Calendar Of Events

Where the Best Begins!

with dozens of proven ideas on raising your loan balances and creative ideas for sourcing inventory.

• Increase Your Loan Balance! • You Can’t Sell with an Empty Cart! Managing Pawn Shop Supply

SEMINARS Pivot & Reinvent Your Business in 2021 and Beyond Jeff Wilhelm, Director of Store Operations, National Jewelry & Pawn

What is your business forecasting, and will you be ready to pivot to meet today’s business and beyond? Hear what is likely to come to our industry and how you will need to pivot to drive your economic engine. Preparing is better than panicking. Learn 3 step to take today: acquire, upscale and persuade.

Don’t Kill your Golden Goose- Protect & Perpetuate your Business Larry Oxenham, American Society of Asset Protection

Is your financial house in order? Discover the tools pawnbrokers can use to become invincible to lawsuits, save thousands in taxes, and achieve financial peace of mind. By the end of the presentation, you will know how to: 1) Protect 100% of your assets from lawsuits. You will learn how to make yourself so unattractive to a plaintiff attorney that they will never pursue a lawsuit against you. 2) Save thousands of dollars each year in taxes. You will learn five tax reduction strategies most people fail to utilize, which could save you more than $10,000 each year in taxes. 3) Avoid probate and eliminate all estate taxes. You will be taken through a checklist of items that are important to every estate and business succession plan. You will learn what you should be doing now to prepare for successful business and estate succession.

“It takes a lifetime to accumulate your assets. Take the time to protect them.”

Measuring Your Success Against NPA Benchmarking Survey Data

How does your shop compare? Join this session of highlights of the 2020 NPA Operating Performance Report. In 2020, the NPA sent out detailed questionnaires to members asking about their businesses. Based on these confidential surveys, the 2020 NPA Operating Performance Report includes key data segmented by: Profitability; Total Revenues; and Pawn Yield. In this session, we will present highlights of the survey with guidelines for identifying business performance improvement opportunities. You’ll take away key metrics that you can use to evaluate your own business.

INTERACTIVE PANEL DISCUSSIONS Is this Authentic? Moderated by Michael Mack of Max Pawn

This seminar will cover the basics of authenticity of designer luxury goods, sneakers, fine watches and more. This will be an engaging conversation from experts with valued input from the participants.

Keys to the Ultimate Customer Experience Moderated by Mark Campanale, NPA Digital Communications Manager

No matter what the medium our customers choose to make contact with us – phone, web, e-mail, in-person – they are all looking for the same thing: to make the purchasing process simple. We need to be problem solvers and to completely surpass our customer’s expectations, which will in turn lead to a positive, lasting impression. To put it in the most basic terms, we need to walk in our customer’s shoes. Yet before we can solve problems, we need to truly understand the nature and the story behind the problem we are solving. In this interactive panel discussion, we will explore the key components to turning customers into raving fans across all touch points.

Firearms Panel Discussion Moderated by Johnny Whiteside

More businesses in the pawn industry are realizing that firearms can boost profits. But due to the unique practices inherent to this specialized retail segment, there are many things to consider when selling firearms. Staying compliant with pawned redemptions in addition to the standard practices of buying and selling firearms requires following additional rules and regulations. You also have to consider your FFL with respect to liability for injuries resulting from a firearm or ammunition sold. Hear from a panel of experts about these topics and more related to firearms sales.

www.nationalpawnbrokers.org

STATE ASSOCIATION NEWS

ARKANSAS

Tim Collier, Past President of NPA and President of Arkansas Pawnbrokers Association

The Arkansas Pawnbrokers Association has been busy during the 93rd General Assembly regular session this year. From a drafted bill to monitor the sale of catalytic converters to a bill requiring pawnbrokers to pay restitution if a suspected piece of stolen property was sold and unavailable, the session was truly one for the ages.

We were able to get exemption from the catalytic converter bill and were able to defeat the stolen property bill in the Senate before it made it to the House Committee, so the end results are very gratifying. It just proves the point that you have got to have a relationship with members of the House and Senate in your state in case something comes up. We were contacted as soon as the bills were filed by multiple members, as well as lobbyists, so we were prepared to fight for pawnbrokers’ rights.

On a more positive note, we were able to help get a bill passed to exempt sales and use tax from coins, currency and bullion. Arkansas was one of only a handful of states who still charged state sales tax on the sale of gold and silver bullion and coins for investment purposes. We started two years ago to lay the groundwork and were able to finish the deal this session.

With the conclusion of the current session, we can now look toward the upcoming Pawn Expo in Fort Worth and see our many pawnbroker friends and try to get back to some sense of normalcy. See you all in Fort Worth in July.

COLORADO

Steven Adsit, President of Colorado Pawnbrokers Association

Colorado’s Pawnbroker Association is working hard to get a complete contact list for easy communication with all pawnbrokers in the state. We are in the phone call process, but would really appreciate a simple email. We need to be able to communicate to address legislation and other issues. This communication list will keep us all working together and keep everyone informed. We are stronger together! Please send us an email with your info to stores.35@mmi-corp.com.

FLORIDA

Josh Davis, President of Florida Pawnbrokers Association

Thanks to our business-friendly state, and some county lobbying, pawnshops (and pretty much every other industry) has been open for business during this entire period of national lockdowns. Many stores are reporting low loan balances, similar to the rest of the country. Our current legislative session is trying to put forth increasingly restrictive gun legislation, which we are monitoring. Our lobbyist has been having discussions with those proposing this legislation to explain the burden of such legislation as best as possible. Some legislators have not been in their capital offices due to COVID-19, which makes outreach a challenge. Luckily (so far) nothing directly pawn related has been drafted.

GEORGIA

Lisa Little Ben Levinson

The Georgia Pawnbrokers Association is making progress. Our 2021 legislative session is over, and our efforts spared pawn negative legislative impacts. Our website is performing well, and we are already fielding consumer calls. Our Facebook forum is growing and active. We are in the process of recruiting a slate of pawnbrokers to serve on our Board of Directors. We also have a growing group of committed pawn Industry Partners who have joined us in our building phase. Shout out to Burrell Printing, United Refining, Pawnbroker Network, PawnTrain, and Podium. We still need a lot more pawnshops to join as we strive to build a strong voice for the pawn industry in Georgia. Check us out at georgiapawnbrokers.org or call/text GPA at (678) 850-2500.

LOUISIANA

Jeremy Powell, President of Louisiana Pawnbrokers Association

It is our pleasure to say that Louisiana pawnbrokers have been very low-key on the legislature radar this past year. The board of the LPBA is constantly working to monitor any legislation that could affect us. Throughout COVID-19, the LPBA made sure its members were aware of what precautions to take as we were deemed an essential business. Everyone needs to make sure to reach out to his or her local legislators and state representatives to educate them on what we do and how we help our communities.

MISSISSIPPI

Nick Fulton, President of Mississippi Pawnbrokers Association

Greetings from the deep south. Mississippi pawnbrokers had a very successful legislative session. What I mean by success is that we pushed back against some awful attacks from certain legislators who tried to cripple our industry. One bill in particular would have required that any loan or buy from a customer must be accompanied by the original sales receipt