Overcoming Obstacles w/ Karen Martin

Everyday there are challenges to face and overcome. Not all situations are the same and in fact the only thing that makes them similar is the fact that they become obstacles on the road to success. Karen Martin has many years of multi-unit management under her belt and she is a master at overcoming obstacles. From labor shortages to long distances she brings insight on how to cope, manage, and overcome the day to day obstacles that can keep us just a few steps away from success.

Sponsored by: APRO, Vox-Pop-Uli, and Jeraud Marketing group

thertoshowpodcast.com

pete@thertoshowpodcast.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Hello and welcome to the RTO show, everybody. Thank you, RTO Nation, being with us today. I am your host, Pete Chow, on the RTO show. Today we are talking rent to own with Karen Martin, who is a regional manager for Buddies Home Furnishings at the Buddy Smack Holdings franchise in Missouri. And there is nobody better, I think, that can talk to us about overcoming obstacles and things that get in our way through the normal day than Karen. Karen, how are you doing today? What's been going on in Missouri?

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Hey, it's a beautiful day here in Missouri. I'm listening to the uh Locus talk outside. The Locust Invasion is here. But we're having a great time.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

The Locust Invasion has come. And I tell you what, on top of everything else, uh, there were fires in Florida. There's locusts out there. There's some dry spells going on in California. I mean, it's it's there's a lot going on right now. And uh, you know, when we start talking about those challenges and the things that come up around us in the world that are happening, and I should say, you know, let's let's talk about US only, but the things that happen, it's like, how do we get through those things and not allow them to stop us from being successful in what we're doing? And that's such an important part of what's going on right now because I don't care who says what, the economy's gonna play a role in it. There's something going on out there right now where you're seeing the real estate is taking a change, where you're seeing actual unemployment numbers starting to peep through, where you're seeing inflation really starting to play a role in what people can do with their day-to-day money. And then here we are, rent-to-owned, where we're trying to, we're trying to take everything that comes our way because we're so involved in the relationship with our with our customers that it plays in a role in how we perform as well. Right. And and I believe wholeheartedly that it's a mindset. And if there are anybody that has a great mindset on how to do this, I know it's you. So, Karen, for everybody out there in the RTO nation who doesn't really know who you are, a little bit about you. Give me a little history on your RTO industry knowledge and experiences and where you come from.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

Okay. Well, actually, I'm probably an anomaly. I haven't um spent my entire career in rent to own. You know, a lot of people will say I've been here 20 years, 30 years, 40 years. Um, not the case for me. I've only been around about 11, and um, most of my experience is just retail. I got out of college and uh worked for Foot Locker, then Sears Portrait Studios, and then I got into Rent to Own. So I've really just been in those industries. But what I found is they're all similar. You know, um rent to own to me is is not that different. It's it's about having the right people working for you and finding those people and then having those people treat your customers right. That was the same in any industry I've been in. So I feel like that's you know, uh carried through for my time here in Rent to Own. I I began in Rent One. I have mad respect for Larry Carico, Trenagan, and that group. And I came to Buddies a couple years ago, and I'm I'm absolutely loving it here. So, you know, I I tell my team like everything that's kind of changing in rent to own, just you know, take a deep breath. With those changes, usually brings more customers needing rent to own.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Well, I've I've heard from several people along the way in the history of my entirety of Rent to Own, and this is going to be my 19th year going on my 20th year. And what I always hear is that in times of trouble, RTO will flourish.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Right.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Now, I think the difference in this particular instance is that in the last 20 years, we had one big problem where, you know, in 2008, 2000, like the end of 2007, really, all the way to 2009, there was this big housing crash and a lot of things happened. But the inflationary problem wasn't there. And so now we have these issues where we didn't make bad loans, but people got accustomed to those 3.5s, those 3.25s. Some of them I've even heard as low as 2.7. You know, somebody was like, oh, you got a four, you got a 4.25% loan on your house. That's terrible.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

That's great.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

You know what I mean? That was an amazing number. Well, then they flip it, the money printing stops. And I'm not going to get into the politics of that. I'm just saying that coming out of COVID, there was a lot, there was a lot more monetary coming out as far as payments, as far as, you know, the incentive to buy. Now it's changed and now inflation's hit. So now the housing crisis is kind of, I wouldn't say crisis, the housing situation has slowed down. Now you have more people worried about food, drink, and getting through the day. So those couple together with the idea that there's a possibility where now I just read that Red Lobster is going to close down several, you know, like 80 locations. You have the Dollar Tree and Dollar Stores that are closing down several locations. Uh, I want to say I, you know, I I could I have to take a look at it. I'm gonna throw a number out there. I want to say it was a few hundred uh going on close to a thousand. When you see those numbers go up, those are the places where our people shop. And uh McDonald's has put up a quarter where they're losing, they're not hitting their projected. So then come back to Rent Own and you go, these are the grassroots people that keep those things alive. And if they're having those troubles, how do we get through it? And absolutely makes a difference in how we do it. And I know that recently some numbers came out and you had a great quarter. And when I say great, I'm not saying that you, you know, we can buy a state. What I'm saying is you came out on top because even despite what was going on around you, you were able to rally the troops. And I know that no region, no division is without its issues. You have your fair share, and yet you guys came out on top. You showed that despite what's going on, you have the ability to be on top. I mean, when you're talking about what's going on, how do you effectively manage a location from outside? You know, you're managing several locations. You have ten stores now, right? Right. And what what area do you cover?

SPEAKER_02 6:03

Uh mostly Missouri, and then I have one in Illinois.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

Real quick, the way that they are they are set up, are is there a big difference between Missouri and Illinois?

SPEAKER_02 6:13

Not really. No.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

So the laws are kind of the same, not really, nothing really big?

SPEAKER_02 6:17

No, not too, not too different.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

Thank God. How do you how do you effectively multi-unit manage a location that's suffering either from high turnover or low performance? I mean, how did you get in there and and do that so well?

SPEAKER_02 6:34

Well, I think the the first thing, like I said, is is the people that you have. So um I've definitely had turnover in positions and things like that, but I I rally my troops, uh, my strong GMs to mentor other GMs. I I definitely cannot do this all by myself and don't want to. So I make sure that I've got some people that love helping others, can help. You know, we're a big WhatsApp group. We use that in my area, and I don't want to be the one on that all the time. So I've got several GMs that kind of do the rallies for the day and cheering everybody on and keeping everybody pumped up. We use that a lot for inventory, you know, when we're needing things, we we put on there what we're needing. But trying to keep everybody um grounded with one bad day doesn't make the bad year. Now you don't want to have bad weeks upon bad weeks upon bad months, but we can all have a tough day. It happens. Um but if you're doing everything that you can, you know, you you've got to pat yourself on the back because it's tough out there. But um if they're shorthanded, it's really about helping them manage their day. I've got a lot of newer GMs, some that are new to rent to own, um, and just teaching them that, you know, whatever they're using, we have something called a DAP, a daily planner, that uh we plan out the day and and they really have to do that. But I think people like their day planned, you know, that are working for a GM. And so you they just have to plan it out because otherwise I can't get it all done. I'm too short-handed. You hear that a lot. And you can get it done. You just have to have a plan. So, when is the plan to run the credit? When is the plan to clean the appliances in the back? You have to write all that stuff down, and just teaching them that sometimes it's going in and not even just talking about today, but you plan out a couple weeks on that DAP of when these things are gonna get done. Um, teaching them to look ahead on a calendar, you know, like right now, you gotta be looking ahead that next Saturday is is a holiday weekend. So, you know, this whole week that we're in right now, we've got to be pushing credit down even lower than normal. So teaching them things like that to, you know, that's our job, I feel like, as a regional is to look ahead and help them plan. My teams, you know, I can have stores that'll loan people to other stores to help when they're shorthanded. Um, I've I've got a really great group of people that will help me do those things. But sometimes every single store is shorthanded. It's it's happened. And we just have to, you know, plan out our day and get done what we can get done. Start again tomorrow.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

How far are your stores spread apart?

SPEAKER_02 9:13

Um uh as far as for me, they're about four or five hours from one end to the other. So not bad. I'm home every night, which is great. Um, but some of my stores are within 15, 20 minutes of each other. Some are, you know, an hour and a half away from anybody else.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

So you know, something you said that really resonates with me because I I'm I'm a believer of it. I'm not as good at it as I need to be, uh, is managing also from the calendar and going, okay, we're not just managing for today. We're looking for tomorrow. We're looking for next week, we're looking for two weeks, we're looking for a month. And, you know, it could be the size of the event that resonates a larger or it just gives you a larger area to work with, right? So if you have a customer appreciation, you might want to start looking a month ahead versus something like a Mother's Day or Father's Day or a, you know, let's say Valentine's Day, where you're gonna probably start working two weeks out. And then you have smaller events that you could probably start the week of, but that is such a big thing to do. How important is that to manage from a calendar and really kind of make it make it an organized chaos?

SPEAKER_02 10:16

I I believe it's very important just because um it it depends a lot on what you're ordering, even for your inventory. I know I was looking, it's Father's Day coming up in I think four weeks maybe. Um so I'm looking at getting, you know, the recliners in and the grills and just things that dad would like and uh planning ahead for that. It was the same thing, Mother's Day. I got a few extra purses and things like that in the stores just so they could rent them. But um, yeah, the events, all the different events, you know, we we have big ones coming up, and you have to plan for that stuff, otherwise, they're not gonna be successful. And just trying to teach the team that because it it really does make a difference. I've always said having a background in retail, you know, I watch what your big retailers are putting in the ads and what they're selling because that's they know the trends and they know what customers are looking for. So you'll see certain times of year that they put mattresses out there, you know, big mattress months, um, those kind of things. So I I try to match those trends and make sure I have that same product in the stores because you know your your customers are seeing it, whether it's in ads or while they're out and about and and they're gonna want it and they need to use rent home.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

I'm not gonna lie, I have actually not done that. I like that idea. I'm gonna tell you right now, I'm stealing it. Looking to the big retailers and see what's going on around you. That's that's great. That's something to do in their neck of the woods, and and it can vary from northern states to southern states to Midwest states to where they have different things going on. You know, you've got your uh your your blue collar events that happen, and uh, it's good to stay in in touch with them and really grassrooted. I I love that idea. I actually never really thought about that, but I I need to do it more. Um but you know, you touched on the ordering for special events, and that is such a huge difference between being prepared and not prepared. Overcoming obstacles is definitely being able to say, I saw this coming. And being, you know, watching it unfold in front of you and knowing that you've seen it coming in a sense, not you know, you don't always see everything coming, but you know that the events, you know the big things that are happening. I mean, how much better can we be if we take a look at it and go, hey, the Super Bowl's happening here, hey, this is happening here, and and really forecast that. So you've got the stores and you've got people helping out. You're really kind of doing the foreshadowing, but you did something the other day that was not foreshadowed, or at least not huge, because you took an you took something that you had that wasn't working right and you made it work. And that was this huge 10 sale, but it wasn't exactly a normal 10 sale. What what happened in that? Can you explain a little bit to the listeners what exactly that you did that was a little bit different on this one and what you were selling or why you were selling it?

SPEAKER_02 13:00

So um, all of us have our older product that's been sitting a little too long. It's 90-day idle. And uh, I I had a little bit of an excess of it in my area in my stores, and I wasn't hitting my target for where I should be. And a lot of it was, oh, let's just say some things probably shouldn't have been bought. Um, some things that were broken, but not didn't really want to charge them off. You know, we could get something out of them. So just just kind of the product that just needed to go away. So um I brought in over, I believe it was 150 pieces of that into one location that had just a huge parking lot, and we just did a parking lot sale. That store is in a fantastic area with a ton of traffic. We did little to no um advertising. I think all we did was on Facebook. Um we knew we wouldn't need it, it was just in a fantastic area, and I picked a very busy weekend. So um, you know, the first and the thirds are always busy. People have money. Uh, it was right after some people got some tax money, and we just loaded up that parking lot and we had our buddies' banners everywhere and tents, and uh we just did a ton of cash sales, and we reduced by a hundred pieces in that two days. And again, I you know, I have to hats off to my team because it was a lot of work moving the product there. I needed help watching the parking lot, and a lot of these GMs worked six days that week just to make it happen because they knew it was helping their stores well. And yeah, we moved out a ton of that stuff, and and of course that helps us now. We were able to get more product, um, just helped us get rid of things that were just kind of sitting there and not making us any money anymore. So it was fantastic. I'll I don't hope to have to do that often, but we'll do it again if we have to.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

Well, you know, usually when we have a 10 sale, and I'm not saying that it's not used to get to to move some product uh that maybe is lingering a little bit, but to have a hundred pieces moved in or a hundred pieces plus moved in and then moved out, that's a lot for a weekend. Now, sometimes, usually when I hear 10 sale, it's usually, hey, we're gonna have two or three different locations that are gonna do something for their store, but to put the region together over a five-hour spread and say, hey, we're gonna, we're gonna manhandle all this stuff, bring it all over here, and then put some really good pricing on it, I mean, that is an effective way to move some product that isn't moving. Now, as the revenues go up, just a quick question, how do you handle that? How does so when you have different stores that are contributing with their product to this one location, who gets the benefit of that? And I and I totally agree that yes, I'm losing 90-day idol, so I shouldn't be worried about it. But then who gets the revenue product or the revenue byproduct of that?

SPEAKER_02 15:42

Well, we we spread it out between um the stores that really put in the most product. I would say out of out of 10 locations, there were five that it was, you know, quite a few came out of their stores. So we kind of spread it out there, but I gave I gave probably 60% of it to that store where we did it because that that GM worked his tail off. And really, you know, without him, it wouldn't have been the success that it was. So I gave him a big chunk of it, and then I spread it out over the other four that gave the most items. I felt that was fair. But really, my team, again, they they do so good being teamwork uh members that they were just, like you said, happy to get rid of some of the older stuff. You know, they were they were like, hey, don't worry about it. I'm I'm just happy to get this stuff out of here. Um, to the fact that I had several volunteering saying, Hey, can the next one be at my store? So yeah, that that was kind of cool that uh, you know, they saw the big picture.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Well, I mean, and that's that's part of the whole situation, right? Is to make sure that they understand what's really going on out there and the big picture plays such a huge role in it. Talking about the big picture, when you have when you when you're going through a multi-unit situation, when you have a region that's that's kind of suffering, let's say, we're just gonna pick one thing, but let's say it is employment, and as far as filling in a couple holes that we have, a couple of vacancies in some of our stores, that doesn't mean we don't have the need, but like you said, you want to make sure that you have the right people on your bus. You want to make sure you have the right people on a team that are gonna exemplify what it is that you want to do, the teamwork, the hard work, and people that are gonna want to learn to be successful. And that's not always an easy thing to do.

SPEAKER_02 17:16

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:17

So then how real is the conversation that you have with, let's say, a GM candidate or a new candidate coming aboard uh about what's going on with the location. And how does that how does that conversation work?

SPEAKER_02 17:32

So um anybody that knows me knows what you see is what you get. I am gonna be so honest with you. You've been on some calls with me. I'm I'm gonna tell it like it is.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

I do.

SPEAKER_02 17:43

And I'm I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, and I definitely don't want to for that new person coming in. I want them to know what they're walking into, if it's um having its issues with with, you know, there's other staff members that we need to fill the positions or if it's got high credit or anything like that. But the thing for me is before I bring somebody into that issue, I'm usually bringing in some of my team to help try to fix this stuff. I know we did this back in January in one of my locations. I brought all my GMs for a pseudo meeting, but the point was is we were learning and cleaning up a store for somebody else to take it over. Um, I, you know, we were going over different things that we do in audits, and a couple of the GMs were fixing that. A couple of the GMs were doing the inventory, you know, it just I try to make sure nobody walks into a complete disaster. That's just not fair to anybody. But I I let people know that I'm, you know, I I I want you to work when you're there. I want you to get the job done between the hours that were open and then go home and enjoy your family. You know, there's there's other things outside of what we do to earn our paychecks. And um, I it doesn't impress me to put in a 60, 70, 80 hour week. You know, you may have to do that right up front if there's some issues, but not for very long. You know, I I I definitely want people to have that balance in their lives because I, for the majority of my career, did not. And that's my own doing. I'm a I'm a self-proclaimed workaholic.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

I know.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

But um, um, you know, I just I've I've seen the mistakes I've made, so I try to make sure there I'm honest about what's going on in the store, but I'm gonna be there to help. But it's also shouldn't be a lingering six months later, we're still dealing with things. You know, I I want to be supportive enough, but also let them get in there and and get things accomplished on their own, um, using their team and and you know, getting things um done the way they need to get them done. I I don't want to just run the show. So I try to make sure that I really train the people and give them the support and give them a mentor other than me, you know, somebody else in the group that they can go to and and um you know, they can vent and it's okay. You know, we all have our days and they need somebody to vent. But I always try to preach to vent up, not down. Um, because the minute you do that, your whole team is, you know, now doesn't like the company or whatever, and and that doesn't do us any good.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

No.

SPEAKER_02 20:12

But uh but I'm I'm very I'm very very transparent on what they're walking into, especially I because I've hired some people that have no rent to own, and it can be a different bird, but I I absolutely love it. You know, no two days are the same. And that's to me what's exciting. I I had I don't think I've had a day where I've been bored in 11 years.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

I in rent's own, I feel like it's entirely impossible to uh for that to happen. Uh so when you're doing the process of looking at one of these stores, right? Now you have one of these stores, you're having direct conversation with a GM that's or coming in, or let's say, you know, other people that are gonna fill the shoes of things that we need done. How do you what is the way that you determine what is going on in the store? And I know a lot of people say a lot of different ways. You can go straight to the PLs. We actually had a PL meeting not that long ago. It was very insightful. Uh Doug McCallus had a great you know meeting on that.

SPEAKER_02 21:12

Love that guy.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

Great job. I mean, he really did a great job. Then you have the daily reports, pockets of information that come out and you know, and say, hey, this is what happened this week, this is what happened this month. Or do we sit down and do we talk to the staff? Where do you go? Where does Karen Martin say this is where I think to hurt to overcome this hurdle and find out where it is that I'm having the biggest issue? Is it a combination of all of them? Do we have that one of those cakes where we just kind of throw it all in, we bake the cake and then we just eat it one layer at a time? How does it work?

SPEAKER_02 21:43

It's a combination for me. Um, my office days, I really I'm a numbers person, so I love analyzing the numbers and seeing what the numbers are telling me. So I can take uh one of the reports, and you know, it might be I'm looking at an average per customer that's really low. And to me, I'm thinking to myself, I bet when I walk in there, I'm not going to see a lot of bundle package tags. You know, I'm just going to see a lot of individual tags. I'm I'm kind of putting the number with what process does that go with? And then um, yeah, I mean, I when I call a store, I don't necessarily always ask for the GM. Eventually I end up talking to the GM, but whoever answers the phone, I might ask him a few questions. And it really tells me a lot about that store and what kind of information it's getting to everybody. Um, I I do that a lot. I have different kinds of meetings. Like I just had an MA M MIT meeting this past week, and it was an eye-opener. I I talked about different things and they looked at me like, what are you talking about? So it tells me, okay, this is not getting down to them like I want it to. So um I do Zoom calls and Teams calls, if not weekly, almost weekly. Um, but then when I'm in the store too, I mean, I'm I'm one of those that when I'm there, I try not to grab my laptop. I am present. I I'll go into a store and somebody says, You can sit at my desk if you want. And I'm like, Oh, I don't sit. You'll never see me. I'm behind the counter, I'm on the floor, I'm moving. Um, so yeah, it keeps me very in tune. I hear the conversations with the customers, I hear the conversations on the phone. It it tells me why those numbers are what they are on that report. Sometimes those numbers aren't reflective, but most of the time they are. And uh then I just dig in. You can't fix everything overnight. So it's like usually when I'm going there, I already know the three things. I'm like, okay, I'm gonna work on this, this, and this. And I try to kind of focus on one area of each, you know, renting, you know, some part of sales, collecting, some part of the collections, and then just probably some part of the inner operations in general. Um, but sometimes if we're just way off in sales, the whole day is gonna really be about sales. Um if it's about credit, I spend a lot of time there. Um, but as Mike Skehan likes to teach us, it's gotta be the sandwich, sales, credit, sales. And um, because buddies is definitely about sales.

SPEAKER_00 24:02

Well, you know, there are so many problems that get cured with sales. That is a very, you know, if you have some good positive sales that are strong, verified, and core items that you know people really, really need, that can solve a lot of issues. Um, and and it's one of those things like I don't know how many I some people just don't realize how much it can solve. Whether you're having return problems, you overcome it with sales. Whether you're having a quiet day, you overcome it with sales. You need some ideal, or you know, we we're talking about you know, increasing a rental revs by making some sales, uh sales solves that. You know, if you have a couple charge off, sales solve that. Sales solve sales can solve a lot. So you're going through this, and I I mean, I'm just curious, because you overcome these things pretty well. You you're really blessed with the ability to kind of just focus in on something and like you said, be present, overcome it. You have a couple with different ways of approaching it, but what are some of the new things that we've seen recently that you've seen that we just haven't been dealing with? You've been doing it for 11 years. We haven't done in the first five years of your, let's say, tenureship, but now we see a little bit more of it than we have before. And I mean, what are you seeing coming that that we just didn't deal with?

SPEAKER_02 25:14

Uh my group is still struggling with um phone sales. You know, I I think since COVID and people weren't coming in, those kind of things, you just you don't see as many people face to face. And uh still just struggling with making that sale over the phone. Um, my meeting I had the other day, we called around and we did phone shops and we bombed them. We're just not doing good. And we even called some of our competition, they bombed them too. So it's like we're all still struggling with this. Um, you know, we still ask people to come into the store. Yeah, you want to come in and see that washer dryer? I I don't need to see a washer and dryer. Um, we're still saying I can send you pictures of a washer and dryer. Why? You know, instead of just, yeah, I've got some. Let me, you know, get you on the books. When can I get it delivered to you? We're just not closing fast enough. Um, and it is just kind of strange because a lot of my group that were there doing it is the younger generation that I thought would be better at it. Um, and they're still struggling with it. There, you know, but I think it's just what they've heard, you know, when they're in the store, somebody is saying, Hey, well, just come on in, we'll finish this up. So um we're we're just still struggling with that. I I and I was telling them as a group, I said, I don't even go shopping myself that much anymore. It's either comes to my house through Amazon or Walmart, or I just don't, I don't even get out that much. And I asked them, I said, where's the last place you've really gone and bought something you know significant, a TV or what? And a lot of them are like, No. So we all know it. We know people aren't you know coming in the door as much, but we're just not handling it as well. So it's something I'm just I'm just gonna keep pushing is is getting better at this, you know, getting the sale over the phone.

SPEAKER_00 27:02

So I've been talking to my guys, and one of the things that I've really noticed and I've come across is that I don't feel like the salesmanship is there, and I don't know because it's not the fact that we're not trying to please a customer in a sense that I want to give you as much information as I can if you really want it. What I feel like is they lose sight of the sale for acting better at the customer's needs, right? Uh, if you need this, oh yeah, sure, I'll send you a picture. If you want to sit on it, yeah, come on and sit on it. Yeah, you want a color, I'm gonna do everything I can to find a color. But the salesmanship goes out the window when they don't close the sale. Right. And so I was telling the guys earlier, uh, probably a couple weeks ago, listen, I appreciate the salesmanship in the sense that you're trying to give them the whole, I want to be there for you. But what we're missing is the sale and the salesmanship. And so what I want now is bulldogs. I want bulldogs. I don't really have this feeling like we've ever approached somebody so bad that they want to walk out the door. So maybe that's not what we maybe that's not our focus. And I think the bigger focus needs to be I want a bulldog. I want, and when I say that, I mean that in the best way possible, but I want somebody to clamp down and not let go until you've solidly answered the question. They don't want it right now. Right. That's what I want. I want you to ask every question, every single time, as many times as you can, so you get a solid, there is no way I'm buying that today.

unknown 28:34

Right.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

So just close the sale. Just close it. Just just close it. And you can say whatever you want to, just close it. And don't let them off the phone.

SPEAKER_02 28:42

Exactly. I I told him the other day, I said, if somebody is calling rent to own, they need it. They want it, they need it. They're not shot, you know. Some of mine said, What do we do when they say they're just looking? I don't know that I've ever heard that in 11 years. Anyone saying I'm just looking. But if if we can't make that sale, it's it's for three reasons, and I call it the three M's, is it's the money, the merchandise, or me. You know, they either don't have that money that you need, they don't you don't have the merchandise they want, or they don't like me. And and that's really it. So, and all those we can overcome. You know, and rent to own. The money we can, we know we can do whatever we need to do. Uh the merchandise, usually they need a refrigerator, they need a refrigerator. You know, is it a side-by-side, top, top-bottom, you know, French door? They need a refrigerator. Um, and if they don't like me, hey, I got Joe over here that can sell to you. You know, it's so make the sale.

SPEAKER_00 29:34

Well, you know, I because the challenges that come up, and I sometimes I feel like they're self-inflicted challenges. If we're overcoming objections and we're overcoming challenges, I think sometimes we put them at our own feet. And like you said, the need sometimes outweighs the specificity of the situation. I want a stainless steel side by side with an internal ice maker, and that's great. And that doesn't mean that I'm not going to work on getting that for you, but let's solve the need first. Right. You've got you the biggest part of the need is you've got food that needs to be cooled down so that you can save it for a later date, so that you can do things with your family, right? You're buying on Monday, but you're you're you're really taking care of it Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. And that's the important part. Let me solve the problem now. And then you know, we'll we'll get you the bells and whistles. That's an easy part, but it doesn't mean that it's you know it's right now. I I have seldom, and I say this and I can't even believe I'm saying this out loud as a someone in my 40s. I've gone car shopping and I seldom buy the car that I thought I really wanted.

SPEAKER_02 30:31

No, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 30:32

I end up going shopping and I'll buy the car for the right price, that has the right product, the right needs, the right warranty. And before I know it, I will get something that suits me better than what I thought I wanted because that was what I that was what was in my head. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 30:49

You know, and I'm driving one of those right now.

SPEAKER_00 30:51

So am I. And so, you know, and it's not that they they did a bad job, it's that they sold me what they had.

SPEAKER_02 30:58

Right.

SPEAKER_00 30:59

And I think that's so important for us to not forget that some of the challenges that we put in front of us are our own product in the making. Oh, well, we don't have it. Well, do we have fridges? We do. Do we have washing dryers? We do. We might not have the Samsung versus the LG or the Amana versus the you know the Whirlpool, but they all do one thing really well. They wash your clothes, and so you know, it and and sometimes I think we just forget that and what's going on. We kind of put these obstacles in front of us, and it's such a mental situation. And when you talk about when you're overcoming extreme obstacles, there's gotta be a point also where you've got to decompress. Like you said, you don't want them working 60, 70 hours, you've got to be able to do it between you know 45, 50 hours, whatever the case is. When you get to that breaking point, because this is also just as important as tackling a situation, is realizing sometimes you've taken on a lot and there is a point, there is a tipping point where you're just showing up. Right. In your opinion, what is the best way to decompress from the situation that you're in when you you've taken over a market, it's having a hard time? You got some GMs that are facing the problems that they got to uh, you know, overcome 90-day low sales, credits high, whatever the case is. But the other side of the coin is there has to be a way to let it go. What what do you find the best way is to decompress?

SPEAKER_02 32:19

Well, for me, um I I am standing here looking out over some lake water right now. So I am jealous. I'm jealous. Yes, I I I love coming to this lake house and just uh, whoo, I don't know what it is. It just brings your level of anxiety down. But yeah, not everybody can do that. And uh yeah, I didn't do that for many years. I think the first thing that we have to make sure is in this day and age of everything with mental health and all of those things, we we have to make sure that we listen to our people and we give some realistic expectations. So I I have a gentleman that took over a store that it's pretty much a mess as far as the credit. We we've had uh you know just issues that happened, not none of his fault, obviously, but had to give him some, hey, in in a couple weeks you're gonna be here, and a couple weeks from there you'll be here. But this is not gonna change overnight. And you cannot work six days a week, um, you know, 12, 14 hours a day. I I don't want you doing that. So I think just them knowing from me that that was not my expectation. And when I see it happening, because of course that's what he was trying to do, is uh is saying something and saying, I need you to go home. It'll be there tomorrow, you know. Um, but and everybody has to have something. I try to find out from people what it is they do when when they're away from work, and if they can't think of anything, they have no hobbies, no, that's never a good sign. And I was one of those people. I was one of those people in my 20s, 30s, even some of my 40s. And it took a pretty big health scare for me to go, wait a minute, what am I doing? Um, this is not what it's all about.

unknown 33:59

Right.

SPEAKER_02 34:00

So I try to make sure now um I'm I'm in my late 50s. Uh, I I've learned a few things. So I I try to tell these younger ones, and even some that aren't younger, that you you've got to have something outside of work that can help you bring that stress level down because your body is absorbing that, and and that's not good.

SPEAKER_00 34:19

Well, it's gonna affect the performance later on down the road.

SPEAKER_02 34:21

It does. It does. And you're resentful.

SPEAKER_00 34:24

Yeah, you you become that way. And something you said is also managing your expectations from a calendar as well. You know, not saying you're not gonna come in here and solve this in a day, you're not gonna close your credit in six hours, you're not gonna get every single sale that you've missed for the last two months and the next four hours. Uh, and that's a great way to look at it too. And when you manage your expectations from a calendar, that is also something that can be so beneficial. Hey, this is a time frame where you take this bite from here and you take this bite from here. And that's that's a good piece of advice. I'm glad that you brought that up.

SPEAKER_02 34:52

Yeah. But yeah, it's it's very important. You you've got to have something that you enjoy out outside of work. And and I think that's important for the people that work for you. You know, I I think sometimes a lot of us don't have people that want to be regional managers because they watch us and they're like, why would I want to do what you're doing? And and that's not good. Um, on the other hand, you know, I've I've had a lot of people that think, oh, I could do what she does, because maybe I make it look easy, but you don't know the stress I'm going through. Um you make it look too good, Karen. Yeah, so somewhere in between there. You get, you know, you want some people that want to do your job, and that usually comes from they see you balanced in your life.

SPEAKER_00 35:31

That is an extremely important point to make. And and if you guys are overcoming obstacles that are going on in your RTO world, you've got to remember that you need to have that balance. And, you know, we always called it the credit sales crunch, you know, it's you know, you rent and collect. And you also have to have that balance when you go in every single day that you know that's what you're doing. But then when you clock out, if you don't have as an intent situation at home as you do at work, it's gonna go crazy. And what I mean by that is if you're working hard at work, then you need to go home and you need to decompress just as hard. Spend the time with your family, watch the movies, enjoy your life, whatever it is, knit, sew, create, work on your car, skateboard, you know, surf, whatever it is you guys do out there, but you need to do it just as much. And that helps you overcome the obstacles. But what it does is it clears the mind. Yep. Not only that, it clears the body. And I really want everybody to understand right now in the RTO nation, if your mind is running a mile a minute, but your body is still, your body is still working. Your mind will control and manifest how you feel about things. And if your mind is going a mile a minute, if it's keeping you up at night, if you haven't been able to stop and walk away from it and literally walk away from it in a sense that mind, body, and soul, your mind will tire your body. There is no other way around it. And they are connected, you know, the two and one are definitely part of overcoming some of these obstacles. One of the things that I've noticed is that we are in a very unique time. And and and although you haven't been doing as long as I have, you've been in the work culture and the work business for years, and I know you've seen a lot. When we talk about that, what are some of the unique things, unique obstacles and hurdles that have come up in these last couple years that we really haven't had before? Not just, and I'm not just talking about inflation because that's that's a runaround. That'll happen from years, you know, it it happened in the early uh in the early part of the century, then it came back in the 70s, it's back now. It always comes back. But what are the unique things that we haven't seen that you've seen and go, yeah, this is a challenge that I've had to learn a new way to overcome?

SPEAKER_02 37:43

So I um actually just took one of my GMs the other day to uh Lowe's because we were talking about just competition. And you know, they were saying that I really don't have much competition. I don't have RTO in my town. And I was like, come on, let's go. And uh just went and showed them how you know Lowe's has different payment plans now. Um almost anything you order on the internet, there how many payments do you want to make this in? Yeah, that's basically rent to own. People are able to do these things um at all these other places, so it's not just is there uh you know, a buddy's a rent or an Aaron's a rent one in your town. It's what else are the other options? Um some mom and pop places. You know, we went to one of there was an appliance place in that town. We went there. Guess what? They're they're doing, you don't have to have credit, and they're doing different ways of being able to do business with them. And and this GM was not aware of all that. I'm like, this is your competition. Um, and of course, it's it's been out for several years, but marketplace. I mean, you can get on marketplace right now and get yourself a refrigerator or a bedroom set or you know, anything. So all those things, and just I think it's somehow in our minds we've we just compare ourselves to other rent-to-own, and now these these other options for people out there, and and they're taking advantage of it.

SPEAKER_00 39:04

I love that because that that is definitely a unique way of looking at it. We have I have been guilty of this for many a year too, and I will I will never say that has not crossed my mind that way is that my competition generally is other rent-to-owned locations, and nowadays that is not the case. Absolutely. I agree with you wholeheartedly. Yep. In these situations where we're talking about we have so much more competition. I thought we, I think we've always had that competition, but now I think the difference between then and now is because you know, we sell fridges, somebody else sell fridges. So they look at it like there is competition, but not really in the way we sell it. Now it's they have fridges, we have fridges, and it they're bridging the gap between the way we sell it and the way they sell it. How do we overcome that? How do you tell a region of, you know, the Karen Martin Nation, how do we overcome that?

SPEAKER_02 39:55

Well, I think you have to uh make sure that you understand all the advantages of rent own. You know, um, we can deliver it the same day. We don't charge for delivery, we service it while you have it. Um, we'll give you a loaner if something happens to it. All those advantages that you do not get if you buy that item from you know your Lowe's, your Walmart, wherever. So you buy that 85-inch TV from Walmart, you take it home and you crack it while while you're carrying it in. Um guess what? Oh well, you're out that money. Um, but uh in rent to own, you still just have to make sure you tell them all those advantages. And of course, our our customer service and things that we do should outweigh those um competitors all the day long, but um, you just have to remember all the different advantages that rent to own has. I know I was talking to a lady the other day, and she, you know, she had bought something from a furniture store and she hated it. She and she was trying to sell it. And and I just told her, I said, Well, yeah, that's one of the advantages here. You know, you you get to uh try it before you buy it, basically. Yes. And she said, I never really thought about it that way. I was like, Yeah. Um, and I see a lot of people doing that. You know, yeah, I had it for six months. I don't like it. I'll get something else. And and that's just an advantage and rent to own.

SPEAKER_00 41:10

I wish they had cars that way. I uh you know, I'll just make Amazon for six months, and if I don't like it, you know, I'll change the oil, I'll make sure it has gas, you know what I mean? I'll make sure the tires are good. But if I don't like it, can I just can I just give it back? You know?

SPEAKER_02 41:21

Well, you know, that's uh you it's funny you say that when I go on vacation, I always rent the car I think I want to buy. You know, that's a great way to usually by the end of the week I'm like, I don't want to buy this.

SPEAKER_00 41:31

That's a great way to look at it. I'm gonna have to start implementing that. You know, you know, Karen told me one time we just need to we need to rent this one because I like this one. I like this one a lot. You find all the kinks in the armor, right? No, I don't want it anymore. You're going to take it back. Yeah, don't like it. I I it's a great, it's a great way to think about it. But I I think one of the things that sets us apart a lot is got to be the loaner system. No matter how we look at it, because I, you know, there are warranties out there, they might get it to you eventually. I think you know, delivery is a good is a good thing also because it is so uniquely quick um without cost. But the loaner situation always stands out rent to own. We have the capability of giving you no time missed, uh, you know, within 24 hours of whatever problem you have to still use this, not cost you any extra, and be able to stay in the function of my food's cold, you know, I'm gonna be able to watch TV or sit down to watch TV or keep my clothes clean, whatever that case is, keep my dinner frozen. And that is so unique to rent to own. And I believe one of those advantages that nobody's gonna try to overcome right now. I just don't see that down the pipe that somebody's going, you know what, we need to compete with loners. Right. I think they're like, Rent zone's got that on lockdown, and we're just not gonna fight that. And that's one of those obstacles that I think is a great when you mention that, it was it's just so true that I don't think there's so many people out there that just don't understand our competition face and names and business have changed. Yeah, we've got to keep up with that, and we've got to keep up with that times. And one of the best ways to do it is just to remind them what we've been doing for the last 30 years and has taken care of our customers and a relationship-driven business. And, you know, you've had so many great topics and great pointers, you know, managing from the calendar and making sure that the inventory ordering is there, you know, thinking outside the box and kind of putting all your, I don't want to say your hardship inventory, but your 90-day inventory in one spot, making sure that it's getting sold the way it is, paying attention to numbers, but then when you get to the store, also be present. And regardless of whether you're 30 minutes away or you're five hours away, just trying to be available to let them know, hey, we we've got to manage not only what we're doing from a calendar, but how we're gonna do it and the expectations from a calendar. And you know, you're gonna be doing this for two weeks, you're gonna be doing this for two weeks, and you're gonna be doing this for two weeks. But when those add up, that could be six months down the road. And you can't have an expectation of it's gonna be done by the first. You know, making sure that we know who our competition are. That's the big thing. I mean. I I've seen that one time I was standing at Lowe's, and I have a Lowe's card. I didn't think about it, but I am standing there in a self, you know, checkout line, and there's a sign next to me that says, Hey, you know, you want it was literally a freezer too. You want to get a freezer? You know, we have this ability. I was like, get out of here. You know, that I don't want to see, I really wanted to kick the sign over, but I can't get out. I don't want to get kicked out of my favorite spot. So I didn't. Decompressing the right way, knowing who you are and knowing what it is that you need to do to really get to tomorrow, or getting through the weekend, and figuring out, you know, I I need to I need to separate my mind and soul from this for a little while and and and get it right, you know. And always, guys want to tell you, always make sure that you're looking ahead to the future for what you want to do. I I think confidence is so important in this too. You confidently want to believe I'm going to have better credit because I'm going to do this and this and this. I'm not going to let it defeat me. I'm going to have better sales, and I'm going to believe that. I'm going to believe this to my core, and I'm not going to let the obstacles that jump in my way stop me. And I believe that is one of the biggest ways to overcome your obstacles is to just put that game plan down and believe it. You got to be confident in that I'm going to solve this problem. I'm going to get more sales. I'm going to grow my store. I'm going to be a better manager. I'm going to be a better person in general, whether it's to my customers, whether it's to my employees, whether it's to myself, I'm going to be better at that and believe that confidently. I'm so happy that I had somebody one day sit down with me and be like, you're doing this wrong. And maybe they did if it went to the Karen Martin School of Direct speak. But they I needed somebody to tell me that. You're you're doing this wrong. And I needed that. And sometimes I think we need our people to know that too. Is that sometimes you want to cover overcome an obstacle? Maybe you need somebody to come down and tell you directly, without you taking it offensively, that you're not getting it right.

SPEAKER_01 45:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:57

And that's so important. I mean, Karen. I agree. Major words of wisdom. I couldn't even say anything that you that you said has not been just so directly on point. Any last things that you want to add? Any any one-liners that you want to add that I can scribble on my wall.

SPEAKER_02 46:13

I don't know that I'm the one-liner like Doug McAllister, but my my group knows I end everything with make it happen. You know, we just I don't want to talk about it. Let's just make it happen. Let's figure out how to make it happen. But um it's been a pleasure working with you, Pete. I've I've so enjoyed being able to work with you. You got a lot of knowledge.

SPEAKER_00 46:31

Well, I appreciate that. I'm gonna tell you guys right now, I actually speak for a living, so I don't like talking to I I love talking to people. I don't like not knowing what I'm saying, so I always get these important people on who understand the rent-to-owned business like nobody else. And I'm so glad that you were able to share that knowledge with us, Karen, because I know in life everybody takes their bumps and bruises. I know you've gone through some, and I know I have, I know a lot of the guys that we know, we kind of sit down every week and we have those conversations and like, hey, I went through this, hey, I went through that. You know, and like you said, it needs to be going up. Don't go down, don't complain down. You don't want to take the morale from your team because if it's hard for you, it's gonna be harder for them. Right. We just want to say, guys, if you guys have any questions for Karen, please hit us up at the show. You can follow us online, social media at the RTO show. Either way you do it, whether it's Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn now. We have a great LinkedIn presence. Hit us up, send us DMs. If you want to hit me up directly, you can do Pete at the RTO ShowPodcast.com and say, hey, Karen had this line. I want to ask her more about it. I want to know how she she overcomes this particular option. We will send it to her and make sure that she gets an answer for you. And maybe if you have enough questions, we'll get her on the show. Karen, we are so happy to have you on the show because you have a lot of knowledge and a lot of experience, and you really have that get it done attitude. And I love it. I love that about you. I love the way you work, I love being around you. Enjoy the lake house. Thanks, peace. And uh, guys, as always, get your collections low to put your sales high. Have a great one.