By Jay Roberts

I had a dream last night. In my dream I had the perfect 'rent to own day.' Here's how it went.

Arrive early and mentally prepare for the day
Get to your store at least 30 minutes prior to opening; get the pot of coffee going and mentally prepare yourself for the day. Ask yourself the question, What is today? Many people would say it is Friday the 23rd. If you ask Zig the same question the answer is; " Today is a brand new day and it is mine to use in a marvelously productive way."

See your store as your customers see it
It is time for your walk through to plan the day. View the store from the customer zone ( the first six feet inside the front door) seeing it as a customer does.

Write down the things you want to accomplish today
Write down everything you see that needs to be done; This is known as your "Things to Do List" or your "Plan of Attack" for the day. Your projected Gain for the day and your Card Close Objectives need to be on the List. National statistics indicate that 85% of the things that are written down get done compared to objectives that are not written down.

The definition of management
In the rental business the definition of management is getting things done through others. Determine who is going to do what on your List. The time-frame in which it will be accomplished and most importantly, Follow-Up to confirm "completed to your satisfaction."

Set the tempo of the day by developing the attitudinal climate
Attitude plays a vital role in our day to day success in a rental store. The Manager must first develop a positive mental attitude about the day and thereafter share it with your staff. The old saying goes " Attitudes are contagious, is yours worth catching? If it’s not it needs to be."

The Opening Bell Rings
Hold a brief meeting with the crew discussing the Plan of Attack, Delegate the tasks on the List to the crew. Get them to commit to the Growth and Collection Objectives and what their contribution will be. All employees must know exactly what they need to do today to accomplish the objectives of the store today. You inform them that you will take care of any walk in customers and phone activity. "The best salesperson in the store needs to be answering the phone anyway."

It’s time to get busy
Immediately after the meeting the 2 Account Managers hit the phones and start "Smiling and Dialing" and the Assistant Manager begins to correct anything on your List relating to the Visual Merchandising of the Store. Rent Ready is the objective.

What are you on the payroll for? You are on the payroll to accomplish the goals and objectives of the Company. Your main objectives for the day is to grow the store, meet or exceed the Collection objectives and Revenue objectives and assure to your Supervisor that all employees are earning their money by doing something that is directly related to the growth and success of the store.

Your second Walk-Through of the day
The Assistant will finish first so do a walk through with them to confirm that they met or exceeded your expectations on the tasks assigned. The management term is "Inspect what you Expect".

Upon this confirmation get the Assistant on the next task on your List that your assigned them. This task could be listening to the Account Managers communicate to your customers and correcting any problems known as (T & D) training and development or working the phones to generate their share of the D’s. Each day will be different.

The Status Check
The Account Managers complete their morning phone work and you sit them down one by one to review the work that they have done this morning. The Account Manager must be aware of the status of every account on their route. You need to separate the Accounts into two categories,

1) Working

2) Committed

By definition a working account is one that you have not made contact with and made definite arrangements concerning the renewal of their account. Committed accounts are one that you have been in contact with and made definite arrangements concerning the renewal of their account.

Working the Two Stack System
Get the working stack of accounts with the objective of converting as many accounts as possible from Working to Committed. The ultimate question for the Account Manager to answer is; " What do I have to do today to clear this account?"

Whatever the answer is to the above question, the only thing left is to get to the business at hand. Remember it is your responsibility to assure that they get the pre-determined result. Add to your List the field work that is required to be done by the Account Manager.

The afternoon Schedule
While all this is going on you need to schedule the Deliveries that you have closed today, any scheduled pick-ups or service calls for the afternoon field work. ( 2 hour window)

As the tasks on your List are completed, mark them off. You will be adding things to your List as the day progresses and marking them off as they are accomplished. When following this procedure your day will blow by and you will get a lot accomplished.

Closing time is approaching
The closing bell is coming soon, you gained, met the collection objectives, met or exceeded your revenue projection for the day and the store is ready for tomorrow. What a day!!! The best part of it is that you get to come back tomorrow and do it again. Notice I didn’t say you have to come back tomorrow, I said you get to.

In closing, your day can be summarized in one pearl of wisdom. " Do what you love, Love what you do and deliver more than you promise."