The Monkey and his Master

Steven Mack • Here is a family story - 1964.

Pawnshop laurels - Mack Family - 4 generations of pawnbrokers. 


I had heard this story when I was 6 years old – 1964. My dad Ron was 5 years into his pawnshop with my mom Judy. The two of them started Cameo Jewelry and Loan with $1,800.00 in a 1800 square foot store next to the Silver Dollar casino in downtown Reno. They went to Laundromats to purchase Men’s suits and various clothing that were left by unpaid cleaning charges. Had a limit on how much they could loan out each day. It was a day to day roller coaster for many years.

My dad was a frustrated scholastic. Wanting to be anything but a 3rd generation pawnbroker, he had achieved two graduate degrees, one in Law and one in Accounting while running his pawn business. When he finally completed the correspondence legal studies from La Salle Law School in Chicago, Illinois, his job offers did not measure up to the income his little pawnshop was providing his family.

Reno pawnshop’s had a unique opportunity than most pawnshops around the country. Tourism and Gambling was the backbone of downtown, and tourist loved to shop. They loved the journey into the many pawnshops in downtown Reno. Retail was where the opportunity of success was discovered.

This is a little back ground about my dad and this story is about a customer wandering in with a furry companion on day. A pet monkey.

My dad loved the zoo. He grew up in Oakland, California. As a kid he would go over to the other side and visit the San Francisco Zoo. When our family was young we would visit the Zoo and we would have to make the visit to the monkeys at every visit. I remember my dad, jumping up and down on his bed, acting out his monkey routine. It was gut busting funny!

This desperate customer had this monkey and my dad wanted it. A deal was struck - $600.00. My dad had brought home a Terrier one day that he had purchased in his store and was our beloved pet for years. Bringing home a monkey to the family, the excitement, the companionship, the illusion was a dream come true. My dad and his monkey a little more than hour together before all hell broke loose. Feeding him and wondering how my mom would react, the mood changed quickly when the monkey cocked his head from left to right looking for his missing master.

As my dad still tells the story, “the monkey went Ape Shit”. My dad’s tiny store was long and skinny with rafters on both sides. The monkey began urinating and defecating everywhere. For a few minutes my dad thought he could calm down his new companion, but plan B was the only option. He locked up his store, left the monkey, and started running through the casino’s in downtown Reno.

After running through the Silver Dollar, Horseshoe, Harrah’s and finally Harold’s Club, there was the man leaned over the crap table down $200 of the money my dad had given him. My dad convinced the man to give him back the remaining money he had left on the rim of the crap table, forget about the $200, and comeback for the monkey. They both whisked back to the store for the reunion of master and monkey. My dad was so relieved.

It took a month to clean the store and we don’t have to get into the detail of this effort, but the story lives on, is priceless, and still to this day, we love to hear “the story of the monkey”.

I had read a story of a similar tale from a pawnbroker in Georgia and never thought it was possible to happen twice, but I have found pawnbrokers love to take home pets. Zoo lovers, I guess. 

From a fellow Pawn Broker - written April 12, 2012

Steve

I read with interest your story about your father buying a monkey

We had a similar story.

About the same time, around early 1960's I was about 6 or 7 when my father brought home a monkey he had traded for a guitar.

At the time, we had four kids all under 15 living at home.  We thought it was great!  We fed that thing everything you can imagine; leftover dinner, cereal, salad, candy and of course bananas.  As you know, when monkeys eat, they must dispose of that food after it digests.  And that monkey disposed of that food all over the basement.........much to my mother's dismay.  She told my father....in no uncertain terms.....it was the monkey or her.  Well, the next day when all us kids woke up, the monkey was gone.  We never did find out what happened to it.  Knowing my dad, he sold it at a profit.

Take care

Lou Tansky

President

Uncle Ben's Pawn Shop

Ohio Pawnbrokers Association

2600 St. Clair Ave,

Cleveland, OH 44114

216-325-5626

Bravo Estimator - Product Evaluation

Bravo Estimator:  Spell Checker  - How do you spell Hewlett Packard – HP

When you put in an item into Bravo it checks the spelling of the item.  For HP there have been over 40 ways it has been spelt.  Each time it is brought into the system the data from the item is incorrect.  Miss matched.  Reported incorrectly.  Miss evaluated.  Each new item that is entered into Bravo is validated.  Each new entry is critical.  It requires accuracy, full and complete model entry, and a great image.  Once you enter an item, your authorship is forever registered.  If you update – challenge an item, your authorship is registered. 

We have been using this for 12 years.  Its Wiki.  the contribution are from our users.  Its accuracy is dependent on you.  Each time you transact with Bravo it gets smarter.

Many have asked, where do these values come from?  They come from you and over time and subscription to Bravo, the data becomes more relevant.  We need at least 200 stores for the data to become dependable.  In Product Value if you see transactions greater than 200 you should take a good look.  Check Nintendo Wii – game console.

Some of our users want to take the short cut and use a generic entry.  We do not allow these on Maxpawn.com and the data from these generic models is worthless.  Do not depend on any of the data that are Generic. 

What is the difference between Ruger 10/22 and the 30 other 10/22 models like 10/22-DSP.  The values vary from one to another up to $300.00.  check out Ruger website.   The popularity of each model is dramatic as well.  The pricing, lending, buying, and selling of merchandise can double your profits on this one model.

Bravo can be a resource of more than a record keeper for you.  If you invest the time to be more specific about the items you take in specifically, each transaction can earn you up to $10.00 more on average on every transaction.  Average stores does between 200 -500 transactions per month.   Pricing merchandise based on cost is one method.  Pricing merchandise based on what it is worth is another.  Don’t be fooled by what you pay.

What to do about Bravo values that are incorrect.  Challenge them and update.  The Best Price in Bravo is the value found through your research that is the lowest price found – retail.  We use this as a bench mark of value.  When you apply the Meta Data Quality rating it adjusts for the item being used.  Using a bench mark value method subscribes to the theory that our customers are price conscious and that our price should be less than what they can purchase the same item in the same condition from a traditional retailer.  The varying quality of the item should be taken into account as well and this is accomplished with the our quality rating system – meta data.

Bravo cloud technology gives you the powerful resources of a Computer Data Center - IBM.  Join Bravo and enjoy The Estimator.  One of the many new features Bravo has.

New Girl in Town -- Bravo-Sweden

Bravo was designed and introduced to pawnbrokers for all 50 States at the NPA show in June 2011.  Since that short time Bravo’s clients have stretched its reach to Mexico and in the next few weeks in Sweden and through out Europe.

We have nearly signed up every Pawnbroker looking at systems from the Dixie Pawn Convention. 

Many businesses ask me,  “can you handle what is needed in Alabama, California, Florida, Texas and so on?”   The answer is yes and then some.  Our technology is based on Cloud Internet services.  The best technology in the industry partnered with IBM and Microsoft.   This robust, dependable, and flexible environment enables our team  to say yes to our customers needs for what they want.  Fast!   There is no better way to run your business today.

Are you still driving the same car you purchased 20 years ago, so why are your running your business with the same old system?  You didn’t wait for your car to break down.  There are better ways to get from point A to point B.  Find out why so many Pawnbrokers are switching to Bravo.  Find out why Fortune 1000 company, one of big 4 Pawn Brokering Public companies have intrusted Bravo for their business?

We may not have the biggest Sales force, but we do have the best product, and for many years to come.

Steve Mack

Call   888.407.6287  for a quick live demonstration and we want to listen to what you need.

Bravo – Sweden

Bravo - America - Mexico - Sweden

Why is eCommerce important to Pawn ?

Why is eCommerce important to Pawn? 

I think there are many reasons, so I will only hit a few in the article.

1.       First answer is retail.  The more customers that you put in front of your merchandise the more you get$ and the faster you sell it.  Half of your effort in the pawn business is selling stuff and If you haven’t noticed every retailer in the world  is moving their entire inventory to the web.

2.       How do you sell on the web?  There are a lot of test scenarios.  The easiest test is to put stuff on EBay.  It’s not a slam dunk.  It’s a lot of work to figure out.  But when you see how fast and effective it can be, you will understand why it continues to grow every year.

3.       Second answer is your Loan Business.  If you can figure out a faster and more profitable method of selling, you are apt to start lending more.  It is our pawnbroker nature.   If you can figure out how to lend more with the same default rate, why not?  Here is your path to loan portfolio growth, without adding a single customer.   A 150k loan portfolio increase of 20% is 30k @ average APR of 120% = $36,000.00 per year more.  What is yours?

4.       Marketing and Brand building.  Nothing is more effective than customers seeing your name and the frequency on the web.   Bravo does all of this for you for free.

5.       How do I get started?  Start selling the small stuff and get your feet wet.  Build your customer base.  How often do your current walk-in customers come into your store to shop?  On Maxpawn.com 20% of our customers will visit your store every day to shop.  Web customers are loyal.  Average sale on Maxpawn.com currently is $105.00.

6.       They love pawnshops, they love to shop, they want to see every day what is in your shop.  From their home or office.

7.       A big surprise selling on the web is – FUNJ.  Yes it’s fun when you get an offer online and the eventual deal when the funds hit your account. J

Below is an example of an item reaching relevance and position on Google.  Bravo submits thousands of items from your store each day.

Back from Dixie Pawn Convention.

Sons Grow Up!

Oh what fun it is to see a son with his father at a pawn convention.  Proud father and his bug eyed kid.  It brought back so many memories.  My mom and dad took me to the JCK jewelry show in New York.  There was no NPA or any convention for pawn back then, but seeing the trade is fascinating and anyone that has not been has to give it a whirl.  There is a new generation of pawnbrokers beginning.

Kathy and her team from the Dixie Pawnbrokers Association did an amazing job.  Congratulations.  The Southern Pawnbrokers are a real tight group.  Everyone knows each other and there is a real sense of camaraderie in the air.

Our take away of the last 2 days is there is change in the air.  New stores are opening and competition from the big 3 public's are shaving market share from the independents.  Business the last year was good.  Diamonds were being bid bought and sold.  Pawn is good!

What is fun for me after growing and running Superpawn’s 50 stores (sold to Cash America – 2004) was learning from the Industry leaders that sell services and goods to the Pawn Industry.   Thanks to Steve Wexler, Michael, and Tony for your advice and help to Cynthia, Michele and myself.

We were saved by AT&T – wireless hotspot device. 

We got to the show to find out the Internet connectivity was going to be upgraded next month.  It was so bad that we were ready to pack up.  I had seen this device at Costco when shopping with my wife and thought maybe there is a store nearby.  There was a store closing in ½ hour and off went Cynthia and Michele.  They came back with a black device half the size of an Apple phone.  We logged in boom done.  A great deal for $120.00 and $50 a month and can be used anywhere a cell phone works.

We set up Bravo from scratch in 15 minutes.  Ticket, label, and receipt printers, along with scanners tested beeping and printing.  The web application is so easy compared to servers, connections, and old setup. 

We validated our technologies ease of installation at this show.  Going to a trade show and seeing your product work, and the way Bravo requires, the simplicity and the minimal effort is what you would have expected.  I was so proud that we have the technology that works like everyone would expect.

What happens when the Internet goes down?  Our competitors common fear tactic.  What happens when your server goes down? This has been a 20-year problem with servers that has never gone away.  The answer to both questions is you can’t conduct business.  The next question is, how often?   The server goes down more frequently than the Internet.  And if you plug in an extra Internet service provider for your store, like the AT@T hotspot you nearly guarantee yourself uninterrupted service.  Bravo services have never been interrupted.

Our competitors didn’t even set up a store demo because of the expense, time and technical support required to setup their systems.   Setting up Bravo is as easy an Apple App on your phone.  You get the benefit of a Million dollar data center for each of your stores and powerful software that gets your store operating the way you want.  This is the beauty of Cloud Computing.  Its already 5 years since Cloud computing has been introduced and where most of services are being delivered today.  Bravo is 100% Cloud.

Freedom

I asked a pawnbroker that has been looking for a software solution for the last 10 years why he decided on switching to Bravo.  “Freedom”  “I don’t want a system that limits me in how I want to operate my store”.  “Bravo is Freedom”  “Thanks for finally bringing a new and complete product to our Industry”.

That made the convention for me.

Steve Mack

Social Media and your Store - Where is your Facebook, Twitter, Blog,........

Facebook, Twitter, and Your Store

Bravo's integration with Social Media is a complete solution.  The social marketing package comes with Bravo's eCommerce Suite.  Social Media today is the most important and cost effective marketing for your business.  Bravo makes it easy to understand and use, with practically no effort.

Every item from your store has your Social Accounts attached.  Your company website is also linked so that all of the attention gets re-directed to your store.  Share with your customers, email, and leverage the viral social network with Bravo !  

  

   Stop doing all of the heavy lifting yourself!         Your systems need to do more today!

Bravo systems gives you everything you are used to, moves your business forward with information to help your employees make wise choices, places your business in the middle of eCommerce profitably, and now positions your company in the Social Network.

Be Bravo...

www.bravorevolution.com

www.maxpawn.com

Maxpawn.com delivers

Well, we soft launched the site last week with our “add to cart” eCommerce.  We will turn on our remaining stores over the next 2 weeks and will have 40,000 items available.  The following day we were certified with GOOGLE.  Within 2 days we had our first sale -  click here and the following day this item – click here was sold.

Case 1 – Skis goggles from a store in Las Vegas – sold at 8.18 p.m. (store was closed) to a person in Virginia.  Paid full price – Customer got a great deal  – found the item shopping on Google.  Maxpawn.com shopping channel integration with Google, the item became relevant, easy to find, available, and paid with the integrated payment system PayPal.  Michael Mack’s store utilizing Bravo Store Systems identified the sale from the Dash Board of Bravo – Web Fulfillment Task button.  2 clicks in Bravo item scanned, Done.  The system kicks out the eCommerce shipping form with shipping label – money in the bank – and customer is informed the item is on its way with tracking number.

Case 2 – Logitech Home Audio – sitting on the shelf in the store for the last 3 months a customer calls the store to inquire.  The following day the Bravo Dash Board – Web fulfillment button lights up at 10:34 a.m.  A man from Washington State makes the purchase.  Click Click – verify item – Done – Money in the bank – auto email to the customer the item is on the way.

Mikes comment – Mike is one of the most experienced EBay sellers in America said out loud.  This is so cool!  That says a lot from a person who sells between 5 – 15 items a day through various web channels.  See Mikes Store – Click here .  Mike has the largest Louis Vuitton Hand Bag selection on the web.

What is also revealing about this sale is Ski Goggles in Las Vegas, are you kidding.  First why would you buy them to resell?  Second, who would walk in his store and ask, do you have ski goggles.   With Bravo and Maxpawn.com there is always someone.  This was a $70.00 sale!  This did not require posting to a website.  This was completely automated and did not require an extra minute of effort to put for sale into the web.

WHATS NEXT

Bravo turns on “ Make an Offer”.  Pawnshop site with “make an offer”, the merchandise is going to start flying off the shelf.  Check out www.Maxpawn.com and witness the vision of Bravo Store Systems take hold.

Maxpawn.com - LIVE!

CLICK ON MAXPAWN

After 2 years of dedicated development, a vision back in 1998 has finally become reality – Maxpawn.com.  Mike Wishart, Kelly York and myself have dreamed for years, saw our opportunity converge December 29, 2008 and dedicated the last 2 years to make this a reality.  Many of you have asked me why after selling Superpawn for a zillion bucks and recognized for technology,  do you want to put yourself through this challenge?  ANSWER is simple – to create a better opportunity for Small businesses and Pawn Brokers

We packed every secret, proven business practice, and the power of today's computing resources into Bravo Store Systems   Then  we attached a completely integrated distribution channel – Maxpawn.com  to every store  and connected our users inventory directly into the web.  Thursday we turned on Mr Pawn of Boulder City, Nevada.  Friday we turned on my brothers store Max-Pawn of Las Vegas, Nevada.  From these 2 stores, we have 4237 items for sale today .  By the end of next of week we will have our 7 additional companies and 45,000 items for sale.  Items for-sale on Google, in the stores, and on Maxpawn, all at the same time.  We expect 5 million items for sale by year end.

No other system exists.  As each item is sold from the store, sold on Maxpawn, priced from pawn, new merchandise added from vendors, the systems from Bravo does all of the heavy lifting in keeping track of the details in your store and online,so you can take care of the customers.  Kick back and watch your merchandise fly off the shelf during your store hours and when your store is closed.

 

As a pawnbroker myself, selling and handling $600,000,000.00 dollars of merchandise during my tenure at SuperPawn, I can now tell you now why I am so excited today. 

In the last few years operating Superpawn I discovered through PRIMA, our former legacy technology, how this idea became the most astonishing business model I have every come across.

We were selling between 1200 – 3000 items per day on the web from our stores.

Most of the items were being sold through the very first API developed with EBay – read this article.

During this period of online sales, we figured out that it was costing us more to sell on EBay than we were profiting in the majority of transactions.

We discovered that integrating online and in-store processes through technology we could create the most efficient selling operation.  Your Store – BRAVO – Maxpawn ----------AS ONE.

BIG SURPRISE – read carefully

As pawnbrokers we all have been committed in driving regular main stream folks into our stores.  Its extremely expensive and nearly impossible to drive new customers.  We as pawnbrokers haven’t scratched the surface even with the help of “Pawn Stars”.  Also, more people are shopping on the web and mobile, so this is a delema for all brick and mortar operators.

The secret salsa of Bravo and Maxpawn is 30% of the online sales driven from Maxpawn are “In Store Pickup”.  Of those that pick up merchandise from your store – 90% are new, never been a pawnshop customers.  We never saw new customers like this before!  This is the difference when Pawnbrokers design a system.  We know the Pawn facts.

This makes double sense.  First, people continue to be reluctant in purchasing used merchadise from any online seller.  Now they can shop online, find the item in your store, try it out, and then take it home.  Second, there are customers that love to shop pawnshops everyday, and there are many people that are afraid to go in, but are hugely curious.  Now they can shop everyday and in their privacy, we sort the merchandise specifically by your store and most recent merchandise.  Customers can see new stuff everyday, and they do!

Obviously with Bravo and Maxpawn, your store is seen around the globe.  Now you have the Web resources that Wal-Mart has to level the playing field.

Find out how easy it is to change to Bravo.  We have developed a new self service conversion process that is the simplest ever, so don’t fret, we want this to go smooth as you do. 

Thanks to all of our early adopters that drove this product development.  Thanks to everyone else that has read and commented on our progress.

You are all great people in a great business.

If you have any question please feel free to contact me.

Steve Mack

Store Commerce and eCommerce operated as ONE.

Where is Maxpawn.com?

The Bravo revolution will blur the lines of Online selling and your Store Commerce. The Internet and your Store will be One!

We are working our booty off and we are very disappointed we are late, however we go live Beta Jan 10th, to our selected beta stores and live to the rest of our Bravo Users Jan 20th, 2012.  I have included a variety of style sheets and Bravo Screen shots from our Test Version.  We decided to complete the fully integrated Web Return Management functionality in the first release.  Now you will have a Web process for customers to return items and business users to manage the all important customer service, notification, and refund processes all in one.

What revolutionizes your business is the ability to conduct business from your store on Bravo POS and see it immediately on our website – Maxpawn.com.  Whether you are pricing a product, selling a product to a customer right in front of you, all of these updates happen real time in front of your eyes.  Dozens of processes are incorporated into Bravo so you can sell in your store and the Internet as one, simple, the same way.  No more duplication of effort.

What you see on Maxpawn.com

What you see on Bravo POS.

as ONE

The vision of this product is emerging in the next days.  Store Commerce and eCommerce were never supposed to be one.  One was supposed to wipe out the other.  Bravo revolutionizes the traditional store with the web as one.  Bravo can put your store back into the driver’s seat.  Now it’s your turn.  Call or Email Bravo.

Cynthia Ramirez

Cynthia@bravorevolution.com

219-218-7919