When you opened your retail store you never thought you would hear the terms
“liquidation specialist” or “retail crisis manager”, much less need the services of one.
You started your small business from scratch. It grew. It made a profit. It became
established and people began treating you differently. Much differently than before
and you enjoyed it. What seemed like a miracle and blessing at the time, has
suddenly turned into your worst nightmare.
After ten, twenty, or thirty years of working 24/7, suddenly, like nearly half of the 27
million small businesses in America, yours has become unprofitable. More often than
not, a small business (or even large one) finds itself in turmoil after the fact.
In earlier depressions, this usually meant total liquidation and/or bankruptcy. Today
there is a professional on the horizon, the retail crisis expert also known as retail
crisis consultant, who can often, keep one from having to file bankruptcy and in many
cases make your business profitable again.
This profession is known as “retail crisis management”. Though there are many now
n this field, finding the right one does not have to be difficult.
Many businesses must close but the retail consultant knows ways to keep losses at
a minimum and sometimes guide you through profitably (or with minimal losses) in a
closing.
Upon numerous searches on the Internet, I found the name Milton Waldoff and
The Waldoff Group who, at one time or another, has been Yahoo!, MSN, and Google’s
#1 ranked retail crisis manager and turnaround specialist.
I visited the site and read the testimonials. I learned that one of the most
important steps in a retail crisis is to call the right person early. Even if one has never
heard of a retail turnaround consultant, more likely than not, one of his/or her
competitors has and has or is using one.
Contacting a retails crisis manager of course is difficult emotionally, but once set
into motion, it is like couples counseling. Positive things start to happen that you may
not have thought possible. I won’t sugar-coat the situation. We are in a brutal
economy and there seems to be a “survival of the fittest” mentality out there. But
there is a change for many businesses, often when they couldn’t see the
light of day. Again this means finding the right professional.
Again this person you seek will be ranked very high on all three major search engines,
and just as important have a roster of happy clients with testimonials that are
checkable on his/or her site, and if possible, years of business experience behind his
or her own belt. I decided to interview Mr. Waldoff who was generous with his
information. He operates in Hattiesburg, Ms as a retail turnaround expert aka
liquidation manager.
Waldoff, who operated his family business for __ years and built it into a 60,000
square foot retail clothing store, says, “Even in the case of long established well
operated stores where management might be considered professional, where they
feel they really know what they are doing and are good merchants, survival is often
impossible. Competition is severe and customers don’t have a sense of loyalty, good
sales associates are difficult to attract and keep, indeed the retail apparel business is
difficult, at best, and adds, “We assist in developing realistic goals based on the your
situation, needs and desires. Working with the stores inventory, sales, mark downs,
etc., developing sales goals, inventory management, open-to-buy, taking advantage
of the market, merchandising, merchandise presentation, marketing, advertising, etc.,
to assist retailers achieve realistic goals.