You can't ignore Buddy's Carpet's ads or its impressive sales figure

Buddy Kallick's unmistakable, grating voice and outlandish persona has catapulted Buddy's Carpet from one Cincinnati location in 1983 to 34 stores throughout Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.

He practically jumps at you on the television and radio with incessant commercials.

"Folks." a typical radio ad blares. "Let's pretend that I'm hypnotizing you with this commercial. That way you will automatically go to Buddy's Carpet."

Colleagues and other believers admire his bluntness. What you see is what you get. He's a pure-bred salesman and then some.

"He's been a hustler all of his life." says his brother, Ken Kallick. "You never know what he's going do do next. He's like a cartoon character."

Buddy's son Mark Kallick, a store manager, says his father would "shrivel up and blow away" if he couldn't sell carpeting.

Other carpet retailers agree the corny pitches work. Customers remember him even when he's long off the air. The ads take up about $3 million of the company's annual sales, which top $30 million. The spending level is on par with an aggressive marketing plan, floor covering retailers say.

Rivals and others in the floor covering business hold divergent views on the effects of his crazed style.

"What he has done is bring more product awareness to everybody," says Bill Pawson, past president of Northeast Ohio Floor Covering Association.

Others, who worry that his antics give the entire industry a bad name, say they simply tolerate him.

Howard Kinsley, owner of Regal Carpet in Cleveland, says each commercial is presented in a "fairly gross manner" that would appeal to a 4-year-old.

Kallick defends his technique. "We're respected. We may not be loved because we're tough competition."

With all of the exposure he gets—and relishes—Kallick, 63, may seem like the corporate founder. He's not. Kallick co-owns Buddy's Carpet with Leif Rozin. a former Cincinnati wholesaler. Rozin hired Kallick to pull off the enormous retail growth in Cincinnati, Columbus, Akron, Canton, Cleveland, Lexington and Indianapolis. The privately held company, formerly known as Buddy's Carpet Barn, now employs 250 people.

The Buddy Kallick File

Born: Avondate (near Cincinnati)
Age: 63
First carpet job: 1947
Military: U.S. Navy veteran
Interests: Flies single-engine planes, enjoys classical music and art, chairs the Ohio Diabetes Association and supports the Jewish Federation, Cincinnati Symphony, Orchestra and Cincinnati Art Museum, the Shrine and the Scottish rite in Cincinnati.
Home: Cincinnati
Family: Divorced with two children and three step-children
Car: Cadillac