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Buddy
system takes magic carpet ride.
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| Profile:
Small Business News |
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2
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Kallick and
Rozin have known one another since the 1940s when Kallick hung out
with Rozin's brother. At one point, Kallick hired Rozin to work
with him at Harry's Corner, Cincinnati's first discount carpet store.
"He's got the
toughness I don't have," Kallick says, "There are times I wish I
could be like him. He bites the bullet."
Without Rozin,
the Franklin-based company probably would "go down the tubes." Kallick
says he would cave in too much on prices. "Maybe without me we'd
go down. We need each other. We complement each other's personalities,
I guess."
Kallick's passion
for the business is rooted more in basic ambition than the floor
carpeting products themselves. Sure, he believes in what he sells.
But his drive to succeed really keeps him going.
"There's still
a huge challenge out there. There's so many markets we're not in.
There's so many battles to be fought and won."
He also thrives
on the spotlight that made him a household name.
It's pretty
tough not to hear his voice, because Kallick runs commercials on
50 radio stations and 12 television stations statewide. Except for
a few notes, he doesn't rely on a prepared script. "I look at a
clock and talk."
The folksy
style, he says, makes it seem as if he's in your living room or
you're in his store. The approach helps him sound sincere, he says.
"This sounds like sales talk, but we truly believe we offer the
customer the best value."
Competitors
bristle when they hear him talk about low prices.
The stampede
of commercials creates the false image that he has the lowest prices
when that's no necessarily the case, competitors complain.
Kinsley of
Regal Carpet says, "It gives consumers in their minds price points
that don't exist."
Another Ohio
carpet store owner, who requested anonymity, says, "It's not only
ridiculous, it's dishonest."
If anything.
Buddy's Carpet undercuts other businesses with one-time specials
backed by carpet mills. For most products, shoppers will find comparable
prices from business to business, say industry leaders and retailers.
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