hi, there, everyone. i'm j.j. ramberg. welcome to "your business." we give tips to make your business grow. think tuper ware party but think clothing and focus on cocktails and food. it's what two entrepreneurs are doing. they have hit the road with a trunk show to make sure their clothing line is a big success. ♪ >> this is a big day for eduardo and paco and their company. today is their launch at fred segal one of the most exclusive trend setters. >> we get taste makers from all over the world that come to our store from los angeles to find the next big thing. >> looking at the crowd, including the star of "madmen" trying on a jacket, they may be the next big thing. >> it's great. a great turn out. folks are loving what they are seeing. we are excited. >> excited, rest. resting? no way. eduardo and paco are not going to sit back and watch the sales come in. >> first sale of the night. >> appreciate it. ♪ >> this is one month later, far from los angeles and far from the structure of a retail store. paco is at the home of his friend near the beach in exclusive west hampton, new york. this is a stop on what they jokingly call the franklin and gowor show on the road. >> we are taking it closer to the customer, one-on-one so they can touch it and feel it. >> west hampton. >> they are not at the places to vacation. they are there to talk to people who do. they say franklin & gower is a lifestyle brand. they need to be where the lifestyle is. >> it's a certain type of preppy. it's a certain type of hip. it's a certain type of individual person who wears franklin & gower. >> the trunk show is two-fold. to get people excited around word of mouth. >> we know somebody in our wants is going to get someone to ask where they got them. >> second to gather market research. >> we learn at every single one of these. what are people drawn to? what are the colors they like. what is the pattern. how is the fit working? >> choosing the location and the host wisely and making sure it's an event people want to come to. >> we call them tequila trunk shows. there's going to be a drink and typically food. >> it makes it worthwhile. >> it makes shopping easier when there are cocktails involved. >> it's part of giving them a personality and reflecting the personality of its customers, something the company does in more than their clothing line. >> any brand in this marketplace is a provider. >> in addition to selling clothes, their website includes a blog that talks about all sorts of things. >> eduardo covers it style. i cover the entertainment. i don't know if i could quantify the blog to sales, but it does more clearly define franklin & gower as brand and identify the people who would more naturally fit into and like franklin & gower. >> the key to the success is the brand is authentic and reflects the aesthetic of the two of them. >> i rely on clothes to make a statement about me without me having to say one word. >> they are hoping franklin & gower is a statement. one that these and many other people want to make, too. ♪ whether it's high end of mass market, going to the grass roots base is boost sales. let's turn to colleen debaise the editor at the wall street journal and the author of "the wall street journal complete guide book" and amilya antonetti. great to see both of you. >> thank you. >> the first thing i thought of is they have their brand down. somebody recently said to me, think of your brand as a person. what kind of person is that? they have that person down and everything goes to that brand. that's incredibly important. >> absolutely. they have it spot on. they are going into their niche target market. they are hitting different diversities and all the different people. >> i don't know howdy verse it is. >> different places. >> whatever and being able to go right to the customer and they are taking notes, hearing what the customers feedback is. they are small enough, they can incorporate it back into the fashion. that's where you beat the big guys at the punch. the ground level marketing. they are dead on. they said it's going to grow virally and now social media. smart. somebody is doing something smart. >> they got into fred segal. it's the place you want to be. john ham from "madmen" is there. why go out on the road. it seems so small. you are shaking your head. >> no, no, no. i think, i love that john draper appears to be a fan of their clothing. that's a small business's dream to have a celebrity like that wear the product or endorse it in some way. when that happens, you have to extend that 15 minutes of fame and do as much as possible. these two are going on the road. >> they are strategically on the road. they are in los angeles, i'm sure san francisco and chicago. there's method to their madness. >> it's a specific brand. it's a specific kind of person. they identified that person and go to where that person is. >> right. it's so smart. it's a lesson any company can learn. you have to know your customer. they know their customer. i love at the events they are going to, they are not going to nascar racers they are going to nantucket and the hamptons. >> i know a woman launching a high end beachy brand an her website is about videos and blogs. her cure rating the world for her audience. it's called chance. it's not about the product, but about the product. how does that help a company? >> he's going over creating a certain lifestyle. he's connecting with the consumer saying i also like the same kind of lifestyle. i'm going to talk about my product. customers don't just want you to push the product. now, the consumer is saying you really are like me. i can find all these things. >> or, oh, i want to be that person. i want to be that person who like that is kind of music. wait, i think i'm going to like those pants, also. thanks for the great discussion guys. the name tanger has become synonymous with outlet shopping. selling quality merchandise at bargain prices. they have grown since 1981. today, ceo steven tanger is carrying on the family legacy, growing the company to 33 outlet centers in 22 states. here is his advice for keeping your business thriving. >> i had the wonderful and unique experience of working with my father and my grandfather for ten years. so, the collective experience of my two pred assessors and they were gracious and mentors me and shared their experiences. we are an entrepreneurial company, we have that spirit. the same spirit as my father and grandfather many years before. our business, like most businesses is a relationship business. our relationships with the senior management of our tenant partners goes back 25, 30 years in some cases. at anytime, mall operators, strip center operators could have called our tenants and developed relationships, but they did not. today, we still value those relationships. when a new tenant comes into our industry, i personally go and meet with the chairman and ceo to start a relationship. they know with tanger there's a steve tanger behind the name. in its purest form, real estate is a simple business. it requires long-term assets with a long-term vision and long-term financing. everything we do is based on a long-term strategy. the strategy in human resources, finding the right people to do the right job. and motivating them. it involves long term financing, working with wall street, the various investment bankers and working with our investors. educating our investors as to what our strategy is over time and making it happen. motivating and telling our employees what our long term strategy is. the first win is when stanley tanger had the guts to combine the cluster concept of retailing with factory outlet retailing. we have a win when an employee decides tanger is the employer of first choice. we win when our ten ten ant partners decide we are the landlord of choice. we have built upon them to being able to sit here with you and being very proud of the past almost 30 years later. if you are tired of running a business all by yourself, you may want to look into franchise conversion. it's when an independent business partners with a brand. golds gym started their program in 2008. independent fitness owners sign a ten-year term with an option to get out after the third or fifth year. 7-eleven rebrands convenience stores. aleg gra networks and franchisees with signs. are you in the restaurant business? checkers drive-in restaurants are focused on conversion. 40% of their growth in 2009 came from this area. in the auto industry, maco and meineke converted their dealerships into franchises. when we come back, we'll answer your business questions. we'll test your customer iq. today's elevator picture is hoping to smooth out the rough edges with his hand sander. ♪ [trumpet playing "reveille" throughout] reviving the economy means reinventing the way we do business. here's to the owners showing us the way. [trumpet playing "reveille" fades to silence] knowing what your customers prefer is essential to marketing your business to them. customer preferences are constantly changing. here is a quiz to check your customer iq. true or false, consumers would rather receive a real gift than a gift card. the answer is false. 82% say they would rather pick out their own gift than return something they hate. they are profitable, too. 14% surveyed never redeemed the cards. true or false, consumers are more likely to open unsolicited mail than e-mail. 53% delete unsolicited e-mail. true or false, more consumers under 35 earn six figure incomes than those over 54. target the under 35 demo. a recent marketing figure show a higher percentage in that age bract than any other. consumers are more apt to look at advertisements on the web than tv. a study shows 85% customers notice your ads on tv. there's a higher level of consumer trust. today's elevator picture came up with a product he thinks is needed in the market. why? because he needed it. let's see what the panel thinks. >> hi. si eem anglo molle. anyone who's used a hand sander before knows there's a problem with sandpaper tearing or having to cut it to fit it. we eliminated that problem. we have a belt and patent pending design to create the tube. it's set apart from any other on the market. we have a newly developed line to the industries. in 2009 the u.s. industry grossed $5 billion and the positive response we have from the retail and wholesale customers ensure a bright future. we are looking to raise between $500,000 to $1 million for marketing. a 20% return for all of our investors. please visit or website at sandwichtool.com. >> thanks. are you handy? we're going to start with colleen. how did he do? >> he did great. i didn't know if it was for retail customers or manufacturers. you answered that. i wasn't sure if you have different products for more the retail customer as opposed to industrial customers. >> you want him to tell you about his target market. >> i think you did well. you talked about how big the market is. what i'm interested in is are you currently selling? >> yes. >> i didn't hear that in your pitch. >> yes. >> what is your plan? you have how much of the market now and are using the capital to grow how much further. it's strictly for inventory? >> the primary reason is for marketing. >> okay. >> we have the manufacturing. we already have that down pat. >> let's see. would they take another meeting? >> i would. i have to say, i would to do a home project now. >> thank you. >> i'm definitely curious. i understand the construction industry and though it's a niche market, i like mass consumer goods, i would take another meeting. just ask more questions. >> good luck. >> thank you so much. >> thank you for this advice. if any of you out there have a product or service and you want feedback from our pitch panel and your chance of getting interested investors send an e-mail. the address is yourbusiness@msnbc.com. you never know, somebody may be interested in helping you. it's time to answer some of your back with us once again. the first one is about growing your business at an early stage. >> i would love advice on how to get the first customers in the door especially if you're a business that your typical customer is a late adopter and lied to see success before they feel comfortable using your product? how do you get them? >> you have started and grown so many companies. what should you do? >> go out to your ideal customer and say i'm going to provide the product or service for free in exchange for a great testimonial. and do a couple of those. and then you automatically now have this database. look, somebody who is just like you use my products, hear what they have to say. sometimes you to do the sweat part first to tap into customer bases. >> any other idea? >> yeah, there's two different approaches you can take here. one a fake it until you make it. these days with technology you have k. have this impressive looking website, an automated voice mail, if someone calls and think you're a fully staffed company. you can pretend that you're bigger than you are. that's one approach. the other is to be up front, what you're saying, where you say to someone, hey, you're my first client i'll give you a special rate or a money-back guarantee. or you can just pitch it that you'll work so hard for them. i know when i sold my apartment a year or two ago i picked a real estate broker just starting his own real is state business and i wanted him because i knew he would work so hard for me. >> move on to the next one. e-mail from eleanor. she writes, do you have a suggestion for the one most important question i can ask during the interview process? i think this is a great question, because as we say on the show all the time, hire slowly, fire quickly. it's hard to get to know one during the interview process. i'm going to start with you because you wrote a book about teens. >> i want to know instinct actually what do you love to do more than anything else? if i wasn't paying you money, what do you do in your spare time in take that i will put that toward a job skill. >> what about you? >> i would ask someone why they want to work for a small business, that's a very important question to ask. when you hire someone you want to make sure they're not going to jump ship as soon as the job market improves and go to a larger corporation that has a bigger benefits package. ask specifically what about a small business appeals to them, maybe it's the experience, maybe they like a family atmosphere. i think you want to make sure they're a good fit for your company. >> i don't exactly ask that in the interviews for my small business but i ask, would you be okay putting together an ikea book case because it turns out you have to do everything when it's a start of a small business. howard writes, my chief competitor has lifted materials from my marketing. he has literally used some of the same words to describe his services in his marking materials. is there anything i can do about about this to stop him? this happens all of the time because of the internet. look at faqs from one company, go to a competitor, you might see the exact same words, or tweaked a bit. anything you can do? >> die peepends how blatant it . sometimes it happens it's not a deliberate rip-off. if it is a deliberate rip-off, if you think it is, it will help if you have copyrights on the marketing materials because that puts you in a position of strength you can send a cease and desist letter and sometimes that letter alone can be effective in getting someone to stop. but as far as like pursuing legal action, that's something you really have to think about. it can cost a lot of money, hard to win a copyright lawsuit, hard to show damages if it's marketing materials we're talking about, hard to show you've been damaged that you can link your loss of sales to the fact that someone else is using your marketing terminology. so, yeah, i would think twice about na. >> think about writing them a letter saying this isn't in the spirit of competition, like we're both in the same industry you, do a good job, we do a good job. >> for me i try to encourage business people to not be paying so much attention to what other people are doing. it's a waste of energy. the great thing about people creative or invent they continue to create and invent. people who rip-off and duplicate, they're waiting for you to do something. do what you do, do it very, very well. i'm sure this person, since they were proud of the work, copying is the biggest complement, pursue your greatness because you will rise to the top, meaning somebody can't steal you. >> right. >> keep being you. don't look behind you, look forward. and learn from the lesson. absolutely, you need to copyright what you create. >> all right. >> good idea. keep the focus on what you can control. >> finally, a question from jenin, if i am consulting for companies not in the same line of business as my employers, she wants to go out on her own and start consulting, if i don't use their developed templates and models, is there a conflict of interest for me to moonlight with the expertise that i obtained through my current employer? you're thinking about this. >> well, people are doing this all the time right now. >> right. >> they're moonlighting. i think -- as long as she's not using anything that she's privy to as an employee of the company i think she's okay. i think that's completely fine, yeah. >> i'm all about full disclosure. i'm sure that if she -- if this is true, she's not doing something that's a conflict of interest and went to her boss and said i've have aspirations to be in my own business, this is something i'm doing on the side they may turn around and say, good for you. >> what if they turn around and say, if that's what you want to do i'd rather have somebody here committed to my company. >> but that's going to happen eventually. worst thing to do is get trapped in a lie, get trapped that she is doing something offcharacter. this is a small world. you can get a letter of reference, it goes viral. >> look at her contract, see what she can -- >> she needs to supplement her income, maybe she hasn't had a raise, this is why she needs to do this. >> particularly in the economy, people would be sympathetic to that. thank you for your advice today. i appreciate it. if you have a question for our experts, dough to our website. address is openforum.com/yourbusiness. there, just hit the ask the show ling to submit a question for our panel. again, website openforum.com/yourbusiness. or if you'd rather, e-mail us questions and comments. address is yourbusiness@msnbc.com. now that we've heard from colleen and amiliya, let's get surviving tips from present sures like you. >> be very careful how much time and energy you spend chasing funding. now, there are certain times where you feed funding because you need to get employees hired and things like that, however, the further off you can put it, the better off you're going to be. >> my advice to entrepreneurs is to really respect an employee as it does come down to the end of the day the employees and the workforce. be kind to the employees, to everyone in general, particularly employees and be very respectful of their contribution, their needs, and their ambitions. >> unless you have an extensive background in product development or entrepreneurship, you're going to run into people like engineers, manufacturers, marketing firms, sales representatives, and they all have different advice to give you, and you have to be able to separate the weak from the chaff and say, you know, it's my decision, i'm going to be make it, right or wrong, i'm going to live with it. >> looking to move your office but don't have the time or patience to work with a realtor? you might want to check out our website of the week. openofficespace.com a real estate marketplace for small businesses. check out listings in your city or elsewhere to see what's available, or if you have space to spare, post an ad and try to rent it out. the site coves are major metropolitan areas like new york and los angeles, in addition to smaller cities like austin, texas, charleston, south carolina. to learn more about today's show, click on our website. it's openforum.com/yourbusiness. you'll find all of today's segments, plus web exclusive content with more information to help you grow your business. don't forget to become a fan of the show on facebook. we look forward to getting your feedback. follow us on twitter. it's@msnbcyourbiz. the start of our fifth season a look back at the small business stories that have inspired us the most. meet some entrepreneurs who persevered sometimes against overwhelming odds to achieve small business dreams. i'm j.j. ramberg. remember, we make your business our business. [trumpet playing "reveille" throughout] reviving the economy means reinventing the way we do business. here's to the owners showing us the way. [trumpet playing "reveille" fades to silence]