the good news this arkansas orthodontist practice was expanding. the bad news administration and inventory were out of control. find out what steps he took to realign his business. and how did the owner of this small hardware store compete with major retailers on pricing? the secret coming up next, on "your business." small businesses are revitalizing the economy. and american express open is here to help. that's why we are proud to present "your business" on msnbc.

hi there, everyone, i'm j.j. ramberg, and welcome to "your business." it is every entrepreneur's dream. business is doing so well that there's a need to expand in order to meet demand. but, easier said than done. one orthodontist in arkansas found a way to consolidate overhead, plan for growth and keep his patients smiling. orthodontist ben burris set up his first practice in jonesboro, arkansas straight out of dental school. soon other locations followed. and arkansas braces dentzistry

was born. >> in a traditional small business you have a single location with everything you need in that one location. and then you start to grow so you have multiple locations but all you do is you repeat your model. we were too big. we were victims of our own success, and so everything was incrementally getting out of control. >> they why expanding quickly but didn't really build a strong back bone. at the rate they were going dr. burris knew the business could eventually implode. so he brought in a ceo to help him thoughtfully scale his practice practice. when matt wilkins, the new ceo, dove into the details he was shocked at the inefficiencies. >> when you come into a service industry, you should only have professionals doing what only they should do. meaning you do everything you can to get them at capacity of the work that they have to provide. >> matt took over the business side so that dr. burris could do what he does best. tend to patients. the first thing matt changed was the internal structure. he created a centralized call center, so the individual offices would not be bothered with most daily issues like

billing, and scheduling appointments. >> what that does is frees up people who are in the clinic seeing patients that day. so when you have patients right in front of you, you're not trying to handle administrative issues with other patients. we're able to focus more on what we do day-to-day patient care and service. rather than clerical things. >> and he centralized inventory from brace brackets to promotional prizes. anything any of the offices could possibly need is now kept in one main storage facility. >> it's much easier for us to monitor the supply consumption when we do it centrally. the other thing is this way we're able to make sure everybody uses the same consistent supplies so that if we move staff or teams around that they have the same supplies that they're used to using. we're also able to negotiate better vendor deals by concentrating our purchasing. >> reporter: when matt looked into the detail of patient visits he also found a lot of inefficiencies. turns out each office didn't have the demand to be open every single day.

so arkansas braces developed teams that worked in multiple offices on different days. >> in arkansas you know we are very rusch, and it's not always easy to get east to west north to south, and get some of these areas so we have a couple of small planes that we utilize. >> once matt understood the business, he set a standard that could apply to every branch. >> one thing we figured out, it's very tough to run a business and scale a business when you have differing expectations of teams. so if i expect this team to see 180 patients a day, and i'm only expecting another team to see 40 it becomes very difficult to manage those. >> arkansas dentistry and braces constantly monitors data like how many patients are seen in an hour and how long a patients afull treatment plan takes. >> if we're not seeing enough patients to full up one day we won't open up more than one day. >> they do have checks and balances, though. and the ultimate check is dr. burris himself. >> one thing we like to do is

make sure ben gets involved in the clinics from day one. and he really starts them off. and that helps us cultivate the level of expectation we have for our staff and doctors. once we do that it becomes much easier for us through our management systems, to show them those clinical results to make sure that we're still providing that great care long after he's gone. >> having an owner's eyes on it generally can't replace that. you can't substitute for that. >> the system works because the teams are meant to ultimately function without always having dr. burris at the helm. >> it's very difficult to scale if everything's about you. so, we try to make it about the systems, not about the owner. >> in spite of all the new efficiencies, there is one thing that hasn't changed with this company. at the core of their growing empire is an unwavering dedication to never forgetting there is a patient sitting in the chair. no matter where that may be. >> generally what we tell people is first things first. take care of people the way you take care of your own child. and so if people will focus on

that number one, well then their practice will grow enough to the point they can get big enough for multiple offices. if they don't take care of the very first thing and lose track and start thinking well i want to grow this practice without doing first things first they'll never get there. every business would love to see the growth that dr. burris' practice has experienced. but to do that you have to know how to properly price your product or service. make things too expensive, you'll lose customers, make them too cheap, you'll lose money. as we found out from the owner of an indianapolis hardware store, you have to know your customers. think about their needs, and understand the competition. >> everybody in the industry always talks about service. service, service. but, really the underlying theme for most consumers is really pricing. >> no matter what anyone says he believes your small company

must always compete on price. >> the pricing is not there, people are going to just going to i like the store, i like what you have but they'll quietly go down the street where they know it's at a better price. >> the owner of north meridian hardware says understanding your price something a reality of doing business. >> people are watching dollars. because, $5 saved here $15 saved here $20, you know that adds up. >> with so many clients doing their research, keith and his staff have made it their mission to get the best prices for popular items like paint and hammers. north meridian's goal is to keep its pricing competitive. >> we're not trying to be the cheapest. and i'm not trying to be the most expensive. but we haven't to have fair pricing that's relative to the industry. >> what keith has learned is that pricing is more fluid than people may think. >> things are erratic. because pricing fluctuates daily, weekly. >> and that's why keith knows

where his supply is coming from and why. >> we've fortunately been tied in with some very good distributors that have been helpful. before we started, which has helped set the foundation for us to be able to be competitive on the pricing. >> he even does some comparison shopping of his own. >> if you're buying at a higher threshold, you can't compete. if there's a fluctuation we may actually call the distributor, wait a minute, we see such and such is selling this here so that's how we kind of are able to keep things in check. >> unlike big box locations, or hardware stores with larger brands keith can exercise some independence in his buying. that freedom also means there's room for negotiation. >> we can say, hey, you know can you look at this and see if maybe if we increase our quantity of what we're ordering for this specific person can we get a better price on it? >> being small presents keith with a unique challenge. he can't stock his shelves with too much stuff. he must know what products could be a waste of time and money.

>> we found the mainstream what people tend to buy the most and that mainstream is where we have put the most concentration on being most competitive. >> even after products hit the shelves, keith says he still has to be flexible. his pricing strategy isn't perfect. sometimes shoppers say the prices are too good to be true. >> they've come and said do you know that such and such is charging $2 more for this? you might want to look at this price. >> other times, clients are wary to make a purchase. >> customers have said hey, the cost is a little high here. so, you know we'll look at what competitors are doing. and if we have the room we will bring it down just a little bit. >> the key for north meridian is to know who locally is charging what for certain items. long before it opened its doors, the store's competitors were under the microscope. >> we studied within about a three to five mile geographic area all the competition, small, some other small retail hardware

stores. other big boxes. >> and that trend continues today. staffers will even walk through their competitors' doors to check out the numbers. keith's just happy customers are taking notice and spreading the word. >> when i have my shirt on people ask, i've seen that store, that's a very cool store. you guys have good pricing. >> and keith knows the only way to keep those clients coming in is to keep doing what he's doing. stay competitive. >> i think people on average will look at that price difference, and then judge for themselves time value, and then convenience. and that's where they make an internal decision. these are all quiet things that people really don't talk about. >> tracking inventory can be a daunting task and if you're looking for an online tool to help you and your team do just that check out our website of the week. sky ware inventory dotcom is a free web based management fool.

the site provides receipts of tickets for inbound and outbound items. stays on top of transfers from moving products between storage areas, and provides ways to track lost and damaged goods, as well. with trends in technology constantly changing there is increasing pressure on entrepreneurs to keep up. here now are five great sites dedicated to online learning to help you stay ahead courtesy of allbusiness.com. one, hubspot academy. geared towards helping professionals reach their marketing goals, the site offers certifications, which can be a helpful resume builder. two, take lessons. through this site you're connected with a nearby teacher offering short lessons on a variety of subjects from four foreign languages to hue to use powerpoint. you can meet in a public location or take classes via web cam. three, lynda.com. you have access to more than 5,000 video tutorials on software training and business

oriented classes. four monkey see which has more than 11,000 professionally produced free videos featuring various topics. and five duo lingo you can choose from more than 18 different languages to learn. the site also provides quizzes to test your knowledge and mobile apps so you can practice on the go. the national women's business council has issued a new report and it says that on average, women received only two percent of total funding from outside equity. it's interesting because they also report that women are starting businesses at extraordinary rates. they say that more than one in four u.s. companies is owned or led by a woman and among the most successful firms men started their businesses with six times as much capital as women did. so why the disparity? what's happening? ann moore is joining us. she's the president of and owner and gse dynamics and a council member of the national women's business council, it's a nonpartisan federal advisory council that makes policy

recommendations to the white house, congress and the sba on economic issues of importance to women business owners. it's so great to see you. >> thanks so much. >> i'm, i'm so interested in this topic. and in part because i do think there was a time when a woman would go in to a venture capitalist, for instance and they would just see female and be less interested. from my experience, and talking to people who i talk to, there's less of that now. right? i mean -- >> i agree. >> you see these fast-growing female-run companies, you are an investor you want to be a part of these. >> absolutely. >> but something is going on because if you look at the statistics, women aren't getting as much money. so what's happening? >> well i think absolutely there are distinctive differences. the data suggests that in our report. but i think the important thing to note also about these distinctive differences is we are bridging that gap. and i think as more and more women are getting educated about financial literacy they're more adept at being able to walk in to a bank or walk in to an angel

investor and talk the proper talk. you know. this is my business plan. this is my revenue growth that i'm predicting. this is who i'm going to hire. this is my product. i think as more and more women again are more literate to the financial talk they'll be more respected and hopefully you can bridge that gap. >> so i'm a woman. i just spoke to a good friend of mine who sold her company recently with her husband and she says that in those meetings the acquisition meetings she was invisible. and i don't know. i wasn't there. i don't know her in business. i don't know if it's because there was a bias against her or if it's because of the way she was carrying herself. but, for a woman who hears stories like that what do we need to know in order to make sure that doesn't happen to us? >> well exactly what you're doing here with me. we need to mentor some of these young ladies. obviously with more and more young ladies going to the s.t.e.m. and the higher level, higher pay rate industry focuses, i think we do have to take on a mentoring role.

and teach women about body language, and how you handle yourself, and you know even prep for the meeting, where am i going to be siktd, where is the ceo, where is the angel investor going to be sitting. get familiar with your surroundings so that you maximize the effect that you have when you're in there. >> it's interesting. it's all of these little things. again as we started the conversation, it's not always necessarily the woman, i'm not going to pay attention, but these tiny things that we need to think about. >> exactly. >> well i'm very encouraged by your optimism. >> thank you. >> in the study. >> keep bluging. >> we've got to keep plugging. look as more women are successful they become the investors. they're the angels and they're the venture capitalists. >> one of the big things also the rate of women's success in companies right now is extraordinary. so to me it's the commonsense thing that if the women are showing such great revenue growth in the companies with less funding -- >> right. >> they are the ones that we should put our money on. and hopefully with greater capital comes greater revenue and workforce and hire more

people and economic impact. and so to me it's a very commonsense thing if you look at the numbers. >> well thank you so much for sharing insight. i think it's infinitely interesting topic to me. >> it is. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> when we come back advice on finding wholesale distributors and the pros and cons of virtual assistance. and today's elevator pitcher wants to soothe our panelists' aches and pains with her bodyworks self-massage balls. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line 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 it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small.

american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. >> this week's your biz selfie comes from on sip a cloud based phone system company headquartered right here in new york city and if you can see they've got a bunch of their people in there. thank you for sending that. if you want to see your selfie on the show send a shelfee of you and your business and add the #your biz selfie. tweet it to us at msnbc your biz or e-mail it to your business @msnbc.com. please don't forget to tell us your name your city, and of course the name of your company. today's elevator pitcher was sitting in a massage chair while getting a pedicure and thought if only she could create a tool to recreate the benefits of the

chair. well, she did. and let's see what our panel thinks of her idea. joining us today is the founder and ceo of broten hotels larry broten. and business strategist chris brogan. >> hi gentlemen. did you know that today sitting is as bad as smoking according to mayo clinic cleveland clinic and harvard? that the average american is sitting ten hours a day plus sitting hunched over tech devices? i created the body works ball in an attempt to help counter the ill effects of sit something. i've been working with pro athletes and teams since the '90s and fortune 500 companies. it's a self-massage tool used to counter the ill effects of technique, which is now a medical syndrome we're looking for $250,000 for a three-year return of 30%. we'll be using the $250,000 for immediate branding packaging, custom point of sale displays as well as to automate our technologies so we can handle larger volume orders.

and to use the product you would simply put it where you need to it's self-directing. it's also good to use on the bottom of your feet. we've been using it. it's the only product to be used by two super bowl mvps, an nba mvp, combat medics in afghanistan, as well as the wounded warriors. we're looking to also set up a fund so every -- from every sale a percentage goes to the wounded warriors, as well as for cancer research. >> congratulations. >> hi. >> i'm going to give you two these on a scale of one to ten let's hear what you thought of the pitch. while i try and -- i need something like this right? i am not alone. i spend too much time sitting. so you lean up against -- >> the wall. it won't damage a wall. because my athletes stay in five star hotels cannot have walls damaged. >> and they're bigger than me. >> and fortune 500 companies, every hour they take two to renew. 100% made in the usa. the first of eight products in the line that i've designed. >> okay good. let's see what you thought.

larry. one to ten. >> i'll give it an eight. >> why? what was missing? >> i like the idea that you said what you're doing with the $250,000. we need to know that as investors. what i would like to hear are a couple of things. one is what's the market possibility of this? and what's your sales? you have purchase orders on this already. because that's where we recover the value of the company. >> thank you. >> i'm going to say eight and one of the reasons was when i heard some of the questions i was thinking it shouldn't cost that much to do some of that so i wanted to better know where the breakdown was for instance selling and marketing online. it's not easy to get it done for $10,000. my guess is it's in the retail part. the product itself is at the right time and the right place. i think you're hitting the market just right. i think it's still a really good opportunity. >> i left off one component part of it was going for tooling cloth for the prototype number two and three. that was the bigger cost we have the needs immediately.

>> thank you so much for coming on the program and sharing your idea. >> thank you. >> if any of you have a product and service and you want feedback from our elevator pitch panel panel. >> don't forget to include what you intend to do with the money. you never know somebody out there watching the show may be interested in helping you. it's time now to answer some of your business questions. chris and larry are back with us to help us out. the first one is from richard. he writes my company is based on providing all colors all sizes and styles of undergarments from the basic size 1, grandmothers briefs, to size 20 things. i need to find wholesale distributors. i have an agreement with haines but it's not exclusive. i need help.

where does he start? >> wow. distributing underwear. it's going to require getting into those retail places unless he has something more niche. that means spending time getting to know the people. he could use social channels to find who are the buyers and sellers. it's a question of who do you know and finding those people. from there, there's -- sounds like there's an education gap that needs to be done of how does this get done normally and find a way to make it a better deal. if he's coming in that fresh and clean, there's going to be a bit of growth to catch up to be the kind of distributor that a big-time person will need. he will have to understand those integration points. >> what do you think? >> i can't get my brain around this, this is so big. i so believe get rich in a niche. if it were me -- >> i never heard that i love that get rich in a niche. if you are looking wholesale distributors there's google.

find who the wholesale distributors are for garments and building this relationship and narrow this thing down. build the relationship with the people that get you into retailers. it's hard to do by yourself but it's dialing for dollars. >> started with linkedin if you have no connections, go to that. >> absolutely. >> next question about expanding to a new location. >> i'm really curious about opening a second office in a second city. and i'm wondering when is a good time? what factors are involved when you know you're ready? >> i love this question. we've done a couple of stories of how do you do it? do you do it close so you can go there every day? do it far away? >> we do this in the business i'm in. there is no perfect time for this. it's very difficult to expect it. because profits in the first

store, that means my second store will be profitable. you have to have the right people operating the second location. i'm a big believer of doing a huff and spoke system. if you start your first store in new york, i wouldn't open up the second one in chicago. until you have your systems in place at your first store, where it's easily replicatible and predictable, i wouldn't do a second store. i've seen too many organizations grow themselves to death because they haven't had the systems in place. >> i love that you basically have to codify everything. you need your handbook as if you were a franchise. >> that's where i was going. it's a franchise mind set. if you can't put it in a blue book binder and train the management for another location you don't have a second store. you have a nightmare waiting to happen. there's a lot of stories of people saying we had this thing nailed down. they couldn't replicate it

because they didn't have andre or some human that was the magic not the process. >> and do you have the person? you're saying andre, right? is there someone from your first store who will move to the second place? or is it run so well that you can move to the second place? >> you have to do something to build that culture. >> let's move on to the last question. it's about virtual assistants. >> i'm looking for more help to help list inventory, social need media, marketing. can you tell me how to better use virtual assistant tools? >> i'm a big fan of these sites. how does she start? what one should she go to? >> it's interesting. it applies somewhat to the last question, if you have enough process and procedure down you can work with a virtual assistant from any space.

if you don't and you're looking for expertise, that's where you get sketchier. what you're looking for then is a sense of who else can validate this person has done what they say they've done. that's the only problem with these systems, what you typed is what you say you have done. you want another person to validate. >> the question sshgsis, too, what do you need? i needed research, very easy research done but a lot of it. but i needed it done quickly. then you can go to that. i just needed manpower. if you want someone who is truly your virtual assistant, someone to trust, how do you find someone like that? >> i have used virtual assistants, some to great success. most, to be honest have been difficult to work with. you have to make sure you have the systems down and what it is you're looking for. a person great at marketing may not be great at doing the

research side. understand what it is you need. on the front end of this thing, i would do a video call. do a video, interview with them. i don't care whether they're in pittsburgh or in the philippines. do a video interview. do a project-based work first. something short-term. do you work with them? do they take direction well? then set the expectations up front. >> right. you're managing. it's a person to manage. it's on you as much as it is on them. >> and you have to date before you take them home to mom. >> right. thank you very much. this was great insight. if any of you out there have a question for our experts, go to our website. our address is openforum.com/yourbusiness. once there, hit the ask the show link to submit a question for our panel. if it's easier for you, e-mail

our address is yourbusiness@msnbc.com. >> we'd like to keep an eye on twitter to see what's trending about small business. here are some of the latest tweets. business and sales expert mar i have mackay writes nothing motivates a team like trust placed in them by management to solve a problem. carrie wilkerson tweets companies effective online are lan listening and responding quickly. and shaking things up keeps thing going. always surprised by the way apparent losses become opportunities. how ups are born from downs. to learn more about today's show, head over to our website. it's openforum.com/yourbusiness. and we have posted a bunch more content to help your company grow. you can also follow us on twitter. it's @msnbcyourbiz. we are on facebook as well as

instagram. next week, the owner of a local printing company who encouraging his smaller customers to save money on things like business cards and brochures. >> why buy so muchany? it's silly to buy that many? let's make it easy to buy just a few. >> we'll tell you how his clients get to keep some cash on hand and why this strategy helped him save his own business. until then i'm jj ramberg. remember, we make your business our business. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line 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 it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something.

no details too small. american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. holding out hope for kayla mueller. good sunday morning to you. thanks for getting up with us. we have a lot of news a lot of politics, a lot to get to over the next two hours on this sunday morning in february including the severe flooding out west and the big snowstorm back east that's about to wallop new england once again. they have about four feet of snow on the ground there already. it's about to get worse. and the democrats who appear to be lining up to avoid benjamin netanyahu's speech to congress and the big controversy that has