Having just sold multi-million dollar Connecticut
based Heidi’s Uniforms, Mike, his wife, and three children have recently
re-located in Israel . He commutes back and forth. Armed with more
communication devices than NASA, this man seldom operates fewer than two
companies at one time, takes note of his investments, has his nose in the
financial pages, and still manages to be a very involved
citizen/philanthropist, as well as husband/father. His secret for energy is simple: He loves
what he does.
Born in small town Trumbull ,
Connecticut
Whether it was geographical proximity to New York , his uncle who had a business in
junior fashions and novelties, his dad who was in retail and always wanted his
own store, or whether it was just Mike, who can say? But by the time he was a teenager, he was
reading every financial paper he could lay his hands on, loved courses in
economics—especially mergers & acquisitions—and at 16 when he ended up at
the flea market, he thought that business was “pretty cool.” His first attempt was visiting garage sales,
buying up old stuff and re-selling it at the market. He saw what he could do, and he was just
beginning.
With his uncle, he bought more costly items, which he sold
again at the market. Then, he expanded
to festivals and parades—Mylar balloons and souvenirs. Presto, he was a business man and paid his
way through college. One summer, he
spent eight days at the Rhode Island State Fair, worked 15 hours a day, and
made $5,000. He was 17.
Eventually, his parents did buy a business, a small medical
uniform shop—Heidi’s. Founded in 1950 as
a “Mom and Pop,” Heidi’s had two locations—the flagship New
Haven store (that would be run by Evelyn), and Hartford (later opened in 1983 and managed by
Sid). The company had originally done well,
and in 1980, the Wiesners took over.
By the time Mike graduated from college with a degree in
finance in 1982, the stock market had begun to drop. Mike remembers how his professor/mentor said,
“‘If you go to Wall Street, everyone there will be as smart and hardworking as
you. If you go into your family’s
business, you will be the cream that rises to the top.’” Mike listened.
Heidi’s did well at first, but then uniform styles began to
change: Nursing caps and whites were out, and medical uniforms became “anything
goes.” As the store started to flounder,
Mike saw that his creativity and business acumen were what was the business
needed, and so he joined his family.
He began pounding the pavement, looking for customers; he
advertised in the Yellow Pages; he got the name of every customer who came into
the store and where that person worked—then he called on that particular
business; he joined “leads groups;” he broadened Heidi’s base and went into
hospitals, hotels, restaurants, and industrial areas. “I had a lot of fun,” he says. “I would go out and call on a fancy country
club, and then end up at a factory the same day.”
Business began to pick up once more. He kept the two stores open for his parents,
but he looked into the future and saw that retail sales were much less
promising than “B to B” (business to business) transactions. What were once 90% retail, and 10% group
sales, Mike completely turned around.
Three years after Mike joined Heidi’s, he bought the
company. Over time, he moved it from the
original New Haven shop to its current 25,000
sq. ft. building in West Haven . Wherever he could, Mike gave Heidi’s
customers a desirable, complete experience: He installed multiple embroidery
machines; as early as 2003, he also joined ASI and sold promotional products
along with the uniforms—again the total presentation.
“I had a lot of opportunities, and a lot of people around me
who expressed their interests in business,” Mike explains, “and if they were
interested, I was interested.” He learned,
and Heidi’s grew from five employees to 18.
“Sales people and entrepreneurs have to be eternally
optimistic. They must always see the
glass as half full, not half empty. You
need ego. If you don’t think you can
win, don’t get into the game,” he warns.
“Winning isn’t everything, and we all make a ton of mistakes. But you need to believe in yourself. You also need to believe in people; you need
to have empathy for your customers and your salespeople. A good salesperson is ethical, not in your
face, willing to commit to a long-term relationship, and brings value to the
customer.”
A little over a year ago, Mike and his wife, Orna, decided
they were ready to do other things, and his parents were ready to retire. He put the business up for sale—not to
another uniform company but to a broader marketing firm. Thus, Heidi’s became part of an even larger
consortium, thereby increasing its overall value to its customers and its
overall sales.
Feury Marketing Group, with its 40,000 sq. ft. building in New Jersey , added its
property and talents to the existing Heidi’s warehouse and store, totaling over
60,000 sq. ft. of successful, enticing, capabilities, and blending the concept
of promotional products with uniforms, web design, graphic arts, and more: The
ultimate image. “There are strong
synergies between us, and together we deliver a powerful message,” Mike
reiterates. Current package sales bring
in as much as seven figures per client.
Mike now happily works for Feury, not only in this country
but in Israel ,
where he searches out small to mid-sized companies that are looking for the
same unique look that Feury (also Heidi’s) will provide there, as well as here.
“I have an enormous amount of freedom without the tremendous
responsibilities, and I love the networking,” Mike Wiesner says. “I never want to grow up. Growing up is boring.”
