as the economy remains troubled, this is the time to make sure you hold on to the customers you already got. we'll see how one company is keeping their clients coming bang. that's coming up next on "your business." >> american express is proud to present "your business" on msnbc. hi, there, everyone.

i'm jchl j. ranburg. welcome to your business where we give you tips and advice to help your business grow. it is still tough going out there on main street and a new survey shows business owners are worried. the national business said slow business is cutting capitol spending and prompted worries economic recovery will remain sluggish, but they did see a silver lining. >> what we did see was an increase in the percentage of our firms with job openings that they are having trouble filling and an increase in the net of firms that plan to create jobs, that is to increase total employment as a firm, which leadstous a forecast of an unemployment rate over the next three months around 8.8%, which is a little different than president obama forecasts. we think 10% won't be attained now, and that's good news.

>> as the economy faltered, small business owners have come up with creative ways to ensure their survival. one pennsylvania dry cleaners turned to their customers offering deals they simply couldn't refuse. >> you got to know your customer base. you have to know what they are wanting. >> rewarding customers is something we have always done and believe in. >> this is what the customers need and want. >> brothers john lacart know their model business is going to survive the recession. the president and general manager of the company says it is about enticing their customers. >> it has been a difficult environment and really has, you know -- people are wanting the discounts. they want dry cleaning. it is a luxury item in the budget. >> after sales dropping 8.5% in 2009, the brothers took a closer

look at the number of their 29 locations in pennsylvania and ohio. >> we looked at the base to see what's going on here. >> model customers visit and the money they spent on bar codes inside the clothes the company cleans. what the lacarte brothers found is some are changing their habits. >> we kind of noticed that the customers were holding on to their garments longer. instead of wearing the pair of pants once, they are wearing it two or three times over again. >> the brothers discovered the group having the biggest impact on sales spends between $100 and $500 a year with model. those are the same customer who is changed their behavior the most. >> their frequency decreased 35%. >> they were waiting about every 32 days. this year they are waiting every 38 days. >> interestingly, enough, they are spending the same amount of money on each stop, just coming in less frequently. >> lacarte started focusing on

ways to get customers in the door more often. they started using customer rewards that the company started five years ago. >> we saw a 20% increase in same store sales just by putting a reward program or recognition program in. we think it starts with rewarding customers, reck sizing them on their birthdays, their anniversary of doing business with us. >> so the lacarte's took it a step further but focused on the clients who had broken on their routines. >> besides the customer base, we are targeting somewhere about 20.of our customers. >> model delivered a new discount offer around valentine's day. they put two separate deals to the test to see which one would generate higher sales. >> one store we offered $1 off if they brought in so many pieces to dry clean. the other location we offered a percentage off if they brought in five or more pieces of dry cleaning. the idea there was to encourage them to bring in a little bigger order size. >> in tend, more customers

brought in a larger bundle of clothing, which is good for model's response line. >> the response was double where we had the percentage off compared to the dollars off. >> the offer was introduced at all model locations for st. patrick's day. sales were up 10%, but despite the success, the lacartes decided to take their results in april. >> we did nothing in april. we saw our sales go back to what we contribute to the economic impact. april we were up 10%. >> to try to recoup losses, another discount hit mailboxes just in time for mother's day in may. while the offers have obviously been effective, john lacarte still admits being hesitant to give away so many deals. >> we have to be careful into how we manage that. this is not a mass market offer, it is very targeted using our database to identify those customers n particular, that have been in recently that we would like to get to bounce back quicker. >> in the meantime, dan lacarte

is looking at numbers while being flexible and taking risks. >> always a work in progress. if i see a 30% is not working, hey, i might have to go to 50%. if giz is good, i might go 20%. >> adjust is what model cleaners will do as they try to figure out how to potentially award their customers next. >> our customers represent our best solution to getting through the difficult times. >> so is rewarding your customers the way to go? and is there a downside to giving discounts like these? we'll go to our board directors. barbara is the writer of the e-mail newsletter big ideas for small business as well as an attorney. and steven little is the author of the new book "duck and recovery." so good to see you both. i get so many ideas from both of you, so, thank you, also. i love this piece because it makes sense, if you want to bring people in, give them discounts, but let's just talk about the down sides.

we saw the good sides in the people. let's talk about what's wrong with doing that or what you should be careful of. >> well, steve and i were discussing this earlier in thinking that you have to watch the margin. you can't give away the store, so you have to be careful on how much you discount. >> you are bringing in revenue but your profit disappears. >> exactly. >> what about your training your customers? that worries me, they get used to paying 20%less. >> i think in different times it would be a certain, but right now their best customers understand it is troubled times for everyone and the discount gets them in the door more frequently. i think they can go back to the old way of doing business. they have a blonde of identity and they can return to it when times return to normalcy. >> what else can you do to reward your customers right now? if you have small margins and you don't want to be giving discounts, what other things can you do? >> well, the simplest thing is just a thank you and a personal thank you. in person or a handwritten note,

something to let people know they matter to you. >> i also like the idea of just a token gesture, a unique, unexpected personal gift. it is not the monetary value of the gift, it is the idea of the gift. it is not something i am earning, something given unexpectedly. >> one of the things i loved about this was the anniversary, not your anniversary with your husband or wife, but the anniversary of your first date. they remember me. >> absolutely. >> thank you so much. it is time now to answer some of your business questions. the first one comes from dean who asks, who how do i go about getting money out of tax-exempt mutual fund to use in a business? if they can't be used, can they be transferred to the business or another party without being charged a penalty. we think she is referring to a 401(k) or something like that. >> that's what we think. it is something that can be done, the question is, is it a good idea to do it? this is something that the irs hasn't made any pronouncement on

yet, and it is looking carefully at because there's a lot of self-dealing here and it doesn't look exactly right. >> so what do you have to be worried about? you want to do it legitimately, what do you have to do to make sure you dot your i's and q's. >> creating a 401(k) plan within the core. then it is tricky. you have to get a tax attorney involved and know what you are doing. you can't wing this. self-directed ira is one thing, self-directing an ira is a different idea. >> talk to a tax advisor. >> all right. the next one comes from the owner of a food shop. >> there's a lot of new legal websites that have come up and we are always a little weary of legal issues. i'm wondering how liable the websites are to do trademarking and which ones would your experts recommend for small business owners to go to first. >> barbara, you can start with

this one first since you are the lawyer. >> that's a good yes. there are a lot of websites to provide you with great information, for example, with a trademark to get some basic information, do some preliminary search, but, for example, one of the greatest sites is the federal government side uspto.gov. however, this is really not a do-it-yourself thing. you really need to go to an attorney to do a trademark for you. it is a one-time thing. you have to invest the money. i think this is one place where you want to turn to a professional. >> that's for a trademark. what about needing a contract with a vendor or something like that, is there a place out there to go to? >> i would use mycorporation.com with great success. i have seen many do great work. there are others. there's more than you can probably look into. >> how did you evaluate it and know they were good? >> it was so simple, it was more

about forms and how inexpensively to use the forms for specific things. what i like about mycorporation.com is there was live help on the website. you can have a text chat with somebody about what you were trying to accomplish. >> you felt comfortable for the simple things to go to the web. >> i'm be wash ra, if it is important like the trade markets to live with for the rest of your life, go to the higher end and spend your money. >> you can always use these sites as a preliminary. for example, cut your time with awe lawyer. >> okay. shelly where i say i have a new shoe dezooin design and i'm looking for a manufacturer to produce the shoe, more than like in chi xha. what's the best way to source and know you can rely on a company? >> i think, it is most important to be face to face. so often people try to do this through the internet or phone calls and i believe face to face is important.

>> meaning you have to go to china or can you work with a broker here that's working with the company in china? >> i prefer to go to china. others will tell you differently. there's no substitute for face to face. once i'm there, i'm looking for certification, an independent awe or the coming in. >> i would suggest before you look abroad to consider all the incentives and tax breaks that you can get for locating in certain areas in the u.s. there are federal breaks, state and local breaks, to encourage manufacturers to locate in certain -- especially distressed areas where you can going to create jobs. look here first. >> you should probably do pros and cons, pro being that it is cheap to do overseas, cons that there are expenses you are not thinking through that yet. >> in china there's a resolving door. >> how do you find them in the first place? >> there's a gigantic trade billing building where they can take you to a group that knows where to go. >> great.

okay, the next question is from the owner of a printing and packaging company. >> we are looking to expand and trying to come up with alternative ways to finance other than the traditional bank. what other alternatives are out there for us? >> we have gotten this question particularly a lot recently. >> i would start with a small business development center. pick up the phone and find my local sbdc and they can direct you to the lenders you are looking for. >> there are many investors. it depends on the amount of money you are looking for. and the financing continues to rule and there are resources such as virgin money u.s. that can help you set up the loan transaction and make it formal and get you going. >> because that's the key, if you do something, you want it to be formal. there are websites where you can go and ask for a loan and people can give you the loan if they want to. i think more people need to know

about these sites. obviously, it is not for huge amounts, but for small amounts. >> well, it is also a business capital-intensive with equipment. there are lenders that are against businesses and the like. here they are looking at hard assets. >> the last question is ability staffing. the person asks, a recent employee of mine asked to job share her position. does job-sharing work? case by case, but if it does, it is great, right? >> i think it can be a win/win for the company and the employee. the employee loves it. this is a way that they can stay on the job and from the company perspective, it is a way to create employee loyalty, which, i think, is going to be really key once the economy recovers, especially for small business, you don't want your employees fleeing when things improve. >> you want the best and the brightest. if you have something that has a child and needs flexibility, that's the key word. skilled workers, when the economy gets back to where it

should be and will be, when the skilled workers become scarce, job-share is a given. >> you have to discuss benefits and other issues. >> also, supervisors, somebody who never supervised somebody in the job-share position, sometimes they are the greatest barrier. >> thank you for all the answers. they were helpful to everyone. we'll have you back later to evaluate the elevator picture. and if any of you guys out there have any questions for the experts, head to our website. you can now submit your questions by clicking on the contact us link. while you are on the site, view this segment and other portions of our show. you will also find web-exclusive content and videos with information to help you grow your business. all the information and the advice to help you run your small business is at yourbusiness.msnbc.com. small business owners watched with concern as haute houses of congress rangled over health care reform.

many argue they will have to pick up the tab. in this installment of from the floor, we ask small business owners at new york's recent fancy food show what they think about the obama administration's plan to reform health care. >> i have great interest in what's happening in washington. obviously, as a company looking to grow and hire more employees, it will be interesting to see how that's going to effect my cause and also the value of care. >> yeah, i watch msnbc every single night to figure out what's going on with obama and the health care plan and that's very important to me because it is a big thing that they want to offer, but, frankly, year over year it is channelling to offer it. >> i'm all about the government option and not a private option. it may cost me as an employer a little bit more money, but i think for the good of the

country, this thing is so screwed up, we have all the people who can't get health care. several of my employees, laborers have to go to the energy room for colds to get medicine, so i'm actually in big support of it. >> i have a public health background, so i think it is critically important to provide health care for all americans. i think health outcomes in this country are important because a lot of people don't have preventive care. as far as how that will affect our business, i guess that sort of will take a wait-and-see approach. the most important thing is that our employees have health coverage one way or the other. >> we have very good benefits for all our employees. they get mull medical, dental coverage, but we also do other things. two years ago we bought bikes for our employees to help them commute to work. and we have a healthy snack pack program. we will give them tea and they

send us healthy snacks. >> it is key for your employees to feel secure and their families to feel protected in case they become ill. so we are for whatever it takes for the employee to feel comfortable and make sure that they have some kind of a plan in place. >> we have more information and advice to help your small business grow and survive. robert kaplan of the harvard business school tells us what leadership skills you need to get through this recession. and the bells are ringing for today's elevator picture who wants a financial institutor for her home business. i'm katrina markoff, owner of vosges haut chocolates. we combine chocolate with exotic roots, flowers

and spices to create tastes that tell cultural stories. but in today's economy, how do you run a business that's about indulgence, - yet maintain fiscal responsibility? - ( cash register bell dings ) selling prospective clients can require more than truffles with hungarian paprika to seal the deal. so to make every dollar we spend do the most for us, we use our american express open charge card. it's the card that understands what my business needs. we use membership rewards points to visit clients and vendors all over the world. and we rely on open's concierge service to get our clients into the top hotels and restaurants. which makes us look pretty sweet. when you're selling exotic chocolates, having a card you can count on isn't a luxury. it's a necessity. announcer: today how you run your business is anything but typical. so use the card that isn't your typical credit card. the american express open charge card. to see what an open charge card can do for your business, visit open.com/yourbiz or call 888-550-open.

in today's economy, providing strong leadership is critical to the success of your business. and it's been said that good leaders are made, not born. our next guest has some tips to help you turn into a good business leader and help lead your business into growth even during this time. robert kaplan is a professor of management practice at harvard business school. great to see you, rob. >> good to see you. >> people a lot of times have to be a good leader when they go through their office stores. one of the first things you say is prepare for a long downturn which is a little different where a lot of people who say start preparing for when things turn around. >> what i'm suggesting is do both. prepare your employees during this downturn that the recovery will be sluggish, it will take longer than people expect. most downturns have been followed by a v-shaped recovery because there's a huge amount of

household debt. that deleveraging is going to take a number of years. my advice is xlar yourself mentally and your employees that you stay calm and stay forward looking even though this may last longer than you think. >> manage expectations basically. >> manage yourself. get proper sleep, exercise. >> then you say do the clean sheet of paper exercise. what's that? >> it means this is a time to brainstorm, a time to step back and think about what are my two or three core competencies and how would i design this business given those competencies if i could start over. it's a great thing to involve three or four top employees in and literally go back and rethink the whole business, and you will find out because we are in a different period. you need to restructure, pull away from some markets. but this is the time to do that. >> then overcommunicate your vision and priorities. could that get annoying? >> the problem is almost every leader during crises has an instinct to communicate less,

not more. and what i advise people, and i do myself, this is a time to overcommunicate. that means what's the aspiration, mission of the business? more importantly, what are the two or three things you want your employees doing? you need to say it over and over and over again to the point that maybe they even mock you. that's a good way to err. >> it could become kind of a funerallying cry, right, gets the team together and working toward the same goal? >> in periods of economic stress there is confusion. people are uncertain. your job is to make people more certain about what they're supposed to do. >> that goes to the last one which is be calm and look forward. that's to my point of, i don't care how you're feeling at 2:00 in the morning when you can't sleep, when you walk in, you're the leader. >> that's right. you may be feeling scared and you may feel like you want to blame someone else. this is not the time for blame. this is the time for taking ownership. >> it's easy for us to say that. what advice do you give someone to do that? check your emotions at the door?

>> sometimes, yeah. sometimes what good leaders do is, as you say, you have to manage your people. but the first thing you manage is yourself. you have to manage your emotions. that means count to ten, understand what makes you stressed out and stop yourself because if you blame people, if you lose your cool, all your employees will take their cue from you and they will do the same thing. you want people forward-looking and looking for opportunities. you don't want them covering themselves or worried about who to blame. >> all right. rob kaplan, thanks so much. >> thank you. no matter what type of business you're in, you have to keep up with the latest news and trends. check out our website of the week. sma smartbrief.com compiles hundreds of articles from newspapers and magazines. this site has you covered.

a lot of love birds are deciding that they want to be ecologically responsible when it comes to getting married. today's elevator pitcher is in the forefront of the green wedding movement looking to find her own match with investors. let's see how she does. >> hi, i'm kate harrison, an environmental attorney and the author of "the green bride guide" and the founder of the green bride guide online. we have three streams of lending. the site is actually already the number one green wedding website on the internet with almost 10,000 unique visitors a month. today i've raised $50,000 in seed moneys through two business competitions and the yale entrepreneurial institute. i'm looking for $300,000 to build out an e-commerce platform

and local bridal registry. investors can expect 25 times return on their investment with the strategic sale in year five to a large media company. >> all right, kate. it's a great idea, having been to so many weddings. it sounds like it's a good idea. let's see if it's a good business. steve, what do you think? >> a great idea, no question about it. she hit on something that is important, the number one site of the green or eco-friendly weddings. it infers there's other sites that do it. how do you differentiate yourself from the people who are already doing this? >> there's actually competition from three different sites -- >> before we get into all of this, maybe this is something you want to throw into the pitch and you can talk about it later. do you think she hit on everything? or anything that you wish she would have added. >> you made a lot of great points. i would like to know who is on your team and who is working with you. >> from what kate said in the beginning -- i didn't introduce

our bride, austin, who looks beautiful. did you give you enough for you to take another meeting. >> absolutely. >> i would want to know more. >> we could take the elevator down. >> great. good luck with everything. thank you so much for coming on the program. austin, thanks for being the model. thank you for everything today. if you want feedback on your chances of getting interested investors, send us n e-mail, our address is yo yourbusiness@msnbc.com. let's talk about some of the don't of going your business. here are five common mistakes and how to avoid making them courtesy of fortune small business magazine. number one, errors in

accounting. make sure your projections are realistic and you have an understanding of important ratios such as sales to expenses. two, unrealistic pricing. you have to price your goods and services to sell, but your price points should cover all your costs. three, hasty hiring. for businesses with a small staff, every hire is critical. so be sure to thoroughly check references. four, lack of standards and controls. procedures should be used to monitor every aspect of the business. and number five, branding. everything from your products to your store to your employees should protect your company's image. to learn more about today's show, click on our website, yourbusiness.msnbc.com. you'll find web exclusive content with more information to help you grow your business. >> ask an employee what three things could be done, quick changes to make your job better, more efficient. ask what their dream project is

or dream job within the company? what you might find is people are willing to take on more responsibility and fill in gaps that you have in your business right now. also, we're interested in hearing about what's going on with your small business. click on the icon to take part in our community discussions about today's topic. next time we'll examine that old question, what's in a name? >> would you rather work for ibm, like dad, or would you rather work for big-ass fans. till them, i'm j.j. ramberg. remember, we make your business our business. i'm katrina markoff, owner of vosges haut chocolates.

we combine chocolate with exotic roots, flowers and spices to create tastes that tell cultural stories. but in today's economy, how do you run a business that's about indulgence, - yet maintain fiscal responsibility? - ( cash register bell dings ) selling prospective clients can require more than truffles with hungarian paprika to seal the deal. so to make every dollar we spend do the most for us, we use our american express open charge card. it's the card that understands what my business needs. we use membership rewards points to visit clients and vendors all over the world. and we rely on open's concierge service to get our clients into the top hotels and restaurants. which makes us look pretty sweet. when you're selling exotic chocolates, having a card you can count on isn't a luxury. it's a necessity. announcer: today how you run your business is anything but typical. so use the card that isn't your typical credit card. the american express open charge card. to see what an open charge card can do for your business, visit open.com/yourbiz or call 888-550-open.