salesman

Eventually, Frank and his wits landed on a stroke of genius. He bought a company that made machines to chill liqueurs - kind of like beer taps, except with something more potent in the pull. "At room temperature, Jägermeister tastes lousy," Frank admits. "At five to eight degrees, it's marvelous." Today, Frank believes there are 30,000 Jägermeister machines in bars all over the country and the tap-machine program is the strongest it's ever been. He says the liqueur sold more than two million cases last year.

It could be argued, of course, that Jägermeister was dumb luck (and that a donation to LSU might be in order). And Frank does admit that luck played a part in both Jäger's rise and his next big success - Grey Goose. "I went into the vodka business with Grey Goose just as people were turning to cosmos and martinis," he says. "It was luck that we chose the vodka category."

Still, Frank's marketing approach wasn't just kismet. It was innovative. He hired a French distiller to make Grey Goose, giving it a je ne sais quoi that most big-name Eastern European and Scandinavian vodkas didn't share. He packed it in wooden crates so that it would seem fancier when it arrived at bars and liquor stores. And he gave it a fancy price - $30 a bottle when it hit the shelves in 1997. That made Grey Goose, at the time, one of the most expensive vodkas in the world. The whole idea was to create a lasting sense of luxury around something that evaporates in an instant.

"What can you buy that's the best in the world for $30?" Frank asks, in full salesman mode. "You can't buy a car. You can't buy a diamond ring. You can buy Grey Goose, and it's the best in the world."