Hi there everyone. Im jj ramberg and welcome to your business. Every week we celebrate the importance of Small Business to the u. S. Economy here on the show, but this coming week is a special one. It is national Small Business week with sba events planned around the country and in washington to celebrate the Small Business community. Latisha grant is the ceo of virtual enterprise architect honored as the top Small Business person of the year for washington, d. C. And gail goodman is ceo of Constant Contact a provider of Online Marketing tools the keynote speaker for Small Business week event in boston. Great to see both of you. Great to be with you. Great to be with you. This is very exciting. What does this mean to your business . Oh, not only the exposure for all of our services and the great accomplishments that we made throughout the community, it really allows my employees and i to really celebrate all of the hard work that we put in over the close to seven years. Were there times in those seven years where you thought gosh, this is not going to work . Yes. Specifically last year was our toughest year. Weve experienced the most growth as evidenced through all of our success over the past seven years. Last year was extremely challenging to our industry. In the federal Government Contracting industry and due to the federal Government Shutdown that extremely impacted my business. What a turnaround. Troubles last year, honored as the top Small Business person of the year this year. Congratulations. And i love hearing these stories that it is not all easy and gail, youre the keynote speaker now for this and you started Constant Contact it was a startup as any other and now its a very big company. What are you going to tell Small Business people who are there listening to you . Im actually going to tell them that they have a marketing competitive advantage. Shockingly, a lot of Small Businesses arent investing in marketing, they arent competent in marketing so im going to talk all about why marketing is easy for them, and they can beat the big guys. Then someone might come to you and say well, its not as easy for me, i dont have a big budget for marketing. I might have a competitor who has been along, deep pockets. Sure i an get on facebook or twitter for free but that doesnt compete with deep pockets. So it turns out for Small Businesses, a couple of things are key to their growth. One is driving repeat sales, keeping those people who know you coming back. And inspiring word of mouth referrals. What a Small Business has that a big business will never have is real customer intimacy. They create these great experiences, they have the that opens the door for them to get folks to connect to them, to fan them, to follow them, to link in with them, to join their mailing list, and then they can use those inexpensive tools to stay in touch and then use their raving fans to reach that next new customer. Congratulations to both of you on all of your success. Its great to kick off Small Business week with the two of you. Have a great week. Thanks for stopping by to chat with us. Thanks again. Customer satisfaction guaranteed, its a claim that a lot of Business Owners can make but how many of them are truly delivering . Is there ever a point in time when good service isnt good enough . A mother and Daughter Team of entrepreneurs knew they could do better so they decided to make a change. In order to make sure their customers were getting the best service around. I want to keep my customers. I want to keep and i want to gain customers but im going to do that through service. Debra and her daughter sarah grace pretty much have one track minds. I think Customer Satisfaction is why were so successful. We sell pretty much anything monogrammed. The owners of wardrobe boutique a monogramming company in North Carolina always had happy clients but they hoped for more. We wanted to be able to offer them better service. After months of conversation they finally put their plan in motion. They stepped back, retooled and engaged with customers in brand new ways. Financially, two years ago i probably should have done this. It does enable us to do what we do best. The first step closing the brick and mortar location and selling solely on line. Most businesses are going to online because youre able to concentrate more on customer service. We didnt need a place any one had to come in. They loved their customers, however the foot traffic was a distraction. We were working a lot more than just hours that we were open. And it was time consuming and i felt like i couldnt give the personal attention to my customers that we wanted to strive for. The decision to go online only wasnt easy. But the pair saw immediate results. We reduced our overhead by about 75 . And that enables us to carry more inventory. To grab customers attention, production was sped up to meet demand. They want us to get it to them yesterday. Thats really what people want. They want it yesterday. Orders were guaranteed to ship in ten Business Days. Now, its down to seven. Ten Business Days just doesnt is not fast enough. Thats something we can offer that not lots of places do. Of course, customers have taken notice. They are so excited. They cant believe. Youre so fast and its beautiful. Or the quality is so great and youre just so fast. As we shipped faster people started ordering more and it improved. Thats why we really want to offer fast service. While still keeping quality. Debra says this faster turn around would not have been possible with the storefront. The time we have here is spent on designing, manufacturing, shipping and those items in our business. We can come in at night if we need to. It enables us to concentrate completely on your product, getting your product done the best we can and getting it out as fast as we can. Even without facetoface sales, Customer Contact is still constant. Sarah zbas on line all the time answering emails, people text and ask about orders or whatever. Its not that theres less time answering questions or helping its just that were able to be more flexible. If im on line or my phone dings, ill email them back. Id rather have it done thn you have to wait a day. Whats this email about. It doesnt actually matter what time you email wardrobe boutique because youre always going to get a response. And automated one at least. My number one pet peeve when i shop and i email them to ask a question and never get anything back. I like knowing that they know they are going to get a response, going to answer their question. Inventory is monitored constantly. The Company Keeps prices low by not sinking too much money into items like bags, hats and sand buckets. Were careful about the products we provide and offer. Things are in this business are pretty trendy. The number of fonts and thread colors was cut back to limit potential mistakes. You might say swirly font and mean curls or not script, they might say green and mean lime green or kelly green. So streamlining the options so they get what they think they are going to get. Knowing exactly whats in stock also helps avoid any upset. We dont offer something until we know its on the way. A coming soon banner lets shoppers know when something is not available for purchase. Sarah grace doesnt want customers placing an order only to find out it will be delayed. Communication is always key. As long as youre communicating that makes everything okay. Pictures on facebook, twitter and instagram allow clients to see some of that finished work. Its even a showcase for new products. A lot of people like that, like a preview. The first up the couple times we place pictures so Color Options for kids and to see maybe they wouldnt have put that purple on that yellow bag but it looks good. To top it off all orders include a handwritten thank you note with so much attention to detail, customers keep ordering. 72 of our customers repeat buy within six months. With sales like that debra says shell do whatever it takes to deliver quality products. The word no is not in her vocabulary because that is just not good customer service. Im not going to tell somebody im not going to get something. Im not above driving in my car. We have complete control over every aspect of our business. That enables us to do the right thing tor our customers on an individual piece basis. Shopping is now a Multichannel Retail experience thanks to the internet. Both brick and mortars and online businesses need to stay on top of the trends in order to succeed so here now are five ways you can increase your ecommerce revenue. One, blend your online and brick and mortar experiences. Let customers order on line and then pick up their purchases in your store. Two, target the right consumer with the right product. People want to brows less and find more so give them a more guided discovery on line. Three, dig into data. Study up on location based technology. Use transaction history and social data to taylor offers to specific customers. Four, go mobile. Tablets and smart phones are replacing the home computer as the go to shopping tools. Smart watches may be next and these smaller screens will require a higher level of utility or engagement to keep the consumers attention. And five, make customization a priority. Personalizing the Shopping Experience is especially important. Consumers want unique original products. Threed Printing Technology is not widespread but may be the gateway to more custom made goods. Running a Small Business is filled with what. What if nobody likes my product. What if i price it wrong. So our job as Small Business owners is try and reduce uncertainty as much as possible and we can through research. Research that as it turns out does not have to be expensive. As we learn from the founder of the company citrus lane. Pla ryia finley founder of citrus lane doesnt leave much to chance. Every agency spekt of her business has been tested. The idea, the products t website, even the shipping boxes. Mariahs got the experience, she spent much of her career at ebay tasked with making sure the products worked. I got to do a ton of Market Research so we got to really research what ebay customers wanted from us. When she decided to leave and start her own company she brought this mindset with her. But the difference between working for a big company and a startup the budget. So she did it on the cheap. She had more than a dozen Business Ideas percolating but the one that resonated the most was something she was looking for as a mom. So much of my time and energy was spent thinking about what are the right books for them to read, whats the right food to serve them. It struck me that i was having these problems and wondering if other moms were as well. The idea was simple. Members would sign up for a subscription and get a surprise package of innovative Baby Products in the mail once a month. She loved it but would consumers . Calling on her background she put together a Market Research plan. Which included focus groups, use ability testing and surveys. To Start Testing the concept, she did some informal focus groups in her living room. No need to hire someone as long as you know how to do it right. I recruited friends and friends of friends, i served snacks, had a little social time, and then i basically did a mini focus group at my house. In this casual setting where i presented them an idea, got them to react to it, showed them boxes, and i got feedback on whether they thought it was a good idea. Mariah has a few simple rules on a focus group. The first and most important is making sure people are truthful. Her second rule, have people write things down before the focus group discussion. You get a written record of it, so you can always go back and read what they said. And the other benefit is you get peoples true first impression. From these groups mariah was convinced citrus lane was a viable idea and she used the feedback from the conversations to fine tune the product they would send out and how shed be packaged. The testing didnt end there. They had the product mix down but they needed to know how their customers would react to their website so designed a basic version and road tested with it a use ability study. Its a great idea i want to give to the my friend who is pregnant. Useasbilt generally done one on one and you are basically trying to have someone talk out loud while they use your site and see what they are taking away from it. How they are reacting to it. The useability testing showed the original concept was too wordy and polished. Parents were looking for a simple explanation of the service and photos of real babies and children. Then came the surveys. Mariah uses these to find answers to two questions. One, how likely is someone to purchase her service, and two, how likely are they to recommend it to a friend. Today, citrus lane is up and running and doing well, but for mariah thats no reason to stop the research. Its given them a new audience of people to get feedback from using social media. Whats different about this moment right now is the tools exist between social media and the ways to do Market Research with customers, that you can really listen and build a brand and a company thats trying to actually listen to the moms or whoever your customer is, and do a better job for them. Thats how you grow. When we come back, the answers to your Small Business questions including how to find someone to buy your company and how to fasttrack hiring quality applicants. On this mothers day, solving domestic issues women Small Business owners have when they are the bread winners. If i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing ive learned is my philosophy is real simple American Express open forum is an online community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make Smart Business decisions. If you mess up, fess up. Be your partners best partner. We built it for our members, but its open for everyone. Theres not one way to do something. No details too small. American express open forum. This is what membership is. This is what membership does. Nobody was having runway shows and selling to a Mass Merchant so it was very scary. But i have that warholmentalty that is do everything. It seemed modern and right. Its either the end of my career or the beginning of a whole new chapter. Research shows that the percentage of married couples with the females as the bread win ser four times greater now than it was in the 1960s. I personally have a lot of couple friends where the wife makes more than the husband and i was interested in the subject particularly because starting out a business is risky and it takes a lot of time. So what are the implications if the wife is working hard to make a paycheck, so that her husband can make almost nothing while starting a new company. Or if the mom is successful with her Small Business and the dad is home with the kids. A personal finance expert author and speaker and her book when she makes more. Its great to see you. And totally fascinating topic and people need help. People need help. I needed help. Im in this situation, i felt like we know that women are on the rise, that women are making more but what are the solutions because unfortunately, the implications are that when she makes more theres more infidelity, more chance of divorce, he can easily feel resentful. She can feel aggravated and you know, just feels like shes taking on so much. Lets get to the what do you do and its not comfortable. For entrepreneurial women who are out there really working hard, pounding the pavement, first things first, i say you have to level the financial Playing Field and stay transparent. Its easily you find men can feel side stepped, ignored when theres a primary bread winner and shes doing. Traditionally that has been his role so. When thats taken away you need to find a way to come back to the finances together, so i say its important to, if hes bringing in income, even if its a little bit assign to the something significant like Child College savings or the down payment on the next car as opposed to having his income kind of pay for things here and there and its not clear what it is. Next, establish a few nongoshls. I get a lot of women moms particularly who say you have to create a clear divide between you know, what you do at work and what you do at home. Its hard. A lot of it blends but for example, saying between 6 00 p. M. And 8 00 p. M. Were off blackberry, we wont go on so many nights away from home. Maybe two or three per month. Figure out what those really important moments and experiences are with your family that you dont want to compromise and because you have the flexibility as an entrepreneur to create your own schedule to an extent take advantage of that. And then you talk about ending domestic drudgery and outsource. A lot of the times so maybe you have the husband staying at home but isnt part of his job to do some of that domestic stuff . Sure. But i think where we get stuck is assuming that just because hes making less or because hes not working that he has to do all of it. But really domestic equality comes down to building on your strengths. Its not about 5050 or 1000. Its about figuring out what are you capable of doing, what do you like to do and whatever neither of us wants to handle we outsource it. We invest in. That i think this is the last frontier. It is spending money so you have to assume you have the money for that. Sometimes the money spent while it might feel hard might save your relationship. It may and if youre in that position that you can. And the book i talk about a formula you can crunch the numbers to see if its actually worth it. Its a simple math calculation, ill leave that for people who want to pick up the book to figure that out. Basically comes down to what is my time worth . If it costs less to hire someone to cook, clean, watch your children for a few hours while you and your husband go on a date night, so well worth it. Im sure this book is going to start a lot of conversation. I hope so. Thank you. Good to see you. You too. Thank you. No matter how many communication apps you probably are using twitter, text or email. If you are looking for a free easier way to get everyone on the same page, check out our app of the week. Slack is a real time chat private messaging app that will help make work flow more efficient. Set up multiple chat rooms, search across all conversations and invite people to your project with a simple email request. Also files across all of your favorite platforms can be shared with a click of the but tonl. Time to answer some of your business questions. Our board of directors in to help. David kiter is the cofounder of bionic, and celeste is the ceo of Skin Care CompanySkin Authority which was profiled here on the show. Thanks for being here. Great to see both of you guys. Great to see you. David, you do so many things. Youre an entrepreneur, youre an investor, a speaker so we can get your advice from all angles. Ill try. You better. Thats why youre here. The first question is about the potential of finding a buyer for your business. I owned my own business for 10 1 2 years now, i love it, i dont plan on selling any time soon but it is something that i think about in the future. My question is how do you find people that would want to buy your company . Thats a great question. You must deal with it a lot. Ive been on the right side and wrong side selling a couple of companies. One of the ideas is companies are bought, not sold. One of the ways to get sold in this case which is you need a company that wants to buy you so i would focus on finding important partnerships where you create a lot of value for a potential buyer, then focus on that. The other thing is that a lot of Companies Want to add specific elements to their business. So the more focus that you have on being the best in the world in that one thing, is the more likely you are going to be bauxt so between partnerships and focus you can find an intersection where you create value for potential owner. Do you use a business broker . How do you find the person . Theres always a lot of great lawyers, great banks depending on the size. The biggest problem is really is can we create compounding value into another business . If you are just selling your business, tippic think returns on that are not great. When someone sees that value because you created for them you have compounding returns and fantastic outcomes. Celeste, do you think about this, youve been running your company, what would happen when im ready to leave, move on . Couple of things. I sold two companies in the past and it really is about putting yourself out there as an expert in your industry. I think you know, in addition to doing the things that were discussed i think its also about creating value in terms of how you position your company among your competitors. So really making sure youre out at things that are conferences and things about your associations and in your trade and making sure that youre seen as the expert, talking about your Business Model and whats unique about it. And positioning yourself. How did you find your buyers for your last two companies . They found us. And it was really about doing exactly what i said. For example, we had a business magazine write a profile about us and what was unique about our Business Model. And we did a lot of outbound positioning of what we had that was unique among our competitors and our whole Business Model is customer service. I think that showed that we had a unique proposition that other companies in our industry didnt have. So we had people calling us as a result of that. Also, the other piece is really getting out and creating we did a couple of joint ventures with competitors which people say why would you do that but we actually had unique distribution and we did alliances that showed that we could be a complement and we ended up being purchased by one of those companies. I think if you run a good company there will be no shortage of people wanting to buy your company. Lets move on to the next one. This entrepreneur wants to know about hiring good people quickly. My question is our company is set up to support a 50 growth rate in terms of recruiting strategy, the problem is were now growing well into the triple digits, we do not want to compromise quality of the people we hire. We actually want to increase quality, but really speed up our recruiting process. Celeste, this happens to a lot of people, right . You get in this crunch, growing so quickly. How do you take the time to recruit the right people when you actually need people in seats . Absolutely. You know, we experienced this ourselves at Skin Authority over the last two years, had tremendous growth and had to accelerate hiring. Like you said we dont want to sacrifice quality stoxt a big part is engaging your whole Management Team in the process, and really looking at the process you have for how you vet people but how you also put them flew the interview process. We empowered more managers to be involved in the process so we have bigger through put of people. We have gone out and married not only social media and promoting our job openings on social media, engaging our employees and our really people that love the company and referring people to us, and actually some great recruiters that we have had great experience. So weve actually widened the funnel through participating in all of those aspects. I found in my company, too, is we had to start thinking of it as this is somebodys main job, right. So our cto, we had to let him alone for a while and say forget a lot of Everything Else youre doing and focus on recruiting and suddenly we were getting a lot more people through the door. Well, hiring great talent is leverageable. So a players hire a players. The first thing is go to your people and insent them to bring their best people to your company. There is a lot of leverage there. Mike a bonus . Finding fees. If you go to a recruiter you pay. You might as well give a bonus to get your team to recruit for you. They want to bring their best people. Its important to recognize that talent is also fatal. You hire the wrong people for the wrong jobs you have to take this serious so the question is a profound question in is same regard. You want to hire people doing the job for the second time. They learned the hard lessons the first time. Now on the second time around. You want to hire someone doing it the third time. They lose the passion or stop learning and thats very important. The other thing is change your criteria. When were hiring for specific roles in specific areas sometimes you have to hire on pure talent. People can learn. So if its cultural fit and talent youre hiring for lets take a wider view of the world because it gives us more options and allow that person to create the first 90 days to train. First 90 days is everything. If i pick one thing for investments its a great process. You want that to be very high very fast. Great to see both of you guys. Appreciate you stopping by. Thanks so much for joining us today. We hope you learned a thing or two that will help your company f. You missed anything head to our website. Again its openforum. Com yourbusiness. We posted todays segments and web exclusive content. You can also follow us on twitter its msnbc your business. Next week your business heads to monterey, california to overhaul a mom and pop Jewelry Store for a couple who wants to retire but cant. They couldnt contain their excitement when our Makeover Team walk fluid the doors. Unbelievable. Changed our lives. Im almost like a major life changer. Absolutely. I feel like inspired and ready to roll again. I feel like im 21. Find out the gems of wisdom our team had to offer. Till then im jj ramberg and remember, we make your business our business. If i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing ive learned is my philosophy is real simple American Express open forum is an online community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make Smart Business decisions. If you mess up, fess up. Be your partners best partner. We built it for our members, but its open for everyone. Theres not one way to do something. No details too small. American express open forum. This is what membership is. This is what membership does. So the boston globe ran a story this week revealing information that we are not supposed to know. Its information that the fbi at least does not want anyone to know. The globe this week reported the name of an fbi agent who was involved in a controversial Fatal Shooting about a year ago. We reported pretty extensively on that shooting over the course of that year, specifically on the fact that the fbi really only ever investigates itself when fbi agents shoot people. They only ever investigate themselves and they always, always exonerate themselves. In the last 151 times that an fbi agent has shot someone and