Katie: Welcome to The BusinessMakers Overtime Show. A weekly look into the business world and the fabulous brains that power it all. We're your hosts, Katie Laird –

Esther: And Esther Steinfeld.

Katie: And this week, we're recording a very exciting live show in the beautiful tasting room in Houston's Uptown Park.

[Applause]

Esther: That's right. This week, we're breaking it down in Uptown. We've got two very special guests from longtime BusinessMakers contributors, PKF Texas, Raissa Evans and Jen Lemanski –

Man: Woo!

Esther: - to talk about their experiences as cutting edge marketers in an industry that's not always so cutting edge. They are pretty amazing, actually.

Katie: They are.

Esther: So – then we're gonna close it out in segment three with our special features. We're gonna take a look at how to quit gracefully and say, "See ya," to your old company with finesse.

Katie: But first, let's get started with our business week in review. Esther, it looks like everyone's been pretty busy getting ready for the end of 2009, huh?

Esther: Not just the holiday shoppers.

Katie: Exactly, exactly. (Laughter)

Esther: So Ben Bernanke was named Time's person of the year.

Katie: Exactly.

Esther: That's pretty interesting, don't you think?

Katie: It is and you know, I kinda wanted to dig around a little bit because he's not exactly the sexiest player out there in 2009.

Esther: No, he's not.

Katie: Like no, no offense, Ben. No offense. Hey, hey. He's a smart guy. So I dug around a little bit about what does it mean to be Time's person of the year and it's interesting because Time actually says that it's not – it's very specifically not an honor or an award.

Esther: It's just someone influential.

Katie: Exactly.

Esther: Right.

Katie: That's really shaped this year. So a person or thing that has influenced the news the most in the past year, for good or for ill.

Esther: Right.

Katie: And I mean Ben kinda goes both ways.

Esther: He's quite controversial.

Katie: Yeah, he really is an interesting character.

Esther: Some people are in total support of him. Some people are totally against him. I mean some congressmen said none of this would've happened had he not been asleep at the wheel.

Katie: Hmm.

Esther: I mean, I think that's probably a stretch.

Katie: I, I kind of do, too.

Esther: Blaming it all on him, but –

Katie: No, I kinda do, too. Because I mean as far as federal chairmen go, I think he's definitely one of the most aggressive ever. I mean he's been the most communicative, the most outgoing to speak to the public directly. So in a lot of ways, I think he's done a lotta good but in a lotta ways, he really coulda been working on employment a little bit more and –

Esther: Right. So – well some people have said it would've been worse without him –

Katie: Exactly. Exactly.

Esther: - without what he's done and I can't imagine it being any worse than it is or than it was but –

Katie: Indeed. Regardless if you feel yea or nay about Mr.  Ben –

Esther: He's up for a second term.

Katie: - he's – he is? (Laughter) Actually he is, yeah.

Esther: Yeah. So on a related note, Bank of America has pledged $5 billion to help small businesses.

Katie: They have and I mean this is after Obama had a major meeting in the White House talking to, you know, kind of the heads of the financial world, saying, "Hey guys, bankers – like we've given you this money – the taxpayers are supporting you. You've been getting back on your feet. Now give it up to the small businesses."

Esther: Exactly.

Katie: I mean this is really what's going to shape our country's future. Help 'em out. Give 'em a loan.

Esther: So, CEO Ken Lewis, he said, "Bank of America is determined to do our part to help the economy grow next year and reduce unemployment by making every good loan we can make." This is Ken Lewis, the CEO of Bank of America. So I think what Obama is saying is the taxpayers gave you an incredible gift, now it's time to repay that gift.

Katie: Exactly.

Esther: So – and they're saying that they're trying to make as many loans as they can but they just can't make any more good loans. There's no good candidates out there is what they're saying and Obama's not taking that as an excuse.

Katie: No, he's really not. Yeah, he – he's calling their BS and saying, you know, step it up.

Esther: So it's about time because a lot of Obama's supporters have been very critical of his bailout plan.

Katie: They have.

Esther: And just giving all this money to these giant companies whose fault it is in the first place that we're paying all this money. So it's pretty interesting the situation that's going on.

Katie: Exactly. So at least one of the major giants – and actually Bank of America, I think, ranks second as far as the small business lenders in the United States go, behind Wells Fargo.

Esther: Oh wow.

Katie: So the fact that they're jumping up and, you know, actually putting their money where, well I guess Obama's mouth is, whatever. (Laughter)

Esther: Yeah, whatever.

Katie: Hopefully that means good things.

Esther: So we have a couple food related – we have some activity in the room. Kelsey Ruger.

Katie: Exactly. (Laughter)

Esther: Thank you for that.

Kelsey: It's background sounds.

Esther: Background sounds. Thank you.

Katie: Thanks, Kelsey. (Laughter)

Esther: So we do have some food-related news. You know, we like to talk about food. We like to eat, come on.

Katie: Yeah, go figure.

Esther: You know we don't necessarily like to eat McDonald's but there is an interesting situation that's going on with McDonald's. They're actually gonna start giving away free Wi-Fi.

Katie: Free Wi-Fi.

Esther: Is that gonna make people wanna come to McDonald's and drink their latte in the morning?

Katie: Actually, can I be honest? This will totally make me wanna step foot inside a McDonald's.

Esther: Wow.

Katie: If I'm out on the road and I don't wanna chalk up whatever it is per hour for Starbucks –

Esther: Right.

Katie: Like this is a viable place for me to go.

Esther: Lemme tell ya what amazes me. I could go drive by a Panera Bread on a Monday afternoon and Panera Bread is packed and you know why?

Katie: Wi-Fi.

Esther: Because they give away free Wi-Fi.

Katie: Exactly.

Esther: I mean it amazes me because it's like if you build it, they will come.

Katie: Exactly. (Laughter)

Esther: You know? So –

Katie: The Internet –

Esther: - it'll be interesting to see what happens.

Katie: - Internet hungry masses.

Esther: We're gonna make McDonald's a destination again, you know?

Katie: Exactly – well, and – so I'm just recently getting back from being off the road and I love the fact that Google's been jumping in on this, too. Google is actually giving away as a Christmas gift to the world – or to select cities, I should say – free Internet Wi-Fi in airports.

Esther: Oh, wow!

Katie: Yeah, it was pretty awesome.

Esther: Neat.

Katie: Pretty awesome. So. (Laughter)

Esther: Very cool. So –

Katie: The more the merrier. We'll take it.

Esther: Well something else crazy that's happening in the food world – if you know about this, you probably do. Dominoes is basically –

Katie: Dominoes.

Esther: - revamping their entire brand. They're changing their recipe. They're changing their marketing strategy. They've said they're starting from scratch.

Katie: And so it's interesting because Dominoes said that according to different industry reports, they're actually ranked in a tie with Chuck E. Cheese for the people that love their pizza.

Esther: Right.

Katie: Now Chuck E. Cheese, you don't go there for the pizza.

Esther: No, no.

Katie: You go there because your, your toddlers force you to do so and because they serve beer. (Laughter)

Esther: Exactly. So it's funny on taste, they ranked low, very low. You know, with Chuck E. Cheese but now they're gonna – they're gonna redo their crust. It's gonna be a garlic, parsley crust with parmesan and mozzarella cheese. I mean it's gonna be this –

Katie: Yeah.

Esther: - gourmet delicious pizza but what's it gonna do their brand? I mean, do you remember what happened when Coke changed their recipe?

Katie: Oh my gosh. There was like rioting in the streets; some fires. (Laughter)

Esther: There was – there was pandemonium. Backlash. I mean I can envision something similar to this.

Katie: Perhaps and what's even more interesting – first of all, they're taking this jump off of a cliff. Like who knows? A new, a new recipe for pizza – that's what you do. But not only are they doing this change, but they're reaching out to the people that have hated on them most online.

Esther: Exactly.

Katie: They're actually wanting to give the preview taste to the bloggers that have been bashing 'em for years now.

Esther: And you remember what happened a couple months ago. They had this major PR nightmare pretty much –

Katie: Yes.

Esther: - when two employees went into one of their kitchens and started putting cheese up their nose and put a video of it on YouTube.

Katie: Yeah.

Esther: So there was some crazy stuff going on then and it totally – they were. They had ch- there was cheese –

Katie: Yes.

Esther: - they were putting cheese up their nose and –

Katie: That – that –

Esther: - and then putting on pizza. Putting – sending it in the –

Katie: What was it? What is –

Man: That's gross.

Katie: That is gross. Exactly.

Esther: It was – it caused a major, major Dominoes melt down.

Katie: Exactly.

Man: You're making this up.

(Laughter)

Esther: Nope, this is real.

Katie: No.

Esther: This actually happened.

Katie: This actually happened. It was all over the web.

Esther: Yeah.

Katie: So basically their PR team probably hasn't slept in the last seven months. I mean –

Esther: No. They figured, "We just gotta scrap the whole thing."

Katie: Exactly.

(Laughter)

Esther: And start over at Dominos.

Katie: We gotta start it over.

Esther: So we'll see what happens.

Katie: Exactly. Exactly. So moving on from food, politics and finance; let's talk about shopping.

Esther: I like shopping.

Katie: I like shopping, too.

Esther: My boyfriend's here and he knows I like shopping.

Katie: She loves shopping.

Esther: He just – he just looked at his watch and said, "How much time do we have to talk about shopping?"

Katie: (Laughter)

Esther: Basically, what's really exciting – and don't worry because this doesn't apply to us because there's no Houston location – several select Macy's are going to be open 24 hours a day leading up to Christmas.

Man: All right.

Katie: This is –

Esther: Can you imagine that?

Katie: I mean this is interesting to me. I just don't see Macy's as being a 24-hour destination. Like Wal-Mart, yes, but Macy's? Like, do you wanna go at 3:00 in the morning and see who's there at Macy's? I don't think I do. Like it kinda freaks me out. (Laughter)

Esther: I actually was at Old Navy the other day and they told me that they stay open 'til midnight every night.

Katie: Midnight?

Esther: Every night until Christmas.

Katie: What?

Esther: All of December and I said, "How many people are in here at midnight?" and they said, "We have about four or five people and they usually each walk out with $1,000.00 worth of stuff."

Katie: What? Holy moly. (Laughter)

Esther: Who knew? Shocking.

Man: That's when the rich go shopping.

Esther: Yeah rich, rich people shop at night, apparently.

Katie: Yeah. Nice.

Esther: That's an expert analysis by Kelsey Ruger.

Katie: (Laughter)

Man: That's entrepreneurs shopping at night.

Esther: Yeah, exactly, because they don't have time to shop during the day. People like us are the ones who're gonna be shopping at midnight. Guarantee it.

Katie: The entrepreneurs. (Laughter)

Esther: So moving on. We like to do a little segment called links of the week and Katie, I know you have a great one this week.

Katie: I do. I'm actually excited about this one. It's a website called BPlans. BPlans.com and whenever I first see this, I'm like, "B plans? Like the A plan wasn't good enough, we're going to the B plan." It's all about business plans. So if you're an entrepreneur that's wanting to start up a new company – maybe you have a new company and it's just really being lame – BPlans.com is going to be your salvation.

Esther: Awesome.

Katie: They have thousands of business plans that you can kind of gain some knowledge, some insight from to help kick start your company. They talk about everything from your web presence to, you know, resources and materials that will help you with your HR development. So B Plans for the aspiring entrepreneur is definitely a place to go. Definitely.

Esther: Very cool.

Katie: So I love it.

Esther: So you know what I found the other day?

Katie: What'd you find?

Esther: I thought this was really awesome. It's called leadlander.com.

Katie: Lead Lander.

Esther: So think about how much money and time you put into the things that make you and your website unique. It's so frustrating. You don't know if this is working.

Katie: Right.

Esther: Like you do these cold calls. You put out these leads and is it working? Who knows? So what's really, really cool is Lead Lander can determine for you if a customer is reacting to your cold call. It's awesome.

Katie: (Laughter)

Man: We've got a special guest.

Esther: Oh. Oh.

Katie: We have a special guest, yay!

Esther: Special guest.

Katie: Make some noise.

[Applause]

Esther: Woo!

Katie: (Laughter) So Jerry Lasco, welcome to The BusinessMakers Overtime Show.

Esther: This is quite an honor.

Jerry: Well, thank you very much. Thanks for having me.

Katie: Yeah, thank you. So we're sitting in your – one of your lovely establishments here in Uptown Park at the Tasting Room and we're absolutely enjoying ourselves. Thank you so much for –

Esther: It's great.

Katie: - yeah, for having us.

Esther: This is the owner of the Tasting Room that we're talking to right now, who's decided to drop in on us and say hello.

Jerry: Yeah, well hello. It's great to have you all here. It's great to have everybody here.

Katie: So tell us what's the Christmas season, the holiday season like for you guys? Anything exciting happening?

Jerry: The holiday season's huge for us. In the wine business, it's people taking off from work just a little bit early and getting together with friends and a little bit of shopping, a little bit of socializing. So we look forward all year for this season, because people love to come in. They love to get together with friends maybe they haven't seen all year long or they haven't seen in a month.

Esther: You guys have done a phenomenal job at branding this place as the place to hang out in the city, I think.

Jerry: Thanks.

Katie: Yeah.

Esther: You really have and this – we – even when we walked in, we were amazed at the parties that are going on. There's so many parties happening here right now as we speak and I think that you guys have just done an incredible job. How have you done that?

Jerry: The slowly but surely. You know, this is our seventh year. We started off at 1,000 square feet with two employees and I was one of 'em and –

Katie: Wow.

Jerry: - I would say we shared many a glass of wine with many people until, you know, seven years later they multiplied and we've grown a little bit so – but really, slowly but surely. Just grassroots.

Katie: Thank you so much for dropping in. We loved having you here.

Jerry: Hey, that – thank –

Katie: And love being here.

Jerry: - thanks for being here.

Katie: (Laughter)

Esther: Hope we're invited back for another –

Jerry: A new set of friends. Always. You can come back anytime.

Esther: Great. So, back to Lead Lander.

Katie: Yeah. (Laughter)

Esther: Anyway, you get it. Lead Lander's awesome. It's basically – it really is a great resource if you don't have something in place already. It's a mechanism to automatically generate reports in real time for sales calls. For sales leads.

Katie: Wow. In real time.

Esther: Yep.

Katie: Interesting.

Esther: You can down- a sales rep can download a report instantly and get a report about a potential customer – whether they've come back to the site, whether they're interested in what you've sent them. I think it's exciting. So check it out. It might be for you if you're trying to build your sales team up.

Katie: Exactly. Fantastic. Well, good, good.

Esther: Well, we have a very exciting segment two coming up.

Katie: I'm so excited. It's gonna be great.

Esther: We're so excited. We're so excited for Raissa and Jen's interview.

Katie: Yes.

Esther: We've been waiting all week for this. So we're gonna let you go –

Katie: Yes.

Esther: - you've been listening to the BusinessMakers Overtime Show, heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com. We will be back with more in segment two, our BusinessMakers Breakdown.