hello, and welcome to the RTO show.
I'm your host, Pete Choo, andtoday I am talking to an amazing
guest.
But first, let's handle somebusiness.
Guys, I want you to know, afterdoing some research, guys, I'm
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(01:09):
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(01:29):
My guest today, Mr.
Kevin Silvers with the historylineup.
Truthfully, a history lineupthat I didn't even know because
as I've gone through thehistory, as I've gone through
done some homework of my own,and then you you helped me out
there, Kevin.
You've just you've done quite abit.
And I mean, we're talking aboutfrom let's say, let's start in

(01:50):
the 90s all the way till now,before you got your break into
rent to own, as you got yourbreak into rental own, and then
where you are now.
You have done some amazingthings, sir.
First off, tell me how how didyou how did you mess up on David
Duvall?
How did you mess up on this?

SPEAKER_00 (02:06):
That was the brain fart there, yeah.
I saw him hit a couple of balls,and I thought, this guy will
never make it.
He really, I mean, he lookedterrible.
And I think at the time I pickedLynn Matisse, which was a had a
great short game out of Florida,and I thought, man, I'll ride
this guy to the Masters.
And then Dave, and then God, hehe fell apart, and and my buddy

(02:26):
was on his back when he won theBritish.
Yeah, the guy, same guy thattook the bag was with him at the
British, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (02:33):
Right, right.
Well, if you guys don't know,and what we're talking about is
he was a caddy during the golfscene, and David Duvall ended up
wearing 13 PGA tours, includinga 2001 Open Championship.
And you know, Kevin was justlike, this ain't my guy.
I don't see this guy happening.

SPEAKER_00 (02:49):
But you know, hey, it I did get to, you know, I got
to caddy for a lot of greatpeople.
I was a good player back then,but I I had a few injuries, so
um now I'm not that good aplayer.
I'm I'm actually getting old.

SPEAKER_01 (03:00):
Well, see, now I know why every time that they
have those golf opens, everytime that we have like, you
know, one of the things wherethey golf ahead of time, that's
where Kevin's at.
I'm always working.

SPEAKER_00 (03:10):
Don't ever let that fool you.
I mean, if people think I'mdying, I'm dying.
You know, I I I think you canhave fun and work too.
I think there's a balance.
If it's not fun, it shouldalways be fun, actually.

SPEAKER_01 (03:22):
If there's anything that uh Anthony could tell you,
we're always working.
We might have fun doing it.

SPEAKER_00 (03:26):
That's right.
Those are just for everybodyelse to see their pictures.
I'm just doing it, you know.

SPEAKER_01 (03:32):
Well, listen, not only that, also for Palmer and
Michael Jordan.

SPEAKER_00 (03:38):
Back in the day, yeah, Michael Jordan had the
biggest hands I've ever seen inmy life.
His grips were huge.

SPEAKER_01 (03:44):
So, you know what?
That is that is an actual thingthat people have said that
Michael Jordan has, he actuallyhas some of the biggest hands
out there.
He was able to palm a ball withthe uh craziest ability.

SPEAKER_00 (03:52):
Smooth smooth as glass.
If I had to, I would take him toif I had to make a shot, I would
not maybe a putt, but to shoot abasketball, I would definitely
take him.
He was he was cool as a cue.

SPEAKER_01 (04:04):
I would I'd play softball with him.
I don't know if I'd playbasketball with him.
I don't be embarrassed to beable to get a big thing.

SPEAKER_00 (04:09):
And Arnold Palmer, pro group, was based out of
Udwal, Tennessee.
So uh Mr.
Tucker was you know, ran progroup, and uh you know Arnold
Palmer would come in and we'dall get to caddy for him or
whatever.
He was a great guy, he had thestrongest forearms I've ever
seen in my life.
I mean, he was strong even inhis 70s or whatever, you know.
I mean, he he was older when Icaddied for him.

(04:32):
He was already on, I think hewas a senior term.

SPEAKER_01 (04:35):
Yeah, I mean, he I mean he last game he played was
in 2016.
Yeah, he could have been, youknow.
Now, now, mind you, when we'retalking about the Arnold Palmer
with 62 PGA tour wins and sevenmajor championships, shaking and
rubbing elbows with Mr.
Kevin Silvers over here beforehe decides to get into the
resin.

SPEAKER_00 (04:54):
Most gracious person I've ever met in my life.
But actually, the guy that ownedthe course, Mr.
Lepton, was that was really howI got there.
And I didn't realize it at thetime that he owned like the
largest Coca-Cola bottlingcompany in the world, sold it
for like 1.4 billion.
You know, actually, I was hiscaddy for a year.

(05:14):
But I we used to just riflethrough his desk.
We didn't know he had any money.
So we used to make long distancephone calls in his office, you
know.

SPEAKER_01 (05:23):
But Kevin, like like this all talking about all that
kind of leads me to the source.
How did that affect you in thoseyears to be the person that you
are today, right?
Because you are probably one ofthe most outgoing, most upbeat
people I've ever met in therent-to-owned scene.
Everybody kind of knows whereyou are, when you are, and when
you're coming.
And how how did how did theinteractions with the because I

(05:45):
can tell you right now, in themid-90s, and I was a little bit
younger then, but in themid-90s, I was like just focused
on work.
I didn't really have the I justwasn't who I am now.
I wasn't, I didn't have thatability.
Um, but meeting a few people didchange that along the way.
Did these did did meeting Jordanand Palmer and Duval and a lot
of these guys being on thatcourse, you know, talking to

(06:06):
people who have sold, you know,plants for over a billion
dollars, how did that change youto to get on the course that
you're on now?

SPEAKER_00 (06:12):
I I think you never really once you get to that
point and you meet those people,you know, nothing who else could
you really meet that would makeyou nervous or you know, you
couldn't talk to, or if youembarrassed yourself in front of
them, really is there anybodyleft?
So I think and you listen to himtalk and you know, inner he

(06:33):
learned so many things, youknow, Little Debbie's based out
of here, and Shaw Industries,Bob Shaw, you had uh Berkshire
Hathaway.
I remember going to like CircuitCity with him to get a
television for his house.
Had a big Lincoln Continentalthat he was trying to shove it
in the trunk back when they werebig, you know.
So I mean, you literally, Imean, those people, I mean,

(06:54):
they, you know, once you meetthem, you kind of everybody else
is you know they're awesome.
You just got to get to know themto understand how they're
awesome.

SPEAKER_01 (07:03):
Well, you know, sometimes when you meet those
people, right, you you you havethis air, this idea uh that you
build them up a certain way,right?
And then you shake their handand you do something with them,
and you find out they're justnormal human beings that do
extraordinary things, right?
They're they they get up, theyeat, they eat breakfast, they
have the same problems as we do,the same health issues that we
do, they eat breakfast and puton our pants the same way we do.

(07:25):
The only thing is that makesthem extraordinary is what they
do with their time.
And so as as they move on, um,so did you.
And then you decided that you'regonna, you know, you're not
gonna stay in the caddy scene.

SPEAKER_00 (07:38):
You gotta have a little luck.
You know, the I mean a shot goesin, but you know, it may not a
little bit of luck.
It caught a little rim, or it,you know, you made a decision
that kind of worked out, or youknow, that's another thing too.
You gotta have a little bit ofluck in life.

SPEAKER_01 (07:54):
So after the scene, well, you know, well, chance for
favor is the prepared, right?
So as you get through that, umSo you entered the jewelry
industry with Jerry Bogo.

SPEAKER_00 (08:04):
So I I think, you know, at the time I wanted to go
work on Wall Street.
You know, you'd seen you knowthe movie Wall Street, and I
thought, man, that'd be awesome.
But I didn't have his hair, so Ithought, you know, I wouldn't be
able to do that in the lockerroom.
So I was like, you know, Ibetter find something to do.
And Jerry Bogo was just a he wasa fascinating guy, extremely
smart.

(08:24):
You know, in the summer he wouldget dark.
He was just smooth as glass.
And uh so eventually he said,Well, hey, come to work for me.
And I came and I learned aboutthe jewelry industry.
And we actually had threejewelry manufacturers based in
Chattanooga, uh, Jerry BugoCompany, uh, Olenberg
Corporation, which was based,had a huge facility downtown,

(08:46):
and then E.
B.
Harvey, which was uh based outon Bonnie Oaks.
And if you had a wedding band inthe late 80s, mid-90s, it
probably came from E.
B.
Harvey that was based here.
Uh he had taken the machinery,put it in, you know, moved it
from like Germany to here.
And I mean, he basically had totake the building apart to get
it in.
And so I went to work for JerryBogle Company and uh, you know,

(09:08):
learned manufacturing and, youknow, back then it was all paper
and fax, and you know, you gottriple A would fax you over your
directions, and and you know,and I I really didn't think
sales would be my calling, buteverybody else said, hey, you
should be a salesman, you know,sell something.
And I thought, well, jewelrywill work, I'll do that.

(09:29):
So um we had a lot of mom andpop jewelers, and you know, and
and back then in the jewelrybusiness, you know, if you were
a pretty good sized jewelrymanufacturer, you wouldn't go to
somebody that was in, you know,50 miles off the beaten path.
You might send them a flyer, butyou wouldn't go see them.
And Jerry Bogo said, well, whatif we went and saw him?

(09:49):
And he built a huge company, andthen I would call him, you'd
sell them flyer programs.
They'd buy X amount to supportwhatever flyer, and they'd get
so many free flyers, and youknow, and and it wasn't
anything.
We sold Spencer gifts and serveryou remember service
merchandise, right?
Uh where they pulled the ticket.
Can you imagine pulling a ticketand waiting in line to buy

(10:11):
something?
We saw Paul Schultz catalog.
I mean, we did a lot of that,and and the jewelry business was
really interesting.
I mean, you met a lot of peopleand a lot of different, you
know, you go to the diamonddistrict in New York and our
buyers were from India, and youknow, I learned how to grade
diamonds, you know, kind ofsorting rice, and then learning
how to pick up the stones.

(10:31):
And, you know, I mean, it wasand it was really clean.
You got to wear a bow tie and acoat.
And I thought, you know what, Icould make a living doing this,
it'd be all right.
And then uh, so that that's kindof how I got into the jewelry
business.
So that's how it started.
Actually, I thought Jerry wouldprobably fire me after, you
know, week two, but he kept mearound for a while.

SPEAKER_01 (10:51):
Well, two things right now, Kevin Silvers is part
of King of Promotions, and I'mlooking at two jewelry pieces
you have over your leftshoulder.
Under the trip sign, he's gottwo necklaces over there.
If you guys have any questions,please reach out to Kevin.
But I I'm gonna talk to youabout those a little bit later.
But then as you move throughthat, right, there was something
in here that I saw that reallykind of stuck out to me, and
we'll we'll probably jump arounda little bit.

(11:11):
Tupelo, Mississippi.
Yes.
That place had it comes up quitea bit, especially in the Legends
series that I've done.
Tupelo, Mississippi was a lotlarger at one point than it is
now, but it was it was like itwas the place to go.
And and so you had a run inthere.

SPEAKER_00 (11:26):
Oh wow, yeah.
So, you know, Robbie Tyson, meand Robbie have worked together
for 30 years.
I mean, you know, and I actuallyhad you know, I always worry
about doing these and not youknow, everybody that helps me
has helped me.
Thank you.
I'm just gonna say that inadvance.
So, you know, but in case weforgot.
Oh my god, I know what Anthony,thank you too.
I mean, I've listed all thepeople you wouldn't believe.

(11:49):
So I was, you know, always I'mvery thankful for my friends.
But so Robbie and John Blair,they'd go down there and rent a
house.
You know, you couldn't get aplace to uh, you know, really
stay.
That place it was packed out,and they had the Ashley trucks
lined up and and we sold anyeverybody.
We'd do the rent own, we'dfinance credit furniture.

(12:09):
I mean, we would do anybody thatyou know, furniture stores
started picking up cute, youknow, a lot of their own paper.
They keep a percentage insteadof financing it through whoever.
So we did tons of jewelrythrough, you know, in Tupelo.
I mean, you come in, they buy.
Back then it was live, and we'dsupplied the cases, the
displays, the training, and andI actually was probably more on

(12:30):
the training side than sales.
I mean, I always think trainingand sales go hand in hand, but
but I really focused on thetraining part.
And I was great in in the storeswith the managers and the the
people, you know, and I'm alwaysasking questions.
So I think people like to tellyou what they do, you know, and
and I know you appreciate it, Iguess.

SPEAKER_01 (12:50):
Well, you know, you have a lot more technical
background than I thought whenwhen I I looked at it because
you seem like a naturalsalesman.
When I talk to you, uh, youknow, there are certain things
about salespeople.
And and you know, you can tellthe contrived ones, the ones
that have studied it and doneit, and they do it, you know,
they they give you the paper andsay all the right things and all
the catch lines or somethingthat you read in a book
somewhere.
And then you have a salespersonthat, you know what, I probably

(13:12):
read three books in my entirelife, but that's not it, because
it's about making therelationship, making the
connection with that person andsolving their problem.
What do I have that's gonnasolve your problem and give you
the best result, the best bangfor your buck?
Because nobody wants to buy$10worth of something and then they
just do an even exchange.
They want to solve a problem,right?
So if I'm thirsty, I'm gonnagive you this so that I am not

(13:32):
thirsty.
If I want something to sit on,I'm gonna give you this so that
I have something to sit on.
And it could be good or bad.
And really the truth is, youknow, everybody's like, well,
price and this and that.
Yeah, price definitely pays aportion of it.
But you have to know the playerof the game and you have to know
how to do it the right way.
Are you really solving a need?
Are you solving a need and awant?
Can you do both at the sametime?

(13:52):
Selling the product, sellingyourself.
And talking, talk about that.
I I do have to know.
You are the only man in thebusiness with the boat.

SPEAKER_00 (13:59):
Well, you know, and so back in the until you'd also
get a kick out of this.
So back in the day when I usedto, I mean, I I probably would
see stores.
My goal was or used to be to seestores, well, whoever had our
programs, like four times ayear, which but became very hard
because we had a lot of stores.
I mean, you know, because we hadpicked up Renaissance and
Aaron's and buddies, and youknow, we had Rentway, and I

(14:23):
mean, so it was very hard to do.
But I've spent a lot of trainingmeetings just teaching like 10
guys how to tie a bow tie, whichwas very it's very fun to watch,
guys.
That back then some of them woreties, but not uh but a lot of
them were really strong.
They were still clipping themon, a lot of them, but so you
know, I used to say, but peoplelove the bow tie.

(14:44):
I'm not even sure I can tie theother one, but uh the bow ties I
can tie.
I've I you know it kind ofstresses people out when you
come in because they eitherthink you're buying the store,
buying the company, or you're alawyer.
They can't decide which one touh, you know, which one they
start to worry a little bit, youknow.

SPEAKER_01 (15:02):
That's that's the secret sauce, Anthony.
I you don't know who I am.
Hi, I'm Pete Chow.
You may know me from the RTOShow podcast, but today I'm
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(15:24):
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(15:46):
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Check it out and become a partof RTO History.

(16:09):
So let's move on a little bit.
Late 90s, your introduction toRent to Own came via Richard
Grossman.

SPEAKER_00 (16:15):
We did.
We had an incredible salesmanback in the day.
You got to remember, jewelrynow, the price of gold and
product has gone up, butprobably the average average
cost of a piece of jewelry mighthave been less than$300.
So, and this was a salesman thatliterally probably sold$3
million a year.
I mean, he was incredible.
I mean, he would he was themost, you're talking about a

(16:38):
natural salesman.
And see, I didn't drink.
So if you're not out drinkingwith him and whatever, I think I
really struggled on that.
Because I mean, I I they'll tellyou, I'll t I'll say I'm going
to the bathroom and I'll justleave.
Because I mean, when it becomesabout 11 o'clock, I want to go
to bed, you know?
So and they'll usually make ajoke about that.
But uh anyway, so he was goingthrough and he he came across a

(17:00):
store in, I think it wasBirmingham, and it had rent to
own on it.
And he goes in and I guess theguy gives him the spiel, and he
m I think he sold him some, andthen he calls me and Robbie and
everybody to to talk about it,and we're like, eh, you know,
we've never heard of it.
But it didn't but it it wasn'tas far fetched for us because in
the jewelry business, in the themom and pops always carried

(17:25):
their own paper.
You know, you got the piece andyou'd bring X amount in weekly
or monthly based on whatever youdid.
You know, if you were um youknow, grew something or fixed
something or whatever.
So that that really didn't uh injewelry back then you probably
did get four turns, so it wasn'tthat big of a thing.

(17:46):
So when he told us about it, butabout that same time we had got
a message or somebody had left amessage for Cherry, and it was
Bob Marshall with Rena Center.
So we didn't know who that was,so we had to look them up like
in Dunham Brad Street, and wesaw, you know, well, the credit
was good and you know, theyseemed okay.
Yeah.
So and we by then, I think uhnot long after that, we sold

(18:10):
about all the Renaissancestores.
I mean, just I mean, I rememberyou but the orders came by fa
that was Thorn, though, Ibelieve.
That was before, you know, theywere acquired by renter's choice
or whatever.
So that was before then.
But you literally couldn't keeppaper in the fax machine.
I mean, that's the orders weremassive.

(18:31):
I mean, they would come across.
But r rent to own the you know,the the foot traffic in in rent
to own back then was I mean,you'd open up a store and you'd
have to just about taser them tokeep them out.
I mean, yeah, I mean you I heardyou mention, you know, you know,
getting your return on yourinvestment, you know, as far as
the the quickness of it.

(18:52):
I mean, back then product turnedfast.
You know, you could rentyourself poor.
I mean, you know, if you weren'tyou weren't careful, you had to
be there's you know, always tellpeople there's a way to rent,
there's a way to rentprofitably.
And that's probably too, youknow, you can get a little go
one way or the other, you know.

SPEAKER_01 (19:10):
I mean, well, you know, and I I think that's
what's so beneficial to some ofthe things that we have as far
as the people that are ingroups, right?
So if you're in the trib groupand the meeting of the minds, or
you go to the RTO worlds, or yougo to some of the RDAs and say,
okay, guys, I've never done thisbefore.
I have a little bit of mypocket, I want to open this
business, but how do I open itsmart?
How do I do the make make theright decisions?

(19:31):
And you know, you have theWindsors and you have the
Tissits and you have, you know,the ferrymans to say, slow down
a little bit.
Uh we had Ernie at one time, youknow, to say, Lou Allen to say,
hey, this this is what youprobably want to look at.
This is probably what you wantto do.
You know, don't get too excited.
Uh you want to be always beexcited, you always want to be
hungry, but don't make thesemistakes because it can come
back to get you.

SPEAKER_00 (19:50):
There's a way to rent.
I always tell people, I said togrow to you know, same sort of
revenues, to keep increasing,doing better, you got to really
work on the edges.
You know, you got your coreproducts like your furniture
that are, you know, profitableappliances, electronics, but you
better have, you know, your clubprograms, jewelry, cell phones,
you know, all the speakers.

(20:10):
I mean, there's a lot of thingsthat make up uh that pie, you
know, from year to year.
If you want to do better, Imean, it's really hard.
I mean, you know, and cost ofproduct has changed so much.
I mean, you know, we've beenlucky.
We're me and Robbie are prettygood at moving things and
creating and whatever.
And we've really we haven't beenas uh affected as much as

(20:34):
everybody else, probably by thethe tariffs and whatever.
We do a lot of manufacturinghere, so but it it's hard.
I mean, rent to own is abusiness, you know, it the
franchise sometimes throws me alittle bit because if you're
gonna buy the franchise, ifyou're gonna do it every day, I
think it's the best thing in theworld.
But rent to own's never gonnarun itself.

(20:55):
It's a day in, day out type ofbusiness, you know.
I mean, it I think that's why Ilike it because I'm a I think
I'm a little bit of aworkaholic, so it's fun to you
know, and I and I and I'm atalker, so uh you know, a little
Kathy Chatterbox, but I like totalk.
I mean, I you know, you like tosee people and I love to learn.

(21:17):
You know, me and Tissot havebecome probably uh one of the
best friends I've ever had, buthe literally has taught me and I
talk to him I've probably notevery day, but every other day,
and he literally teaches mesomething every day.
I mean, which is you know,everybody asks me what his
quality or what he here-energizes you every day.

(21:37):
I can be having the worst day inthe world.
Talk to him.
I feel like I've just climbedyou know climbed Everest.
I mean, and I mean, and thebuilding could be falling apart.
So I think it's just that's thekey, I think, to being
successful in our industry.
You've got to re energize yourpeople and yourself every day.

SPEAKER_01 (21:54):
When you say re energize, does that include
reinvent?

SPEAKER_00 (21:56):
Oh, yeah.
I think you always reinventyourself every morning you.
Wake up, you're a littledifferent.
I mean, I'm different than I wasyesterday.
Hopefully, I'm a little smarter.
I'm definitely a little morebald and a little heavier.
But yeah, I hope you reinventyourself every day.
Mistakes are a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 (22:13):
One of our legends said he reinvented himself every
five years to make sure that hewasn't staying behind the times
and that he really was able tokind of see what was coming, uh,
change with it, and find theprogressive way to be like,
okay, how do I make this workfor me?
It was every five years.
So I I love seeing that.
So I I see in the late 90s, andyou mentioned this, right?

(22:33):
There was Rack.
Um, you know, you had built arelationship with buddies, best
way, countryside, uh show place.
Um, like first off, this wasRack Thorne, right?
When you when you talk aboutRack, this was before the the
changeover.

SPEAKER_00 (22:46):
The when there were what British, whatever it was.
I mean, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, that was back then.
And then I think Tally, RenterSchwarz came in and bought him.
And you know, Tally was not ajewelry guy.
So, but didn't mean we didn'tpitch him, you know, but I mean
he definitely had differentphilosophies about rent owned
and and did, you know, opened alot of stores and you know, and

(23:07):
you know, every it's it's weird,you know.
I always tell people I said uhyou know, you look at jewelry
and people always think this,that, or the other, but you
know, I think it's just you haveto just keep evolving, you know.
And I think he kind of went alittle backwards to go forwards,
and you know, so we didn't wedid do Thorn and then we didn't

(23:28):
do Renner's Shorts.
Yeah.
So that was it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (23:32):
I was a Renner's Choice guy.
I actually started Renner'sChoice and yeah, I did.
And then when there was theacquisition with Thorn and we
became Renaissance, you know,there was a lot of talk like,
why are we becoming Renaissance?
And I was like, well, they gotmore stores, they got more you
know, market share.
They actually have a the name.
I mean, come on, it wasRenner's.

SPEAKER_00 (23:48):
Renaissance a good thing.
They mentioned it in GoodwillHunting, you know.
I mean, yeah, yeah.
So it's a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 (23:54):
We made it to the big so for sure.
But now, you know, when you saycountryside, how many stores did
they have then?
Was it 1920?

SPEAKER_00 (24:02):
Back then, that was probably when Mr.
Tisset was, you know, theyprobably didn't have that many.
I mean, it was probably smallerthan that.
I mean, so they were I thinkthey opened up what in 85.
So, you know, when we startedworking in them, they might have
had what half of maybe 16,something like that.
Maybe not probably not even thatmany.
Because, you know, that I gotflyers, I think, where I had

(24:25):
sent you, or you know, wherethey had 18.
And so that we'd already beendoing business with them for
quite a while, you know, beforethat catalog.
So it it yeah, I would say theyprobably didn't.

SPEAKER_01 (24:37):
Well, I'm gonna send Anthony the pictures that you
sent me.
We're gonna post that up on theflyer so that you know they can
see exactly what we're talkingabout.

SPEAKER_00 (24:43):
Yeah.
From every I used to say Icollect everything.
So fly I've got flyers from theearly 90s, and you know, you can
tell they're just if you wantthe RTO museum, we need the we
need to see Kevin's.

SPEAKER_01 (24:54):
One of everything they can do.

SPEAKER_00 (24:55):
I've got like 22 tubs of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 (24:59):
So as you go on, we add on rent way, action, home
choice.
I mean, you're doing payday loanstores.
Uh like finance.
Talk to me about this.
Yeah, talk to me about thatbecause as you're moving on, I
mean, you you you just have awave of different things that
you're kind of getting into andyou're you're you're talking to
so many companies.

(25:20):
Where did that part of your yourpast come in and how did it play
into what you're doing now?

SPEAKER_00 (25:24):
Whenever you think you do one, you always can do
something else.
And it and what's weird is is Ialways say the you know, check
into cash, mariner finance, theywere all based out of Cleveland,
Tennessee.
John, well, Johnny Holden soldto Mariner Finance.
And then uh so they were there,and I thought, well, if you
could do one and any of the lawschanged, you know, some st some

(25:45):
states couldn't do checkhatching, some you had to have a
firewall and whatever.
But the ones that you didn't, Imean, we'd put up a jewelry
display, they'd havemiscellaneous washers and
dryers, and so they'd loan youthe money to buy whatever.
So we put jewelry cases in thereand we went to every finance
show in the world.

(26:05):
I mean, anywhere we could go, wewould we would go.
And it was amazing.
We s I guess we were halfwaydecent salesman because we would
tend to sell them something, youknow.
I mean, but you had to sell themthe complete turnkey package.
You know, you couldn't just sellthem a product, you had to sell
them the display, the product,the training, the you know, the

(26:28):
way to handle the product.
So there was a lot of things youhad to that went in there.
It's very labor-intense what wedo.
I mean, people don't realize it.
We're everywhere because youreally have to participate a
lot.

SPEAKER_01 (26:39):
Yeah.
Well, that is one thing thatyou're good at, getting I think
I see.

SPEAKER_00 (26:43):
Don't ever give me your home address because I will
show up.
As long as you make dinner good.

SPEAKER_01 (26:50):
But you know, why looking at that, is it because I
see a lot of similarities,right?
A lot of people who say thepayday loans, they are it
involved in two things.
It's either rent-to-own or uh,you know, they have some type of
business where they're and Idon't I don't want to say
they're brokers or stuff likethat, but you know, um what what
is it when you have uh somethingand you go to sell it?

(27:11):
The pawn shops, you know what Imean?

SPEAKER_02 (27:13):
So it's either a pawn industry a lot, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (27:16):
Yeah, so you know, is it is it because they were
all tight knit that you kind ofkept going?

SPEAKER_00 (27:21):
Well, I mean, I guess in s in some people's, you
know, I I would say the rent toown and the payday loans, you
know, I've never seen a lot ofpeople do both well.
Now the strongs, they do bothwell.
You know, Michelangelo andStrong, they do they do it both
good.

(27:41):
You know, the times we've seenit together, you know, they did
okay, but you tend to loanpeople that owe you money and
then they don't pay you one orthe other.
So you gotta be there's a fineline on that, I guess.
But there's not too many peopledoing it.

SPEAKER_01 (27:57):
There's not too many people doing it.

SPEAKER_00 (27:59):
No, I've never that's I think that's the
reason.
I think it's hard to do bothwell.
I think you know, you can alwaysgrow, you can do your rent-owned
business better.
You know, you really have tohave you know a great skill set
to do both.
Yeah, you know, in the sameenvironment.

SPEAKER_01 (28:15):
You know, I think it's Well, I know there's
castle, there's castle rent toown and and uh, you know, um Ben
McCauley, I'm sorry if I canalways say I always say them
wrong.
It's it's either castle rent toown or castle rents or whatever
the case is, but they actuallydo pawn and uh RTO out there in
Arkansas, which is really coolbecause again, the the things
that you don't see together veryoften, and somebody might find a

(28:36):
way to really make it make itstick.
Um but they are one of the few.

SPEAKER_00 (28:40):
And pawn is a great, as long as you know, I always
tell people we work with pawnshops, you know, uh quite a bit,
but you always have to have anoutlet for whatever you buy.
You can buy great stuff.
I can own a ton of real estate,but you know, I gotta have
somebody wanting to buy it onthe other side.
You gotta have a funnel, youknow, it's gotta keep moving.
You buy product to buy, youknow, to sell it to buy more

(29:00):
product.
I mean, I think that was in abook somewhere, but yeah.
I think the Dollar General guysor something, maybe, you know.

SPEAKER_01 (29:07):
So, you know, one of the things that you said is that
managers taught you more thanyou ever taught them.
You said you did a lot oftraining, you went around, you
did a lot of things, but therewas a comment that you made
about managers taught you morethan you ever taught them.
What did some of the GMs ormanagement or RMs or owners,
what did they teach you thatyou've taken along with you
through the years to be whereyou are today?

SPEAKER_00 (29:26):
You know, it's amazing.
The I always tell people rent toown, you know, being a regional
is I could be a divisional or amanager, but if I was a
regional, uh, I mean, becauseyou're part, you know,
psychologist and you know,friend and helper and teacher.
I mean, if anybody ever writes abook that has, you know, some

(29:47):
kind of balance in it, you couldsell a million copies of that.
You know, but you know, theytaught me how to interact with
people and and and a lot of thepeople that they a lot of our
customers have had hard lives.
I mean, you know, they you know,it's not that they they just
need an environment to get greatstuff, which you know, we
created for them.

(30:08):
And the managers, I mean, theway they work with them, and
they did marketing and service,sales, they manage people.
I mean, they fix trucks.
I mean, it was amazing all theydid and just watch them.
Whenever I get frustrated and Ithink my day is full, I just go
back and talk to a guy managinga million-dollar store.
That guy's day is full.

(30:29):
You know, probably a million anda half now.
But yeah, I mean, that day isfull.
It isn't right.
It is that day is full.

SPEAKER_01 (30:35):
Yeah, the the you know, I remember it's funny you
say that because I I forgot whoI was talking to.
And we like the the day of themillion dollar store, which it
used to be like that that was ashowcase store.
Okay, if you had a milliondollars, now it's like, well,
no, now it's like a million anda half or a two million dollar
store.
Oh, you know, it's not going tobe a few.

SPEAKER_00 (30:49):
That I learned a lot from because back in the day
you'd have, and I'm I'm luckyenough to know people that were
I've seen people that theyweren't even a million dollar
store, and they went to amillion, a million and a half,
two, and you know, they'veprogressed, which that in and of
itself to manage I most peoplewill get to it back in the day,
we'd get to a million and theywould either it would just blow

(31:11):
up, you know, and they'd go backdown, or they'd keep going, or
they'd promote them to aregional and then they'd have to
let them go in a month becausethey, you know, you know, that
was the what I learned the mostis you never I sometimes you
know there are people that'llthey just they want to be a
delivery driver.
And to have great deliverydrivers, oh my god, if I was a
manager, I'd hire my deliverydrivers first.

(31:34):
That's not being called.

SPEAKER_01 (31:35):
Well, you know, there's there's that point too,
because there's that point ofwhen do I stop becoming an
employee and I become a leader?
You know, you can say a manager,but really a manager is just
someone who tells other peoplethey they manage the day-to-day.
That's not really a leader.
A manager needs to be a leader.
And getting somebody from thehourly position to, and I'm just
saying that you could be, youknow, a salary or whatever, but
when you get an hourly positionto a leadership position,

(31:57):
they're not the same.
You're not built the same.
And you know that you've beeninto hundreds of different
stores, which again, I alwayssee you on the circuit as in,
you know, meeting of the minds,RTO World, the RDAs, I see in
the big events.
I never really knew that youspent so much time in individual
locations.
How if you had to guess, if youhad to put a finger on it, how

(32:18):
how many stores would you sayyou've actually been in?

SPEAKER_00 (32:21):
Oh probably Tony Dawnson could tell you about
thousands.
I mean, uh, you know, I've beenat, you know, I've been in, I
used to go see probably ahundred, a hundred stores for,
you know, four times a year.
That was, you know, real way.
And then we saw buddies, andthen we saw, you know, I
probably was in show plates orcountryside or and there were so

(32:42):
many that were, you know, uh severywhere.
I mean, if there was a timewhere they action home choice,
they all kind of started, youknow, acquiring, you gotta make
sure your receivables were inline because you never really
knew where to collect yourmoney.
You know, it changed departmentsand then yolly, thousands.
I mean, I've been in well, andin some stores I've been in

(33:04):
multiple times, but yeah, andmanagers, man, I'm telling you,
that was that was a great MarkRay used to with Leopard.
He was a manager regional.
Greg Skinner was an incredibleregional, you know, Ron Taylor.

SPEAKER_01 (33:19):
Yeah, I didn't know he was an operator until one day
we sat down and had aconversation, and I did not know
that.
It was amazing what you again,it's amazing what you find out
when you talk to some of thesepeople.

SPEAKER_00 (33:28):
All these people, you you did show place, Joe
Adams.
I've known him for 30 years.
He was a great regional.
Uh Homberger was an anomaly.
He's another great, you know,he's like Tiss It and Gary and
all that.
They're just, you know, I mean,always Todd was always God, I've
known him forever.
We used to go on a ski trip withall of his great Chris Caprio.

(33:50):
Um, Schuler was Premier.
I mean, there's just there areso many good people in our, you
know, great managers.
And now you see that we'rethey're owners or they were
regionals and now they'reowners.
Yeah.
And it's tough to go from that.

SPEAKER_01 (34:04):
Yeah, Anthony, he's pulling all these names out.
No, no, Anthony's like, I haveno idea.
These are legendary names intone that he's talking about
that we go back years and yearsand years.
And he's, I mean, Hombergeractually had to uh, you know, I
actually connected with him onsocial media not that long ago,
and it's just nice to see himagain after all, you know, after
everything.
I didn't really get to know him.
I knew him in passing, but it's,you know, when you mention these

(34:25):
names.
He's a good one.

SPEAKER_00 (34:26):
Jamie Slatten, he taught me a lot about product
back in the day.
I mean, golly, he was one of theguys when I was young, I used to
be, I mean, I was just I was notas outgoing as I was now.
And I remember, you know, therewere some big personalities in
the rent owned industry.
And I remember if you you know,I always wanted to hang around
Jamie because he would tell youanything.
You know, he was and he wasfunny.

(34:47):
And him and Robbie were so closeand and slats back in the day,
which I didn't really get towork with him, but I mean, I
could I could hear him yellingat Jamie, but uh, you know, I
could, you know, you just didn'twant to get caught in that wave
of, you know, whatever.
Right, right.
But Jamie would teach you somuch about product and people,
you know, I mean, how to dealwith and just seeing them

(35:09):
interact with other reps.
You know, I always tell peoplenever judge a uh a vendor, you
know, if things are going well,my you know, a girl that was,
you know, a sophomore in highschool could do it.
But judge them by when thingsare going bad.
Because eventually things aregonna go wrong.
And when you call them and howthey handle it, I'm you you'll

(35:30):
never not find me.
You know, the buck stops withme.
I mean, I'm not gonna I'm nevergonna spend your money like I
mean, I'm gonna spend it likeit's mine.
You know, and I am tied if anyand I'm sure every and I'm never
gonna sell you all the time.
I mean, if you find somebodythat ever says, you know, Kevin,
you know, he was selling me onthe golf course or whatever,
sometimes I'll forget to sellyou.

(35:51):
I mean, I am that, you know, Imean, it's not, you know, and
I'm you know, but they'll buyfrom me eventually.
I think I knew Chisp for a longtime before I ever sold him
anything.
I thought I didn't want to messup the friendship.
It was going so well.
You know, didn't want to jackanything up.
So, and that's most Aaron.
I mean, you know, I mean, it'sit's definitely not about making

(36:12):
a dollar.
You gotta make a dollar, but itit's definitely not the end all
be all.

SPEAKER_01 (36:18):
You gotta you're gonna have to mark this,
Anthony.
This is one of those weird timeswhere somebody's gonna say, I am
a vendor, I sell to the dealers,and it's not about selling for
it.

SPEAKER_00 (36:25):
Yeah, it's definitely they'll tell you it's
not about selling for me.
I'm not really, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (36:29):
You're you you're figuring that part out.
Like, like you got it all downto a science.
No, never a sign.
You know what?

SPEAKER_00 (36:34):
But I mean, it's you know, it's weird.
I think the more I understandour business, our business has
gotten so much better about howthey make money.
You understand it so much.

SPEAKER_01 (36:43):
Well, we we had to be more efficient.
We've had to be more efficient,especially coming out of the
era.
I'm not even gonna call the Cera anymore, but you know, we've
gotten through it, we made itout alive, and we're still, you
know, I think we're still tryingto figure it all out because
everything went digital and alot of people stayed indoors.

SPEAKER_00 (36:57):
Everybody loves change up to about two weeks.
And then, you know, you go backto the the other way.
You know, we all love change.
It all sounds good when we leavethose training meetings and you
know think, oh, I'm gonna goback, and then two weeks into
it, you're like, eh, that'sreally kind of hard.
I'm gonna go the other wayagain.
Do it, and then you go back toanother one.
But we've done well.
I mean, i I think rent-one willalways be a people per seventy

(37:20):
percent of our new customers orwhatever come from our existing
customer base.
So you I think taught or I wouldsay they do.
I mean, I'm not saying that'sthe number, but uh if I had to
guess, I would say that's thenumber.
And somebody may have told methat, but you're gonna you gotta
still be a the AI and all thatand how you email and text, you
know, it's a little overwhelmingto our customers sometimes.

(37:42):
I think you got you still haveto be that guy that participates
and then you know goes to thethe events in your area and goes
out and knocks on a few doors,does some in-home visits to
their top 10%.
You know, if you're wanting togrow.

SPEAKER_01 (37:55):
I mean, well, I can tell you, you know what's funny?
Uh just recently, um CharlesSmith herman, uh the CEO of
April, he does this this webinarthing.
You know, April does have awebinar, and he had one very
recently about AI and theinformation on that.
And it was just absolutelymind-blowing some of the
information and some of thefacts that he was putting out
there.
And I gotta say, April, greatjob on doing that, but wow,

(38:17):
there was just some informationon there about the the
differences between how thingsare going and where they're
going and the the amount ofgenerations that we have now,
right?
And the difference between theeldest generation and Gen Z
right now.
It's completely, or I should sayalmost Gen Alpha right now.
It's just getting to the pointwhere it's like it's night and
day, they handle things, theylook at things, and they do

(38:38):
things not you know different.
Going back to 2005, you know,talking about new things, you
you brought up some stuff.
You brought up mowers.
I didn't even I forgot all aboutmowers and when they first came
out.
You were talking about that andhow that that came out.
How did that impact you when youI mean you brought it up?
Uh Gary and Tissett were doingthat, and you kind of made that

(38:58):
connection in in certain ways.

SPEAKER_00 (39:00):
And I actually found uh the uh because I was like,
you know, it was amazing.
You see these things, you justtake it for granted everybody's
doing them.
You know, and I'm not even surethe brand didn't even I mean it
wasn't like you know, whatever.
It was like a brand I'd neverheard of.
And so I went back and pulledflyers from different areas or
what and he's right.
I mean, actually the Ohio area,it seemed like they were I mean,

(39:23):
the front page of that wasjewelry and mowers.
So they were so far ahead of theyou know, the other groups.
And yeah, I mean, they were, youknow, but Gary's super smart.
I know Mr.
Tissett was like a Daryl, the Ialways called him Mr.
Tissett, but like Mr.
Carico always called him Mr.
You just feel, you know, I meanyou they deserve it, you know.

(39:47):
So that's another way that kindof I learned a lot from Joe, but
you know, they were so farahead.
It's really they're willing totake the chance, you know.
I mean, our customers, you know,we customers want to pay.
I mean, we couldn't stay inbusiness if they didn't.
I mean, now there might be someto get.
I always tell people if you'vegot a credit problem in the

(40:09):
store, it already was there.
You know, it's not becausesomebody quit paying or
whatever, you know, they didn'twant to collect their five and
do their calls and verify theaddress.
If you do all that stuff, Imean, I could probably collect
on them.
I mean, usually we cause thecredit issues.
We make a good customer bad, andand they were willing to take a
chance and do some stuff.
I think there's still an outer,you know, a lot more you could

(40:32):
do in our industry.
I mean, I mean if I can see it,I know there is.
I mean, I'm not that big.

SPEAKER_01 (40:39):
Well, you know, I think about all the time.
Yeah, we we talk about all thetime.
You know, especially uh whenwe're in the doing the green
room and some stuff, andsometimes we're you know in
meetings and we come up withthese ideas.
Like there's a lot out there,and there's there there's some
needs in the RTO industry.
There's no doubt about that.
We got to catch up on certainthings.
But you know, you've Kevin, youalways seem like somebody who's
looking out for the new, right?
You you you were you started inone place, you were able to see

(41:01):
trends, you've gone out, you'vedone training, you've done
loans, you've gotten kind ofyou're you're doing comparisons,
you're meeting a ton of people,which you have that kind of
personality about you thatyou're like, hey, I you know,
I'm gonna meet some.
Just so you know, Anthony.
I actually met Kevin at our RTOWorld in Tampa.
Didn't know Kevin from anything,but he heard about the show and
he pulled me over and he's like,hey, I'm gonna introduce you to

(41:22):
some people.
And goodness gracious, if I I ifit didn't make a difference, I
do I've always appreciated thatI've ever told you that, but
I've always appreciated that umbecause I really didn't know a
lot of people in the room atthat particular point in time.
Um, I was basically like aFlorida native at that time.
I knew everybody in Florida andthat was it.
And this introduced me to awhole different world of a whole
different gamut of people thatthey weren't going to the RDA,

(41:42):
right?
You know, Florida, our rentaldealer association to me was
like, that was it.
And uh so getting to see allthese people, and you know, you
helped me out, and I saw I met afew people then that I actually
still talk to to this day, so Ido appreciate that.
But one of the first listeners,one of the avid listeners of the
RTO show was right here, so Iappreciate that.
Seeing the new trends, right?
That's what I'm talking about.
Like he sees those trends.

(42:03):
You've always kind of been onthe edge of that to see
something new coming.
So, how did you get into rightnow?
We're like 2010, something inthere, you know.
How do you get into the king ofpromotions?
Where did that come from fromyour background?
Because you're meeting the bigguys, you're on the field, you
know.
Let me rephrase that.
You're on the golf course andmeeting all these wonderful

(42:23):
people.
You change over to do somethingelse, and now you're you know,
you're you're going into stores,you're doing payday loans,
you're doing all this kind ofstuff, you you get involved in
the RTO stores, and then out ofthat, the king of promotions
starts up.
And and you and Robbie now arestarting to do it.

SPEAKER_00 (42:40):
Well, we were always we did jewelry and that, but so
is it was funny.
So, John Blair, he was, youknow, I've all John Blair's a
great guy.
I'll never be able to.
I love John Blair.

SPEAKER_01 (42:50):
I love John, I love you.

SPEAKER_00 (42:52):
I used to hang out with him all the time.
He literally, me, him andRobbie.
I mean, we were, you know, I'msurprised we didn't get him
fired.
I always tell Charles the sameway, Smetherman.
He needs to cut us loose.
We'll end up getting him can.
But he uh, you know, but we welove Charles.
With Dennis, I said we couldn'tbe luckier.
If you it's come work with me inthe jewelry side for a while,
you will so appreciate ourindustry.

(43:14):
I mean, the jewelry side is sodifferent than, you know, it's a
bunch of butts.
I mean, it's a very tough, toughthing.
But so anyway, so John andRobbie were at Western, I think
Western finance.
And they went went to this, theywere having a meeting doing the
jewelry thing, and um, I believeit was Western, and then they're

(43:35):
they went there and they weresorting out all this swag, hats,
whatever.
And John said, you know, whatare you doing this for?
And they said, Well, it's ourcustomer appreciation event.
And and I think he he said, Ohyeah.
He goes, Well, if we could sellthose a dollar cheaper, would
you buy 'em from us.
And needless to say, he calledback and you know, we went to

(43:56):
work and uh and he we definitelycan make them a dollar cheaper.
And then I've actually had apretty good talent for the
promotional stuff.
I had a pretty creative mind.
I can make I mean, youliterally, if you called me
tomorrow and said, hey, I needto make a car for, you know,
$17,000 or whatever, I can makeit for you.

(44:16):
I mean, I literally think I canmake anything.
I've made everything once.
And, you know, I mean Anthony,we're gonna get a bunch of calls
from people.

SPEAKER_01 (44:24):
I don't know if I can figure it out.

SPEAKER_00 (44:25):
I told somebody who said, you know, I understand why
everybody went into bettingbecause literally I can make if
you give me the specs, I canmake it cheaper and everybody
else.
I mean, it's just one of thosethings, you know, you just you
get good at making and creating.
And and and and the with thepromotional stuff, I think the
one thing that I saw was thatpeople bought a lot of stuff,

(44:47):
but sometimes maybe it didn'thave an exact purpose.
You know, it came in and itmaybe it said or you just gave
it out and whatever.
So I created a lot oforganization type to it.
You know, we developed websiteswhere you could, you know, you
allocated the expense and youknew what it was coming for, and
it came with packing sheets andyou know, you knew what event

(45:09):
and and and cost was a littleout of whack in our um in our
group.
I mean, I you know, the peoplethat I mean not to say that, you
know, the I've heard the the guythat we compete against on here
and they're super sharp, makegreat stuff.
I mean it but you know, I justthought, well, we could do it

(45:29):
all a little better.
And and and we we worked hard atit, you know, to you know, uh we
have got two facilities we workwith here and we literally can
make anything.
I think today I just po I posteda challenge key, not a coin, an
actual key that was logoed andyou know, I mean, so but it

(45:51):
would fit in your pocket.
So, you know, somebody said, Canyou do a key?
And I was like, Oh yeah, noproblem.
I can do a key.
I've never done a key before.
And like the sound boost thatyou put the speakers in that uh,
you know, they wanted a booth todisplay their speakers.
And I said, you know, it'd bebetter if it had lights and it
kind of coordinated with themusic.
And I never made those.
I mean, literally I had to getthem to put them together

(46:14):
instead of paper instructions.
So in these jewelry cases, I waslike, oh yeah, I can make
displays, no problem.
I can bring them and all this,you know, lifestyle stuff.
I said, I can do all that, noworries.
And we you know, we happen to bereally good at it.
You know, me and Robbie, we teamgood together on that.
You know, we and and you know,it's we try to make it right and

(46:35):
we try to make uh you know thething about promotions and all
that is you wanna do them, getthem in place, and then you
don't wanna you shouldn't haveto worry about it.
It should just happen.
You know, if you place an orderfor apparel, it should just
come, you know, I mean, and youshould get to wear it on day
whatever.
You know, you shouldn't have tocall four times.
I mean, and I think I think mostpeople subbed a lot of it out.

(46:58):
So that made it and so weeliminated that and just really
focused on, you know, and makingit and you know, you don't want
it to be you know, we you wantpeople to put more in it because
we need our industry to dobetter.
You know, that's one of theother things I learned too is we
all need to do well.
We're still a really smallsector.
We all have to do great.

(47:18):
Now you may want to do a littlebetter, but we all need to do
well.
And I'm not good at keeping asecret.
So if you ever tell me a secreton something good that you do,
I'm sharing it with everybody.

SPEAKER_02 (47:30):
Well, we know ahead of time if you give him that
modern one, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (47:33):
I'm not, I suck at the secret thing because I mean
if it's exciting and new, youreally, and I think Mike taught
me that to say, I mean, heshares everything, and I never
I've never seen that before.
Where and Gary and and Keith andAaron, they share everything.
You share everything.
The show is an anomaly.
I'm trying in my mindset.

SPEAKER_01 (47:53):
Well, we're trying to do that.
Hey everyone, it's Pete Chowhere from the RTO Show podcast,
and I want to tell you about acompany that's making a real
difference in the rent-to-ownedspace, WoW brands.
I've seen firsthand how theyapproach marketing.
Let me tell you, it's not justabout ads.
WoW brands build completedigital ecosystems designed
specifically for therent-to-owned industry.

(48:14):
Their e-commerce and leadgeneration strategies are built
to bring qualified leads.
Did I mention that they areactively working with the
rent-to-owned industry whilealso being members of April and
Trib?
Listen, these folks arepassionate problem solvers.
They don't just slap somethingtogether, they design, build,
and scale the kind of digitalretail tools your business
needs.

(48:34):
Your customers actually want.
So if you're serious aboutgrowing, reach out to WoWBrands
at WoWBrands.com.
I trust them, and I think youwill too.
Talking about that, because I'mglad you're saying that, I'm
glad you're talking aboutsharing, because you have it
apparently a lot more than Iknew.
You have a lot of experiencefrom a lot of different areas.
Going into being king ofpromotions and and really having

(48:55):
to, you know, a master.
You know, uh uh when you'retalking about somebody who has
to do a lot, right?
So I've I've done quite a bit,and I I don't think I've
mastered anything, right?
So they say that you know, as asyou go along, um you've mastered
a lot more than you think.

SPEAKER_00 (49:14):
You've done, but you're you're you've been
really.

SPEAKER_01 (49:16):
I've tried.
I've tried.
I had to bring guys in so that Icould do, you know, do it right.
But like as you move on, youknow, you get to do a lot of
things very well, but you don'tmaster them because you know you
you just have to be a jack ofall trades and a master of none.
And so it sounds like you you'vereally put your your finger on
that heartbeat and really havebeen able to ride that for years
now.
I mean, we're talking aboutyears.
What if you're talking tosomebody right now, they're

(49:38):
coming into the rent-ownedindustry, now you're you're
you're doing it from a vendorside, and they're saying, hey,
like I'm a new vendor, becauseI've seen people come to some of
our shows and they don't last ayear or two for whatever reason.
You know, what is some advice,some secret sauce from Kevin
Silvers, who's been doing thisfor years, and you know every
name in the business, you'veseen them all.
What is some advice you wouldgive to say you want some

(50:00):
longevity, you need to do this?

SPEAKER_00 (50:02):
You know, I think the I think to be to do well in
our industry, you you you can'ttake it if somebody tells you
no, take it very gracious.
You know, I mean, God,everybody's told me no in our
industry at one time or another.
Because I mean, that's just theway it is.
And I think if you stick andyou're you're genuine and you
care, and you know, and you'reand you're selling something of

(50:25):
value, I mean, and you show themhow it makes a little money,
you're gonna eventually besuccessful and get to know them.
I mean, I could tell I couldprobably tell you something
about everybody in our industry,whether it's Lynn Lynch and his
dog, or Gary, and you know, hemarried the greatest lady in the
world and chits it and his dadand his mom.
Don't let Mike tell you hisbusiness mind is like his

(50:47):
mother's and his dad he's gothis dad's heart.
So that it's reverse.
He always says that, but his dadwas sharp too.
But I think you have to learn alittle bit of something about
everybody before you shouldnever sell anybody before you
know them.
You know, I mean that's reallyunless you just have some tires.
I mean, if I had tires, I mean,you know, it's got a I know

(51:08):
nothing about automotives, butif it's got like a 50 mile,
thousand mile thing or whatever,you probably can put them up
there and, you know, JonathanRowe's probably gonna buy them
and you know, I mean, but unlessyou, you know, most of the
things we do, our products alittle, you know, it's a little
it comes from distributors a lotof times, sometimes it's
straight from the manufacturer.
I think it's you know, you justgotta learn a little bit before

(51:30):
you start selling, you know.
Everybody thinks their product'sthe greatest, but you know, it
it's probably not the greatest.
I mean, it's good.
You know, it's solid and youknow, it's got a lot of value,
but there's probably a likeproducts out there.
I mean, you know, that are justas good.

SPEAKER_01 (51:47):
So would you say come and mingle, meet everybody,
talk first, get the get to knowthem?

SPEAKER_00 (51:52):
You can't get frustrated, you know.
I mean and they ought to uh uh Ithink I made the suggestion to
somebody I said at these shows,maybe they position a you know,
a new vendor with an old vendor.
You know, I mean if you canstand the noise, because we're
extremely loud, but I mean ifyou can you might put one an old
with a new and maybe you knowkind of pardon them partner them

(52:14):
up a little bit.
That would be I think that wouldprobably be good for new members
also, kind of partner them up.
I mean, y'all do that a lot,help each other out.
Vendors were not as friendly asy'all are.

SPEAKER_01 (52:26):
Talking about that, you know, uh LedgeCon is coming
up now uh in April, and theyactually have the fellows
program to do just that.
They stick some of the new guyswith some of us who've done it
before so that we have theability to kind of take them
along with us, which is anamazing ride.
Uh, and I love that that part ofit.
You know, you said and and youact like it.
So I'm gonna I'm gonna say this.

(52:46):
You put on here that you neversaw it as work and you've always
loved the people.
Is is that why is is that whyit's it it feels like it's so
flowy because you just you lovewhat you do.

SPEAKER_00 (52:56):
I think I love the people.
You know, I mean, I've beenlucky.
I mean, I you know, I I I'm aman that would tell you if I
loved you, I love you.
I mean, I love you, Pete.
I hope you have a great day.
I mean, I I'm just that way.
I mean, you know, and I I I lovethem all.
I mean, I can't think of anybodyI don't like.
You know, somebody told me onetime though, I like everybody,

(53:17):
but you know, they could hit mewith their card, I'd still
probably like them.
But I mean it, you know, you butit's true.
I mean, everybody has some greatstuff about them.
You just gotta let them show youa little bit.
Everybody has the ability to be,you know, I always tell people
the harder in our industry or inlife, it's easy to be a great

(53:38):
person when everybody'swatching.
You know, when nobody'swatching.
You know, can people tend to notbe as great, but in our
industry, when they're notwatching, they're awesome.
And I mean, if I told you allthe great things these people
did, first of all, they'd neverbe my friends again, and they
probably never tell me, but theydo some incredible stuff.

(53:59):
I mean, and help so many people.

SPEAKER_01 (54:02):
Well, you know who's really good at doing things
outside and in the community.
John Cleek and the Cleeks do anamazing job in their community.
And I'm not gonna take it awayfrom anybody else.
I'm not saying that nobody elsedoes it, but they are they are
they are always doing somethingfor their community.
Uh, they always have it anevent, and John is never shy of
calling people and hey, you needto support this.

(54:23):
Come on down, come see what wedo for our community.
Does an amazing job of that?
So, John Cleek Jr., we doappreciate that.
I know that you know the cliquesare always doing something about
that.
Um, talking about recognition,talking about recognition, 2019
Trip Vendor of the Year, 2020John Blair Hall of Honor, and
then the first recipient of thecountryside vendor of the year

(54:46):
in 2020 for countryside rentown.
Talk to me.
You you you've been doing it fora while, and somebody says,
Kevin, you you made it.
You have arrived.
Here you go.

SPEAKER_00 (54:57):
I mean, if they've given it to somebody else, I
don't know, but that was prettycool.
You know, I mean, you know,Mike's been in crowd.
I mean, I can't imagine a betterfriend.
But he is, I mean, him and Rob,I mean, they're, you know, he
just guy and that meant a lot tome.
And getting the, you know, thevendor thing, but I'm not big on
awards.
In fact, but I but everybody Ithink I I enjoy when the people

(55:21):
that give them, that is reallywhat you enjoy.
Not as much the award.
Because they, you know, you justlook at them and you're like,
man, they really appreciate it.
You know, I mean, they careabout you.
And most people when they getget an award, it's not as much
about what they do, it's thatthe people care about them.
And uh they appreciate it, youknow.
I mean, because most of thosevendors that win, I'm sure in

(55:44):
2019, I jacked up a lot.
You know, I mean, it was 2020.
I did too.
So, I mean, but I would say onthe whole, i you know, sometimes
it's all uh it's more about theeffort than it is what you
accomplish.

SPEAKER_01 (55:59):
I mean, which is well, you know, I think it's
definitely a a a team.
You know, I love being involvedin a team.
I love being involved in peopleand everybody coming up
together.
That's always been my thing.
I'm not I'm the same way.
I don't really care about theaward.
I care about everybody beingbetter, I care about the
industry being better.
I care about if anybody gets onething out of any one of these
shows that makes them better.
I'm happy with that.

(56:20):
You know, talking about some ofthe Legends series, if you you
know Mike Tissett was on theshow very recently talking about
his father, and there was acouple moments and he got a
little choked up because I meanhe really cares about his
father, and there's there's alot of love in there.
A lot like that.
John Cleek Jr.
was doing the same thing.
We're gonna have some more ofthe legends come out before it's
all over with, before LeggeCon.

(56:41):
And if you guys want somethinggood to listen to, you gotta
listen to that.
But you know, you mentioned youmentioned Mike a lot.
Mike actually did a lot for theshow as well.
He was one of the people thatactually first came on and did
the first one of the firstinterviews that really went out
there and and you know, kind ofgot a lot of people involved,
just like yourself coming outand saying, Hey, let me
introduce you to some people.
So I really appreciate that fromyou and from Mike.

(57:02):
You know, going into the lastleg of this, there was a couple
of things that I put on here.
I'm just telling you now, I'mgonna put you in the hot seat
and ask you some questions.

SPEAKER_00 (57:09):
You're asked me to go.
They're not that crazy.
I want to ask you.
Like I said, I don't have theability to lie anyway, so I'm
good.

SPEAKER_01 (57:16):
All right.
So, most famous golfer that youever met in life.
Oh, Jack Nicholas.
Jack Nicholas.

SPEAKER_00 (57:22):
Yeah, I met him at the honors course uh when his uh
Gary Nicholas was playing, Ithink, in the Southern Amateur.
Jack Nicholas is the mostgracious human being.
I mean, you know, Jack Nicholaswas the only athlete to ever dot
the eye in the Ohio Statemarching band.
Okay, you know, when they marchout and they dot the eye, you
know.
I think the only athlete that'sever done it.

SPEAKER_01 (57:45):
That's awesome.
Okay.
Question off the scene What isthe most famous golfer that you
ever met and disliked?

SPEAKER_00 (57:53):
Oh, uh, Charles Howe the Third.
I think it was Charles Howe, theuh little skinny one.
He was not very nice.

SPEAKER_01 (58:01):
You know, I don't I don't I don't know.
Now you're gonna make me lookhim up.
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (58:04):
He was a good player to still do.
I think he plays on the seniortour now, but yeah, I think it's
Charles Howe the third.
Yeah, he was not nice.
He was he was not nice.
Daly was great, but he wasalways drinking then.

SPEAKER_01 (58:15):
So you've been to a lot of stores.
You've you've shown up, you'veseen things.
What is the craziest thingyou've ever seen when you popped
in on a store?

SPEAKER_00 (58:24):
Oh my god.
Yeah, I don't know if I'd wantto say it.
I've seen some fist fights, andyou know, I mean, I've seen some
wild stuff, yeah.
No, I've seen some crazy stuff.
I've seen alligators in stores.
I mean, I mean, yeah.
Oh wow I've seen uh yeah, Iwon't even tell you which store
had the alligator, because youknow, you would know.
But yeah, I've seen some wildstuff.

(58:45):
I've seen people, yeah, I'veseen some crazy stuff.
I've seen I've come up and I'vebeen I went to one of Jamie's
stores, uh Buddy store one time,and we got there early and and
the truck was parked in theparking lot and the whole top
was ripped off, you know, likeit been peeled off like a thing,
and I guess they hit a bridgething or something, and we text
him a picture, and he takes usback that that truck was new.

(59:09):
So yeah, I've seen some wildstuff.
But I mean, I think that's Idon't, but that's not a
negative.
I mean, that happens in everyevery industry.
If I told you things that happenin my company, you would be, you
know, I mean, holy crap, I'vehad some weird stuff happen.
I like it now though, becausethey have the camera and they
always say, I don't think we canmake it, and then they still hit

(59:31):
the, you know.
I mean, you think you would stopwhen they say, I don't think we
can make it, and they still hitit and knock the knock the top.

SPEAKER_01 (59:39):
Well, you know, the I'm telling you, rent own has
the highest uh you know rates asfar as insurance.
I always have.
Oh, and I'm a terrible driver.

SPEAKER_00 (59:46):
Never ride with me.
I'm a terrible driver.
No, I'll just throw that outthere.
I'm the worst driver in theworld.
Yeah, I've got a ticket to everyI have about nine or ten points
every year.
I'm lucky I haven't lost mylicense.

SPEAKER_01 (59:59):
Oh my gosh.
Uh wow.
I we gotta talk about that oneday.
There's there's there's athere's a big history there.
Um, besides the RTO revolution,what is the best book on RTO or
business that, you know, or bestbook for RTO or business that
you've read in the last 12months?

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:17):
Oh, wow.
Uh well, it's not a lot aboutthe you know, the RTO.
Uh I mean, specifically, I likethe Let Them was a great book.
I read that one.
I mean, I mean, you know, Ithink in our world we take and
rent to own, you take a lothome.
You know, you can't leave it,and you know, you can teach and

(01:00:39):
do and develop, you know, buteventually you have to put them
within the guardrails andlet 'em drive down the highway.
And I think a lot of times we ifthey fail, it's like we've
personally failed.
I mean, you can evaluate howyou've taught or how you
communicate it to them, but inreality, I mean, I can no more,
you know, define how you do yourshow than a man in the moon.

(01:01:02):
I can give you suggestions thatI can help you, but if you
decide to do it, I gotta let youdo it.
I think that's one of the thingsI think that would be a good
one.
I think, you know, we you know,regionals, you know, when they
have a blow-up in a store, theytend to go to a store and run
it.
But in reality, that's not howit probably works.
And I'm not saying I definitelydon't know everything about rent

(01:01:23):
home, but I think you gotta, youknow, you gotta let people you
gotta let people succeed and letpeople fail.
So I think that's a good one.
But there I mean, God there's amillion good books.
I I just now read Shoe Dogbecause I am not a uh a sport,
you know, that I've been in theNike complex, you know, and and
you know, went there, snuck in,you know, somebody else's badge.

(01:01:47):
So I got a question for you.
You would get a kick out ofthis.
So what's the only statue theyhave inside the complex?
And they may have more now, butat Nike, which who do you think
it would be?
No, Steve Prefontaine, the greatdistance runner.
You know, it was out of Oregon,Coos I think Coos Bay or
something, you know.
That's the only statue they had.

(01:02:08):
Until we got kicked out, it wasa really cool place.
I mean, it was, you know, Imean, we've been every Turner
Broadcasting.
I've been a million differentplaces that we shouldn't have
been, you know.
We just keep on.
If you act like you're supposedto be there, nobody ever asks
you if you should be there.

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:22):
Most most people mess don't mess with you.
Last questions I I got.
Favorite trib meeting of themind location.

SPEAKER_00 (01:02:31):
Oh, that right.
Meeting of the mind trip.
Probably Atlanta, because I wonVendor of the Year, I think,
that year.
And me and Angela Strong, wetore one out.
Boy, and Mike, I remember that'sa drunk.
I don't even drink, that's thedrunkest I've ever been.
I don't even know if I attendedthe show.
Celebration time.
I don't even remember the show.

(01:02:51):
It took me like a month torecover.

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:54):
All right.
Where's the worst location youthink they've ever put it?

SPEAKER_00 (01:02:57):
Oh, um, I've never had a bad show.
I mean, so it would be very hardfor me to say.
I literally, every time I getthose surveys, I have great
shows, every show.
You literally, the place couldhave caught on fire and I would
have loved it.
I mean, you know, I mean, it Ilove see, I I love seeing
everybody.
I mean, Vegas is the mostexpensive, you know, and I mean

(01:03:21):
it's more of a Vegas, Vegas,yeah, I've heard of the It's a
challenge to get your stuff inand out and you know, whatever,
but I got the patience of Joe.
You could lose all my stuff, andI would still be comfortable
sitting in a chair and talkingto you in the booth.
So it wouldn't bother me.
If you're a good salesman, youdo that.
They would actually use great.
I believe that.
If they did, I mean, you shouldget a little sympathy buys right

(01:03:43):
there.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:43):
So well, Kevin, as usual, I thought that it would
be a great conversation.
And it has, listen, if you guyshave never, ever done business
with King of Promotions, yougotta call Kevin.
Kevin, if they want to dobusiness with King of Promotions
or you or whatever the case is,everything that you guys can get
your hold of, how would they getaway?

SPEAKER_00 (01:04:02):
Yeah, you'd be just call myself 423-400-1029, email,
call the trib office, callCharles, you know.
I mean, any of those.
I mean, I've known Charlesforever and Dennis forever.
So and you can call any tribmember and hopefully they would
give you a glowing report.
You know, if they didn't, theywere probably they're lying
because they've had a greatexperience.

(01:04:24):
No, no, I'm not.

SPEAKER_01 (01:04:26):
If you guys want to get a hold of Kevin Silvers or
Robbie Tyson, give them a shout.
You can go to the Meeting of theMinds and see them, or you could
just reach out to Trib.
Trib and April, they have his uhinformation.
You've got his cell phonenumber.
Reach out, make sure that youguys just support some of our
vendors in this business.
We do appreciate that.
And I would tell you guys, Iappreciate you guys supporting
the show.

(01:04:47):
You know that you can see us onFacebook, Instagram, LinkedIn,
YouTube where you're gonna seethis.
Make sure you go to the show'swebsite at
www.theartoshowpodcast.com, getsome swag, go on there, listen
to the show, find out someevents.
You also have the ability tosubscribe and make sure that you
hear us all the time.
You can hit me up at Pete at theRTO Showpodcast.com.
If you just want to talk, if youwant to say something about

(01:05:09):
Kevin, like, hey man, we lovethat bow tie and we want to know
if you're gonna have a class onhow to tie those things.
We can set that up for you.
Kevin Silvers, King ofPromotions.
I am really, really glad thatyou were able to make it on
today.
So much I learned about you.
That's why I love doing thisshow.
So many things that I didn'tknow you were a part of that now
I know.
Now everybody knows good or bad.

(01:05:30):
The RTO show.

SPEAKER_00 (01:05:32):
And hopefully we could do this again.
We should do this again.

SPEAKER_01 (01:05:35):
Well, just so you guys are aware, the RTO show
will be live in RTO World that'scoming down to West Palm Beach
in Florida.
And if you're around, maybe youhave a chance to show up and
talk a little bit to us.

SPEAKER_00 (01:05:46):
Oh, I would love to.
Anything.
I yeah, I'm open on this.
It definitely.
This is my format uh because Iliterally no buffer.
That's good.

SPEAKER_01 (01:05:53):
Well, what we're gonna do, just so you're aware,
and just so everybody is awarenow, we're actually gonna be
doing a hot mic during the show.
So we're actually going to havea live show and we're going to
do a hot mic.
So Anthony's going to be withme.
We're going to be going aroundand kind of introducing
ourselves to everybody thatalready knows us.
But we're going to say hi.
We're going to say hi on camera,including yourself.
We'll snag Robbie for a littlebit and kind of talk to him and

(01:06:14):
just get everybody involved.
And, you know, the show is soimportant to us.
We want to make sure that youguys know everything about rent
own and everything that's goingon.
Kevin, thank you for being onthe show today.
And I'm going to tell you guys,as always, get your collections
low to get your sales high.
Have a great one.

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Dateline NBC

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How Kevin Silvers Built Relationships Across the Rent to Own Industry

Joy 101 with Hoda Kotb