Hi, everyone. Im jj ramberg, and welcome to your business, the show dedicated to helping your growing business. In seattle, we met one entrepreneur whos taken her great grandfathers oldschool Business Model, the corner store, and updated it to fit the millennial lifestyle. Its got a wine bar, coffee baristas, and locally sourced handmade gifts. This entrepreneur already has three neighborhood locations in seattle, and just like another local seattle business, starbucks, she told us shes got big plans. Puget sound Kombucha Earl Gray or coconut lime. Its really good. We focus a lot on community here. That opportunity to come and have somebody say, hey, hows it going and really mean it, all of that is what creates the opportunity for me. Dani chone is the owner of cohn and steiner. Ive been in the Service Industry my entire life. One of my favorite things about the Service Industry are those relationships you form literally over the counter. For dani, the community focus, or shop local idea, isnt just limited to her relationship with her customers. We believe in creating opportunity on all sides of the counter, which means with our team, with our customers, and with our vendors. This isnt the dani cone show. This is us. For her largely urban, millennial customers, small batch, locally sourced products are a big draw. So many of the products surrounding us in this store that were sitting in have roots here in seattle. Shopping local gives all of us a chance to grow. In fact, she sees her shops as a threeway growth opportunity. For manufacturers who get shelf space, for shoppers who get unique products, and for her stores, which get a reputation for offering these kinds of hip goodies. We support them, but in that way, they also support us. We have unique access to some of these products because of what we do, because thats part of our values and part of our Business Model. Dani is providing an incredible service. Erin nelson head of seattle made, a local manufacturers advocacy group. She sees an Economic Impact in what danis doing. Theres an exponential Multiplier Effect in terms of the amount of money that stays in the community when you are having local retail, local manufacturing, employing local staff. Danis expanded vision of shop local also extends to her neighboring storekeepers too. Here at the Pioneer Square store, she opened the wall between her store and her next door neighbors. Hows the week been so far . Its good. They both say commerce love being able to pass through from one place to the next. And at the capital hill store, theres a wide open passage way between her shop and the next door bakery. They let us use the walk in. We store our excess ingredients over there. We have a really nice relationship with their staff. They give us cookies. We use their bathroom. They use our bathroom. Customers just flow back and forth. Its really nice. Customers that werent aware of cone and steiner see through the window and vice versa. While dani is very focused on developing her own community, shes quick to tell you she has not lost sight of her own bottom line. Its a business. In a forprofit business, if our Business Model is not viable and successful, then i cant create jobs, i cant create that shelf space for local vendors. I cant create a Community Place for people. I cant do any of these things. With seattle as her hometown, dani says shes got a great example of a shop local success Business Model. Everybody starts from somewhere, right . Starbucks started somewhere. It happened to have started here. So shopping local can lead to huge, and its not about just help out a little guy over here. Danis business is not very huge. It is very local. Im from here. I am local. My family is from here, who also have businesses here. When dani talks about her local roots, shes not kidding. This store might be only a few years old, but its ancestry goes way back. Its based off my great grandfathers Grocery Store that was here in seattle about a hundred years ago. Just like her great grandfather who built his business to serve his neighbors, danis Flagship Store is located just a block and a half from her home and less than half a block from her first business, a coffee shop she still owns and operates called fuel. And her customers get it. I think it brings it back to kind of that vintage feeling of going to the soda shop or, you know, just knowing the store really well and feeling comfortable in it. With a coffee bar, pastries, sandwich station, fresh produce, clever gifts, candies, and a wine bar, danis mix of products and services stretches from breakfast until way past dinner. And the model seems to be working. Were taking that model and bringing it into today for the modern consumer. I live in an apartment upstairs around the corner, so i actually come here quite frequently to pick up a couple things on my way home from work or if i need anything for dinner. I came to get my wife a birthday card and candle and see people here having a priint of beer. Nice community area. Its not too crowd and the atmosphere is good. I think of a little tiny Grocery Store but with other accessories, and its, yeah, its like theres tons of stuff here, a great variety. For this reason, dani also sees her store as an updated version of 7eleven. Our sales per square foots are in the same range as 7eleven. We believe that this Business Model is, like i was saying, kind of the 7eleven for the modern consumer with an eye to more quality, specialty, and local. What makes her shop local Business Model work . Dani says its her commitment to the community. This isnt a new and innovative idea. This is what my great grandfather was doing a hundred years ago when he came here, seeking community. That was created. Were creating that place. Small Business Owners are going to be doing all they can to get customers to shop local this Small Business saturday. So what are things you can do to maximize your sales on this kickoff to the Holiday Shopping season . The founder and ceo of grow biz media joins us. And barry is a Small Business consultant. Together theyre also awe horse to of the upcoming new book Small Business hacks 100 shortcuts to success. So good to see you both. Great to see you. Small business saturday. This is our day, right . This is our christmas. What we wait all year for. Exactly. Lets talk about what owners can be doing now. One of the things you say, rieva, think about that online listing. Yes, you have to claim your local listings. Claim them in all the Search Engines. Claim it in google, claim it in bing, claim it in yahoo whatever there is. Also think about what your business is, and you might want to claim it in yelp, claim it in trip adviser. How do i claim it . You go online, and they all have forms you can fill out or you can a company will do it for you. The forms are free. Google is not going to charge you to do this, but you have to be painstakingly correct. You cant list your address as street and spell it out in one and st abbreviated in another. You have bots who are making the connections, and they dont connect. By the way, the reason to claim this you might be thinking, people are coming to me anyhow, but i know when i look for something online, i look at those hours. Especially during the holiday season. So the stats are actually 82 of smartphone users who are looking to shop somewhere locally go to a Search Engine to do it, and 72 of those end up in a store within five miles of where that person lives. Got it. Okay. Thats why you have to do it. Barry, lets talk to you about prospects. When we think about prospects not responding to us, generally i think thats a b2b business. You say think of your bigticket items. A lot of people go to places where theyre going to buy a car or couch or piece of art. You get the contacts name, the prospects name. Then you reach out to them, jj, and they never respond to you. So we have a hack in the book. Its actually hack number 51. How to get these prospects to respond when they wont. Its called the abc method. You send an email that says quick favor, please reply a, b, or c. A, im still interested, contact me right away. B, im still interested, but contact me in a week. And c, im no longer interested. And youd be surprised, 95 of the people actually get back to you with a, b, or c. Then at least you have an answer and you can move on to someone who really wants to buy from you. This is a good thing to do now before Small Business saturday so you get them thinking maybe the actual purchase will be made on that saturday. This gets also to the point of Loyalty Programs because its all about reaching out with your customers. It really is. Youre in a competitive environment today. Why should somebody shop with you small when they can go to a department store, maybe get more done at once. So its about creating loyal customers, and the way to do that is create customer Loyalty Programs. Were not talking about the old buy 12 sandwiches, get the 13th free. Belly does it where you can join up and theyll create this program for you. Its about getting information to your customer. Oh, you bought this, maybe come in and do this. Its about telling them, oh, Small Business saturday, you have their name, you want to market to them. Look what they have in the store just for you. Oh, youre a loyal customer. Were going to give you an extra discount if you come shop with us that day. But if you dont have a formal program, you have no method or process in which to reach out to your customers. And should businesses actually, i know the answer be teaming up with other businesses in the area . Of course. So in what ways . I think that if you can have any kind of joint promotion, that helps because then youre going to a larger audience. You have more of a chance of attracting a customer that may be interested in this retail store and youre right next door. And the real issue is Small Business saturday is the kickoff. So make an event of it. Get people in your door. Then if they dont buy anything, you still have the whole holiday season. This holiday season, we have an extra shopping saturday. I just wrote about this. Theres an extrag d day of shopping. When you get them in on Small Business saturday, make sure you say, hey, come back in two weeks, well have this special thing. Incentivize them so they come back to you and not go somewhere else. And people are already predisposed to buy now. You have them right where you want them. Yes, yes. I was at the store the other day. You should have seen my shopping cart. And im not even a real consumer. But still, piling stuff in for the holiday. Its not even thanksgiving yet. So good to see you both. Congratulations on the book. Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. Have a great Small Business saturday. Thanks. You too. Employee health care is one of the highest costs that businesses pay every year. Here are five ways to use Wellness Programs to save on health care. One, educate your employees. Engage and empower your team with information that they can use to improve their Overall Health and well being on their own. Two, focus on disease management. Programs that remind people to take their medications, schedule checkups, and otherwise stabilize their Current Conditions can help keep your employees out of the emergency room. Three, find a partner. Work with hospitals or Health Professionals to create the best short and longterm Wellness Programs. Four, invest in lifestyle management programs. Initiatives like fitness competitions and Smoking Cessation programs can cut costs in the long term by preventing atrisk employees from developing costly illnesses. And five, measure your programs success. Wellness programs can be a great resource, but if no one uses them or theyre not working, they are a waste of time and money. So pick some metrics and keep track of them to see if your Program Needs to pivot. As we prepare to celebrate veterans day this week, were mindful of how difficult it can be to make the transition from combat zone to an office building. For many returning service people, the process can be overwhelming. And thats where this veteran entrepreneur saw his opportunity to make a difference. Were dustoff aviators. We flew medical evacuation, picked up the wound. You dont know if youre going to get shot at. You dont if youre going to be able to land. Youre flying into this hot lz and sometimes throwing people on board and trying to treat them as best you can en route while youre pulling the guts out of the helicopter. Anthony garcia jr. Is a veteran of the second iraq war. He and his team repeatedly flew into the line of fire to rescue wounld wounded soldiers. The army trained him to do the best you can. There were definitely things that you cant get out of your head. You know, things you wish you could unsee. Amanda is an air force veteran. She and her team cared for those wounded. At war, they were celebrated hard chargers, but back here at home, things were just plain hard. Were trying to change the way that the United States of america views the veteran. Most of us dont have ptsd. Its just were getting used to having our freedoms back. Today anthony is the cofounder of an oakland, california, based tech startup guide on. Hes making it his business to change those civilian perceptions. They have always viewed a veteran as somebody whos broken or somebody who needs to be retrained or somebody who just doesnt have the skills to succeed in the private sector. Anthony says thats ridiculous. And two years ago, he put his money where his mouth is. He built a business around getting vets adjusted, particularly focused on helping them find jobs. I never wrote a resume while i was in the army. I had several different jobs, and i was in there for eight years. I never had to network or sell myself. You dont know how to explain what you did in private sector terminology. Part of a medivac company, part of oef. Tell that to a hiring manager, and theyll probably give you a blank stare. But tony garcia sr. Knows what that means. So you were the third team leader of a particular department that worked in a regional area that was in some cases in very dangerous territory. And so guideon takes that military speak and translates it into something civilians can understand. These are the top skills. A long list of skills. Were only showing the top nine. Tony garcia sr. Is yicio of guideon. Hes a retired Lieutenant Colonel and also anthonys father. I take a look at all the military assignments and positions. We examine each one of those positions, translating the duty titles and the performance statements. Tonys translations have now been converted to dropdown menus. If i wanted to edit this, i could actually go in and get some resume writing tips. These allow vets to upload military records, choose civilian equivalents, which can be fitted into a civilian resume template. An e5 sergeant or e6 Staff Sergeant in the United States army, theyre very well suited to be a line manager or a line operator in manufacturing and running and leading a team. Guideon is more than just a resume tool. Its a modern tech business with a social network linking vets to recruiters and to other vets also adjusting to civilian life. I know a lot of people kind of down play what theyre feeling and try not to or maybe pretend like its not an issue, but i think whos been over there and seen those thing, i dont know how it could not affect you. Amanda says that when she returned, guideon not only helped her get into Business School but also helped her cope. Youre just used to this going, going, going over there. Very high intensity. So its like once you get back home and everything is quiet and then you can kind of process what really happened. Thats when it kind of hits you. Its designed for a Service Member to come to the community and discover all the possibilities out there that can help them advance their career. Today they have Corporate Partnerships and the support of the military, but the philosophy of the Company Comes straight from basic training. Dont sit there and complain about it. Do something. When we come back, more great advice for business decision makers, including how to grow your company in new ways without alienating your existing customers. And the inspiring bonnie st. John on how Business Leaders can remain focused and upbeat in the face of adversity. Every day, on every street, in every town, across america. Small businesses show their love to you. With some friendly advice, a genuine smile and a warm welcome they make your town. Well, your town. Thats why American Express is proud to be the Founding Partner of Small Business saturday. A day where you get to return that love, because shopping small makes a big difference. So, on november 25th get up, get out, and shop small. How would you increase revenue without alienating your existing customers . I think the essential thing about increasing revenue without alienating your customer is to think about why your customer is with you. The Cent