How to Revive a Business in This Recession

Would you ever think of taking over a failing business in a recession and try to rebuild it?

Michael Bader bid and boy did he succeed. His success did not come from traditional methods. He thought outside the box and focused on what he wanted.

Let me explain. Six months ago a friend called Michael and shared the fact that his deli was drowning in debt and failure. He asked Michael to come and take it over.

First thing Michael did was create an entry strategy. Everybody always talks about an exit strategy for a business. What about an entry strategy? His entry strategy was to develop a customer acquisition program for six months. He knew that once he got his food in your mouth, he had you as a repeat customer.

So he did what he was warned never to do, which was give away his highest profitable item – coffee.

Well, it worked on me. The other day I stopped in for a whole wheat bagel when he asked me how I wanted my coffee. I thought great, there goes another $1.50. Boy is he a smooth salesperson. When I paid the bill, he said $3.50 for the bagel sandwich, coffee is free. Now that got my attention. And Michael was right. When his food hit your palette, he had you for life.

Michael put together a package of bagels, cream cheese, nova lox and free coffee for $9.99. He needed to get customers into his store. Once they were there, the majority wound up spending 30% more on other related items. Then they came back for more and more and more. Business started booming and he then proceeded to add an in house dining option. Hardly a seat is to be found during the lunch hour. His revenues and profits are up 7 times from when he took the store over. Bills are being paid, money is being put away and yes, he is opening another store in the next 60 days, all during a recession.

The thing that impressed me the most about Michael are his non-traditional methods. Focusing only on success and results, he decided to change the positioning of an ad he ran for three weeks straight that generated little response. He simply had the ad printed upside down in the 4th week of the campaign. All of a sudden 50 people called and asked him if he was aware the ad was upside down. He said he was aware of it. They asked if he was going to fix it. He answered by asking why? If I had printed it the right way, you would never have called. He claims 30 out of those 50 callers took the time to come to the store, meet him, buy his food and yes, they were now “his” customers.

Congratulations Michael Bader. You are a great living example of someone who Leads, Sells and pushes the competition out of the way. The lessons learned from Michael:

1. Think positively and don’t let the nay sayers stop you
2. Shake things up and try new ways until you see the desired results
3. FREE is a great business acquisition strategy. You just need to have the right process and product/service to back it up.

Michael truly embodies all of the 7 traits of great sellers as outlined in the bestselling book Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way! Want to give your troops some motivation in tough economic times, send them this link http://ronkarr.com/blog so they can read about Michael Bader’s success story with Ruebens NY Style Delicatessen in River Vale, NJ. He is a true inspiration!

Tags: Leadership, leadership speaker, marketing, motivation, Motivational Speaker, Negotiations, Retail Sales, Retail Success, Sales, sales speaker, sales trainer, Success

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