"Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless"
Jeffrey Gitomer

A repeat RTO customer' is defined as... a customer who, upon payout/buyout, rents again with no interruption through at least two rental agreements.  

How much is a 'repeat customer' worth?
Let's break it down. The  average rental agreement is written for 20 months. The average customer actually rents for only 4 months +/-. A 'repeat customer' rents continuously through at least two 20 month agreements. 

You have to write 10 agreements to equal the value of just one loyal customer. 10 Advertising campaigns, 10 rental applications, 10 deliveries, countless collection calls, 10 pickups and 10 re-furb's....all to equal a single loyal customer.

Think about that the next time you find yourself rushing a loyal customer out the door so you can get back to the phone to make collection calls!

Measuring Customer Loyalty
Unfortunately, most RTO software does not make it easy to find this number. But it can be done. Make a list of all current customers. Now look at each customer individually and see what percentage have gone from buyout/payout to another agreement with NO interruption. We'll call this your "Loyalty Quotient". The percentage will likely be very small...but extremely valuable. 

Look for similarities among these loyal customers. Do they tend to rent certain categories of merchandise? Do they have a certain income level? Do they tend to live in a certain area? Does one account manager account for most of your loyal customers? 

Once you have this information, USE IT.
Target this customer type. 

• Increase your inventory in categories that produce loyal customers
• Buy advertising that caters to your repeat customers income level
• Do a direct mail campaign targeting the geographic area where most of your loyal customers live.
• Interview the account manager with the most loyal customers and put together a training program based on what you learn. (it wouldn't hurt to give him/her a raise!) 
• Put together a bonus program for your managers based on the "loyalty quotient". Remember, people tend to do what they are rewarded for. If repeat customers are important to you, they will be important to your employees. 

Most software will print out a list of 'Projected Payouts' for a given month. (If your software doesn't...get new software !) Make this printout the subject of a monthly store meeting. Review the list 3 months in advance. Target these customers with special offers to rent again. 

• Offer Free month on any new agreement
• Offer a Free Gift when a customer 're-rents'.
• Offer to pay the last months rent on any existing agreement if the customer re-rents

Bottom Line...beg if you have to, but do whatever it takes to keep this customer.