They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so would that mean a compelling narrative is priceless? Everyone has a narrative, each individual company, all the way to the all-inclusive industry level. Who developed your narrative and how are you controlling its power? Was it created by chance through word of mouth? Was it molded biasedly by media outlets looking for the next big headline? Did you put thought and passion into it, nurturing it to grow into the phenomenal marketing took it should be? Who is responsible for the current narrative for the RTO Shed Industry? Is it even a narrative we want to be known for? These are all vital questions that should be contemplated and evaluated as an industry.

The truth of the matter is, everyone associated with the RTO Shed Industry is responsible for the current public opinion. Every dealer, shed manufacturer and RTO provider holds equal share in the benefit or hindrance the industry narrative plays in our businesses. Are we valuing our businesses enough to make the difference needed to create the positive narrative the RTO Shed Industry deserves?

​The NBSRA plays a key role in developing the desired narrative by bringing together a network of industry participants. It is our place to flood the public with the stories and information that places the RTO shed industry in a positive and encouraging light, rather than a negative one. On any given day, people are bombarded with negativity about any given topic in numerous ways. The saying holds true that the angry customers are always the loudest. Most people are quick to voice their grievances loudly and publicly. For every one bad customer experience, there are 100 times as many great ones, but they are not being publicized. It is no wonder people, companies and industries are branded negatively in the public eye.

So how do we as an industry turn this around? The NBSRA is working hard to build a unique narrative everyone in the RTO Shed industry can rally around. This process removes the focus from individual companies and its products and instead focus on the betterment of the industry as a whole. We want to align everyone around the common goal surrounding the narrative the NBSRA is creating.

We need to be proactive in getting out our success stories that show the true benefits of Rent to Own. We encourage anyone in the industry to send us your experiences and let us publish them. Brand your business in positivity by letting the NBSRA spotlight these cases. An important part of branding our industry and establishing the narrative will be focused around customer service and consumer advocacy. Is your company measuring your customer satisfaction? If not, it is very likely the only customers that stand out in your mind are the negative ones. How can we focus on the great, if all we remember is the terrible? Actively measuring your customer satisfaction needs to be a must if we want to change the public opinion of the RTO Shed industry.

An industry narrative acts as an umbrella bringing together all the different stories they want to tell to serve a unified purpose. Organizations that achieve this kind of success in their narrative not only provide good customer service and products, they offer a new way of looking at the world around them. The NBSRA is proud to spearhead the task of building a narrative that will sustain the industry for generations to come.