The RTO Show "Let's talk Rent to Own"
Ever wondered how a $8.5 billion industry keeps millions of Americans lounging in style? Step into "The RTO Show Podcast" – where the mysterious world of Rent to Own furniture finally spills its secrets! Your host Pete Shau isn't just any industry veteran – he's spent 20 years in the trenches, collecting the kind of stories that'll make you laugh, gasp, and maybe even rethink everything you knew about that couch you're sitting on.
From wild customer tales to industry shake-ups that'll knock your rented socks off, Pete brings the seemingly mundane world of furniture financing to vibrant life. Warning: This isn't your typical business podcast – expect real talk, unexpected laughs, and "aha!" moments that'll have you looking at every lease agreement in a whole new light.
Whether you're an RTO pro who knows your depreciation schedules by heart, or you're just curious about how that fancy sectional ended up in your living room, Pete's got the inside scoop you never knew you needed. Tune in and discover why the furniture business is anything but boring!
The RTO Show "Let's talk Rent to Own"
Show Your Face, Adjust Your Sound, And Watch Store Traffic Climb
Ready to turn views into visits? We sat down with Jeraud Norman of Jeraud Marketing to get brutally practical about what actually drives people into a rent‑to‑own store: short videos with real humans, clear invitations to try products in person, and simple tracking that proves ROI without fancy software. If you’ve been posting product photos and praying for reach, this conversation shows how to swap static for story and clicks for customers.
We start with the basics most teams skip: fix your audio with a cheap mic, add captions for silent scrollers, and use tight 20–30 second scripts so every second serves a purpose. Jeraud breaks down why personality beats polish, how jump cuts and angle changes keep attention, and why celebrating on‑time payers, deliveries, birthdays, and staff quirks builds trust faster than any discount. The goal isn’t viral; it’s familiar. When viewers walk in asking for the person from the video, closing gets easy.
We also tackle the “pay to play” reality on Facebook and how even $1 a day to your followers can keep your content visible. Jeraud shares real‑world spend patterns around $300 per store and explains why many sales won’t show up as leads but appear as walk‑ins—if you’re asking every visitor how they found you. Tie a simple check‑box sheet to agreement numbers and review gross sales later to see true returns. To speed creative, we outline AI prompts that generate fresh scripts, hooks, and even fun perspectives like a $10 bill or delivery truck telling the story.
If you sell what people sit on, touch, and test, your edge is your front door. Put faces on camera, invite folks to try the sofa, and make it easy for them to meet you by name. Want a jumpstart? Gerard offers a free 30‑second script: email jeraud@jeraudmarketing.com, or book at fastRTOdeliveries.com. If this helped, subscribe, share it with your team, and leave a quick review so more local dealers can turn social views into steady foot traffic.
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Hey guys, welcome to the RTO show. I'm your host, Pete Shout, and today we're talking to my man Gerard Norman from Gerard Marketing. And let me tell you guys, he has been doing some stuff lately that has been really interesting. It's been very inspiring. And I I gotta get him back on because we're gonna talk about something today that I sometimes I think we overlook. I think we've gotten so far into the technical side that we forgot the basics on how to run the business in certain areas. And that's why I have Gerard here. Gerard, how you doing today, man? How's everything going?
SPEAKER_01:Doing good, man. Any day I'm talking to you is a good day.
SPEAKER_00:That's what we're talking about. I love when we get on because sometimes we start talking, and before you know it, there's an idea or three that pop out of it. And I'm like, you know what? I'm so glad I had that conversation because it really is important to not forget the fundamentals. And when I say that, guys, I know a lot of you guys watching, listening, and hearing this go, you know, the fundamentals, what are we talking about? We've gotten so stuck on the thought that I've got to get this guy locked down on the internet. Now, let me tell you, you do. You don't want to overlook that. But you don't want to forget that you have a front door, and front door swings usually land you higher results, higher rate of results. Gerard, how are we doing today as far as our as far as our marketing goes? And what do you have to talk to us about today?
SPEAKER_01:Well, first of all, let me preface this by this. You're my favorite guy in the entire industry.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you, man. I appreciate that. I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_01:You and Scott Kaneer. Scott Scott brought me in, so shout out to Scott Kaneer. But um, what's going on with um the marketing aspect? And I I I do believe what you said hits home. Like, I know we have to do the digital part, right? Like, especially since COVID, things have changed up for a lot of people, especially in you guys' industry. But one thing that we've realized over the past year or two, especially, because we're getting better at help uh having the dealers track what's going on. Because there's some guys who track really, really well. Um, but I'd say the majority of you guys don't really track well when it comes to your marketing and what's actually working. But one thing that we figured out that is working at getting people into the stores is obviously like I've I specialize in Facebook ads, and I will say this too I am the best in the industry, the best in the industry when it comes to Facebook ads. I don't even know what you said. Just being honest, guys. Um, if there was more guys that came from my camp like me that came in, then you know there would be an actual duel. But until that happens, um, you know, I'm the guy. So if you want to run Facebook ads, I'm your guy. So what we've realized with the Facebook ads is when you start showing product pictures, and if you don't want to run ads, that's fine. You don't have to reach out to me, but just hear me out. If you just keep showing product pictures, what happens is there's no connection. So we have a term that we use, and I think we said this on another episode before. I always say this, but the value is created after the experience. So what we like to do is even for the people who are shy, because the people who are shy usually create the best videos, so to speak, not necessarily from a performance standpoint, but as far as resonating with the community. Because the biggest advantage you guys have in rent to own is that you guys are local and you want people to come and see you. And it's like if they can see what it's like before they get there, values created after the experience, they're more likely to show up and come. So that's the first thing. It we can automatically just start driving more store traffic just by doing more videos. And then I think the other problem that you guys have is majority of you guys don't really have a good Facebook following. Like, I remember I think it was in Albuquerque, there was a young lady, I can't remember what company she was with. She was like the queen of Facebook Live, she had a big following. So, but but there that's like one to three percent of all dealers have that and have that person, right? So the first thing is like just posting to your page, post more videos, yes, but they're really not gonna go that far. And what I realize a lot too, and I can't say it's for everyone, is a lot of times it's other dealers, you know, looking out and liking your stuff, and it's not even actual people. Not to say that you don't get any sales from Facebook, but imagine if you reach more people. The second part is again, if you're just posting pictures of products, you have to do that every now and then, but it's really about making that connection. It's all about the know, the like, and the trust. They gotta know you guys are a business first, right? So, whatever business you're with, buddies, rent a center, whatever, you know, they know the business, but you know, do they know Pete? Let's say Pete's at the store. Knowing Pete and not really caring about the name that's on the front door, that's what it's really all about to me. They want to come in and meet that person and have a connection with that person. And what we realize too is when we start doing the the ads with the videos, yeah, we get actual name, email, and phone numbers that you can follow up with. And I know you guys don't like that. And for the most part, a lot of people aren't necessarily good at follow-up. That's a whole nother conversation because there's systems in place I think that you guys don't have. Um, and it's not even about automation and stuff, just systems and checkpoints that I don't think that are in place. But what happens is is a lot of store traffic we've been realizing because we're getting guys who are better at tracking, a lot more sales are coming from people who saw the ad and didn't give us the information and just showed up at the store and started buying. And when they show up at the store, they're looking for the person that was in the video. And a lot of times it's just the easiest sale because, in all honesty, you guys want more store traffic anyway. And when people come in, you guys know what to do. It's really when it's online, it's still that disconnect that people are still working through. So that's been the biggest thing that we've seen is just, yeah, if you get on video, a short script, and I'll make you guys an offer now that's free. If you want, I'll write you a video script at the end of this. You can, I don't know, we'll figure that out, but you can email me or whatever. Tell me what your offer is. I'll write you a 30-second video script that anybody can shoot, that you can just have your phone and shoot with and have your people put it out there just to get you guys started. But it just it's it's a game changer. And again, these guys who are tracking the in-store sales, it's something as simple as when they come in, it's like, hey, where did you see us? A lot of times those people are coming out and saying, Hey, I saw your video. Even if it isn't the if it wasn't you, Pete, they're like, Hey, I saw the video, that's why I'm here. By the way, I'm gonna take X, Y, and Z.
SPEAKER_00:Right? And then I think I think some of the things that these guys need to do too, when I start seeing some of the videos, I'm with you. I've noticed that when I see another person's video, when I see another company's video, and I see some of the likes or I see some of the names on there, not that I'm trying to take away from them. Guys, keep doing what you're doing, but it isn't an enclosed circle, and you don't want your echo chamber to be like, yeah, this got 10 likes, but the 10 likes really aren't gonna be people who are buying from you. They're people who think your video is okay. And I do think there's a couple of points too that make your video more interesting and it has nothing to do with the name. And sometimes it might not even have to do with the with the merchandise. Like you said, it has to do with the person. I'd say the first thing is, guys, if you're gonna do a video, which is okay, I'm all for it, and you're gonna use your phone, do it. Your sound has to come through the other side of the screen. If it sounds like you're at the end of one of those paper rolls, it's not gonna work. It it's hard to hear, it's hard to make out what the sale is, and it's hard to really get into that because you're you're you're desperately trying to listen. If you're gonna do it, listen, guys, it might cost a hundred bucks or less. Invest in a really cheap microphone or something that you can get your voice across. The second thing, too, is I see these guys, they're standing in front, and the first thing they go is, um, I'm hearing, listen, put something together. Put a little bit, put a little bit of grease on that sucker, okay? Stand there for five minutes and just figure out how to put something together that you want to talk about. Now, we're not talking about, I'm not talking about a script. Now, he's gonna give you a script. What I'm saying is if you're shooting from the hip, don't do it. Unless you got unless you're good at it. Now, some of us can do it. It doesn't mean all of us can. I think having a script is amazing. And what I used to do, and I'm not gonna lie, guys, I've been in commercials, I would have somebody literally walking around with this big old whiteboard with what I needed to say, and I know it looks, it's it looks stupid, but nobody sees what's behind the camera. When you get there, have something important to say because, like you said, you got 30 seconds. Make it insightful, make it important. Don't make it look like you're looking for the next word to say so that you can get off the video and hopefully be done with it. You know? Um, how many quality aspects do you think stop people from coming in the door because their video is just kind of uh not so good?
SPEAKER_01:I would say the sound's a big one. Um, I'd say for the most part, the guys that we work with, they got their sound right. Um, I think it's not even doing it or attempting to do it is the biggest hurdle that they run into. Because, like you said, if I agree with Speed, you don't necessarily need a script, but you kind of need to know what you want to say, and I think that part kind of slows people down. But even if you don't know what you want to say, let's just say right now we just rift off for a minute. You can literally take that video, right? And we're talking about editing it on a free app. So it's not even like you got to pay someone to do it, or you could just go on Fiverr and get someone to do it if you really wanted to. But there's there's a thing called jump cutting, and I'm not some cinematography major. It's just if we're talking and you got a part that you don't like, you literally just cut that little part out and then it just skips to the next thing, and it skips to the next thing. And in all honesty, that's where content is nowadays, and that and it actually is a way of keeping people's attention. So if you're not a one-take hoe, if you know what that means, where you can do it in one take and do it right, it's it's okay. The biggest thing is just getting it done and putting it out there. And like I said, you're just you're just connecting with people, and it's it's just a game changer.
SPEAKER_00:I think another thing too is you know, we forget to bring people inside the store. We always talk about calling, and you know, we'll we'll say come on down later. Listen, just so you guys are aware, we want to get people in the door as well. We don't want to forget that we don't want to always want to keep it unpersonal. If they have a chance to sit on it, mention sitting it on it. If you want them to lay on it, mention laying on it. If you want them to look at something, put those things out there in your role to say, you have to come down and see this, you have to do that, you have to do that. And if you change your mind, want to do something else, you can obviously reach us at. But be personal. And I think that's probably one of the bigger things that I see. It's always, hey, I work here, we have this, come on down to see the features. How about saying something ridiculously crazy? I love coffee. Please come and bring me a cup of coffee. They are holding me hostage back here, and I have nothing. But when you come down, I'm gonna sell you this sofa, this coffee sofa right here or something, and then jump into it. But I think, you know, you say the best view. It's it's not just the cut, the cuts, but it's the different camera angle views, it's the different opportunities, the different angles that you're doing inside the cut. And you can be saying the same lines. You know what I mean? You're still talking to the audience, you're still trying to pitch your pitch. But when you come from the left, all of a sudden now you're coming from the right. And even like you said, you can do that in editing. You can literally just flip the picture and come around from the other side. It looks like you're doing something more, but you're not doing anything but editing. You know, you can jump into the screen, you can jump out of the screen, you can wave your hands and do something crazy and then absolutely make it look like you're coming out of the bathroom or going into the bathroom. When you go into the bathroom, you're coming out of another side of the you know, the store. Put some life into it and then remind them, you gotta come down to the store and try this out. Now, if you think I'm crazy, and there's a lot of people out there, Gerard, you'll you'll know that everything is going digital. It is somewhat digital, but you sell something that matters. And I can tell you right now, there's still a lot of people out there who want to test drive that sofa before they take it home. I think that we don't we we cannot lose on the fact that we need them to be there physically. And you know, you've got to mention it. You can't just say it, you've got to mention it, you've got to guide that. Now, as far as like, and I've heard this a hundred times, Facebook is free, but if you want to play, you've got to pay to play. Is that true?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. If you at one point years ago, and I don't know when they made the switch, I got into marketing in 2017, and I believe they had already made the switch with Facebook. But at one point, if you had a thousand followers, you got in front of a thousand people. Now it's it's it's throttled back. And a lot of times the people that like your page aren't even seeing your stuff. So something as simple as, and again, we have a free course too. So my whole thing is if you want me to run your stuff, as long as we don't have someone that's in your area, and I don't care if you have a hundred stores, if I'm already working with one guy in the area and he trusted me first, then I'm gonna stick with him. That's just my my moral code.
SPEAKER_00:That's a professional courtesy, guys. We gotta do it the right way, gotta do it the right way.
SPEAKER_01:Like, um, so I still have a course that you can do it, but and I'll give it to you guys for free. I just want you guys to be able to get what you need, but spending a dollar a day just to make sure that you show up to the people that already said that they wanted to see your stuff because most of them have already forgotten, right? So it you you definitely need to pay, but I'll give you an example. Like right now, we're working with American, we've been working with a lot of different businesses, but you know, shout out to American Rental, Mr. David David, James David, and my guy Justin. Justin Burns, what's going on, Justin? All right, so I have to throw another person in there. So my top three, Justin. Justin, you, Justin, and Scott. So Justin is I love Justin. Yeah, man. When I first met with Justin, and you know, we just hit it off and we just connected, but um they they've trusted me, it's going on a year now to help them with their with their marketing and helping their their guys. And um, for the most part, I won't share all the details with you guys that I don't know what they want me to share versus not, but they you know, I'd say stores are spending about$300 a month and they're making that back and some. And some of that stuff I talk about in my emails, I don't ever say with business, because we work with all together, we work with like close to 80 stores, right? Doing ads.
SPEAKER_00:That's a lot.
SPEAKER_01:I never say this person with premiere, because we work with premiere deals, we work with some buddies' guys. I don't ever say this person did this unless they give me an actual testimonial that they want me to run. But you know, for the most part, a lot of their stores are spent$300 or less a month. And a lot of those guys over there, they're really good at tracking in-store sales. So shout out to my guys, uh Rick and Jasper and Chris and Attica. They're like the kings of tracking, and we got some other guys coming along. But um, like for instance, there's been a campaign we're running because we like to keep our cost per lead at like$10, right? So every time you spend$10, you get someone's information. Obviously, it's less sometimes, sometimes it's more. But this is where it comes into having someone who's in the store who's actually a salesperson. I think that's the biggest challenge that people have. Um, whether it's well, when they walk in the store, I think it's okay. But when you're dealing with digital leads, the people who are following up, I think sometimes they're hiring people to just follow up. When they're really in a prospector or a setter, they're not really a salesperson who knows how to follow up. But either way, these guys are tracking really well. And Chris was one of the, you know, basically, if we were if we were just to go off of the dashboard, the cost per lead was getting in the 40s. But when we had conversations, he's like, Oh, well, I've I've closed thousands of dollars in cash sales, or I've closed this much in monthly recurring because people are coming in versus give me the information. So without that information, I could have changed the ad and I could have ruined a really good thing, right? So it it's really important that we we track on both sides. We we track on our side and and and and again tracking the in-store sales. And I got some guys I work with that they just can't do it. They're like, oh, well, we had this many people come in. Some of them mentioned the video, I don't know which ones they were. And I'm like, well, I don't want it to be a gut feeling when this stops working that it didn't work, because we have to take into account all the times that it did work. I mean, marketing is not just a straight up trajectory. Now, I'm the type of guy that I always want you to win, and I don't like losing at all. So I want to make sure they're always getting a return on investment, but that's a hard guarantee from anybody you work with, no matter what you're doing. So it's always good to have those numbers tracked so that you know, hey, even if, you know, I think Justin had said this, all the months that start with J's are typically the more difficult months than rent to own. And I was like, that's a good way to grab it, right?
SPEAKER_00:They they really are. That's that's an excellent. I've heard that before, but uh in a different way. I like the J months because that is absolutely the truth. And I tell you, sometimes we make it more harder than what it is. Guys, if you want to track what's coming in the door and you want to know what your lead, your cost per lead is, and you want to know how much the return is, it could be something as simple as, you know what, going to one of your word processors or whatever the case is, you can even do this on an Excel sheet and make a little sheet that says, Hey, how did you hear about us? It doesn't have to be intertwined with your rental order. You can just make a literal sheet that you hand out with your rental order that says, Hey, how did you hear about us? And listen, you don't want to have 25 check marks because not everybody's gonna read through it. But if you're advertising six to eight different ways, then you need to put that in it. Did you leave? Did you get a door hanger? Did you walk in? Did you see us on Facebook? Did you, you know, a couple of different ways and just throw it out there. Take a look at that. And then what you want to do is just write down when you create an agreement number or agreement numbers, depending, because hopefully we're we're selling, we're upselling, right? You take those agreement numbers, and every month what you can do is whether you have Versailles Rent or anything else, put in that agreement number, go to that payment history for that agreement, and you want to know what you've generated, you go to the gross sales and that'll tell you. That'll tell you immediately. Now, somebody's gonna say, Well, I only want to track rental revs, or I only want to track, you know, this or that. Hey, listen, if you got a fee from it, it's because of the sale. If you got the$10 agreement fee, that's because of the sale. If they got the club, guess what? That's probably because of the sale. Now, we're not talking about cost, we're just talking about what it's generated for you out of that situation. So at the end, and does it take time? Obviously, it's gonna take time. You want to know, I'm gonna tell you right now, it takes time. But if I found out that that one$300 month and I only got five people out of it, and that divides that up, but then out of the course of these agreements, I made a thousand, fifteen hundred dollars. And remember, we're talking about gross. Is that I'm gonna just say it, if that$50,$55 investment created a$1,500 return, would you do it? Well, listen, if every day I bought a telado ticket for$55, but I knew the next Tuesday I was gonna get$1,500, I'd buy it every single week in mass. I would spend every check getting bigger returns. Now, does it work that way all the time? No, you're gonna have those months, especially the Jay months, where it's you might get a little bit less, but here it is. If you get this information and the longer time frame you do it, the more information you have. Guys, I'm gonna tell you right now, invest in training on your marketing, invest in training on your videos, invest in learning how to do these 30-second little ads that are gonna get people in. And even if you only spend one or two dollars on your ad, make somebody enjoy it. Make them don't put that guy or gal in there that don't smile either. I dude, you look like you're miserable, man. Don't sell miserable. Look, they're gonna have to shake it off. So listen, we can't record till you shake that shit off. I don't care what it is, just shake it off and have a good time. You know what? It's so important to do that. And so just shake it off, smile a little bit, get your five-minute thing or 30-second script, whatever works for you. And guys, if you don't think it's important, I'm gonna tell you right now look at what your sales are going through and then invest$100 and marketing equipment. That could be a very small teleprompter, it could be a little microphone. Heck, it could be anything. And I guarantee you the investment that you make is the only one that counts is the investment that's used. If I bought a car and I never use it, it's just wasting time. If you buy something, use it. And I promise you, I see people out there, like you said, there was the queen of Facebook and men. You know why? She had a presence, she had charisma. It you could have put a camera on her while she was coming out of the bathroom, and I guarantee you she would have had something to say that would have made you go, that's hilarious. But but you want to watch her. Find that person, and it doesn't mean it's your salesperson, it doesn't mean it's your manager. Heck, it could be one of your drivers that really just has a lot of swag. And you know what? It doesn't always have to be about product listing. It could be, hey man, hey big mic, what's going on? Yeah, I just came back from this delivery. I made this customer happy. We went up and down. She made me move it six times, but she loved it. Come on down and see us at yeah. It matters, it matters. And getting people through the door, like you said, it's that personality on the video. Get them to smile, get them to know that Jack and Bob and Susan and Billy, and those are the people they want to come see. And honestly, those are the people I want to see. I I I I really do. I and and because how many times do we go to our favorite place and attach a name to where we go? Yeah, I'm going to that place, but I'm gonna see Bob, I'm gonna see Billy, I'm gonna see Jimmy. I'm not gonna just go over there and just randomly show up and be like, hey, whatever. No, I'm going to go there to see. Be that person. Do you want to be a pony? I want to go see you. Be that guy, you know. Um, talking about the scripts. So let's say I wanted to write a script because I know you are king of AI. I want to do something. How do I make a catchy script that sounds good? You know, because let's say they go, they call you up and you got a script. Okay, it's a month later, and I want to kind of freshen it up. You know, I want to kind of tie it. What would I do without straining my brain to think that I'm a full-time writer to make a good 30-second script that maybe you could help me with?
SPEAKER_01:Hmm, I just thought of something while you were saying all that. I mean, essentially it is using AI, right? Like there's plenty of different AI tools. I like Chat GPT. Some people say one's better versus the other. My biggest advice, because I actually, where I live locally, I do a lot of trainings where I, you know, through the Chamber of Commerce and other, you know, bodies like that, where I train people on AI. The biggest thing that you can do, or this the best way to simplify it, I should say, is just pick one tool and use it until it doesn't do what you need it to do. Don't get caught up in I should use maybe you heard a perplexity, maybe you haven't. Um, I should use Manaus or all that stuff. Just use one. And when it doesn't do what you need it to do, look for another one. That's the first step. But let's just go with ChatGPT because that's what I use. I wish I can get affiliate commissions off of it, but it's not set up in that way. But essentially it's it's simple, man. Like AI can be AI is like one of the greatest inventions, I feel like that we have at our fingertips, especially now as us as regular people have access to it. But it's actually an open playbook, uh like an open sandbox. So if you don't know what to ask it, it's like garbage in, garbage out, right? So, what I would say is if you go to AI and you can loosely lose it, use this script that I'm gonna give you. It could be, hey, I want you to act as if you're my marketing director. This is the name of my company, and this is what we sell. You could probably just copy paste stuff off the site. And what I want you to do is act as if my marketing director, I'm gonna ask you for emails, ads, and video scripts. And I want them in the style and tone of, and this is my favorite part. So you can do style and tone. You can say, I want to be professional, which I don't think any of you guys should be doing professional stuff. Um, but if you want to take it a step further, instead of just saying professional or friendly and using those words, why not say, like, for me, I like Dave Chappelle, right? Like, I don't keep up with all his stuff, but he's a funny guy, right? Some people may not like him, some people may. So let's say you like Dave Chappelle, or maybe you like Larry the Cable guy. Remember, he used to be funny, whoever it may be, right in the style and tone of Dave Chappelle. Um, or if like Matthew McConaughey came up a lot the last few days in some of the stuff that I'm doing for whatever reason. So I want it to be in the style of Matthew McConaughey, so it'll be his style, but it'll be in the tone of Dave Chappelle. What it'll do is it'll mix the two and give you um a video script or add or post and uh you know copy that you can use that has a little bit more life to it. Like when we're doing some of these calls with like uh our clients, or even when we're doing the call with American Rentals, like we'll say, hey, well, you know, give me shoot some stuff out, and sometimes they'll they'll go off the wall with with some different things and we'll write copy in different ways. And when they start laughing, it's like, all right, cool. If you guys laugh from reading it, imagine what they're gonna do when they see it, right? And it just gives you ability to have some more fun. If you want to be basic, sure, professional, courtesy, courteous, and friendly or whatever. But that's pretty much it. Actors are my marketing director. I need an ad for this. This is my business, writing the style of tone in this. And then the last part that I like to throw in too is perspective. You can say right from the perspective of. So one of the best offers that we've ran from multiple stores, ad-wise, has been the$10 down, right? Um, whole nother story is what sales you guys are using. That's a whole other thing. But ten dollars down seems to work pretty well. So sometimes we'll write from the perspective of a ten dollar bill. Whoever would have thought a ten dollar bill still had a perspective on anything. Right? So it's an it's an inanimate object, right? So you can say write them from the perspective of a ten dollar bill, you can write from the perspective of a cash register, you can write from the perspective of the delivery truck driving the stuff. You can you can come up with any of these different things. And what it does, it just gives you an angle that no one thought about. So it's almost like you become like a storyteller just by having the idea that you can even do it.
SPEAKER_00:So I'm gonna tell you right now. That was an I I I've never, you're right. You I like I as you're saying it, man. I'm like, do you know how many things I could come up with as the as a dollar bill, as a cash register? I'm thinking, my mind is going. So, guys, you got to understand that the limitations that you put on yourself is why you can't get it done. There is so many things, there's so many tools available out there. And listen, I'm not here to down anybody or what they're doing. A lot of times we're like, hey, listen, I have a job to do, so I got to put out a video today, I'm gonna do this and keep on rolling. What I suggest that you do, and I promise you want to see results, the better results you get, is the more time you spend doing it. You don't go to the gym for five minutes and expect to look like Lou Ferrigno, okay? It just doesn't work. Well, you can't spend two seconds on your videos and expect it to work. Take some time, and especially in this, because I love the idea. I love that idea. There are some other things that you can do. And in those prompts that you're putting there for your AI, you can also say, hey, I also want a prompt to that will be more likely to get them to my location versus coming, hitting me up online or sending me a phone call. Now, the course of this outline is to say, you want to do everything it takes to get noticed and to get them in the door. Because here's the thing: we're not saying that online doesn't work, and we're not saying that we're doing a bad job. What we're saying is we could do a lot better. And I think everybody listening to this knows we can do a lot better online. But what have we been doing for the last 40 years? When somebody walks in that door, and I could tell you with my eyes closed, I'm going to close that sale. Now, does that mean they close it every time? No, but it's my mentality. I'm gonna walk up to you and I'm gonna say, What am I gonna what are you taking from me? What am I gonna lose out of this store today? Because I'm gonna tell you right now, if you don't take something, we we're gonna have an issue. And we they look at you like, what the heck? But you know how fun that is, and you can have fun with it. Also, you either the king or queen of your domain, you get to upsell in person, you get to try it out. Hey, how much this sofa with this set of lamps or with this refiner, or that matches this dining room table, or those are the little things that we forget. It's it's easier to say, harder to do online. When you're in person, hey man, I'll move a table. You want me to move a table? I'll move a table. You want me to set it outside in the sunlight?
SPEAKER_01:I'll do that too. Everybody doesn't have that though. Like, I I think about a lot of these guys that they they just don't it's your years in the game, and then you just have that personality mixed with the years in the game. So it's like a lot of people just don't have that person. And the ones that do, those are the guys that said, Well, I had my team for X amount of years and so on and so forth. But everybody's not that lucky. Like, yeah, if I had a store, I'd want them all on your program. Like, I'm even thinking part of what I was thinking too is like maybe I'll just create an AI inside Chat GPT that I can give the dealers who want it, and it'll basically walk them through what we just talked about and just ask them step by step so they don't have to remember it and do it for themselves. But now I was thinking, like, damn, the AI should sound like Pete.
SPEAKER_00:Because Pete AI you're gonna have the Pete AI selling your stuff. You know, I just I love the idea of getting somebody in the door. And I don't want again, I'm I'm never gonna say we're not selling online. I'm never gonna say that the phones aren't ringing. What I'm gonna tell you is that you cannot forget about our biggest asset, and that's the fact that you have square footage that you're using every single day. If you have your guy setting up a living room, a bedroom, and a dining room and a computer area, and you're not using it, well, what's the point of that? What's the point of that? Get people in the door. Don't forget about working on that aspect of it because a lot of us have seen that, you know, hey, it's going online and we forget to push. And I'm telling you guys now, what you push is what you discuss. You have to push your videos. You mean you haven't seen our videos? You could be saying this on the phone or online. You haven't seen our videos. Listen, you've got to take five seconds out to see this because John did a great job at embarrassing the heck out of me yesterday, and I think you got to see this. It's already sold. Here's what it is you've got to plant the seed to get somebody to watch because you're not gonna be there when they're watching, and you're not gonna be there hopefully when they tell somebody else to watch that embarrassing thing that John did to you the other day. What you're doing is you're planting the seed for people to see. Another thing is you gotta be regular. Probably one of the biggest things that I've seen is we'll throw an ad out there because we feel like it's a great idea. I need to sell something. So I'm gonna make an ad, and that's what it is. Regularity wins the race. Number one, if you're gonna do it and you can't do it every day, pick Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Pick Monday and Friday, pick Saturday. Who cares what day it is? Try to put it out on a regular time frame. And what I'm saying is it doesn't, if you don't make it by 11.01, nobody's gonna stab you. But that's also the problem. It's just like college. I'm gonna tell you, the professor's not gonna go, hey, you're late again, you're late again. You're just gonna show up and not have a class. Well, the same thing happens for the people that are online. They get used to that. They get used to seeing it. I don't care who you are, they spend 60 years on TV telling us that, you know, MASH was gonna be on at 4 p.m. and you know, the fall guy was gonna be on, and then they change it to, you know, morning cartoons and stuff. If we'd have changed that, everybody would have stopped watching it. Like, what's going on? You know, nowadays we get used to the streaming whenever we want to. But if you don't put it out regularly, it's stale and it gets old. And they want to see something new. Put something out regularly that tells them, hey, come on in. And then I I think the most important thing is people forget don't just sell. I know it sounds counterproductive. You're not just selling, they need to know the Staff, they need to know the birthdays, they need to know the special events, they need to know about the special sofa that's coming in, the new delivery truck that you got, the best program that you have. Don't just say, come in and buy the sofa. Because it doesn't matter how many times you say that, it's basically the same episode over and over and over and over again. Be fresh. Be fresh.
SPEAKER_01:It's social media. You got to be social. You got to be social. That's what they're looking for. Like you think about how do you make rent-to-owned sexy? Um, right? And for the most part, everybody's gonna struggle with that because it seems like it's the same thing. Then you guys have so many products you can literally focus on any product. So it's like, how do you make it sexy? It's just you just be more social because when people are online, they're the stuff that they are spending time to watch and it draws them in. Now I will say this again, most of you guys and gals, I would say, don't necessarily have the person that's anywhere close to a Pete. And if you have one treasure front, you can give them a raise. So, even worst case scenario, what you could do is even if it's like especially if we're talking an ad, if you just stood in front of the video, let's say you had a 15-20-second script, they did it in the store, it's better than putting nothing out. Um, and then eventually you can build on top of that. I think what kind of gets people is um the thought that they have to go so far and do this that it keeps them from joining on. Because like I grew up an introvert, like I never thought that I'd be doing videos and all this other stuff. Like, my mom still is amazed that I can even do something like this, or I can just go, I can go live on Facebook right now, not that I'm going to and not even have an agenda and just make it work and not feel any any kind of way about it. So you don't get there overnight. Um, but one thing I've realized too is like when you challenge the people, like as long as they're open to it. Like, I think sometimes with some of the managers or owners, they already start saying that their people aren't going to do it before they even present it to them. And if you come to them with that energy, then they don't feel like they have to do it, they're stuck in their ways. Well, it's your business. Um, it's your business. Now, for some people, they're worth letting them be stuck in that way and keeping them around because they're inner quote in quote part of the business. But don't be afraid to challenge your people to put them out there. Like, and what happens too is like the people who really never wanted to do video, like, and again, shout out to American Reynolds for this because every single store, they got 54 stores, and I think we've worked with at least 30 or 40 of them. I can't remember the numbers get all jumbled up. Every one of those stores has put out a video, and the people that didn't want to do it, they did it, and when they did it, they just felt so much better. And then the feedback they got from the people that came into the store just changed them, and they're just like, not that they're about to just start doing videos on upon videos for themselves, but it just gives them a greater sense of duty. And the one thing I really like about rent-to-owned people is that you guys actually care about the customers, at least most of y'all I met, right? So it's like it starts becoming a mindset of this is my duty to be able to help them. Because let's say that you don't, I don't want to start naming you know companies that people don't like, but let's say the company's on the corner and they do shady business, you have a moral obligation and a duty to get them into your store so you can take care of them because you know what's gonna happen over there. And more than likely, the people over there, especially if they're corporate, aren't doing any videos. So, what can you do? You can let them know that you're here, you're a real person, you'll take care of them. And then another thing y'all could do too is just like some of your customers would be willing to get on video with you guys. You just gotta ask. You just gotta ask. I mean, I love that idea.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, I think I think going live, listen, not everything is scripted. He's right about social media. It is number one the social concept. I can guarantee you, if you do something as crazy as you're getting a payment from Miss Jones, who has been doing it on time for the last 20 payments. If you one of the one of the things that we've always heard a rent to own, and this is the god honest truth, when I was younger, I said the same thing. You could probably name 20 customers that have a difficult time paying, couldn't you, Pete? Oh, I could I could name 20, I could probably name you 40. Okay. Name me 10 that make payments on time every single week. Celebrate those people. Oh, wow. I could probably name maybe four. Now, here's a question. Why is it that you you can remember them, but you don't remember the people that probably should be praised more for making your job not only easier, but giving you that sense of purpose. Every time they come in, we should be set, like you said, celebrating those people, right? Oh, wow. I had to really think about that. Well, one of those ways you can do that is you know what? Have your Facebook Live ready. And if somebody comes in, get them to join you. Obviously, you're gonna ask, you know, hey, Miss Jones, you mind being on a quick video with me? We're gonna go live real quick, and you're probably one of the best people we have here right now.
SPEAKER_01:I would say never tell them you're gonna go live because whenever you tell anybody who goes you're going live, they freeze up. So one of my tricks is maybe not. Maybe just do a video. Yeah, and even if I go live, they don't know, and it's like, well, it's out in the ether now.
SPEAKER_00:You know, and I think one of the things is that you have to bring them into the episode, you have to bring them into the thought process. And it it does a couple of things. Number one, it re-confirms that this is a relationship that I've built with this person, and it's a good relationship. This is what we want to build with you. Number two, they're gonna show being in the location. This is not something that I'm doing online like we're doing here with that virtual stuff. As we do it, you're gonna see them behind the counter or in front of your living room set or in front of your TV wall, which is another in-store relationship that we're building. And we want to continue going down that road with you. You want to show that that friendliness, that that love you have, the respect you have for that customer in your environment. Bring them into your environment. And, you know, guys, we we talk a lot about advertising. Make sure your environment is nice, make sure it's clean, make sure it sounds good, make sure it smells good, make sure that you greet them when they walk in the door. Because those are the things that I'm telling you, as it happens, we get so focused on the idea of what's online that we forget to love on the people that walk into the front door. Now, does that happen all the time? No, you might be one of the guys that are doing it extremely well. For everybody that's doing it extremely well, I can tell you that there's somebody out there who isn't. And it might not be their fault. They might be a younger generation that are used to not really dealing with people because they do better on the phone or online. And I'm gonna tell you also, hire somebody who's like that. Hire somebody who's good at being on phone, hire somebody who's good being on the internet, and then hire their opposite. Because for everybody that walks in the store, it's good to have a dichotomy because the person who's good at the store might not be good online. And I can always tell you, I've seen some shy people, but you get them online, and man, they sound like Gerard, man, they're just ready to go. They're ready to handle some business and get stuff done. And then you handle and then you go to the other side, they're like, hi, hi, how are you doing? And you're like, I don't understand. And and it's those different views that also make a difference as you're as you're presenting them online, as you're presenting them in your videos, as you're trying to get people to the door. Somebody might relate to uh, you know, I I had just had Angelica Tomas on the other day, and she's very introverted, and she's coming out of her show. But you can't forget that there are people like her who might want to interact with people like her who are not as crazy as Pete and Durano, like, oh my god, that guy just crazy me out. And they like that quietness. Bring them in to understand or show them on the video that, hey, no matter who you are, we're gonna take care of you one way or another, and we've got something to show you. This is what we have, this is who we have, and this is how we're gonna make your day better. Uh also say if you're trying to get people from the guys next door, don't ever mention a name. Mention what you what they're doing. If you have somebody not treating you right by doing this, yeah, this is what you're gonna expect here. If you're if you're getting this out of what you you know, you are you paying for this by getting this, this is what you have. Don't shame them, don't go after them because I'm gonna tell you guys the world is a big place and it's gonna come around. Just give your people some love and show them how to come down to the store and get what they need. And then obviously you're always gonna say, but if you can't, hit me up online, hit me up on this on the phone calls. How many times would you say that maybe not just the video, but the type of video that they have would make such a huge difference?
SPEAKER_01:In the beginning, I just think it's just getting it done. I think when it comes to the video, obviously, like you said, the audio and another thing is captions. Most people aren't able to always listen. So, you know, there's there's apps. I mean, you could literally go into Instagram or Facebook and edit your video there and put captions on it and then download it out. That's a free app. I think Cap Cut just started charging for that. Um, and I have one that I pay for like$70 a year. I particularly like it. But if you want to just keep it free, they can just do it there. So having the captions on to read it helps out a lot. Um, so that way that's great.
SPEAKER_00:I'm glad you said that because I completely forgot about that. But you are right. If you guys are doing shorts or you're doing small videos, put the captions on there. If somebody's sitting at their office desk and they can't hear it but they can see it, that might make the difference of a sailor not getting a sale. Great idea.
SPEAKER_01:And another variety tone, too. And I had a few people that were started doing this a while back, but is being in the store is great. But you know, especially with the economy the way it is. Like I suggested to one guy, and I think he did it, it's like if you're at the store and if you got a person that's comfortable doing it, you could literally be in the milk aisle in the eggs aisle because eggs are outrageous now, and just be like, man, pulling out some eggs, man. The cost of eggs is crazy now, yada yada, and then just tie that back in. And obviously you can have AI help you ride it. Tie that back in. You can be at the gas station, don't pump your gas while you're on the phone. I don't like when people do that, I feel like they're putting everybody in danger. But before you pump the gas, like, man, the price of gas is going up, yada yada yada, and then tie it into how you can help alleviate that pain. Um, because the the other side, too, is what I'm working on with a lot of guys is because each store, let's say there's a an intersection, there's a uh competitor on each corner, which some cases it is, you guys are all basically saying the same thing in different ways. If I'm doing$10 down, you're doing 99 cents down or$25 down or whatever it is, all of it sounds really the same. And then the crazy part is, is even if they they they're overloaded with decision making, in a few weeks you change it up, and then they're back in that decision matrix again. It makes me think of Cork Romano when the guy couldn't read and he's looking at the ice cream truck and it says strawberry ice cream and chocolate. He's like, What do you want? He's just like, uh uh, I'll take Rocky Road. He's like, I don't have that, sir. It's just uh the same thing. So it's always a constant overload. So another thing that I I I I urge you guys to do too is everything we talked about doing the video to get people in is maybe start talking more about the pain that they're facing. Why does someone want a new couch? You know, don't always worry about selling the entire store. I mean, you guys have so many items and products, and sometimes you guys have special order stuff. But again, from that perspective situation, what if we wrote it from the perspective of a couch? I'm a mom with two kids, and you know, I got young kids and they're just beating the couch, and it's just like, well, you know, they're they're kids, and but I I I can't go get a new couch the way I want one, and yada yada yada. Like, you can talk about situations like that. Don't be afraid to just talk to that lady or those ladies to get more sales in and drive them in, and then make another post where you talk to a different subset of people, right? Because then if you're talking to what's going on in here, that opens them up to listen to you, and then they'll come in and oh yeah, by the way, we have this deal. Or shit, you don't even have to give them the deal at that point, they're just ready to make something happen. So I think that that's uh a direction I'm heading to in the in the entire industry, and I want a lot of guys too, is because like like right now the month's about to end and Black Friday's about to get crazy. I'm like, well, what's next? Well, you know, guys are like, we're gonna run this off for now. I'm like, well, it's not really different from last month, you know?
SPEAKER_00:Be different, be heard, and I'm gonna tell you guys right now be original. Gerard, you said that you're gonna help them out a little bit and give them a free 30-second idea on what to do to get them in. How would they reach out to you and get a hold of you?
SPEAKER_01:Um, I would say a few ways. Uh, Gerard at GerardMarketing.com, that's my email. Um, also, if you want to schedule a time with me, go to fastrto deliveries.com. And one thing that we like that the reason why we call it fast rteliveries is usually once we get a campaign going, if you decide you want to go that route with us, because we will, you know, if you want if you just want the course and you want the video script, just email me. But if you're interested in talking to us about running the ads, then go to fastrto deliveries.com and fill it out. We'll get on a call. I'm not gonna high pressure sales you the way I see it. You you you're you're checking me out and I'm checking you out. I'm not gonna say yes to everything, and you shouldn't say yes to everything. So it has to be a fit. You gotta be someone who's willing to track and who's willing to get better and listen to our advice. And I'm always gonna listen to you as well because it's a partnership. Um, when I get with people that expect the world but don't want to do anything, it doesn't work out well. And you guys have a pretty tight niche, uh niche circle. So if one guy's not doing work and he starts poisoning the water hole, then that don't look good. And now I have more people that know that that's not the truth, but I don't even want to put myself in that situation. So just look looking to work with the right folks. And again, if the area is taken, the area's taken. I don't I don't care how big the check is, uh, value, integrity, and honesty is it is my core values, then I'm not gonna change that for anyone.
SPEAKER_00:Well, that's what you're gonna get when you go to fastrto deliveries.com. Listen, guys, if you guys have any questions, hit me up at Pete at the RTO Show Podcast.com. You can also go on the website, therto showpodcast.com. Just get in there, get some swag, order some shirts, order some cups. We love those things. And besides, it also helps uh, you know, the show. You can be a sponsor like Gerard Marketing is and help us out because we run with you guys. Also, real quick, I'm gonna add into my closing. If you guys want to have some really good mindset insights, check out LinkedIn. Go to Gerard Marketing's LinkedIn. Gerard has some really great things that he puts out every single week or every every other day, really. He has some good mindset things. If you guys want to learn to grow, check that out. If you want to check out the show, we're on there you go, check it out. Bulletproof mindset. If you guys want to check out the show on social media, we got Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, where we see him, and YouTube where you're gonna see this. Make sure you subscribe and like so that you get to all the notifications. And Gerard, as usual, always getting some good pointers on some marketing and some good things that we need to hit up. Guys, you guys are gonna see this very soon. Make sure you apply this for your black your Black Friday and everything you have going on in the fourth quarter. And I will tell you guys as always, get your collections low to get your sales high. Have a great one.
