Gabby Leibovich is the entrepreneur behind some of Australia's most famous brands, businesses, and exits. He and his brother Hezi Leibovich are known for revolutionising the retail, services, and food and travel industries in Australia with their iconic businesses spanning from Catch of the Day (now Catch.com.au) all the way to Scoopon and Eatnow (now Menulog).
Their tale is encapsulated in their best-selling business book 'Catch of the Decade' covering exactly what it took for them to go from emigrating to Australia from Israel, running an electronics store with their parents, to nearly two decades in business leading to their combined $1 billion in exits.
These are some of the top marketing and sales strategies from his book that Gabby discussed with us on The Make It Happen Show earlier this year.
If you want to listen to the full episode of The Make It Happen Show with Gabby Leibovich, don't forget to check out his interview with us.
Why you need to be your own 'Trumpeteer'
One of the biggest things that Gabby Leibovich did throughout his business journey with Catch of the Day was what they like to call 'trumpeteering'. That meant telling everyone, from the public to your consumers to your suppliers, how good you are. They used to send blogs and emails out to hundreds of suppliers and bombard with them so much information about Catch of the Day to ensure that they knew just how good they were.
In the book, Gabby tells that if you don't tell everyone how good you are, who's going to say it? There are so many businesses out there that have great numbers, stories, or any other achievements, but don't go out actively telling people. That means no-one will know! You can't always just expect people to pick up on it, you need to make it be heard.
This is all about Public Relations (PR) and building your brand. Doing this helps you build your reputation and trust in your industry as well as credibility to your consumers and people like your suppliers.
The 'Win, Win, Win' concept
"We should enjoy building friendships and relationships because people like to do business with people that they like and that leads to a lot of great places."
Everyone needs to win, right? Gabby talks about this 'Win, Win, Win' sales concept that he used back in Catch of the Day when negotiating with his suppliers. He talks about how yes, you need to push hard for a deal, but you also need to ensure you have a good relationship that will go for a long time too.
That means making sure you don't screw your supplier all the way because otherwise they probably won't want to do business with you again. It's about thinking long-term and how you can create a 'Win, Win, Win' situation for everyone involved.
This will not only make it easier to create those long-term relationships with important people in your business network but also build on that trust, credibility and reputation that we mentioned above. It's not just the external shouting that you do of how great you are, but actually proving it through the work you do and the relationships that you build in your business too.
The best way to win deals
Now, one of the easiest ways to create a 'Win, Win, Win' situation, especially with another business that you're negotiating with, is by helping them solve a cashflow problem. What does that mean?
For example, when Gabby first started with Catch of the Day, they didn't have that strong brand or reputation yet, and didn't have a lot of relationships with suppliers yet. What helped them win the equation early on was going up to a supplier and saying, "What do you have in here that you need to clear? I can pay you today."
Even if your business doesn't need to buy end-of-run stock or a mistake like how Gabby might've with Catch of the Day, if you solve a cash flow problem, that could be an easy lever that you can in your negotiation method.
Key takeaways from Gabby Leibovich
The main takeaways Gabby left us with on The Make It Happen Show was that in order to build a successful business, especially multiple businesses that are worth a combined $1 billion in exits, you need to think long-term brand credibility, reputation and trust.
That means building long-term relationships with your customers, suppliers, employees, whoever it is - it's all about the relationship you have. Whether you reflect that in your marketing through building up your PR strategy, or in your sales with a more flexible negotiation strategy, there are many ways you can replicate Gabby's success in your business today.
Learn more marketing and sales strategies from Gabby Leibovich in our episode of The Make It Happen Show with him today.
