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"I was making people a lot of money," said Michael Gordon, one of the newest Premier Rental-Purchase dealers. A 13-year RTO veteran, he was a successful store manager for All American Rental in Denver. He had been fending off persistent requests from his friend and fellow RTO vet, Mitch Roads, to go into business together because, even though it made sense, "I was against it. I was very happy where I was," says Mike. But he didn't stand a chance against Mitch's years of sales experience, and Mike finally bought into the concept and agreed it could be a great move. That was in January. In June, Mike and Mitch opened their first store outside of Denver in Lakewood, Co. And they feel that will be just the beginning.
Their first steps were to answer an ad about Premier and get some preliminary information on business ownership as a Premier dealer - "even before I was ready to think about opening a business," says Mike. "Not long after we went to a TRIB meeting and noticed all these guys with Premier shirts. About two months later, we called Trooper and talked. It seemed like a huge stretch, but he didn't push. I thought about it more and more, talked it over with my wife and Mitch. I had plenty of family support and I put God first and got the confidence to do it."
All American Guys
Both Mike and Mitch had worked themselves up through the RTO ranks, from driver to collections to management for All American in Denver. Mike went from assistant store manager and account manager, building 1800 accounts all within the first two years. Two years later, as store manager he grew that number of accounts to 2200, averaging a record 250 deliveries a month for his company and running the lowest pick-ups in the company.
Sighting his main strength as being good with people, he recognizes that RTO is a service business. "I take care of customers and they take care of me," he says. "We don't put any pressure on them. We talk to them, talk to their kids. People buy from me because I take care of them. We work out problems. Everything is workable. Both Mitch and I feel that way. That's why we grew, because of the way we take care of customers."
Mitch had a six-year jump on the industry. He started working for All American in 1989. When Mike joined the company they became friends, and once they were managing stores, they shared notes, went out on pickups and learned the business together.
"It's hard to find people like us anymore," says Mitch. "We are old school RTO and live with the philosophy that it takes lots of hard work, lots of sales training." Mitch averaged 152 contracts a month over the 132 quota of his company. "I've built a large customer base that will come to us in our new store. I feel if you treat customers well, they will follow you."
While Mike admits he was happy where he was, Mitch always felt he wanted to do more. He felt early on that he would one day own his own RTO business.
"I had always wanted to do this - ever since I was in the business. I wanted to own a store. Mike was hesitant but I finally talked him into it. We now are looking to have multiple stores. Once this first gets launched, we'll start working on the second one within the year."
Launch
With 32 years of RTO experience between them, Mitch and Mike were the perfect candidates for business ownership. Once Mitch worked his sales magic on Mike and got him on board with the idea, they found Premier to be the answer. Taken with Trooper's easy going encouragement, they started the process and have been pleased at every turn.
"Trooper is the Michael Jordan of rent-to-own," says Mike. "I love the guy. When I first met him I wanted his autograph. He showed us each step of way. Despite my concerns that I didn't know what I needed to in order to run a business, he said, 'You already can rent and collect. I can show you the business side of it.'"
It sounded pretty good to Mitch and Mike. They had read up on Trooper and Premier as well as talked to other dealers. They were initially impressed by the support system all the way through set-up and on into operation. And as they got further into the process, they found other reasons to be very happy about their decision.
"The process went very smoothly," says Mike, "From the business plan to advertisement to lease negotiation, if you don't know how to do it, there is someone to show you how. The Premier philosophy is that anything is possible. I think a lot about that."
Just Say Yes
While the process and support is in place to enable an experienced RTO dealer to run with their business, there are times when it gets tough. Mitch and Mike's biggest challenge was getting their loan. "We went to several banks before one said yes," says Mike. We had a great business plan, and Trooper kept telling us it only takes one yes. We finally got that yes! We called Trooper and told him we got the one "yes" he had talked about. The next step was to find a location, so we called Premier's lease negotiator, and we have the best lease you could ask for. Everything from the business plan to human resources to the lease has been stellar. Help and support are just a phone call away."
Dealer Check Out
"Premier was a great help all the way along," says Mitch. For him the best part of getting started was the dealer "check out."
"We got to visit Mike Lewis's store in Indiana and see what an up-and-running operation looks like. We went through the dealer check out book with him to see step-by-step how you get a store ready to open, make vendor contacts, etc. It's a book that takes you from start-up to opening day and beyond."
"We go over everything from ordering paper, pens and pencils to purchasing merchandise to ordering phone service - everything from A-Z that new dealers need to know and do 90 days before they open," explains Mike Lewis, Premier's vice president of operations and owner of three stores in Indiana. "Everyone who goes through tells us it is a fantastic help. Not only do I go over nuts and bolts in the check-out guide, I can offer them my experience as a dealer and tell them what to do now and what to expect on down the road - what's going to happen a year from now, two years from now, when to expect business to turn. When they leave, I ask if there is anything they wanted to know that we didn't cover. They always say no. In fact they tell me we covered everything they thought about asking and more. As a result, we get very few calls after dealer check out - maybe three or four. It is phenomenal process that really takes them along the road to a successful store opening and, of course, beyond."
Mike and Mitch not only have 32 years of experience between them, they also have 750 pounds together. They want to be known as the big boys of RTO and enjoy thinking about the big challenge ahead of launching their multi-operational business and making Mitch's - and now big Mike's - big dream come true.
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