Austin Texas Real Estate Blog

One of the newer shows that has captured my attention this past year is "Undercover Boss", which airs on CBS Sunday nights at 9 Eastern.  The premise is simple: CEO's and company Presidents go undercover as potential employees at their own companies.  They work in starter jobs in various locations and departments in order to get a pulse on what conditions are really like, and what the employees really think of their jobs.

Although I always thought the idea was intriguing, I was surprised to find the show to be both sincere and captivating.  My sole complaint is that it's a little formulaic, but the stories and the payoff are so emotional that I can overlook that part. 

At the end of each episode, the CEO calls in a few of the employees that they worked alongside and has a big "reveal" ("I'm actually in charge of the whole company"), which is typically accompanied by a reward for each employee.  As an example, last night's episode featured the CEO of UniFirst, who gave one employee a $5000 bonus and offered to pay her rent and utilities for one year.  Amazing stuff, and I'm pretty certain that he has a supremely loyal worker now.

On a related note, I'm in the middle of reading a book called "Predictably Irrational" by Dan Ariely.  In one chapter, Ariely discusses the difference between social and market norms, and how they dictate behavior.  He talks about how market norms shouldn't really enter social situations (e.g. "I will pay you $300 for this Thanksgiving dinner, mom.").  Conversely, he talks about how businesses that market their social side have to be consistent in this, rather than bringing in market issues.  If your bank is all about being warm and fuzzy, providing cookies and coffee, and remembering your name, they can also drop the ball if they suddenly hit you with a weird unknown fee and won't resolve it.  This causes cognitive dissonance, in my opinion. 

With that in mind, I think there's a big lesson to be found in "Undercover Boss", namely, that companies that demonstrate their authentic care for their workers have an opportunity to use social norms and develop long-term relationships, similar to real family members.  Based on what I've seen and read, Tony Hsieh at Zappos strikes me as someone that has done a very effective job of creating a fun (family) atmosphere. 

Obviously, the companies profiled on this particular show are probably willing to hold themselves to a different standard, merely by putting themselves through the experiment in the first place. 

"Undercover Boss" is one of the few "reality" shows that gives me hope every time I watch it. 

If you're interested in watching some recent full episodes of this program, you can find them here on CBS' website: http://www.cbs.com/primetime/undercover_boss/.

Let me preface this post by stating unequivocally I have watched entirely too much television in the course of my life.  I have watched enough for me, and probably for you as well.  I don't watch very much these days, although there are a few shows I don't miss, and I like watching NFL football.

In today's age of Tivo (or your DVR of choice), Netflix, Roku, "on demand" cable and satellite services, it is very easy to avoid TV commercials.  As a result, advertisers have found ways to make commercials more interesting, or funny, or eye-catching, so that you might actually take a second or two to see what's going on there on your screen.

I NEVER thought I would say this, but I sometimes miss the old ads of yesteryear.  You know, the ones that have jingles that still rattle around in my mind.  The ones with Colonel Sanders, or Ronald McDonald, or the Jolly Green Giant (ho,ho,ho). 

When I was a kid, we didn't have fancy universal remotes, or any remotes, for that matter.  In fact, I was the remote in our house:

"Jason, change it to channel five."

"Jason, could you switch it to the game now?"

Being an only child had its perks (no sharing required), but this particular item didn't make the list. 

Those large dials were always fun.  Chunka-chunka-chunka.  Channel 4.  Chunka-chunka-chunk.  Channel 7. 

I remember when we first got cable television, when I was around 12 or 13.  We had a small basic remote for changing channels.  Of course, it had no volume control, so you had to get off your duff to adjust that manually.

One thing that I sort of miss now is the fact that you always knew what they were actually trying to sell you back then:

"Blue Star Ointment.  It kills itching fast."

"Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Finger-licking good!"

McDonald's even had a knack for bringing a tear to the eye with their ads, although I will readily admit that it never made me want to eat their food.

One of the most famous ads of all-time is Coca-Cola's "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing", which was sort of like a hippie love-in on behalf of a major soft drink company, but it was catchy and memorable and pleasant, even if the folks in the ad look a bit hypnotized:

Here's another popular ad from my childhood - this one came out when I was about six or so probably.  Does anyone here understand this particular marketing technique?  I don't exactly understand the appeal, but I know that they darn sure wanted me (or my parents) to buy some Kool-Aid, perhaps with the threat of being crushed by the giant pitcher if I didn't comply? 

We had to deal with the spectre of the scary Kool Aid dude, and the strangeness of the Chuck Wagon mini-stagecoach (seemed very much like a bad drug trip for dogs, in my opinion), and the incessant Slinky song (it's Slinky, it's Slinky, fun for a girl or a boy!).  I would take any of these over the incredible soft sell found in today's commercials.

I have often found myself talking about ads with friends, then we realized that none of us even know what company the ads are promoting. 

I think it's great to include humor in ads, but not at the expense of the focus/reason for the ad in the first place. 

"Wow!  That was hilarious!  I have no idea what they were selling, but I laughed."

I really don't have any central point to this post, other than to offer my opinion that advertisers might be better served by bringing back cute characters and mascots, and having hippie love-fests, and beating me over the head with their incessantly catchy jingles.  Hey - jingles work.  This one is one that I like to serenade my wife with when we go to movies sometimes:

 Thanks for reading!

I was like a kid on Christmas morning today: my new business cards arrived!  (Who am I kidding here?  I still act and feel excited on Christmas day.)  Since we had moved our office recently, I thought it might be a good idea to have the correct address on there just in case, right?  Every time I get new cards or see new ads of mine, I feel like Steve Martin in "The Jerk":

"This is the kind of spontaneous publicity - your name in print - that makes people. I'm in print! Things are going to start happening to me now."

I was an early adopter for laminated business cards back in 1998, which was my second year in the business.  Even though I occasionally spot others around town, they are still relatively rare for some reason.  With the reasonable cost and the ease of ordering, I wonder why more folks don't have these, frankly.

Although I have always been quick to make fun of agents who have unrecognizably old photos in their marketing and on their cards, I allowed my previous picture to remain on my card far too long.  Also, I was wearing a suit and tie, which is not something that you will catch me wearing outside of a funeral these days.  I am still relatively young, but not in my late 20's, so I would imagine that some people wondered if that was my younger brother rather than me.

Thanks to ActiveRain, I was also able to include my outside blog URL (www.austinscoolestblog.com) on the newest cards, and I am using the same photo from my profile.  For the back story on the photo itself, you can see my recent announcement post:

MY BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: My wife and I are expecting our fourth child!!

I typically get comments like this when I give out my card:

• "Wow!  This is a nice card!  These must be expensive."
• "Cool card - where do you get these?"
• "Gosh, I need to consider getting some new cards.  You went all out."

Other times, they simply drool a bit.

But seriously, I have found that people will hang on to my card a lot longer than average.  I have had many clients say, "It was too nice to throw it away." 

On the reverse side of the card, I have opted for many years now to have the list of lender-required items for when they start the application process for their mortgage.  I think the reverse printing was $10 in this case.

Here's how my new cards look, in case you are curious (and even if you're not particularly interested - hey, it's my blog):

By now, you may be asking where you can get some terrific laminated cards like these.  Visit Advantage Printing at www.sbcards.com (for "superior business cards").  The page for laminated cards is http://sbcards.com/laminated.htm.  They are very easy to work with, and prompt, too!  You can just email a JPEG of your photo and give them an idea of the design that you want (there are lots of samples on their site to give you ideas). 

They are a bit more expensive than regular cards, but they are a nice conversation piece, and well worth the small difference in price.  I highly recommend them.

Have a great weekend!