Undercover Boss (2010) s04e13 Episode Script
ADT
This week on Undercover Boss Good morning, this is Dianne with ADT.
Are you okay? ADT, America's largest provider of home security sends their Chief Marketing Officer undercover.
He'll pose as a contestant on a fake reality show competing to win money to open his own business.
- You're the contestant? - Hi, I'm James.
- Hi, how you doing? - Good.
I'm Matt Zucker from ADT.
Good.
Good.
Nice to meet you.
Nervous? Uh, a little.
I'm a little nervous.
After being at ADT for only eight months, this former marine will see if he has the skills to keep up in the field.
You're missing one screw.
Hi, Kristen.
Kirsten.
Also, I think there's some opportunity, you know, on your I your I I don't think he could have gave a sandwich to a homeless guy at that point.
Along the way, he'll make some startling discoveries.
I've been here two years already.
- Uh-huh.
- The pay is not that great.
Right.
I'm either of thinking of upgrading it or, frankly, disconnecting it.
And how will he react when lives are on the line? Find out next on Undercover Boss.
Undercover Boss 4x13 - ADT Original air date April 12, 2013 Securing homes and businesses since 1874, and currently serving more than 6 million customers, ADT is the largest security company in North America.
Making sure that all 16,000 employees stay customer-obsessed is one man.
I'm Tony Wells, Chief Marketing Officer for ADT Security Services.
The company's been around almost 140 years, and it started as a telegraph company.
In the 1800s, ADT used messengers to actually deliver telegraphs on the streets of New York City.
In the early 1900s, we began monitoring for fire and alarm, and today, we have more than 200 locations that service more than 6.
4 million customers.
Every year, we answer more than 19 million alarm signals.
And so ADT is the most recognized security brand in North America.
I grew up in Washington, D.
C.
Played basketball all the way through high school when I realized, you know, I could actually get a college scholarship.
The one that really was the most attractive to me was the naval academy.
I got to play alongside I think probably the greatest center, David Robinson.
After I graduated the naval academy, I was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the marine corps.
For me, I think being a marine really had an impact in how I lead, how I manage.
When I got out of the marine corps, I spent some time in the automotive industry, worked for Nissan.
And from there, I went to 24-hour fitness.
I've been at ADT eight months.
- Hey, Julie.
How's it going? - Good.
I wanted to talk to you about some of the print ads.
What do we got? As the Chief Marketing and Customer Officer, I'm here to protect and promote the brand.
We talked about using real customers in here.
- Mm-hmm.
- You know, that testimonial kind of always brings credibility.
Our product is very different than any competitor's.
The Comcast, the Time Warners of the world think they can kind of come in and eat our lunch.
And I'm very adamant that we're not gonna let them do that.
Little nervous.
I know you're gonna do a great job.
My wife, Lydia, she's the love of my life.
We have three kids.
This is nice, babe.
Thanks for taking this walk.
In July, my wife got sick, and we found out later that she actually had colon cancer.
I'm starting over again.
You know, I got up to two miles.
I'm happy about walking.
And then you know, eating right.
You know, I think any time you have a diagnosis of cancer, you're always worried about, you know, what's next.
And so we're getting there.
- I love you.
- I love you.
So Last time I had my hair totally cut off was more than 20 years ago when I was in the marine corps.
I'm going undercover because I've been here eight months, and I have spent a lot of time at the corporate headquarters.
But for me, this is a great opportunity to get out on the front lines.
Wow.
That's bald.
I want to see how our brand is impacting customers and what we can do to make it better.
While undercover, I'll be posing as James from Annapolis, Maryland, who wants to set up his own security firm.
Throughout my undercover journey, our employees will be tricked into thinking that they're on a hosted reality show, which they will work alongside James.
And then decide if he deserves the money to start his own security company.
Welcome here to Union City, New Jersey, where we are gonna be working with our experts.
We have Matt here today.
The man pretending to host the fake reality show will keep asking questions about James so our employees will have no idea this is secretly Undercover Boss.
Whose turn is it? My turn.
Uh Oh, my Oh Oh, my God.
- Oh, my God.
- Oh, my God.
I can't look at you.
Look at me.
- He's cute.
- No.
What do you think? Glasses? - Much cuter without them.
- No.
I'm not trying to be cute.
I'm trying to be undercover.
How do you like this outfit? - I'm liking it.
- You're liking it? I'm 6'7", I'm 275.
So you know, there are a couple of parts of the job, you know, of going undercover that I'm a little worried about.
But I'm ready and I'm excited and really looking forward to it.
I can't get enough of looking at you.
I know, it's funny.
Drive safe.
I'm in Union City, New Jersey, today.
I'm working with a small business representative calling on local businesses.
ADT has been known as a residential brand.
There's some real growth opportunity in the small business category.
I know today that I'm gonna be with a sales manager that just has an unbelievable team, and I'm looking to see what he's doing special, and can we learn anything from a marketing perspective that we can apply to other parts of the country? Are you Matt? Hey, good morning.
Are you the contestant? - Hi, I'm James.
- Hi, how you doing? - Good.
- I'm Matt Zucker from ADT.
Good, good.
Nice to meet you.
- Pleasure.
- You look warm.
- I gotta get a coat like yours.
- Thank you very much.
My first reaction to James is, you know, he's this big, burly guy.
He kind of looks like he's ready to go skiing.
You know, he doesn't look like a sales rep.
The old motto, dress for success.
So what I have on is that what you're saying? You probably want to kind of, you know, - shirt-and-tie it.
- Okay.
You want to walk right in off the floor and someone, they're like, "wow, all right.
" - "I want to talk to this guy.
" - Okay.
This first location is a long-time customer already.
You know, one of his locations was robbed once before.
I think that's important for you to know.
We helped him catch the criminal.
Literally, the criminal came out of the location and we responded so quick that the police was standing outside to grab the guy when he came climbing through the door.
Wow.
Okay.
We have developed a relationship that's very tight.
He's opening a new location right now.
Okay.
It's not in the greatest area.
- Okay.
- It's a rough neighborhood.
- Nervous? - Uh, a little.
- I'm a little nervous.
- Don't be.
It's all good.
- Pablo.
- What's up, Matt? - How you doing, big guy? - Hi, how are you? - I'm James.
- Pablo.
Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
- How are you, man? - Great.
You know, just doing my thing.
I hear you, man.
Thanks for coming out on a Sunday.
Absolutely.
Before we get started, I want to - kind of introduce you to James.
- Okay.
Matt said I guess we had helped you we have.
We've got a long-standing relationship for about four years now.
He's done all of my locations, and you know.
Pablo, if you can kind of tell him, what concerns as a business owner do you have? In this location here, you can see we have tons of windows and that was our main security concern.
Right.
Knowing that we're in a high-crime area, we're gonna do two motions.
The motion sensor on the ceiling that's a 360 degree to kind of cover if they come through the walls.
And then maybe one in the front just shooting back.
The first time Pablo got robbed, they kicked in his front glass door.
Obviously, you're gonna want a glass break detector.
I'm tying in the camera so you can view them remotely, obviously from your iPad, from the cell phone.
- It's a great idea.
- Yeah.
You want to get this thing going today, you want to do some paperwork, you want to kind of get ready to go here? Let's do a deal.
- That's my guy.
- Nice meeting you.
Nice to meet you.
No problem.
Matt is doing very well in our company in terms of sales.
I think he has a certain passion and a confidence.
He's a real go-getter.
In order for them to kind of trust you to buy something off you, you have to have some sort of a relationship with them.
- Mm-hmm.
- That gets developed within the first five minutes of us walking in.
- Okay? - All right.
- You think you can do this? - I'm gonna try.
I think you can hey, look.
You got the champ with you.
It's all right.
It's gonna be good.
All right, let's go.
As the CMO, I don't often get out in the field.
So I was kind of nervous to make sure I didn't blow an opportunity for us to sell a system to a customer.
So let's go do this.
How you guys doing? Good afternoon, guys.
I'm looking for Mr.
Dillon.
Mr.
Dillon is right down there.
- Mm.
Thank you.
- You're welcome.
- Mr.
Dillon? - Yeah.
Hi, I'm James with ADT.
This is, uh - Nice to meet you.
How are you? - Pleasure to meet you, sir.
- I'm Matt.
- Matt.
What can I do for you? We wanted to talk to you today I guess about providing some security services for your business.
Sure, no problem.
How long have you how long have you had the bar? I've owned it with my brother for 28 years.
- Wow.
28 years.
- Yeah.
Wow.
And, uh James's performance in sale number one was a little lackluster.
I see you got the Notre Dame, huh? They got a good they've got a good pipeline of kids, so yeah.
They look good.
Yeah.
He stumbled, he was nervous, he really didn't speak, he was monotone.
Personality really needs to shine through in sales.
Just curious.
I notice there's not any security in here.
I'll be truthful, we never had a problem up until this past August.
- Okay.
- We had an armed robbery.
- Oh, wow.
- Yeah.
Got two guys come in with a gun.
There were only three people here.
And one was my cousin, and they put the gun to her head.
And then they robbed the place.
You know, it was really scary, but thank God nobody got hurt.
So, I think one of the things we'd like to propose to you, Mr.
Dillon, is just that we can kind of come back with a idea of providing you an estimate and a proposal of the idea of a glass breaker motion detector inside the the bar.
He was like a timid little kid.
I mean, he wasn't sure what to say.
And it was very uncomfortable for him.
It definitely went rough.
Also I think there's some opportunity to let you check, you know, on your I your iPhone or your iPad, check what's happening with your business.
I don't have an iPhone, I don't have a cell phone, - I don't have an iPad.
- Okay.
I don't think he could have gave a sandwich to a homeless guy at that point.
This guy basically told us that someone came in here and put a gun to his cousin's head, and he didn't seal the deal.
You know, on your I your iPhone or your iPad, check what's happening with your business.
I don't have an iPhone, I don't have a cell phone, - I don't have an iPad.
- Okay, all right.
Congratulations.
Congratulations.
That's fantastic.
- I wish I was in your shoes.
- Yeah.
But I will tell you, this area here has had quite a few break-ins.
- When times get tough.
- In the daytime too.
Yeah, when times get tough, you know, that's when this tends to start happening.
- Yeah, sure.
- You kind of got lucky.
Nobody got injured or hurt.
Very lucky.
Both your neighbors are ADT customers.
- Oh, really? - Oh, yeah.
- Okay.
- Absolutely.
You let us we'd like to put something together, come back, and let you take a look at it and see how how you feel about, you know, getting that extra protection in place.
Sure.
Why not? - Thanks a lot for your time.
- Nice to meet you.
- Really appreciate it.
- Hey, thank you very much.
Do you have a card or anything? - Yeah.
- Absolutely.
Being a sales manager and knowing what I do, it's about closing deals today.
It's about making money.
It's not about leaving proposals.
So if you rated if you wanted to rate your sales experience of what just happened, one being the worst, ten being the best, how do you think you did? - About a six.
- Okay.
I'll give myself a six.
- Let me - I'm a hard grader.
You're a hard grader? I gotta tell you, - I'd probably call it a three.
- A three? - A three.
- Wow.
To me, you're trying to be that used car salesman.
Which is that's not what we do.
- Another thing - No, that's good tips.
- I'm open to - Oh, I'm not done yet, James.
- I got more.
- Okay, no.
I got more.
You can tell you're nervous.
And I know from some aspect, you're going to be.
- Right.
- But you need to harness it.
Because if they're nervous, I should be nervous about letting you protect my business, right? No, no, I get it.
I thought I did better than a three, but clearly, you know, I might want to stay in marketing versus sales.
How long have you been doing this? I've been here at ADT for five years now.
I came in to this business really, really, really wanting to be the best.
When you do sales, there always has to be something that drives you.
And I guess you know, that kind of was instilled to me when I was, you know, a little boy.
My parents kind of got divorced when I was five years old.
And my mother literally gave up every opportunity that she could've had to make sure my sister and my life was everything that it could always be.
And that drive that she gave me is unparalleled.
Like, you know, looking back, and then there was the birth of my daughter, and literally, I held that kid in my hands, and I was like, "I will never, ever let you down.
" And I came back to work and said to my sales reps, "we now have to put it to another level.
" I'm a full-blown lunatic.
I want to run ADT one day.
I have literally the number one and number two teams in the country.
And that means everything in the world to me, but what it means more is I know everyone around me is making money.
Their lives have gotten better.
You know, as far as teaching and training this, you know, the one thing I can tell you is the company training needs to be completely revamped.
Yes, you know, ADT has, you know, a program where they send reps.
It's some guy from Oklahoma trying to teach my people how to sell in New York.
There is a vibe to working in a big city.
My reps, they're cold-calling warriors.
I mean, we're talking about guys that pound the pavement.
When Matt told me that the training materials we had, he had adapted, I was glad to hear that.
Let's go take a walk down the block and see who else we can try and help out today.
- All right? - All right.
Matt's got passion, he's a great representative for the brand.
And so it's good to know that a small business is in such capable hands.
Today, I'm in Pembroke Pines, Florida.
I'm gonna be with a service tech in a customer's home.
Every year, ADT and our 450 dealers install more than and automation systems.
It's really costly to the business to have to come back and make a repeat visit.
So it's important that our technicians have that philosophy of getting it right the first time.
- How's it going? - Hey, how are you? Hi, I'm James.
Jesus.
Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
- Are you appreciate you showing me the ropes today.
- Yeah, I'm the contestant.
- No problem.
You might not need a ladder.
My first reaction to James was, wow.
It's the size.
James's frame is enormous.
This guy is built for, you know, built really, really tough.
Today we're gonna be upgrading their system.
Oh, wow.
Okay.
I'll show you the ropes basically on wiring, programming.
Great, great.
Looking forward to it.
This is the customer's information Florence.
I'm gonna go ahead and press "on-site.
" - All right, great.
- Okay.
So Do you remember what was the customer's name? I don't think you told me.
Oh Florence.
- There you go, there you go.
- Florence.
Okay.
See, testing your knowledge.
- Okay.
- We're good.
Let's go in inside, and we'll take it from there.
I like to knock on both just in case the doorbell doesn't work.
Right.
- Hi, Florence.
- Hey.
How you doing? - I'm Jesus from ADT.
- Hi, Jesus.
- Hi, I'm James.
- Hi.
Nice to meet you.
I'm training James for the day.
- Okay.
- Okay.
- Come on in.
- Thank you very much.
Today, we're gonna be replacing your keypads.
We're gonna be mounting motion sensors.
Where would you want the motion sensor to be? Okay.
One over here in this room.
Okay.
Just go ahead.
Show me where the main board the metal panel is.
It's right up here.
Right up there.
All right, so we'll walk you through it at the end once we have everything installed.
- Okay.
- Okay.
- Thank you.
All right.
- Thank you very much.
Let's go ahead and let's start on your first keypad.
Can I move the table over a little bit? Yeah.
That's fine.
- Is that good there? - Yeah, that's fine.
Cool.
Perfect.
You can do the rest.
Where do you want me to tap this other one in? Wherever you want.
I wasn't expecting to do the panel right from the start, but I'm pretty good with a drill.
In fact, you know, I do some home projects around the house.
Just slow, just slow.
Just slow.
You'll get it.
Here, I'll do the other one.
All right, so I'm gonna leave you alone doing this one.
You're gonna leave me alone? - Yes, sir.
- All right.
- How you doing? - Good.
Okay, you're missing one screw though.
Yeah, you know, there was another hole over there - when I - So what happened? - It went right through? - Well, no.
I just decided 'cause it feels pretty tough.
It feels pretty sturdy? All right, we'll just leave it like that.
I would like to have four on it.
I think it'll be good.
- You sure? - Yeah.
- You positive? - I'm positive.
Would you do this in your own house? Yeah, I would.
It's good.
But remember, this is not your house.
Just go ahead and take it off real fast.
With the keypad, he left one screw out.
I had to tell him to adjust it a little bit, which he did, and he tried to change my mind to leave it that way.
But this is somebody else's house.
And you got to respect their home.
We're gonna mount the motion sensors.
Heck, you made it look so easy.
Trust me, this is not rocket science.
I'll let you figure that one out on your own.
- Okay.
- I'll be back.
All right.
Man, I am sweating.
It is tougher than it looks.
I do hope I get this right, 'cause Jesus is gonna come back and inspect it, I'm sure.
How's it going? - I'm getting there.
- Cool.
I don't expect him to learn everything in one day.
But he's pretty nervous using hand tools and stuff like that.
- But backwards.
- Ooh.
That wouldn't be good.
To tell you the truth, James will probably feel a little bit more comfortable in a desk job.
I'm slowing you down today, probably.
Look, listen.
Don't worry about it.
How long have you been with ADT? I've been here two years already.
But I'm scared, 'cause this is the stability that I want.
The only thing is that the pay is - not that great, you get me? - Right.
And I've asked if I could take the service tech IV training, 'cause it bumps up my pay a little bit.
You know, and unfortunately, I work the weekends, and I can't be with my family, but that's what it has to be.
- Right.
- 'Cause it's only me working.
- Right.
Wow.
- All right.
It's only me working, and my daughter stays at home with my fiancee.
- She's 18 months.
- Right.
That gives me the motivation in itself.
And the last year, trust me, it's been very hard for me.
We barely could make the rent right now.
I mean, honestly, we don't have money.
And thank God for those cash advance places, 'cause those things are amazing.
- But that's how I survive.
- Right.
Jesus really showed me today that the people we hire are the most important part of the company.
And so we owe him an opportunity to kind of see if we can help him advance his career at ADT.
- Ms.
Florence? - Yes? Me and James tested everything.
Everything is working fine.
I'm going to go ahead and give you some paperwork to sign, - and then we'll be on our way.
- Okay, great.
Okay? Thank you very much.
Sounds good.
Thank you.
This is James from ADT.
Push 99.
Tony is faced with a real emergency.
Okay, we'll get an ambulance out right away, ma'am.
And later, the boss takes another crack at closing his first sale.
I'm either of thinking of upgrading it or, frankly, disconnecting it.
Tony Wells, the Chief Marketing Officer for ADT, is a boss undercover in his own company.
- Hi, I'm James.
- Jesus.
Nice to meet you.
His employees think he's a contestant on a reality show trying to win money to start his own security firm.
- How do you think you did? - About a six.
Okay.
I'd probably call it a three.
- A three? - A three.
His journey continues in Tennessee.
Today, I'm in Knoxville, Tennessee.
I'm going to be working with an emergency dispatch operator in one of our six alarm monitoring centers.
Every year, we go on and we answer more than I'm a little nervous because when you get 19 million calls a year, you have to be on your toes.
Every call is a call for help, so I want to make sure I don't mess this up.
I'm looking for Dianne.
- She's right there.
- Oh, okay.
Thanks.
Hi, I'm James.
- Are you the contestant? - Yes.
Hi, I'm Dianne.
Nice to meet you.
Hey, you want to have a seat right here? Thanks.
Thanks.
I'm the emergency dispatch operator.
- Okay.
- Right now we're waiting.
So see, it's waiting for an alarm.
So we're waiting for somebody to trip their alarm.
So then it'll pop up on our screen, and all the information we need will be on the screen.
And then we call them, obviously.
And there's burglar, medical, fire, carbon monoxide, panic.
You have the potential to save somebody's life.
- Right.
- You really do.
I mean, this is serious stuff.
If they have a true emergency, don't panic.
- Okay.
- You know, just stay calm.
- Okay.
- Okay? - You got me nervous already.
- No, don't be.
Don't be, don't be.
You're gonna be fine.
So there's you a headset.
We've already got it plugged up.
Okay.
And this is live? - Yeah, yeah.
- Oh, wow.
Okay, all right.
The impression that I got about what he knew about the security business was nothing.
But he seems like a very nice gentlemen.
Okay, so here's us an alarm.
Okay, this is a medical alarm.
Hi, good morning.
This is Dianne with ADT.
Are you okay? Okay, perfect.
That was a good test, Ms.
Gibson.
And I'll go ahead and reset it for you, okay? - Thank you very much.
- You're welcome.
Bye-bye.
So do you want to call? Yeah, I mean, I'm here to learn.
Exactly.
We may need to do this a couple No, that's fine.
That's why I'm here.
Okay.
Hi, this is James from ADT.
Can I help you? - "Are you okay?" - Okay.
Are you okay? Say, "that was the reminder for us" "to test your system.
" So, ma'am, that was the reminder for you to test your system monthly.
- Okay.
- All right, thanks.
Try to refrain from "thanks" - and say, "thank you.
" - Okay.
'Cause "thanks" is like, you know, something my kid would say.
"Thanks, mom.
" You know, "thank you" sounds better.
And then not "can I help you?" - "Are you okay?" - Okay.
Okay.
- You take it personally.
- I do.
"Thanks" is something like a cashier at a gas station would say to you who's just having a miserable day.
You want to talk to them professionally because you want them to have assurance that we know what we're doing, you know.
And it's not just some, you know, 15-year-old kid calling and chewing his bubble gum, you know.
You know, you get these young kids in here.
They're maybe just doing it, you know, just for a paycheck.
I don't look at it as just a paycheck, you know.
These are people.
Right.
No, that's good.
Dianne said she'll hear one of our own employees not delivering the best customer service and so as the Chief Marketing Officer, I think it's incumbent on me to figure out a way that we can correct that.
How long have you been doing this? - Wow.
- But I like it, you know.
I don't I don't want to go to a different department.
Even without a pay increase, I'll stay where I'm at.
- 'Cause you like - Mm-hmm.
- Helping customers.
- Yeah.
Mm.
Good morning, Margaret.
This is James from ADT.
Are you okay? Okay.
Stay okay.
We have help on the way.
Okay, we'll get an ambulance out right away, ma'am.
Push 99.
So now we're gonna call the ambulance.
Good morning, Doug.
This is Dianne with ADT calling in a medical alarm at a residence.
Thank you so much.
Bye-bye.
So now we're gonna call her back.
Okay.
The ambulance is on the way, and they'll help you when they get there, okay? Bye-bye.
- So that was a dispatch.
- Okay.
I'm glad you took that.
Dianne was just like, bam, bam, bam.
She was just making it happen.
She's a rock star.
Got a big cup.
Wow, that is.
No, I have a bigger one at home.
You have a bigger one than that? Three times the size.
That's like the, you know, double big gulp.
Want to take a break? I need to go outside and smoke a cigarette.
- Okay.
- Yeah.
I won't make you get wet, I'm promise.
I promise I won't make you get wet.
So, yeah.
So what caused you to want to do this show? For that big break.
I was in the marine corps for 20.
When you spend all that time traveling around the country being separated from your family and everything, it's good to kinda say, "hey, we're gonna move someplace", "stay there, and not travel anymore.
" I bet your kids are excited daddy'll be home.
Yeah.
How many kids do you have? Three.
Single mama.
They keep me busy.
Is that tough? Yeah.
I don't think I'll ever get remarried.
- Really? - Yeah.
I mean, it just wasn't working out.
So that's why I left.
Kind of rough, huh? Yeah.
Going back to the kids, senior year's expensive.
Like his senior pictures they took those, like, four months ago.
I hadn't been able to buy them.
He's like, "when are you gonna buy this stuff, mom?" I'm like, "Tyler, I've got to feed you or buy pictures.
" You know? My dad used to always have that saying.
"You think money grows on trees?" Yeah, and then on top of that, they don't understand that I've got student loans.
Right, right.
So I just have to take it one day at a time.
That's all you can do.
You know, the good thing is you're probably giving them a good example about working hard, not taking stuff for granted.
Yeah, exactly.
When I first came here, you know, it was, like, this is just a job.
It's, you know, a way to feed my kids.
And now it's like, I'm not going anywhere.
I'll die at ADT, you know.
I don't care if they cut my pay, - I would still stay.
- Right.
Because that's how much I'm dedicated to my job.
I won't go anywhere.
Well, I'm glad you like it.
- So it's kinda chilly.
- All right, I'm gonna freeze.
- Okay, we can go in.
- Yeah, I'm gonna freeze.
I'm leaving here today with a new appreciation for customer service.
This is James from ADT.
Are you okay? That leaves me with a really good feeling, and I know we're in good hands if we have people like Dianne on the front lines.
- How's your day going? - It's going very well.
- How about yours? - I'm having a great day.
That's good.
I'm in Totowa, New Jersey, today to work as a residential sales rep.
I've served in a sales role earlier this week.
I'd probably call it a three.
- A three? - A three.
Matt gave me a three out of ten.
So I'm hoping that I can keep up and keep pace today.
I'm looking for Mike.
- Come through here.
- Okay.
This office is one of the top sales offices in the country.
And so I'm eager to learn what they're doing different here.
Hi, I'm James.
- How are you, James? - Good, good.
- Very nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
First of all, we're gonna do some cold-calling because as a salesman, you don't have any leads, you can't make any money.
- Right? - Right, right.
So you need a cup of coffee or something? Uh, yeah, yeah.
That wouldn't be bad.
No, coffee is for closers.
- You gotta get a sale first.
- All right.
All right.
Hi, this is Joe.
This is Mike Molbury from ADT.
How are you? I'm sorry, I can't take your call at the moment.
Nope.
- Hi, you've reached Tim.
- Nope.
Please leave your name, number, and message - We won't leave a message.
- Don't leave a message? Yeah.
You'll find out that cold-calling it's a grind.
It's a very low percentage.
So when you do 100 calls, how many will you get through to? For most salesmen, it's probably gonna be 1%.
- Wow.
It's hard.
- Phones are a real grind.
- Yeah.
- Hard work.
This is a tough job.
It's a lot of pressure when you're in a position like sales where you got to hustle to make it happen.
Hello? This is Mike Molbury from ADT.
How are you? Good.
How are you? We are doing pulse demonstrations in your neighborhood today.
We'd love to come by this afternoon if that's something you'd be interested in.
Um, how about, like, 2:00? Okay.
Well, that's very good to hear.
I'm glad you're still interested.
- Okay, thanks.
- Thank you.
So you think you're ready to make a call? All right.
Okay.
Hello? Hi, Kristen.
- Kirsten.
- Oh, Kirsten.
Hi, this is James from ADT Security Services.
- How are you? - Oh, hi.
Are you guys having any specials right now? Are you giving free estimates? - Yeah, we - Tell her yes.
We do have some good promotions we could show you and if James is a little bit stiff.
And if this afternoon works, we could certainly swing by and is there any way I could set up another day? I'm actually on my way out.
He's gonna need to loosen up, especially in front of a customer, 'cause he's gonna have a really tough time on a sales call.
All right.
Thank you very much.
- Okay, bye.
- Bye.
You don't want to be too stiff when you're in front of the customers.
You know, you want to be not so serious but still serious enough so that they know that you mean business.
Okay.
Okay.
Yeah, starting out in this business can be very difficult.
When I first started this job, I took this job against the better judgment of my wife.
'Cause I was leaving a paying job to go to a job that's 100% commission where there's no guarantees.
And you gotta figure out how you're gonna make bread.
You know, my biggest expense now is I got day care, you know.
My kids are just starting out.
- And that's - Your wife works too? Yeah, my wife works.
It's a lot of juggling.
So is your territory nearby or - I go all over north Jersey.
- Mm-hmm.
I probably drive between - Wow.
My car right now has That's a lot of miles.
And we basically are getting about 86 bucks a week here for gas.
Mm-hmm.
And the only way to overcome that is to make sure you have success - in your field appointments.
- Okay, all right.
I'm getting pumped here.
You're pumped up? You ready? I'm ready.
Let's do it.
Let's go sell.
All right.
Let's get this done.
James is a little stiff, so I'm a little nervous.
We don't want James to bore the customer.
So I hope this guy's ready to work.
So if I turn to you and I need some help - I'll be there.
- Okay.
- Hi.
- Hi.
- I'm James with ADT.
- James, how are you? Come on in.
Mike kind of threw me in to the deep end.
He let me go.
So why do you have an interest in a system? Have you ever had an ADT system before? I have it currently, but we were down for 12 days.
I thought for sure someone would've called me from the company, but they didn't.
Okay.
Oh, wow.
And so no one from ADT came out, or did you - No.
- Okay.
- So - Wow.
Makes you wonder.
It does.
That's, uh, that's, um, something probably we need to - you know, we need to work on.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, I agree.
- So, um, one of the things we can do is show you our current system.
Are you thinking that you just want to simply activate the current product you have or do you think you're interested in hearing more Well, I'll tell you.
That's a good point.
I mean, I'm either thinking of upgrading it or, frankly, disconnecting it.
Well, maybe we can show you a little bit about what the Pulse System does and just Am I gonna have to take out a second mortgage for this or what? - Uh - No.
I mean, what we can do is we can work within your budget.
You know, you can get the basic for around $49, $50.
So I can give you options and, you know, you'll be able to pick and choose really what you want.
Mike's got a right balance of he wants to ask for the sale, he wants the sale, but he's also being mindful of what's going through the customer's mind.
We can get you down to $416 for the installation.
That sounds doable to me, to be honest with you.
I'd like to run the numbers past my wife, make sure she's on board with it.
But it's something very doable for us.
- Of course.
- All right.
I wouldn't do anything in my house without clearing it by my wife.
I can't wear a shirt without clearing it with my wife.
After spending the afternoon with Mike, I really left with a great appreciation of his skills and feeling like a better sales rep.
- All right.
- Thank you, guys.
- Very nice to meet you.
- No, my pleasure.
Not only is he doing his own job, but he's also helping new hires, an integral part of the whole team.
So Mike is a great representative of our brand, and I think he's got a really great future at our company.
Time to get moving.
This week was really pretty exhausting.
Don't think I'm going to grow a beard.
Can't wait to get this hair off my face.
ADT has some unbelievable employees, and we keep making sure that we deliver for the customer.
We need to do the same for our employees.
Almost back to normal.
We want to really make sure that our employees know that we're committed to that.
And so I'm leaving with a renewed sense that that's a focus for me going forward.
The employees think they're going to decide whether or not James deserves money to start his own security firm.
How will they react when the boss reveals his true identity? My name is Tony Wells.
I'm the Chief Marketing and Customer Officer for ADT.
Get out of here.
Today, all the employees have been flown to New York City.
They think they're meeting with a celebrity judge to help determine if I deserve the seed money to help me start my new business.
Hi, Dianne.
How are you? - James.
- James.
- James.
- James? "James"? I guess.
I'm confused.
My name is Tony Wells, and I'm the Chief Marketing and Customer Officer for ADT.
I still don't know who you are.
- I went undercover.
- Get out of here.
You're on Undercover Boss.
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
I don't know what to say.
I hope I didn't let you down.
Jeez.
I didn't mean to make fun of your outfit that bad.
- What's your real name again? - Tony Wells.
Tony Wells.
You already know me.
So nice to meet you.
A pleasure.
Did I do okay? Pretty good.
Matt, I gotta tell you that your tenacity, your passion for the business is just I want to tell you, I was really inspired and it was unbelievable.
I truly love what I do.
I can tell that.
One of the things that I was very impressed with was your approach and how you're leading your team.
And so I'd like to invite you to come in and help the ADT sales organization.
Look at how we're presenting our product, especially on the small business front.
And I think we can learn a lot from the way that your team is running.
I would be honored to do that for the company, honestly.
One thing I'd like to do 'cause I can clearly see how important your team is to you I'd like to give you $10,000 to take your whole sales team for a celebration.
I think when in business when we achieve an accomplishment or achieve a task, celebrating success is really, really important.
You know, this reward, that's really amazing.
They will love this.
Can I give you a hug? I'm so proud right now of who I work for.
It's heartwarming to know that there are people out there that recognize you for who you are and what you do.
Life is about people taking notice of your accomplishments, and that just happened.
Dianne, I think you did amazing.
Oh, thank you.
You have a lot of passion for what you do.
- You take it personally.
- I do.
We're gonna launch an employee council to give senior leadership feedback about things that we can do better, how we can better support and service the customer.
And we want you to be a representative of all the emergency dispatch operators in North America.
Oh, wow.
Oh, my gosh.
That's exciting.
Thank you.
So the company would also like to do something else for you.
When we were talking, one of the things that you shared with me was your student loans situation.
Yeah.
$600 a month I'm paying on 'em.
I'd like to give you $10,000 as an education fund for your family.
Oh, my God.
I don't know what to say.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Dianne, you're trying to provide for your family, care for your kids, and so we're gonna provide some piece of mind 'cause you do that for our customers.
So we're also going to give you $15,000.
Oh, my gosh.
I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your hard work and just your commitment to the company.
Thank you.
I can breathe.
I'd been waiting to exhale.
Now I can exhale.
I can breathe now.
I'm gonna be able to get Tyler's senior pictures.
I can buy some groceries.
This is like winning the lottery, and I didn't even play.
I didn't even buy a ticket, but I won.
You did an unbelievable job, Mike.
I learned a lot from you.
As we went through the day, you know, you were really, really helpful.
Well, thank you.
Thank you.
You told me during our visit just about your situation with transportation.
You told me that, hey, sometimes I'm not getting enough reimbursement and I have to go in my pocket.
And so we're gonna make sure this year that we launch a nationwide program that's gonna help all of our sales representatives kind of roll out a new reimbursement policy for gasoline.
I think that's great.
I mean, the salesmen are gonna love that.
So, Mike, you were telling me over the course of the day that your car, you know, you use it to get around to all your sales calls.
You told me you took a chance on coming to ADT and how important raising your family is.
And so because you have just done this unbelievable job representing the company, we're gonna provide you with $25,000.
Oh, my God.
Are you serious? Thank you so much.
That's incredible.
I truly have a great family, and the money will be put to good use, trust me.
Thank you so much.
Unbelievable.
I'm thrilled to know that the company has me in such a high regard.
And of course, the $25,000 is just amazing.
That's gonna affect my family's life so positively.
I have a lot of pep in my step already, and I'm gonna even have more pep in my step going forward.
Jesus, I learned so much about the way that you approach the job.
You were very courteous to the customer.
Thank you.
You explained what was gonna happen.
You always asked for permission and so, you were talking around how you want more training.
And I'm gonna go back and share with our executive team to make sure that we can make improvements.
Okay.
That'll be great.
That would make my life a lot easier, that's for sure.
More efficient.
So you told me about just your hardships and just how hard you were working.
And we'd like to do something special - for your daughter.
- Okay.
The company would like to provide you with $10,000 to put into an education fund for her.
Really? You don't have to do that.
Okay, thank you.
$10,000.
I mean, I never went to college because I couldn't afford it.
You know, so hopefully this gives her a better life, and I know it will.
And I appreciate it.
So there's more.
No.
We'd like to give you $25,000 to help you support your family.
You have no idea how much that's going to help, man.
That's too much.
That's too much.
Thank you.
I saw how hard you worked and how committed you were to the company.
It doesn't bother me, not one bit.
I love it.
And I love it.
I love it even more now.
I know it was gonna pay off eventually, man, and I see it now.
I see it now.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
- Thank you.
- All right, Jesus.
Thanks for all you do, okay? Never would I have ever imagined to have a college fund for my daughter or $25,000.
You know, it's ridiculous.
It's still too surreal.
I can't believe it, and it's gonna make my path in life a little bit easier for me now.
This has been an amazing journey for me.
I've been at ADT just a short eight months, but I know our company is in good hands when we have the type of employees that I met this week.
They're committed.
It's gonna make sure that this company is around another 140 years to serve our customers.
Are you okay? ADT, America's largest provider of home security sends their Chief Marketing Officer undercover.
He'll pose as a contestant on a fake reality show competing to win money to open his own business.
- You're the contestant? - Hi, I'm James.
- Hi, how you doing? - Good.
I'm Matt Zucker from ADT.
Good.
Good.
Nice to meet you.
Nervous? Uh, a little.
I'm a little nervous.
After being at ADT for only eight months, this former marine will see if he has the skills to keep up in the field.
You're missing one screw.
Hi, Kristen.
Kirsten.
Also, I think there's some opportunity, you know, on your I your I I don't think he could have gave a sandwich to a homeless guy at that point.
Along the way, he'll make some startling discoveries.
I've been here two years already.
- Uh-huh.
- The pay is not that great.
Right.
I'm either of thinking of upgrading it or, frankly, disconnecting it.
And how will he react when lives are on the line? Find out next on Undercover Boss.
Undercover Boss 4x13 - ADT Original air date April 12, 2013 Securing homes and businesses since 1874, and currently serving more than 6 million customers, ADT is the largest security company in North America.
Making sure that all 16,000 employees stay customer-obsessed is one man.
I'm Tony Wells, Chief Marketing Officer for ADT Security Services.
The company's been around almost 140 years, and it started as a telegraph company.
In the 1800s, ADT used messengers to actually deliver telegraphs on the streets of New York City.
In the early 1900s, we began monitoring for fire and alarm, and today, we have more than 200 locations that service more than 6.
4 million customers.
Every year, we answer more than 19 million alarm signals.
And so ADT is the most recognized security brand in North America.
I grew up in Washington, D.
C.
Played basketball all the way through high school when I realized, you know, I could actually get a college scholarship.
The one that really was the most attractive to me was the naval academy.
I got to play alongside I think probably the greatest center, David Robinson.
After I graduated the naval academy, I was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the marine corps.
For me, I think being a marine really had an impact in how I lead, how I manage.
When I got out of the marine corps, I spent some time in the automotive industry, worked for Nissan.
And from there, I went to 24-hour fitness.
I've been at ADT eight months.
- Hey, Julie.
How's it going? - Good.
I wanted to talk to you about some of the print ads.
What do we got? As the Chief Marketing and Customer Officer, I'm here to protect and promote the brand.
We talked about using real customers in here.
- Mm-hmm.
- You know, that testimonial kind of always brings credibility.
Our product is very different than any competitor's.
The Comcast, the Time Warners of the world think they can kind of come in and eat our lunch.
And I'm very adamant that we're not gonna let them do that.
Little nervous.
I know you're gonna do a great job.
My wife, Lydia, she's the love of my life.
We have three kids.
This is nice, babe.
Thanks for taking this walk.
In July, my wife got sick, and we found out later that she actually had colon cancer.
I'm starting over again.
You know, I got up to two miles.
I'm happy about walking.
And then you know, eating right.
You know, I think any time you have a diagnosis of cancer, you're always worried about, you know, what's next.
And so we're getting there.
- I love you.
- I love you.
So Last time I had my hair totally cut off was more than 20 years ago when I was in the marine corps.
I'm going undercover because I've been here eight months, and I have spent a lot of time at the corporate headquarters.
But for me, this is a great opportunity to get out on the front lines.
Wow.
That's bald.
I want to see how our brand is impacting customers and what we can do to make it better.
While undercover, I'll be posing as James from Annapolis, Maryland, who wants to set up his own security firm.
Throughout my undercover journey, our employees will be tricked into thinking that they're on a hosted reality show, which they will work alongside James.
And then decide if he deserves the money to start his own security company.
Welcome here to Union City, New Jersey, where we are gonna be working with our experts.
We have Matt here today.
The man pretending to host the fake reality show will keep asking questions about James so our employees will have no idea this is secretly Undercover Boss.
Whose turn is it? My turn.
Uh Oh, my Oh Oh, my God.
- Oh, my God.
- Oh, my God.
I can't look at you.
Look at me.
- He's cute.
- No.
What do you think? Glasses? - Much cuter without them.
- No.
I'm not trying to be cute.
I'm trying to be undercover.
How do you like this outfit? - I'm liking it.
- You're liking it? I'm 6'7", I'm 275.
So you know, there are a couple of parts of the job, you know, of going undercover that I'm a little worried about.
But I'm ready and I'm excited and really looking forward to it.
I can't get enough of looking at you.
I know, it's funny.
Drive safe.
I'm in Union City, New Jersey, today.
I'm working with a small business representative calling on local businesses.
ADT has been known as a residential brand.
There's some real growth opportunity in the small business category.
I know today that I'm gonna be with a sales manager that just has an unbelievable team, and I'm looking to see what he's doing special, and can we learn anything from a marketing perspective that we can apply to other parts of the country? Are you Matt? Hey, good morning.
Are you the contestant? - Hi, I'm James.
- Hi, how you doing? - Good.
- I'm Matt Zucker from ADT.
Good, good.
Nice to meet you.
- Pleasure.
- You look warm.
- I gotta get a coat like yours.
- Thank you very much.
My first reaction to James is, you know, he's this big, burly guy.
He kind of looks like he's ready to go skiing.
You know, he doesn't look like a sales rep.
The old motto, dress for success.
So what I have on is that what you're saying? You probably want to kind of, you know, - shirt-and-tie it.
- Okay.
You want to walk right in off the floor and someone, they're like, "wow, all right.
" - "I want to talk to this guy.
" - Okay.
This first location is a long-time customer already.
You know, one of his locations was robbed once before.
I think that's important for you to know.
We helped him catch the criminal.
Literally, the criminal came out of the location and we responded so quick that the police was standing outside to grab the guy when he came climbing through the door.
Wow.
Okay.
We have developed a relationship that's very tight.
He's opening a new location right now.
Okay.
It's not in the greatest area.
- Okay.
- It's a rough neighborhood.
- Nervous? - Uh, a little.
- I'm a little nervous.
- Don't be.
It's all good.
- Pablo.
- What's up, Matt? - How you doing, big guy? - Hi, how are you? - I'm James.
- Pablo.
Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
- How are you, man? - Great.
You know, just doing my thing.
I hear you, man.
Thanks for coming out on a Sunday.
Absolutely.
Before we get started, I want to - kind of introduce you to James.
- Okay.
Matt said I guess we had helped you we have.
We've got a long-standing relationship for about four years now.
He's done all of my locations, and you know.
Pablo, if you can kind of tell him, what concerns as a business owner do you have? In this location here, you can see we have tons of windows and that was our main security concern.
Right.
Knowing that we're in a high-crime area, we're gonna do two motions.
The motion sensor on the ceiling that's a 360 degree to kind of cover if they come through the walls.
And then maybe one in the front just shooting back.
The first time Pablo got robbed, they kicked in his front glass door.
Obviously, you're gonna want a glass break detector.
I'm tying in the camera so you can view them remotely, obviously from your iPad, from the cell phone.
- It's a great idea.
- Yeah.
You want to get this thing going today, you want to do some paperwork, you want to kind of get ready to go here? Let's do a deal.
- That's my guy.
- Nice meeting you.
Nice to meet you.
No problem.
Matt is doing very well in our company in terms of sales.
I think he has a certain passion and a confidence.
He's a real go-getter.
In order for them to kind of trust you to buy something off you, you have to have some sort of a relationship with them.
- Mm-hmm.
- That gets developed within the first five minutes of us walking in.
- Okay? - All right.
- You think you can do this? - I'm gonna try.
I think you can hey, look.
You got the champ with you.
It's all right.
It's gonna be good.
All right, let's go.
As the CMO, I don't often get out in the field.
So I was kind of nervous to make sure I didn't blow an opportunity for us to sell a system to a customer.
So let's go do this.
How you guys doing? Good afternoon, guys.
I'm looking for Mr.
Dillon.
Mr.
Dillon is right down there.
- Mm.
Thank you.
- You're welcome.
- Mr.
Dillon? - Yeah.
Hi, I'm James with ADT.
This is, uh - Nice to meet you.
How are you? - Pleasure to meet you, sir.
- I'm Matt.
- Matt.
What can I do for you? We wanted to talk to you today I guess about providing some security services for your business.
Sure, no problem.
How long have you how long have you had the bar? I've owned it with my brother for 28 years.
- Wow.
28 years.
- Yeah.
Wow.
And, uh James's performance in sale number one was a little lackluster.
I see you got the Notre Dame, huh? They got a good they've got a good pipeline of kids, so yeah.
They look good.
Yeah.
He stumbled, he was nervous, he really didn't speak, he was monotone.
Personality really needs to shine through in sales.
Just curious.
I notice there's not any security in here.
I'll be truthful, we never had a problem up until this past August.
- Okay.
- We had an armed robbery.
- Oh, wow.
- Yeah.
Got two guys come in with a gun.
There were only three people here.
And one was my cousin, and they put the gun to her head.
And then they robbed the place.
You know, it was really scary, but thank God nobody got hurt.
So, I think one of the things we'd like to propose to you, Mr.
Dillon, is just that we can kind of come back with a idea of providing you an estimate and a proposal of the idea of a glass breaker motion detector inside the the bar.
He was like a timid little kid.
I mean, he wasn't sure what to say.
And it was very uncomfortable for him.
It definitely went rough.
Also I think there's some opportunity to let you check, you know, on your I your iPhone or your iPad, check what's happening with your business.
I don't have an iPhone, I don't have a cell phone, - I don't have an iPad.
- Okay.
I don't think he could have gave a sandwich to a homeless guy at that point.
This guy basically told us that someone came in here and put a gun to his cousin's head, and he didn't seal the deal.
You know, on your I your iPhone or your iPad, check what's happening with your business.
I don't have an iPhone, I don't have a cell phone, - I don't have an iPad.
- Okay, all right.
Congratulations.
Congratulations.
That's fantastic.
- I wish I was in your shoes.
- Yeah.
But I will tell you, this area here has had quite a few break-ins.
- When times get tough.
- In the daytime too.
Yeah, when times get tough, you know, that's when this tends to start happening.
- Yeah, sure.
- You kind of got lucky.
Nobody got injured or hurt.
Very lucky.
Both your neighbors are ADT customers.
- Oh, really? - Oh, yeah.
- Okay.
- Absolutely.
You let us we'd like to put something together, come back, and let you take a look at it and see how how you feel about, you know, getting that extra protection in place.
Sure.
Why not? - Thanks a lot for your time.
- Nice to meet you.
- Really appreciate it.
- Hey, thank you very much.
Do you have a card or anything? - Yeah.
- Absolutely.
Being a sales manager and knowing what I do, it's about closing deals today.
It's about making money.
It's not about leaving proposals.
So if you rated if you wanted to rate your sales experience of what just happened, one being the worst, ten being the best, how do you think you did? - About a six.
- Okay.
I'll give myself a six.
- Let me - I'm a hard grader.
You're a hard grader? I gotta tell you, - I'd probably call it a three.
- A three? - A three.
- Wow.
To me, you're trying to be that used car salesman.
Which is that's not what we do.
- Another thing - No, that's good tips.
- I'm open to - Oh, I'm not done yet, James.
- I got more.
- Okay, no.
I got more.
You can tell you're nervous.
And I know from some aspect, you're going to be.
- Right.
- But you need to harness it.
Because if they're nervous, I should be nervous about letting you protect my business, right? No, no, I get it.
I thought I did better than a three, but clearly, you know, I might want to stay in marketing versus sales.
How long have you been doing this? I've been here at ADT for five years now.
I came in to this business really, really, really wanting to be the best.
When you do sales, there always has to be something that drives you.
And I guess you know, that kind of was instilled to me when I was, you know, a little boy.
My parents kind of got divorced when I was five years old.
And my mother literally gave up every opportunity that she could've had to make sure my sister and my life was everything that it could always be.
And that drive that she gave me is unparalleled.
Like, you know, looking back, and then there was the birth of my daughter, and literally, I held that kid in my hands, and I was like, "I will never, ever let you down.
" And I came back to work and said to my sales reps, "we now have to put it to another level.
" I'm a full-blown lunatic.
I want to run ADT one day.
I have literally the number one and number two teams in the country.
And that means everything in the world to me, but what it means more is I know everyone around me is making money.
Their lives have gotten better.
You know, as far as teaching and training this, you know, the one thing I can tell you is the company training needs to be completely revamped.
Yes, you know, ADT has, you know, a program where they send reps.
It's some guy from Oklahoma trying to teach my people how to sell in New York.
There is a vibe to working in a big city.
My reps, they're cold-calling warriors.
I mean, we're talking about guys that pound the pavement.
When Matt told me that the training materials we had, he had adapted, I was glad to hear that.
Let's go take a walk down the block and see who else we can try and help out today.
- All right? - All right.
Matt's got passion, he's a great representative for the brand.
And so it's good to know that a small business is in such capable hands.
Today, I'm in Pembroke Pines, Florida.
I'm gonna be with a service tech in a customer's home.
Every year, ADT and our 450 dealers install more than and automation systems.
It's really costly to the business to have to come back and make a repeat visit.
So it's important that our technicians have that philosophy of getting it right the first time.
- How's it going? - Hey, how are you? Hi, I'm James.
Jesus.
Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
- Are you appreciate you showing me the ropes today.
- Yeah, I'm the contestant.
- No problem.
You might not need a ladder.
My first reaction to James was, wow.
It's the size.
James's frame is enormous.
This guy is built for, you know, built really, really tough.
Today we're gonna be upgrading their system.
Oh, wow.
Okay.
I'll show you the ropes basically on wiring, programming.
Great, great.
Looking forward to it.
This is the customer's information Florence.
I'm gonna go ahead and press "on-site.
" - All right, great.
- Okay.
So Do you remember what was the customer's name? I don't think you told me.
Oh Florence.
- There you go, there you go.
- Florence.
Okay.
See, testing your knowledge.
- Okay.
- We're good.
Let's go in inside, and we'll take it from there.
I like to knock on both just in case the doorbell doesn't work.
Right.
- Hi, Florence.
- Hey.
How you doing? - I'm Jesus from ADT.
- Hi, Jesus.
- Hi, I'm James.
- Hi.
Nice to meet you.
I'm training James for the day.
- Okay.
- Okay.
- Come on in.
- Thank you very much.
Today, we're gonna be replacing your keypads.
We're gonna be mounting motion sensors.
Where would you want the motion sensor to be? Okay.
One over here in this room.
Okay.
Just go ahead.
Show me where the main board the metal panel is.
It's right up here.
Right up there.
All right, so we'll walk you through it at the end once we have everything installed.
- Okay.
- Okay.
- Thank you.
All right.
- Thank you very much.
Let's go ahead and let's start on your first keypad.
Can I move the table over a little bit? Yeah.
That's fine.
- Is that good there? - Yeah, that's fine.
Cool.
Perfect.
You can do the rest.
Where do you want me to tap this other one in? Wherever you want.
I wasn't expecting to do the panel right from the start, but I'm pretty good with a drill.
In fact, you know, I do some home projects around the house.
Just slow, just slow.
Just slow.
You'll get it.
Here, I'll do the other one.
All right, so I'm gonna leave you alone doing this one.
You're gonna leave me alone? - Yes, sir.
- All right.
- How you doing? - Good.
Okay, you're missing one screw though.
Yeah, you know, there was another hole over there - when I - So what happened? - It went right through? - Well, no.
I just decided 'cause it feels pretty tough.
It feels pretty sturdy? All right, we'll just leave it like that.
I would like to have four on it.
I think it'll be good.
- You sure? - Yeah.
- You positive? - I'm positive.
Would you do this in your own house? Yeah, I would.
It's good.
But remember, this is not your house.
Just go ahead and take it off real fast.
With the keypad, he left one screw out.
I had to tell him to adjust it a little bit, which he did, and he tried to change my mind to leave it that way.
But this is somebody else's house.
And you got to respect their home.
We're gonna mount the motion sensors.
Heck, you made it look so easy.
Trust me, this is not rocket science.
I'll let you figure that one out on your own.
- Okay.
- I'll be back.
All right.
Man, I am sweating.
It is tougher than it looks.
I do hope I get this right, 'cause Jesus is gonna come back and inspect it, I'm sure.
How's it going? - I'm getting there.
- Cool.
I don't expect him to learn everything in one day.
But he's pretty nervous using hand tools and stuff like that.
- But backwards.
- Ooh.
That wouldn't be good.
To tell you the truth, James will probably feel a little bit more comfortable in a desk job.
I'm slowing you down today, probably.
Look, listen.
Don't worry about it.
How long have you been with ADT? I've been here two years already.
But I'm scared, 'cause this is the stability that I want.
The only thing is that the pay is - not that great, you get me? - Right.
And I've asked if I could take the service tech IV training, 'cause it bumps up my pay a little bit.
You know, and unfortunately, I work the weekends, and I can't be with my family, but that's what it has to be.
- Right.
- 'Cause it's only me working.
- Right.
Wow.
- All right.
It's only me working, and my daughter stays at home with my fiancee.
- She's 18 months.
- Right.
That gives me the motivation in itself.
And the last year, trust me, it's been very hard for me.
We barely could make the rent right now.
I mean, honestly, we don't have money.
And thank God for those cash advance places, 'cause those things are amazing.
- But that's how I survive.
- Right.
Jesus really showed me today that the people we hire are the most important part of the company.
And so we owe him an opportunity to kind of see if we can help him advance his career at ADT.
- Ms.
Florence? - Yes? Me and James tested everything.
Everything is working fine.
I'm going to go ahead and give you some paperwork to sign, - and then we'll be on our way.
- Okay, great.
Okay? Thank you very much.
Sounds good.
Thank you.
This is James from ADT.
Push 99.
Tony is faced with a real emergency.
Okay, we'll get an ambulance out right away, ma'am.
And later, the boss takes another crack at closing his first sale.
I'm either of thinking of upgrading it or, frankly, disconnecting it.
Tony Wells, the Chief Marketing Officer for ADT, is a boss undercover in his own company.
- Hi, I'm James.
- Jesus.
Nice to meet you.
His employees think he's a contestant on a reality show trying to win money to start his own security firm.
- How do you think you did? - About a six.
Okay.
I'd probably call it a three.
- A three? - A three.
His journey continues in Tennessee.
Today, I'm in Knoxville, Tennessee.
I'm going to be working with an emergency dispatch operator in one of our six alarm monitoring centers.
Every year, we go on and we answer more than I'm a little nervous because when you get 19 million calls a year, you have to be on your toes.
Every call is a call for help, so I want to make sure I don't mess this up.
I'm looking for Dianne.
- She's right there.
- Oh, okay.
Thanks.
Hi, I'm James.
- Are you the contestant? - Yes.
Hi, I'm Dianne.
Nice to meet you.
Hey, you want to have a seat right here? Thanks.
Thanks.
I'm the emergency dispatch operator.
- Okay.
- Right now we're waiting.
So see, it's waiting for an alarm.
So we're waiting for somebody to trip their alarm.
So then it'll pop up on our screen, and all the information we need will be on the screen.
And then we call them, obviously.
And there's burglar, medical, fire, carbon monoxide, panic.
You have the potential to save somebody's life.
- Right.
- You really do.
I mean, this is serious stuff.
If they have a true emergency, don't panic.
- Okay.
- You know, just stay calm.
- Okay.
- Okay? - You got me nervous already.
- No, don't be.
Don't be, don't be.
You're gonna be fine.
So there's you a headset.
We've already got it plugged up.
Okay.
And this is live? - Yeah, yeah.
- Oh, wow.
Okay, all right.
The impression that I got about what he knew about the security business was nothing.
But he seems like a very nice gentlemen.
Okay, so here's us an alarm.
Okay, this is a medical alarm.
Hi, good morning.
This is Dianne with ADT.
Are you okay? Okay, perfect.
That was a good test, Ms.
Gibson.
And I'll go ahead and reset it for you, okay? - Thank you very much.
- You're welcome.
Bye-bye.
So do you want to call? Yeah, I mean, I'm here to learn.
Exactly.
We may need to do this a couple No, that's fine.
That's why I'm here.
Okay.
Hi, this is James from ADT.
Can I help you? - "Are you okay?" - Okay.
Are you okay? Say, "that was the reminder for us" "to test your system.
" So, ma'am, that was the reminder for you to test your system monthly.
- Okay.
- All right, thanks.
Try to refrain from "thanks" - and say, "thank you.
" - Okay.
'Cause "thanks" is like, you know, something my kid would say.
"Thanks, mom.
" You know, "thank you" sounds better.
And then not "can I help you?" - "Are you okay?" - Okay.
Okay.
- You take it personally.
- I do.
"Thanks" is something like a cashier at a gas station would say to you who's just having a miserable day.
You want to talk to them professionally because you want them to have assurance that we know what we're doing, you know.
And it's not just some, you know, 15-year-old kid calling and chewing his bubble gum, you know.
You know, you get these young kids in here.
They're maybe just doing it, you know, just for a paycheck.
I don't look at it as just a paycheck, you know.
These are people.
Right.
No, that's good.
Dianne said she'll hear one of our own employees not delivering the best customer service and so as the Chief Marketing Officer, I think it's incumbent on me to figure out a way that we can correct that.
How long have you been doing this? - Wow.
- But I like it, you know.
I don't I don't want to go to a different department.
Even without a pay increase, I'll stay where I'm at.
- 'Cause you like - Mm-hmm.
- Helping customers.
- Yeah.
Mm.
Good morning, Margaret.
This is James from ADT.
Are you okay? Okay.
Stay okay.
We have help on the way.
Okay, we'll get an ambulance out right away, ma'am.
Push 99.
So now we're gonna call the ambulance.
Good morning, Doug.
This is Dianne with ADT calling in a medical alarm at a residence.
Thank you so much.
Bye-bye.
So now we're gonna call her back.
Okay.
The ambulance is on the way, and they'll help you when they get there, okay? Bye-bye.
- So that was a dispatch.
- Okay.
I'm glad you took that.
Dianne was just like, bam, bam, bam.
She was just making it happen.
She's a rock star.
Got a big cup.
Wow, that is.
No, I have a bigger one at home.
You have a bigger one than that? Three times the size.
That's like the, you know, double big gulp.
Want to take a break? I need to go outside and smoke a cigarette.
- Okay.
- Yeah.
I won't make you get wet, I'm promise.
I promise I won't make you get wet.
So, yeah.
So what caused you to want to do this show? For that big break.
I was in the marine corps for 20.
When you spend all that time traveling around the country being separated from your family and everything, it's good to kinda say, "hey, we're gonna move someplace", "stay there, and not travel anymore.
" I bet your kids are excited daddy'll be home.
Yeah.
How many kids do you have? Three.
Single mama.
They keep me busy.
Is that tough? Yeah.
I don't think I'll ever get remarried.
- Really? - Yeah.
I mean, it just wasn't working out.
So that's why I left.
Kind of rough, huh? Yeah.
Going back to the kids, senior year's expensive.
Like his senior pictures they took those, like, four months ago.
I hadn't been able to buy them.
He's like, "when are you gonna buy this stuff, mom?" I'm like, "Tyler, I've got to feed you or buy pictures.
" You know? My dad used to always have that saying.
"You think money grows on trees?" Yeah, and then on top of that, they don't understand that I've got student loans.
Right, right.
So I just have to take it one day at a time.
That's all you can do.
You know, the good thing is you're probably giving them a good example about working hard, not taking stuff for granted.
Yeah, exactly.
When I first came here, you know, it was, like, this is just a job.
It's, you know, a way to feed my kids.
And now it's like, I'm not going anywhere.
I'll die at ADT, you know.
I don't care if they cut my pay, - I would still stay.
- Right.
Because that's how much I'm dedicated to my job.
I won't go anywhere.
Well, I'm glad you like it.
- So it's kinda chilly.
- All right, I'm gonna freeze.
- Okay, we can go in.
- Yeah, I'm gonna freeze.
I'm leaving here today with a new appreciation for customer service.
This is James from ADT.
Are you okay? That leaves me with a really good feeling, and I know we're in good hands if we have people like Dianne on the front lines.
- How's your day going? - It's going very well.
- How about yours? - I'm having a great day.
That's good.
I'm in Totowa, New Jersey, today to work as a residential sales rep.
I've served in a sales role earlier this week.
I'd probably call it a three.
- A three? - A three.
Matt gave me a three out of ten.
So I'm hoping that I can keep up and keep pace today.
I'm looking for Mike.
- Come through here.
- Okay.
This office is one of the top sales offices in the country.
And so I'm eager to learn what they're doing different here.
Hi, I'm James.
- How are you, James? - Good, good.
- Very nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
First of all, we're gonna do some cold-calling because as a salesman, you don't have any leads, you can't make any money.
- Right? - Right, right.
So you need a cup of coffee or something? Uh, yeah, yeah.
That wouldn't be bad.
No, coffee is for closers.
- You gotta get a sale first.
- All right.
All right.
Hi, this is Joe.
This is Mike Molbury from ADT.
How are you? I'm sorry, I can't take your call at the moment.
Nope.
- Hi, you've reached Tim.
- Nope.
Please leave your name, number, and message - We won't leave a message.
- Don't leave a message? Yeah.
You'll find out that cold-calling it's a grind.
It's a very low percentage.
So when you do 100 calls, how many will you get through to? For most salesmen, it's probably gonna be 1%.
- Wow.
It's hard.
- Phones are a real grind.
- Yeah.
- Hard work.
This is a tough job.
It's a lot of pressure when you're in a position like sales where you got to hustle to make it happen.
Hello? This is Mike Molbury from ADT.
How are you? Good.
How are you? We are doing pulse demonstrations in your neighborhood today.
We'd love to come by this afternoon if that's something you'd be interested in.
Um, how about, like, 2:00? Okay.
Well, that's very good to hear.
I'm glad you're still interested.
- Okay, thanks.
- Thank you.
So you think you're ready to make a call? All right.
Okay.
Hello? Hi, Kristen.
- Kirsten.
- Oh, Kirsten.
Hi, this is James from ADT Security Services.
- How are you? - Oh, hi.
Are you guys having any specials right now? Are you giving free estimates? - Yeah, we - Tell her yes.
We do have some good promotions we could show you and if James is a little bit stiff.
And if this afternoon works, we could certainly swing by and is there any way I could set up another day? I'm actually on my way out.
He's gonna need to loosen up, especially in front of a customer, 'cause he's gonna have a really tough time on a sales call.
All right.
Thank you very much.
- Okay, bye.
- Bye.
You don't want to be too stiff when you're in front of the customers.
You know, you want to be not so serious but still serious enough so that they know that you mean business.
Okay.
Okay.
Yeah, starting out in this business can be very difficult.
When I first started this job, I took this job against the better judgment of my wife.
'Cause I was leaving a paying job to go to a job that's 100% commission where there's no guarantees.
And you gotta figure out how you're gonna make bread.
You know, my biggest expense now is I got day care, you know.
My kids are just starting out.
- And that's - Your wife works too? Yeah, my wife works.
It's a lot of juggling.
So is your territory nearby or - I go all over north Jersey.
- Mm-hmm.
I probably drive between - Wow.
My car right now has That's a lot of miles.
And we basically are getting about 86 bucks a week here for gas.
Mm-hmm.
And the only way to overcome that is to make sure you have success - in your field appointments.
- Okay, all right.
I'm getting pumped here.
You're pumped up? You ready? I'm ready.
Let's do it.
Let's go sell.
All right.
Let's get this done.
James is a little stiff, so I'm a little nervous.
We don't want James to bore the customer.
So I hope this guy's ready to work.
So if I turn to you and I need some help - I'll be there.
- Okay.
- Hi.
- Hi.
- I'm James with ADT.
- James, how are you? Come on in.
Mike kind of threw me in to the deep end.
He let me go.
So why do you have an interest in a system? Have you ever had an ADT system before? I have it currently, but we were down for 12 days.
I thought for sure someone would've called me from the company, but they didn't.
Okay.
Oh, wow.
And so no one from ADT came out, or did you - No.
- Okay.
- So - Wow.
Makes you wonder.
It does.
That's, uh, that's, um, something probably we need to - you know, we need to work on.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, I agree.
- So, um, one of the things we can do is show you our current system.
Are you thinking that you just want to simply activate the current product you have or do you think you're interested in hearing more Well, I'll tell you.
That's a good point.
I mean, I'm either thinking of upgrading it or, frankly, disconnecting it.
Well, maybe we can show you a little bit about what the Pulse System does and just Am I gonna have to take out a second mortgage for this or what? - Uh - No.
I mean, what we can do is we can work within your budget.
You know, you can get the basic for around $49, $50.
So I can give you options and, you know, you'll be able to pick and choose really what you want.
Mike's got a right balance of he wants to ask for the sale, he wants the sale, but he's also being mindful of what's going through the customer's mind.
We can get you down to $416 for the installation.
That sounds doable to me, to be honest with you.
I'd like to run the numbers past my wife, make sure she's on board with it.
But it's something very doable for us.
- Of course.
- All right.
I wouldn't do anything in my house without clearing it by my wife.
I can't wear a shirt without clearing it with my wife.
After spending the afternoon with Mike, I really left with a great appreciation of his skills and feeling like a better sales rep.
- All right.
- Thank you, guys.
- Very nice to meet you.
- No, my pleasure.
Not only is he doing his own job, but he's also helping new hires, an integral part of the whole team.
So Mike is a great representative of our brand, and I think he's got a really great future at our company.
Time to get moving.
This week was really pretty exhausting.
Don't think I'm going to grow a beard.
Can't wait to get this hair off my face.
ADT has some unbelievable employees, and we keep making sure that we deliver for the customer.
We need to do the same for our employees.
Almost back to normal.
We want to really make sure that our employees know that we're committed to that.
And so I'm leaving with a renewed sense that that's a focus for me going forward.
The employees think they're going to decide whether or not James deserves money to start his own security firm.
How will they react when the boss reveals his true identity? My name is Tony Wells.
I'm the Chief Marketing and Customer Officer for ADT.
Get out of here.
Today, all the employees have been flown to New York City.
They think they're meeting with a celebrity judge to help determine if I deserve the seed money to help me start my new business.
Hi, Dianne.
How are you? - James.
- James.
- James.
- James? "James"? I guess.
I'm confused.
My name is Tony Wells, and I'm the Chief Marketing and Customer Officer for ADT.
I still don't know who you are.
- I went undercover.
- Get out of here.
You're on Undercover Boss.
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
I don't know what to say.
I hope I didn't let you down.
Jeez.
I didn't mean to make fun of your outfit that bad.
- What's your real name again? - Tony Wells.
Tony Wells.
You already know me.
So nice to meet you.
A pleasure.
Did I do okay? Pretty good.
Matt, I gotta tell you that your tenacity, your passion for the business is just I want to tell you, I was really inspired and it was unbelievable.
I truly love what I do.
I can tell that.
One of the things that I was very impressed with was your approach and how you're leading your team.
And so I'd like to invite you to come in and help the ADT sales organization.
Look at how we're presenting our product, especially on the small business front.
And I think we can learn a lot from the way that your team is running.
I would be honored to do that for the company, honestly.
One thing I'd like to do 'cause I can clearly see how important your team is to you I'd like to give you $10,000 to take your whole sales team for a celebration.
I think when in business when we achieve an accomplishment or achieve a task, celebrating success is really, really important.
You know, this reward, that's really amazing.
They will love this.
Can I give you a hug? I'm so proud right now of who I work for.
It's heartwarming to know that there are people out there that recognize you for who you are and what you do.
Life is about people taking notice of your accomplishments, and that just happened.
Dianne, I think you did amazing.
Oh, thank you.
You have a lot of passion for what you do.
- You take it personally.
- I do.
We're gonna launch an employee council to give senior leadership feedback about things that we can do better, how we can better support and service the customer.
And we want you to be a representative of all the emergency dispatch operators in North America.
Oh, wow.
Oh, my gosh.
That's exciting.
Thank you.
So the company would also like to do something else for you.
When we were talking, one of the things that you shared with me was your student loans situation.
Yeah.
$600 a month I'm paying on 'em.
I'd like to give you $10,000 as an education fund for your family.
Oh, my God.
I don't know what to say.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Dianne, you're trying to provide for your family, care for your kids, and so we're gonna provide some piece of mind 'cause you do that for our customers.
So we're also going to give you $15,000.
Oh, my gosh.
I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your hard work and just your commitment to the company.
Thank you.
I can breathe.
I'd been waiting to exhale.
Now I can exhale.
I can breathe now.
I'm gonna be able to get Tyler's senior pictures.
I can buy some groceries.
This is like winning the lottery, and I didn't even play.
I didn't even buy a ticket, but I won.
You did an unbelievable job, Mike.
I learned a lot from you.
As we went through the day, you know, you were really, really helpful.
Well, thank you.
Thank you.
You told me during our visit just about your situation with transportation.
You told me that, hey, sometimes I'm not getting enough reimbursement and I have to go in my pocket.
And so we're gonna make sure this year that we launch a nationwide program that's gonna help all of our sales representatives kind of roll out a new reimbursement policy for gasoline.
I think that's great.
I mean, the salesmen are gonna love that.
So, Mike, you were telling me over the course of the day that your car, you know, you use it to get around to all your sales calls.
You told me you took a chance on coming to ADT and how important raising your family is.
And so because you have just done this unbelievable job representing the company, we're gonna provide you with $25,000.
Oh, my God.
Are you serious? Thank you so much.
That's incredible.
I truly have a great family, and the money will be put to good use, trust me.
Thank you so much.
Unbelievable.
I'm thrilled to know that the company has me in such a high regard.
And of course, the $25,000 is just amazing.
That's gonna affect my family's life so positively.
I have a lot of pep in my step already, and I'm gonna even have more pep in my step going forward.
Jesus, I learned so much about the way that you approach the job.
You were very courteous to the customer.
Thank you.
You explained what was gonna happen.
You always asked for permission and so, you were talking around how you want more training.
And I'm gonna go back and share with our executive team to make sure that we can make improvements.
Okay.
That'll be great.
That would make my life a lot easier, that's for sure.
More efficient.
So you told me about just your hardships and just how hard you were working.
And we'd like to do something special - for your daughter.
- Okay.
The company would like to provide you with $10,000 to put into an education fund for her.
Really? You don't have to do that.
Okay, thank you.
$10,000.
I mean, I never went to college because I couldn't afford it.
You know, so hopefully this gives her a better life, and I know it will.
And I appreciate it.
So there's more.
No.
We'd like to give you $25,000 to help you support your family.
You have no idea how much that's going to help, man.
That's too much.
That's too much.
Thank you.
I saw how hard you worked and how committed you were to the company.
It doesn't bother me, not one bit.
I love it.
And I love it.
I love it even more now.
I know it was gonna pay off eventually, man, and I see it now.
I see it now.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
- Thank you.
- All right, Jesus.
Thanks for all you do, okay? Never would I have ever imagined to have a college fund for my daughter or $25,000.
You know, it's ridiculous.
It's still too surreal.
I can't believe it, and it's gonna make my path in life a little bit easier for me now.
This has been an amazing journey for me.
I've been at ADT just a short eight months, but I know our company is in good hands when we have the type of employees that I met this week.
They're committed.
It's gonna make sure that this company is around another 140 years to serve our customers.