2025 International Pawn Symposium At long
Tired of seeing so much Negative Commentary about YOU and YOUR Pawnshop Business?
The TRUTH about Pawnshops is relatively simple!
Seems there is an increasing level of hype, paranoia, noise, and more about failing or not doing the right things or other by you, or in your business and you should be terrified of what may or may not be happening in your pawn business today or what is to come.
To some degree, we AGREE that WE should all be engaged in our Pawnshop Businesses to ensure our continued success and survivability rates.
Pawnshop Consulting Group is celebrating 20 years in the Consulting arena this year, and on behalf of myself I am celebrating more than 45 years in the industry directly on many levels.
That involvement has included growing up in the Pawn Shops as a child and second generation soon to be pawnbroker back in (1968) forward, sweeping, mopping, cleaning tools, locating items, cleaning product and shelves, lending, buying, selling, managing, automating, valuating stores, buying and selling stores, building up large groups of stores, operating large groups of stores in multiple states, as well as owning and consulting in them world-wide today.
This would also include decades of serving the industry at the National levels on the National Pawnbrokers Association board of directors, board participation for various state associations in Texas and Florida, as well as at an advisory level in Mexico, Latin America, and the UK to name a few others over the past 30 years. PCG is and remains an active industry partner with the National Pawnbrokers Association, the California Pawnbrokers Association, and the Georgia Pawnbrokers Association as well.
Someone told me a while back that I have been in the industry longer than many of these others today in the industry are in age. Not sure if it’s good or bad, but it would suffice to say having spent a lifetime in an industry on almost any conceivable level one could ponder does have its benefits from a consulting and supportive perspective for our clients.
Several years ago, the Pawnshop Consulting Group teamed up with Alan Nelson of PawnTrain who is also a very well-seasoned pawn professional. He has managed large operations in the credit constrained operations like rent to own, large privately held pawnshop chains like Value Pawn, was a regional VP for EZ Corp and oversaw more than 200 stores in multiple states, to owning his own stores as well.
We compliment what we do very well and PCG is honored to have such a professional on board with us. We have recently brought on another very well-seasoned multi-unit pawn professional and will discuss him on our next upcoming blog.
This is aside from the various other pawn professionals that assist us with store set ups, auditing, mentoring, legal, accounting, technology, and many other fronts.
PCG does not paint the industry or most of our operators in some kind of a doom and gloom aptitude, and continues to praise and support the many pawn souls we have had the privilege to work with and even the many we have not.
For the record, the Public Companies continue to expand globally and are flourishing in the environment today as are many well equipped, and well run independent and larger privately owned groups that in some cases PCG has had the privilege to work with.
Our lives and industry are not under a nuclear threat, sirens, air raid horns going off, etc., however I do agree the Pawnshop industry does suffer from some complacency. We do have many challenges coming at us each and every day from many directions, but it is not the end of the world and the industry has survived for thousands of years thus far.
I think we can all agree that good solid management, guidance, and culture are very important, keeping our teams well led and with unlimited income potentials, support and training is a given, along with providing the best in customer service IS and has ALWAYS been a tenement of ours.
You win one customer at a time, and for that, I think we can all agree on, I hope!
Our Team, having built up large groups of stores and generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues, churned through thousands of employees, multitudes of operational systems, techniques, marketing and more over the past decades in multiple states and other countries, does provide us an opportunity to have a pretty good perspective on how and what were doing, and more importantly what NOT to do.
The three basic tenements that Alan and I have for OUR clients are quite simple, and we do not over complicate this, as it does not have to be:
- Create more income for our owners and operators
- Create more income incentives for all team personnel
- Create environments in which people are happy and want to show up to work to make a difference each and every day and smile about it
It all sounds to simple, doesn’t it?
Well, we know that it is not but the path to obtain ultimate operational enlightenment is not building a space shuttle either.
PCG and PT can help YOU get there if you’re willing to make the commitments, follow the guidelines, pay attention, show up, and participate in whatever the guidance path may look like that is completely customized for YOU.
I have said for a long time:
“We can lead the horses to the water, but they have to drink it”!
Are you perhaps frustrated with not achieving the success you believe is there?
Are you frustrated with being told you don’t have the skills, or there is an epidemic about to kill you and your business as you don’t have some great tip, trick or road map to get to Nirvana with your business?
Are you tired of seeing information coming at you that is not directly applicable to you and your business, or is very generic in its very definition?
If you have answered YES to any of these, then we can HELP you!
That first call and conversation costs you nothing, see what hundreds of clients around the world today have experienced with Pawn Shop Consulting Programs Designed For Maximum Profitability (pawnshopconsultinggroup.com) and our team!
After all, were not here to build a space shuttle, were here to help you, no matter how big or small you may be!
Been there, done that is one of our Motto’s, aside from letting us help you avoid the mistakes we have tried, trued, and proven that we KNOW doesn’t work over the last 40 years on a global scale!
What do YOU have to lose aside from more time and money?
No magic shows here, just tried and proven support, training, consulting, and results-based applications with decades of proven methodologies.
We offer in-house and online supportive training and consulting, unparalleled anywhere else in the Pawn Industry today. You can see many of our online courses at:
Remember, that initial call, costs YOU nothing!
What are YOU waiting for?
Jerry Whitehead
Alan Nelson
Jerry@www.pawnshopconsultinggroup.com
www.pawnshopconsultinggroup.com