I bleed blue and yellow!
Mike Lewis, VP Operations, Premier Companies and Premier's 2007 Dealer of the Year

CEO Trooper Earle (left), presents the 2007 Dealer of the Year award to franchisee and company VP Mike Lewis in San Antonio Wednesday. See a complete photo gallery of the 2008 Premier Companies Convention here.

Listen to closing remarks by Premier founder and CEO Trooper Earle, broadcast by RTO Online from San Antonio Wednesday.

- Tim Moore, Vice President of Specialty Business Sales for DSI Systems. Moore talks about his company's commitment to Rent to Own industry growth and DSI's relationship with Premier Companies.

- Tom Wurm, President, U-Getcha Cash, the financial services division of Premier Companies. Wurm discusses co-branded financial services franchise opportunities with Premier.

Mike Lewis was named Premier Companies' 2007 Dealer of the Year Wednesday at an awards ceremony wrapping the three day 2008 national convention in San Antonio, Texas.

A true-believer, Lewis told RTO Online in an interview Tuesday, "I bleed blue and yellow!" See our Video Podcast Interview with Mike Lewis, 2007 Premier Companies Dealer of the Year (running time 10:15).

Lewis pulls double duty in the Premier System. He owns three Premier Franchise locations and has been Premier's vice president of operations since 2005.

"This was a significantly different company in 2005," said Lewis. "We've grown from 15 stores to 62." Lewis said the company will add at least 15 new franchisees and 20 new stores in 2008.

Mike Lewis has "zero turnover" in his Indiana operation. "I think it's about trusting people like family," he said. "Give people the freedom to make decisions - make mistakes and learn from them - and they will have ownership in the business."

Lewis originally chose Premier because of his desire be independent. "We have more structure today, but I can still run the business my way while my human resources, payroll, insurance and accounting are taken care of for me so I can focus on rent-and-collect."

Lewis also trains all new franchisees at one of his Indiana locations. Rule #1, "make customers happy. I want customers to leave feeling like they've just left a relative's home."

The bulk of Premier franchisees operate one or two stores. Many of these relatively new owners are contemplating a second or third location. Add to that equation Premier's recent partnership with Wheel Workz custom wheels and SEADRA Rent-to-Own Cars, as well as the recent availability of potential franchisees from the several hundred Rent-A-Center locations closed over the past two years, Premier could grow even beyond the company's projections.

Also attending this week's convention were small business banking representatives from Wells Fargo and SBA lender Popular Small Business Capital..

Jeffrey Katz, Development officer for Popular Business Capital, has financed several Premier franchise start-ups. "We do a lot of franchise financing," said Katz. "I believe in Premier. It's a great concept and we look forward to a long relationship with the franchise."

Katz explained that Poplar Business Capital seeks out high quality franchises to finance. Premier, he said, "rates at the top of the franchise quality scale due to their length of time in business and the success rate of franchisees."

See over 240 photos from the 2008 Premier Companies Convention here.

More New Video Podcasts: RTO Online will release additional video interviews with Premier franchisees, vendors and executives over the next week. Please check www.rtoonline.com for updates.