it can make the difference between a customer coming into your business or walking right by it. the secrets to effective window displays. and how does throwing paint around translate to better teamwork? the answers coming up next on "your business."ç

hi there, everyone. i'm j.j. ramberg. and welcome to "your business," where we give you tips and advice to help your business grow. what gets someone just walking down the street with no intention of stopping into your store to change their mind and walk in? well, if you do them right, it's your window displays. your windows give you an incredible opportunity to invite people into browse and hopefully buy something. today we have simple tricks of the trade to make the displays standout. >> i think that our windows just bring people into our store because they are, they wonder what is in that store. >> debbie hamata is the owner of

a small gift and jewelry boutique in portland, oregon. >> i think yellow, yellow, up there? >> debbie and her assistant put a lot of effort into their window displays. and they have a reason. >> you want to stop someone whose walking or driving by and make them turn around and come back and wonder what's in there. we have people of all ages walk into the store because they wonder what's in here because of the windows. >> april eckland in the asian restaurant directly across frequently hears about debbe's windows from her own çcustomer. they can't help but notice them while they eat. >> they are curious and want to know what's going on there. it is bold and eye-catching. >> people tell us they sit there and look at our windows and wonder what we are. what is that colorful place? then they come over. >> they immediately go over. oftentimes they come back to show us what they bought. >> they come in the door to wonder what we have and then

we've got them. >> hey, linda. low you doing? >> good. >> look at our new windows. >> i love it. debbe and joanne, her assistant, have done really fun things with very small amounts of merchandise. i love how you added that little dapg dangly necklace on the antlers. it is just fun. it sort of carries the colors across. >> linda cahan is not just a neighbor and a customer. she's also a professional design consultant who specializes in visual displays. >> i always drive by and if it's a new window i stop to take pictures. >> lynn dra whose clients range from saks fifth avenue to local boutiques says window displays truly are key to attracting and keeping customers' interests. >> a lot of retailers think, oh, i'm going to put this sweetener the window and it's going to

sell where. in reality you are selling the image of the store. ♪ come to my window >> linda says store windows can do much more than sell particular products. they really should be used to give the store its identityç n matter what the business. >> this is how people know who you are, what you're selling, what you're about and whether they should come in or not. >> because customers pay so much attention to what's in the windows, retailers need to be very careful how they set up their displays. for example, linda says, luxury items and affordable items must be displays very differently or they'll confuse the customers. >> when you have very expensive merchandise and cram it all together, it looks cheap. essentially, price equals space. >> take shoe stores. >> if you have a $500 pair of shoes and you cram it next to other $500 pair of shoes, you might as well just be a discount store. but if you give those shoes

their own space and you honor them with space, then they look like what they're worth. whereas if you take, you know, a $30 pair of shoes and you put them with a lot of space, it's just going to cop fuse the customer. because they are going to come in thinking they are really expensive and then actually feel annoyed and let down that they are really just inexpensive shoes. >> the same goes for jewelry. think tiffany's where there could be a single i them the window all by itself compared with another store not known for being a luxury brand. >> whenever we put up a new window, everybody comes in and says, oh, your window looks great. >> today they are putting to the a new display. they didn't put many products in the window but decided to feature one item, a very popular handbag. >> it is a çkiley bag, that a t of people come in just for those bags, so we liked the colors and the shapes. >> the rest of the display is

mostly just color, colorful paint, colorful paper and colorful fun things to look at. >> color pops. color has a lot of energy. and if someone sees a strong color, they're going to notice. >> while it may not be surprising that color gets attention, many of us may not be aware that people react differently to different colors. >> every color has its own meaning, and it's really interesting how colors influence us on so many levels. >> so if you're using color to help give your store its identity, linda says choose wisely. >> yellow actually is the color of optimism. when you look at yellow, it releases seratonin in your brain and makes you feel more upbeat and happier. blue is considered one of the most favorite colors in the world. if you think of any of the big corporations in the united states, a good portion of them have blue logos because it is also the color of authority, communication and trust. red vibrates at a different intensity. it vibrates much more quickly

than any other color, so it emits heat. it stimulates us in a very quick way to eat more, buy more, do everything more quickly. and people get impatient around red. they get impatient, they get irritable. >> of course, color is only one element. >> i love the use of the old suitcases and the clocks show up really nicely. there's a nice flow in line that happens here. this is reallyç charming. earl's barbershop, what a great name. even the type is fun, but who sees it? there's so much stuff on the window. perfect display, they are known for their delicious breads, their they're front and center, and they have done a very nice job in displaying them. >> and does it need to be expensive to do this? linda and debbe say no, just be thoughtful and willing to roll up your sleeves. >> it is not expensive to make windows for us. >> it is not expensive at all. it just is a little time

intensive. so how can you create eye-popping window displays for your retail business? let's bring in our board of directors. harry cunning ma'am is senior vice president of store planning design and visual merchandising for saks fifth avenue. beth goldstein is the founder of marketing edge group. and teaching sbe preneural sales and marketing at the boston school of management. she's also author of the book "lucky by design." and angela gia kim, great to see all of you guys. you have a retail store as well so you deal with this every single day. >> we have a little boutique spot in the west village. because our business is so local, what we want to do is surprise and delight our passers-by. so we try to do that with emotion. so, for example, for mother's day, what we did is asked all our clients to send in a photo of their mother and one word as to what makes her so beautiful.

we are putting that into our window because we want people to walk by and be grabbed by that ç emotion. >> that's a good idea. we were talking about expense earlier, that's not very expensive. >> it is a lot of time. you have to roll up your sleeves. >> right. harry, for somebody who, you're an expert at this, you know what to do, you have worked with small brands and big stores, for somebody not an expert, how can they make an eye-popping window. >> in the piece you talked about the basics of the visual and whether they are in a big saks fifth avenue or small specialty store, it doesn't matter because the basics are there. it is focusing on placement, great lighting and focusing on little details, something like having a tag hanging cheapens a product. so make sure you have great position, generally at eye level, so when walking by you are not looking up or down for product but sort of seeing it walking by as the main focus. look at all, we talk a lot about color and the use of space. and sometimes it is okay to just leave space open to give that product a lit more feature and a little more intense presence in

the space. >> beth, do you think windows should be used to sell a product or sell an idea? >> well, you know, that's a good question. and there's so much that you can take away from how do you dress a window as to how do you dress yourself? are you selling a piece of yourself or basically the whole brand? so the window display is your brand, it's your message to the world. i always think of it as the brick and mortars' ability to have an elevator pitch. grab somebody in a few seconds and entice them to come in and engage of with you. >> we use our windows to sell product but we use them to connect with the community. there's a couple times when we don't have any product in the windows. every june we featureq aids quilt on fifth avenue, really just being a part of new york city or part of the general community. we use them both to sell product, which is obviously what they are there for, to speak to people that maybe aren't coming in intentionally but walk by to see something in the window to make them come in, but also to be a part of the world where we

live. >> that's exactly what you're doing in essence with the mother's day. you are not selling a particular product there. >> no, but we are selling our brand, so we try to do that differently every month, whether putting an inspirational quilt in the window, women love quotes. we want people to look and see, what else is there. >>. for somebody that doesn't have a fabulous design, if you have a store you figure out where to place things and design, what do you do, just ask a bunch of friends? >> you can ask a bunch of friends. one of the things i do a lot is most of us carry a smartphone with a camera on it. when you walk by and see something that strikes you, you like it, shoot a picture and take it back for inspiration. we communicate to our stores that way all the time and share photos, even amongst ourselves about things we like and do. if you have no design sense, there's somebody else that does out there that you probably like. take a picture to get you in the right direction. >> that's a fun piece, window displays are fun, you get to do it all the time and so do you.

thank you so much for this advice. the u.s. retail highlights report is out and even though it mostly has the giant retailers in mind, your small business can still benefit from the findings. here are five trend that could give you an edge courtesy of ink.com. number five, e-commerce will growç exponentially. mogul sales are supposed to climb 49%. so cater your mogul site to users looking to shop. four, consumers will choose experience over price. expect retailers to value unique products and inintuitive customer service over a good price tag. three, large retail companies will continue to acquire smaller e-commerce companies. last year walgreens brought drugstore.com and in order nordstrum bought hot look. look for opportunities to expand their brand for take-overs like these. two, don't expect a huge increase in retail sales. the national retail federation

predicts just a 3.4% increase in retail sales for 2012 compared to 2011's 4.6%. and number one, remove every potential barrier that will keep someone from purchasing. make sure to have an easy to navigate website, adequate parking and clear signage at your store. getting customers is something many of us struggle with. so we brought jean marx here to the studio to get more people into your retail store. jean is a small business columnist nor "the new york times" and the president of the marx group. great the see you zbrchlt great to see you. >> a lot of retail stores said they got more customers this year, that was good news. but there's more we can do. >> there is. first of all, i want to say something surprising about me, j.j., i go to the barber once a month. most people think a couple times a year. every time i go to my barbershop, he's a retail store, and i think toç myself, what could this guy be doing to get

more bottoms in chairs and all those kind of slow times? maybe it's your personality, but i think if i was running a barbershop or retail store, there would be more stuff i would be doing. a couple things i have learned, just three. number one, if i was running a retail store i would have a database for my customers. anybody who walks in the store, they are going into the database. you're asking for their name and e-mail address to create a vip list. my wife and i get sushi once a week from a retail store nearby us. we are on the vip list and sure of all we get a newsletter, we get coupons once in a while, it keeps us coming back. >> it is like the dentist. you fill out the thing and they say, don't forget to come into the dentist. >> exactly. no matter what kind of retail store you are, a newsletter based around it, a once a month e-mail going out to advertise something or educate, which brings me to the next point, every retail store should be doing something to educate. because that brings in customers. so the sushi restaurant, for example, i'll use them and the

chinese restaurant, they do an education class a couple times a month on preparing chinese foods. that barber that i was talking about, why can't he be doing a class once a month on grooming yourself or doing your own hair. guys like me would be interested in doing that but i don't think i'll be doing it on my own, i'm still coming back for more haircuts, but it draws people in to get an education. >> and it keeps them loyal. >> it does. >> you can go to that barber or this one, but you can come to this nail salon or that nail salon. >> women would like toç learn about how to do their nails better or tips on doing nails. why not have an event with coffee and cookies and whatever and talk about it to bring your customers in. education is really a big thing. then the last thing, which i hardly see, and thought i should be seeing it more, just partnering. i see different retail store that is have a lot of complimentary businesses of other retail stores. for example, my barber is located quite nearby a couple of men's stores that are nearby.

why aren't they offering coupons for each other's services? there are people going into that men's shoe stores that don't know the barber exists and virus vice versa. i'll offer some coupons to your place, it is just a way to bring people into your store that may not have thought of you before. >> there was a woman i talked to that has a pilates business and in her same business there's an art studio and a wine company. they do parties together. the people targeted at her studio are people at these other stores, it is great. >> it is local. it's your community. so you and i are shopping at the same places in our neighborhoods as well, but we may not know some store offers this kind of product or service. if they are partnering places we are going to, it educates us. >> you know what i like about all of these three? very easy. >> they are easy to do. >> easy to do. >> and the added bonus, once a month i'm getting a haircut, surprising. >> maybe you should wait a little longer.

>> that's cruel. >> thank you so much, gene. when we come back, more great information, including how to get your product into the hand of retailers. andç how throwing paint an role play can help get your staff to play on the same team. ♪ they have names like idle time books and smash records and on small business saturday they remind a nation of the benefits of shopping small. on just one day, 100 million of us joined a movement... and main street found its might again. and main street found its fight again. and we, the locals, found delight again. that's the power of all of us. that's the power of all of us. that's the membership effect of american express.

a successful start-up requires a talented workforce, of course, but conflicting personalities can sometimes create problems instead of solving them. so what can you do to get your employees on the same page? today we meet the team of shefinds.com who turned to a company that develops creative team building experiences to help everyone see eye to eye. on a recent tuesday afternoon in new york city, the employees of the internet company shefinds took a company from working on utáy throwing paint? that's working on themselves? in this case, yes. through a series of exercises, the shefinds employees were working through a number of personal issues they were having at work. >> we really have two parts to

the office, we have editorial and sales and marketing. and if you've ever worked in magazines or media, those two don't mix very well. >> a situation shefinds' founder michelle maddox had to e are solve. when starting the company in 2004, she focused on hiring the best and brightest. >> we make it easy for busy women to shop online and hire a bunch of editors and writers and we scour the best of the best and tell you where to get it. >> but with the expanding business and different personalities working together, tensions sometimes arose between departments. >> i constantly have to play the mediator between the two. i was trying to say, you don't understand what they're doing and what's happening on the other side. >> hoping to increase communication and understanding in the office, michelle and her team enlisted in the help of a company that designed creative team-building experiences. >> businesses need woopaah the most, because the well-being has a very high relationship with

productivity, creativity and effectiveness. when i say well-being, i mean their sense of connection with one another. >> the event started unexpectedly with blindfolds for all the participants. stella had them each smell and taste a number of booths to height up their senses. >> once they are activated and feeling alive. that's when we begin to do deeper work. >> by deeper work she means getting to the root of the problems. stellaç handed everyone a pot where they wrote down things holding them back at work. >> i get sidetracked sometimes, i feel like i get too frustrated. >> then they broke them. >> whoa! >> and that smash is a really -- >> this opened up the door to discuss how to make things better. >> now turn to your partner and share, what would you like to replace this with? how would you like to be different? >> just not worry as much, live for the moment and not worry so much about the future. >> and then the grand finale.

the paint room. >> from your coworkers, from the walls, to the floors, to the tools we give you, those are all both canvas and tool for you to do as you wish. that creates a real metaphor for the workplace, where our goals we might see straight ahead of us, but the journey there is not always linear. so sometimes we have to get messy, especially in small businesses and roll up our sleeves. >> it is unconventional, sure. blindfolds, smashing pots, painting on each other, but the employees left the event feeling they were no longer two teams, editorials and sales, but one working towards the same goal. >> i just felt like politics gone, stress aside, we are all on the same playing field. >> i think this event is the sense that we are a lot more similar than we think we are in the office. time now to answer some of

your businessç questions. beth and angela are with us again. the first question is about finding a distributor. >> currently we are selling all of our line online. how can a business owner like me reach major distributors? >> how can you get something? you have a product, you love it and have a little traffic online, how can you get people to take notice? >> interestingly her question was about distribution, but you have to go back and almost ask yourself, who is she distributing to? i looked at her collection, it was really quite interesting, but it was a unique niche. she was positioning herself to hip-hop and also socialites, those are two different audiences. so when she's trying to figure out, what distributors do i approach, which is really network basic 101, who is the customer, who is the market? do i want to be in target? do i want to be in bloomingdales or some place in between, because those distributions, those channels are going to be

segmented more towards who are our customers and why are they buying from her specifically? >> have you ever thought about trying to distribute your products elsewhere? >> absolutely. when we first started i thought that was the avenue i wanted to go down. and the best way, really, is everyone often thinks if you have an online business you stay behind the computer, but you need to be out there networking. so the best places are trade shows, finding out where your target clients are. what i did is i got to know a lot of spa directors because we are this in the beauty industry and asked who are their favorite distributors and would speak to those people. >> great idea. the next question, thisç is abt staying educated so you can grow your business. >> as an entrepreneur, what are the top three courses or skills that we should be taking that will build our businesses? >> as a professor who teaches entrepreneurship, i'm going to start with you. >> okay. that's like a loaded question. well, what classes should i take? really, think about small business openers, they wear a

million hats. they have to understand finance, they have to understand sales, marketing, operations, so they have to start by saying, what am i really good at and what are the areas of the business that i don't understand as well? one thing i have seen most entrepreneurs are not great is the cash flow. that will kill a business. you can be selling product, but if you can't manage the cash coming in and out, then you're doomed. so that might be an ideal course. or maybe you're not comfortable in sales, maybe you are in operations or an engineer. >> you have to figure out your personal weaknesses and you have a networking organization, that teaches people things they don't know. >> i think the question really is what industry are you in, as you said, what are your strengths and weaknesses? a lot of women entrepreneurs's weaknesses are they don't have a marketing strategy and they don't like to look at the numbers, so cash flow is a really important -- understanding the numbers are so important. and then one thing that i think

is very important as well is networking. a lot of people don't really understand how to do that, so i think by trial and error getting out there and doing it is very, very important. >> and the beauty is there are all kinds of classes you can take, take them online,ç go to local school, there's a lot out there. let's move on to next one from brandon who wrote in, i own an event rental company. events happen all the time, but it's typically one-time customers or those customers who have weddings and birthdays, aside from targeting corporate partners and clients, what is a good tactic to increase repeat customers? >> that depend on the industry. in his case, repeat customers would be event planners, that's great. developing a very strong client appreciation program, i'm so glad he's talking about repeat customers, because you can constantly mine the gold with the list that you have. so i think that's very important to start a happy birthday

program, or developing very strong relationships with event planners and making sure they love you, because they are the ones to keep coming back. >> any other ideas for him? >> if you've been to his website, he run this is photo booth, which is really you like. i looked eight it and thought, this is about milestones, what are people celebrating. think about, what's the value proposition, it is about helping people create memories. so go back and figure out how could he get repeat business by creating more memories, right? to what is it about for the customer and engaging them more. >> right, everybody has a birthday every year, so those people can definitely be your repeat customers and clients. >> all right, well, guys, thank you so much for your advice, very helpful. in any of you out there have a question for our experts, go to our website. the address is ç openforum.com/yourbusiness. there just hit the ask the show link to soub mitt a question for our panel. the website is openforum.com/yourbusiness.

or if you'd rather, e-mail us your questions and comments to yourbusiness@msnbc.com. beth and angela had really helpful advice monoon how to improve your business. now we'll get great ideas from small business owners like you. >> always hire people that are smarter than you. specifically in very specificized fields where their expertise is deeper and their skills are deeper. don't g be afraid to bring in people smarter than you are in their specific fields of expertise. >> the real combination of success is the combination of plain act we sis and client retention, or find them and keep them as i call it. i find that oftentimes people are good at one or the other and not both, so client acquisition is the most important as you have to find your clients to build your client base. >> my tip to other sble preyou are ins would be to focus your market. it's a great thing to have a

product, but if you don't know what your market is, you're really in trouble. so the best thing to do is to do the due diligence that you need to do so that you can approach your market in a rifle with a scope fashion as opposed to a shotgun fashion. looking for a way to connect with your mobile customers? then check out our website of the week. rewardix.com is aç loyally program with customers electronically earn points to turn into cash vouchers. customers are rewarded for spending money, referring friends and completing surveys. customize your offers and set up the point value system that works best for you business. to learn more about today's show, just 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 your business grow. you can also follow us on twitter, it's @msnbcyourbiz. and don't forget to become a fan

on facebook, we love getting your feedback. next week, a new phenomenon called cash mobs is sweeping the nation. >> the slogan on our blog is we each do a little, we all do a lot. so if each person gives us $20 to the store, 20 people would give us $400 and get something back in return, it's not charity. >> how to support your local small businesses $20 at a time. until then, i'm j.j. ramberg. and remember, we make your business our business. you know, those farmers, those foragers, those fishermen.... for me, it's really about building this extraordinary community. american express is passionate about the same thing.