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Bob Kramer, a former owner of a chain of retail stores,
teaches others "street smart" business strategies. Bob
was involved in retailing for over forty years.
Bob received his Masters degree in marketing from Xavier
University where he served as an instructor of Small Business
Management. In 1994 he was named "Member of the Year"
of the National Speakers Association’s Ohio Chapter and later
served as its president.
Bob is a member of Mensa and has served on the faculty of
the prestigious SkillPath Seminar Company, a division of
Graceland College. He draws upon his wisdom, formal education,
and a lifetime in the trenches of managing a multi store retail business to provide keynotes and seminars that have
been described by others as "wise, witty, and
wonderful".
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Mind
Power over Money Power
To
Win in Business You Have to be
Smart, Tough,
Aggressive, and Innovative
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I was terribly frustrated when a giant competitor was
awarded the rights to sell Eureka vacuum cleaners just a few
blocks away from one of my stores. At first I wondered,
"how can I compete?" I knew that my big box competitor
had a lot more buying power than the Kramer’s Sew & Vac
stores. I knew that they would get more generous advertising
support from Eureka.
I went from frustration to action when I saw that they
were running a full-page ad for a Eureka model 1412 vacuum
cleaner with an advertised price of $49.95. My WHOLESALE cost as
a dealer for this unit was $54.70. Having learned that you need
to put action into your reaction to get satisfaction I was at
the door ten minutes before they opened. With ad in hand I asked
to see the advertised vac. I was introduced to Jim, the head of
their vacuum cleaner department. I quickly found out that he
knew very little about vacuum cleaners. My fear of "how can
I compete" started to subside. I asked Jim how many of the
1412s he had stating that at the price offered, they would make
great gifts. Checking the computer he said, "Six". I
said, "Great, I’ll take six."
My phone was already ringing when I got back to my store.
"Do you sell the Eureka model 1412 vacuum cleaner?" My
response, "We certainly do, in fact we just got in a fresh
shipment a few minutes ago." "How much is it".
"59.95, I replied, thinking 25% was a fair mark up."
"Don’t you know that BIGBOX has them on sale today for
$49.95?" "Yes, I replied, but do they have any?"
"No they are out of them." "We’ll, when we don’t
have any our price is only $39.95, come on in and shop!"
And they did! That day Kramer’s sold four of the Eurekas and
twenty-seven other units of other brands of higher value and
profit.
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Let
their fingers do the shopping
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When Brants, a well know competitor went out of business,
I arranged for the former owner to sign a change of lessee
agreement so that anyone who dialed their phone number from
their yellow page ad would automatically ring in to our store.
Consumers shop aggressively for price, and after quoting
one from Kramer’s 521-3100 number I would stand by patiently
waiting for line zero one to light up. Fingers were walking
through the yellow pages and a light on zero one told me I was
answering for Brants. When they called "Kramers" I had
told them that our everyday low sale price on the Singer model
844 was $399 and it was the lowest they would find. When I
answered for Brant’s in an altered voice, I told them that
Brants had the best price at $499. They would throw the Kramers
price in my face and after a few moments of arguing I told them
it was it was impossible; Kramer would be losing money if he
sold at $399. With a tone of frustration and resignation I would
say, "If you think you can get it at Kramers for $399, just
go buy it there." Bless them, they did, and I loved them
for it.
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