As the owner of a very busy store, Parc Avenue Shoes, Bentzy Wachsman took time away from his bustling business to fly to New York from his hometown in Montreal. The grand occasion? LTB 2013. He came with a game plan: to improve his marketing strategies.
At a young age, Bentzy sold Cutco knives door-to-door. With a natural flare for sales, he was soon recognized as the #3 salesman in Eastern Canada. Determined to accomplish bigger and better things, Bentzy opened a factory that manufactured children’s outerwear. As the first company to introduce ‘fashion’ to outerwear, he took the market by storm. Bentzy expanded this business and sold it to his top competitor. His next business venture – Bentzy’s Food Depot – was also sold to his largest competitor after 8 successful years of growth.
That’s when he bought a modest shoe store and moved it into a newly renovated space. After four weeks, he had already sold more than the previous owners had sold in an entire year. To say the least, Bentzy has a passion for innovative marketing strategies. Always looking for new ways to expand his business, the LTB Summit caught his attention.
Soon after returning, Bentzy reached out to tell us the good news. Lessons learned at LTB had shaken up business as usual back in Montreal. Inspired by the many LTB guest speakers who shed light on several hard-hitting marketing strategies, Bentzy produced a brochure that presented prospective customers with a problem they related to and offered them a solution.
Bentzy had come to LTB 2013 with a challenge. He was tired of having to resort to price-cutting tactics to compete with aggressive competitors. Bentzy learned how to position himself as an expert in his field. Today, Bentzy doesn’t even feel he has any real competition. “Amazon, Zappos, the shoe store down the block – they all sell shoes. I sell a 15 point professional fit – customers don’t get that anywhere else.”
At the Executive Roundtable, Bentzy realized a simple truth that had a profound impact on him. “I saw that there was a common denominator amongst the successful CEOs at the roundtable: They all excelled at time management. It was worth the cost of admission just to come to this realization.”
Like so many of the other entrepreneurs and business owners who attended last year’s summit, Bentzy saw an obvious need for a large, upscale event like LTB in the Jewish community.
“So many young people are thrown into the business world without the knowledge and skills required to successfully kick-start or grow a business,” he observes. “They have no clue how to balance a budget, plan strategy or effectively position their business in a competitive marketplace. But they now have a qualified resource to learn from.”
Who should attend LTB 2014 according to Bentzy?
“Anyone who wants to change the status quo of their business.”
This year, he’ll be keeping his eyes open and ears peeled for opportunities to learn how to build a personal brand, rather than just a business brand. He’s also keen to learn how to start new service-oriented enterprises without huge start-up costs.
Want to join Bentzy and take your business to the next level?
Step 1. Sign up for LTB 2014.
Step 2. Take a few minutes to identify your business challenges and set some goals. It’ll make your experience at LTB even more worthwhile.
If you don’t want to plan ahead yet, no matter. So long as you come to the event eager to learn and ready to network… you’ll be glad you did.
