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Transcript

Susan

More to marketing. Welcome to modern marketing, a podcast on marketing, product and everything in between. I’m your host Susan, and I have a very special guest today. Glenn Glenn has a phenomenal background, focusing mostly on customer experience from corporate to also doing his own freelancing activities as well, which we’re gonna dive into. And he has a true passion for the customer. So Glenn, welcome. It’s nice to have you here.

Glenn

It’s amazing to be here as we were just saying prior to jumping on, we knew each other in the past. Catching the train from our local area into the city for work I don’t even remember how long ago that was, but it’s really nice. To very long time. You get over a a topic that we’re both extremely passionate about, which is obviously customer experience.

Susan

Exactly. No, I totally, totally agree. And that’s why I reached out to you because I know how passionate you’ve always been on this particular topic. So how about we dive in a little bit about your experience in this area and maybe we’ll, we’ll also then go into why you made a pivot in your career as well and what that meant for.

Glenn

Yeah, OK. Well, I started, I guess my corporate work it I can’t remember the year, maybe it was 1998 when I was studying at uni. At the time I ended up being promoted in a local supermarket, which I think is how we connected. In the first place. Suppose basically, given the role as the customer service manager and I would have only been maybe maybe 20 at the time, quite young, so it was quite a senior. Role. For for a young guy working in a supermarket, but I guess I was very passionate, very early. In terms of service and how we left customers feeling, which is why I think I was offered that position and you know my boss at the time, Evelyn, had a lot of faith that I could do the job and.

Susan

I remember Evelyn.

Glenn

Yeah, actually recently attended her 80th birthday. She’s she’s still absolutely the same. Very, very sweet. And when connected on Facebook and and chatting quite often. But she had a lot of faith in me and knew that I was really passionate about serve. Because you know, I I have all these stories of when I used to, you know, prior to taking on that role, serve customers myself, I would have customers give me business cards and say you need to come and work for me or, you know, lead me little notes and and say that my service was outstanding. And you know, I was the benchmark and all these things, which were really lovely and I. What I didn’t think too much of it at the time. But then kind of moving away from supermarkets, I spent most of my career in service roles, mainly in banking and finance, and then I moved on to government a little later, but my time in banking and finance. I started just doing service roles in superannuation and banking.

Susan

And that’s a hard role, too. That’s a hard role to to make real real meaning in there for a customer connection.

Glenn

Or there is? I think I was told at the time there was a study done years ago that the same emotions were brought up for customers when you mentioned the word rats. You know, when you mentioned the word bank, you know, it’s not really synonymous with caring about customers. Most people think banking and finance is about just making money. And indeed, you know, you’ve only got to look at what the banks are making in terms of what these days to kind of argue that probably is true. But what the bank tended to do really well, I was with Commonwealth Bank for about 8 years and I was.

Glenn

I was really impressed that even early on in my career with them, they were really focused on the customer and they were really trying to develop strategies that made the experience better for the customer. Obviously, there’s selling in that too. You know, banks are like any business that they’re there to make money. But I started in a service hall. Then I ended up in a training role I was facilitating, so I was facilitating a service and sales workshops to help others. And to to to serve customers better and give them great experiences. And then I ended up doing a pilot project called Breakaway, which was very new to the bank and probably. Ahead of of its time now, coaching is something that exists in many businesses, but when comeback did it, you know, all those years ago, it was, it was a really kind of a. New. Initiative and I was one of only a, you know, a handful of coaches Countrywide that was tasked with a particular area of the bank. So I had the inner West area and I think we. Had 18 or 19 branches at that point and my role was to go in and spend time with leaders and help them to come up with strategies to improve the results of the business, to improve the culture and to improve performance of frontline staff. So it was quite a big role and I think I was. I was in my maybe my mid 20s then. So I. You know, was imparting basically what for me I I thought was kind of DNA. I I just I thought everyone had this and what I’ve since learned is not everybody has the capability to be great at service. There are skills you can learn. But I think it takes a a special type of person to be really great at it.

Glenn

Which is something that’s always bothered me that it’s considered an entry level position. Because somebody that is servicing a customer of your brand is really the face of or if you’re in contact centres where I spend a lot of time, the voice of your brand, you really want the best people at the forefront servicing your customers and leaving them with a great a great feeling because that’s. That sentiment is basically how they will view your brand. You know it’s.

Susan

There’s all that connection, isn’t it, that the connection that brings it together from what your brand represents to what they what the brand needs the customer to feel, you need the people to understand, live and breathe that and then connect to the customers that come in so that they feel it as well.

Glenn

Oh. Yeah. Look, you’re bang on the if. If anybody asked me. What is that one word that defines? And I don’t think this even just sits within service in that industry. But you know, across many, many industries it is connection. What we often forget is that we’re human beings dealing with other human beings. You know, we’re talking about this prior to coming on that. That’s where businesses can get things wrong. Sometimes they forget that human beings in their business are their most valuable asset. So the, you know, the energy and the time and where they should be throwing money is making sure the experience is amazing. So when I was working in banking and. And it’s I spent time on that project and you know the results were outstanding one of. One of probably my most special moments, if you like when I was doing that project, was coaching. A young Lebanese boy who was in a branch in Lakemba and his manager had had all but written him off and said I need to. I need you to help me manage this guy out. Umm and I spent some time with him and you know, he was a bit rough around the edges in terms of the way that he delivered service but. With some coaching, I saw some real.

Glenn

I guess some some, some passion from him that he wanted to be better. He everything. I would ask him to do, he would commit to now he was he was performing. I I think from the top of my head maybe around the, you know 50 or 60% to target so he was. Way off his target. But spending a little bit of time with him, I had him after. I think it was maybe a couple of months he was performing at 160 or 170. Percent to target. Wow. Absolutely. We’re smashing targets and his manager pulled me aside and I remember. I remember in him saying. To me, I don’t know what you’ve done with him, but I’ve never seen him this excited to come to work in this passionate about his job, and now I am considering him as my two IC for this brand.

Susan

You’re. You energised him and and made that diamond in the rough shine. I love it.

Glenn

Yeah, but I I think the point was we all need to. Have purpose, yes. You know, if your purpose isn’t customer service one, don’t do the job. If your purpose is customer service and you’re not performing, then it’s about asking the questions why you’re not performing. I think in this case. He you know, it’s probably like a child and a parent relationship. He wasn’t feeling that. His his manager, you know, his parent wasn’t showing him any love and knew that he was kind of being hard on him and writing him off and didn’t didn’t value him and see that do a great job. So he just kind of all but gave up and went well. Why should I try? You don’t believe in me. So why? Should I believe in myself? And as a coach, a good coach, which what I was doing at that time gave him all the covenants I said, look, you can fall over, you can make mistakes without making mistakes. You don’t learn. Yeah, but you need to stick with it and you know any good coach will tell you that. You know, 28 days, you know, 30 days or whatever a. A month to. To change or create habits, good, healthy habits it you, you do need to commit. To. It and I was very fortunate that he was on the bus and he worked to commit so we could turn him around as anybody listening to this will attest, who works in business. If you’re not on the bus. It’s not gonna work no matter how much you invest in a person it they’ve, they’ve gotta be right for the role and they’ve got to be committed to that role. But I also think the business needs to be committed to you and your development as well, so that you you succeed.

Susan

One 100% and and one of. The things that. I think leaders need to do more of and managers need to more of it. There is no one style fits all leaders and managers need to be chameleons. They need to understand that they need to shape and change for different individual needs. Because no one is the same. And this is a great example of this manager probably had a style that work with some of their team but not for him. And there were some changes that they could have made. To make this guy amazing, but they didn’t know.

Glenn

Absolutely.

Susan

So about acknowledging it does make a huge difference as well, and that was the right step. He brought you in and acknowledged. I need the help with this person.

Glenn

Yeah, for sure. I mean no different than a parent, right? Sometimes, as I mean, we’re both parents. We we need to to dictate what needs to happen and we need to be a bit more forceful if you know, we’re not getting the outcomes to to let our kids know that. Look, this is unacceptable behaviour is not acceptable. You’re not doing what you need to be doing. And I’ve asked you several times.

Glenn

But hopefully we don’t start there. We start with trying to encourage and start by being really positive. Yeah. And and I do think there’s a difference between a leader and a manager, you know, who do we want to follow? It’s always a leader. It’s not a manager, you know, a manager I think, comes out when potentially there is some performance issues.

Glenn

You know somebody isn’t passionate about what they’re doing and they they really couldn’t care, care less about what they’re doing. Then maybe the manager needs to come out. There needs to be some performance management management, you know, invoked to put some actions very clear, plans around how we get this person either to opt in or opt out. But to anybody else, I think. Most people get out of bed each day, and I’ve always said this to my teams. Most people get out of bed each day wanting to. Make a difference. Yes, they wanna do a good. Job, but for whatever reason, there are times that sometimes things can get in the way. We need to figure out what those things are, and we should start from a place of understanding or seeking understanding and asking questions to get to know that person and what’s maybe standing in the road of them being successful, because ultimately that helps us in our business.

Susan

And again, the customer all comes back down to the customer. You want them to walk away feeling warm and fuzzy if you’re not feeling it, how are you supposed to impart that to the customer as well?

Glenn

And just just on that, I I like that you said leaving them feeling all warm and fuzzy because I’ve always. Please colour I I had this philosophy early and I didn’t have any words to it until after leaving Commonwealth Bank. I worked for some other banks and one of them was direct online bank called U Bank which was backed by NAB. Still does exist today. I think some of their philosophies and strategies have have changed somewhat. But what I loved about that bank when I first joined was that it genuinely was about.

Glenn

Kind of being that challenger, similar to your you know your brands and virgin challenging the you know the aviation industry Eubank was about challenging what other banks were doing and making it absolutely 100% about the customer. And one thing that my boss said to me at the time when he employed me, he was. Interested in onboarding me because I I shared his passion for service. And I had already had, you know, a career in banking and finance where I’d I’d been a facilitator. I’d been a coach, I’d worked on projects I’d worked on CBA TV, you know, sharing, you know, messages around service and why it was so important. But there were some words that he shared with me, which has always stuck with me. And I’ll share it with people listening today and. Is that emotionally engaging relationships drive value now, if you can emotionally connect with another human being, you not only have them speak more positively about you and your brand, you have them buy more. So you’re kind of encouraging that. But then also what happens, which I think is.

Glenn

Where this is amazing. They give you free marketing too, they refer. You know, so we’re we’re increasing our, you know, share of wallet through them buying more, but then they’re becoming our marketers, they’re out spooking us, which is amazing. So if you can really spend time on. Getting your service right and emotionally connecting with another human being to the point that to quote you, you leave them with warm, you know, fuzzy feelings. They’re gonna want to come back. They’re gonna be banging down the door to get back to your business, and that’s where businesses are constantly getting it wrong these days. You only have to step into a McDonald’s store now, which is one of my first jobs when I was 15 to see how bad the service is. You only need to try and ring a contact centre and sit on a phone line for 45 minutes or an hour.

Susan

Yeah.

Glenn

To feel like you’re not making me feel like I’m important, you need to walk into a business these days to have them ignore you and not even say hey, how are you?

Susan

It’s that acknowledgement pace, isn’t it?

Glenn

You know. It’s it’s the little things and it’s so simple, yet so many businesses get it wrong and it just it bothers me because I walk in. I think you just missed so many opportunities here and I would have bought more. And if I if I want something, I probably still buy it, but I’ll spend any more time there because I don’t feel welcome. Yeah, in the business.

Susan

100% and this is probably a perfect segue for your pivot about, but what? What pointed you to pivot to where you’re about to go and the journey you’re about to talk about now, which I I find absolutely fascinating and exciting.

Glenn

Look, I spent a lot of time, Susan, in corporate, a lot of probably too long, if I’m honest.

Glenn

After my banking and finance career, I ended up kind of moving into state, local government. I worked for Sydney Water for a while as their people and capability manager, so I was coaching and coming up with initiatives to improve the culture and performance of that business. And then I ended up from from there in. Well, I didn’t think I would ever end up in the automotive industry teaching people how to kind of to service customers, but to sell obviously, right. And we know that probably no different than you know what I mentioned before with the feeling around rats and banking. You know, most people don’t have a really good association or, you know, affection if you like, for salespeople in a car yard. So my was about helping them to.

Glenn

Uh. And. Kind of get away from the dodgy car salesman mentality and shift their perspective to how do I connect with you as a human being and then? Help you buy. Because service is selling and we say this all the time, service is selling. If you service someone. Really. Well, naturally, you know, they’re gonna buy something. What I would probably helped them to do during my time working for Volkswagen and Jaguar Land Rover. So one of the big brand was. When somebody walks in, you turn off the bat, start selling them something. You know, you know, Councilman. You know, I I I used to when I was training and it was really funny. I would overbake it because as you know, got a career in media as well, which kind of sat on the sideline of my corporate stuff. I would overplay the role of a salesperson. And I know people can’t see this because it’s a podcast. But I would do that, like, kind of. Hanging on a car and kind of darting around the car yard hoping they wouldn’t see me and then bouncing at the last minute and. They can picture you doing that. Fighting for the. Kill and sales people would just laugh and go. That’s ridiculous and I’d say, but that’s. How you look? Like, really. And I’m like, absolutely. And I would walk in the car yards. I would kind of do the old mystery shopping thing and just they a lot of them wouldn’t know who I was. So I’d, you know, turn up to car yards and kind of mystery, shop them to see how that they would treat me. And then I’d use that in my training to say these are the sorts of. Things that I’m seeing. Which are just ridiculous, right? You need to see that. What I helped them to do was to kind of connect firstly and then get into a more of a consulting approach as as they service the customer. So rather than saying to them which they would always do, so you know you’re in here, So what you know, what are you looking at? So the gold bar, that’s the and they go straight. Well, let me show you the gold bar. Well, look, anyone can make. A. Transactional sale. You know someone wants that they’re gonna buy.

Glenn

But will that person come back in three years time when they’re doing a change over and trying to get into something else? Probably not. And the reason for that? You’re not memorable. You have done nothing to connect with them as a human being and to help them to buy something that’s suitable. So what I would help them to do. Is. Say ohh so so tell me about what? What you get up to on the weekends and how you’ll be using the.

Susan

Yeah, the lifestyle questions to find the needs. Yep.

Glenn

Absolutely. We’ll be riding in the car, you know? Have you got family you’re camping?

Glenn

Yeah, it’s it’s that because you’re kind of working out what do you do, you need towing capabilities. Do you need to call be big? Do you need a big boot? Are you expecting more children? You’ve gotta really understand that customer for. Can help them to sell and then what happens is they may have come in for the golf are, but then suddenly they they’re buying a Tiguan and spending 100 grand because they actually need the big car and it’s got the same performance capability capability if not better. But you can tow and do all the things that they want and it becomes something that can keep kind of you know. Long term as opposed to for a few years and then their lifestyle changes and they’re getting into something else and spending more money anyway.

Susan

Exactly. So you’re helping them in the long run to save because you’re you’re helping them picture what they actually need it for, which comes down to that connection piece. Everything comes back to connection.

Glenn

It’s understanding the person that you’ve got in front of you. It’s eyeballing them, smiling and connecting humanistically and then understanding them through questioning to help them to buy something that’s suitable. So this is where.

Glenn

Like a pivot came working in cars, I felt like at times and I looked back on my career, I probably chose three of the most difficult industries to. Spend my time. Banking and finance, government and it was really hard to change, you know, turn around the Titanic when people are so entrenched and government don’t always. Performance manage they they can be hard on the people. That always performance manage. They let a lot of people kind of coast along and and not perform and then in the automotive industry as well. I mean it wasn’t always positive, let’s face it. So it got me thinking. How can I make money using the skills that I’ve got and also do something that I’m passionate about?

Susan

Yes.

Glenn

And you know it. It came back to people. And when I got married back in 2016, I saw what the celebrate was doing at the time. And thought, hey, I’ve got a presenting background. I’ve been a trainer and I’m quite happy to stand up in front of people and. Rabbit on about something all all day so that that that surely would be something that I would be able to do have the capability of doing. So I did the course and started doing that.

Susan

And your media background as well.

Glenn

In the media background as well, that definitely helped. So I’ve still been doing that, you know, for the last 20 years on the side, but everybody knows that’s inconsistent. That’s a love and it’s been a love of mine since I was a kid. But what did happen around the the time that COVID became a thing and we were all? Asked to stay home was I started playing on some social media. Whoops, now you know Susan, I’m in my 40s, right? So anyone who is listening in their 40s technology may not be their back. You know, they, they they’re not.

Susan

Wasn’t there when?

Glenn

They all wear.

Susan

We were at school, that’s for sure.

Glenn

It wasn’t right. I think I’d be in a lot of trouble if if if there be a lot of. That would come back to. Bite me a lot of. Karaoke. Carrot. Carrot. Well look. I still did that last weekend, so that’s the one thing. But I’ve.

Glenn

I found a a love for social media. And it got me thinking because during COVID where we had six weeks at home, I started playing with apps like TikTok and Instagram and playing with reels. And you know, that’s become, you know, the, you know, the the, the latest thing. It’s the trend right now. Tick tock in a very short space of time, I’ve now amassed over 250,000 followers. On Instagram, I’ve got about 26,000 followers on my media Instagram page.

That’s. And.

Glenn

It got me thinking that is a new service channel for businesses and so many businesses still haven’t come to the party. They think TikTok is for young kids, they think Instagram is also probably for the younger generations. Now you’re, you know, 20s and 30s and.

Susan

Or influencers only.

Glenn

Or influencers only, but it’s not. A. A point that I want to make is that you know when I worked in contact centres for a long time, you. Had. You know, obviously an inbound channel, an outbound channel, you had a web chat potentially coming in. Now there is some AI technology that a lot of businesses are. Using yes. You know there would be email inquiries. You know, I think back in the day, there’s also faxes coming through. I mean this is this is, yeah.

Susan

It was and letters.

Glenn

And letters, right. I don’t know who sends those these days, but I’m sure that probably still happens, but unless. A you know a a less volumed channel, but social media is such a a a diamond for businesses, which so many businesses don’t get right. A, you know, social media or what I referred to at this morning thinking about coming on is service media.

Glenn

How do I service customers through this channel? You know how quickly are you responding to comments? How quickly are you responding to DM’s? Because that’s potential customers? Is the content that you are posting? Is it meaningful? Is it education? Is it engaging? Is it fun? But most importantly, does it have the personality that reflects your business? Yeah. So if I was to come to your channel, would I instantly get a feel for what your business is? So let me give you another point here. I started my celebrate career. In 2017 and now my number. As probably aren’t as huge as my media account, but the engagement is good and the reason the engagement is good is that I learned through playing with my social media account for my celebrancy business, that it was less engaging posting a static image of me at someone’s wedding, and it was more engaging me putting a series of static images. In a real where the punch current soundtrack, which was trending at the time, I was getting more more traction with that and more engagement and more inquiries.

Susan

Knowing the audience and the connection.

Glenn

Knowing my knowing my audience. So then it was kind of what I did with that. What did I do with that lead then to convert that lead to business? Now I have a good success rate turning leads into business, I lose some and largely I think I lose some based on price because I don’t price myself because of my media background. You know, as cheap as. You know, cheap quote unquote as some of the other celebrants in the industry. But I’m gonna give someone an experience. And those who see a wedding that I performed because of my media background will always come up afterwards and say, oh, how long have you known the? I met them once.

Glenn

Well, how much time have you spent with them? Probably a few hours. Wow. So how did you get a few hours into that to make it feel exactly like them? And and not only traditional beautiful, but really fun, you know, really dynamic and different and memorable. And that’s the difference. And that’s what I want. Crisis. Get what is your difference and then how are you farming that out across all of your channels to get the right sort of customers and then converting that business? And I do that really well because I’ve had a background in service. I’ve had a background in sales and I do believe that emotionally connecting will drive that value. But then I. I’m constantly learning. How do I get better at managing my socials? How do I get better and I’m always teaching myself little things and I watch others cause that’s, you know, that’s research for me and educational for me. And then try and almost mimic what they’re doing creatively. But coming up with my own concepts to cut through, which is, you know, I guess, synonymous with my brand and what I represent.

Susan

Exactly. And it comes out, it’s it’s also showing the passion. So for you your brand is you, you show that passion and then you continue to engage it. When people engage with you. So you’ve always got that consistency happening in your service. So you’re making sure you’re you’re building that and you’re also continuing the story.

Glenn

Yeah. Yeah. But I think what a lot of. This is get wrong is they’re just using all of these channels as a way of selling.

Susan

It’s one way, isn’t it?

Glenn

Yeah, but we’re not stupid, right? The general public, you know, we’re relatively smart people. We know that when you’re posting something that we want there to be a call to action, we know that you want to buy something, but if you’re just putting up every week. Hey, this is my latest product or, you know, offer. And this is what you pay for it. Guess what? I’m not engaged with that. It becomes noise. Whereas if you’ve got a strategy across all of your channels, and that includes engaging content and educational content, giving stuff for free, knowing that it’s keeping your audience engaged and up to date with what’s happening in your industry, you know, maybe giving some things away from time to time just to show that you value. People, which is what Eubank did early by coming up with loyalty programmes to get customers in and that sort of thing, giving something away always helps, but you don’t necessarily have to. You know, you can have a smarter strategy that. Gets people interested. You know, who are we following on social media these days? We’re following influencers and as much as I hate that term, I really hate it by default, I’ve kind of become one, which I didn’t think that I would. I would do if I post something, I’ll have, you know.

Glenn

People DM me and say where did you get that or what is that that you’re wearing? Where did you get that cap from or you know? You know, they’ll ask me questions about it, so I’ve kind of become this. Begrudging influencer. But it is where the world is now, right? We we have to move with the.

Susan

Yeah, but, but. Times, but yours is also you are your brand, so it does make sense as well and that is fantastic that they’re wanting to connect with you at that personal level as well. So I would take all of that as a huge compliment and. Positive that you’re engaging with the right audience who want to engage back with you because I know you’ll talk and that and that is what businesses need to do. They need to get that positive conversation. Some brands out there are doing it really well and having fun with it and doing. Tongue and cheek, it all depends on your tone that you are, but if you do that, you have to be authentic.

Glenn

Yeah. Look, tones a big thing and authenticity is a big thing as well. So I think you’re nailing it. Susan. Tone, we used to train a lot in contact centres because whilst you can say something with words, your tone can often say something different.

.

Glenn

No, it it can mean something different to, you know, the the person on the other end of the phone. It’s like a text message. Sometimes you send a text to someone and someone gets their. Backup and they’re defending their like.

You can.

Susan

One by accident.

Glenn

Me. You know, just with a brief. So tonality is really important, but the tone of your socials as well, what I find this is probably the biggest pearler and this is probably the money shot for social media. This is what I find most people are following social media accounts. For positivity in a world that’s full of disarray and chaos right now, and there’s a lot of upset ment, you know, on the back of COVID there’s been, you know, people losing jobs and you know, there’s been financial stress with the RBA constantly increasing rates and you know, cost of living pressures, you know, it’s really tough. For people, I think we’re now turning to social media for a little ray of sunshine learning to it it is and and it and it. And it is that. And if you do it well.

That outlet. Well.

Glenn

And this is what I found. So when I’ve had a couple of brands contact me to influence their products on my socials, what I find works best for me is. You know AA40 plus male trying to to do a trending dance, just having a great time in that product. People relate to that because it’s it is a relatable piece of content where.

Susan

Will I find you doing a floss?

Glenn

Ohh look I I can’t do the floss at all the save myself my kids can, but I’m hopeless. But what I I I do try and do some of the dances and what I lack in coordination and ability, I certainly make up for in enthusiasm.

Susan

Yeah, definitely.

Glenn

But I do find most people follow me because. It’s. You don’t have to think too much about the content that I’m producing. Yeah. And it’s fun. Males will look at it and say, look at that guys having a go. He’s he’s hopeless. Like I am. He can’t dance and women are probably looking at it and saying, you know, look at that guy being kind of authentically himself and having a good time. And. What are we most attracted to? We’re most attracted to positivity and joy. And you know, in a world that kind of is lacking in that at the moment, that’s where people are going to. And that’s why influencer influencers are doing so well because it’s aspirational. People are looking at others on social media and saying ohh wow, look at the life they’re leading, they’re driving a Ferrari. I’m ohh wow. They’re in the mail drives how amazing. Everything. So positive. It’s not real. We know it’s not real, but we buy into it because we just want things to be better. And I think that if business is really focused on that, how do I put out positive. 110. That is joyful that engages and entertains. I think people will connect with the business follow and then, you know, they’ll buy stuff which ultimately is what we’re in business to.

Susan

Do well look what’s happening next week. Next week is one of the biggest in all of the world’s times for advertising. The Super Bowl.

Susan

And the Super Bowl adds a majority of the time all about joy, fun laughter. They cost millions of dollars for those placements, but for those brands, they make sure it’s memorable from fun. From that energy they bring, like the Doritos ones and some of the M&M’s ones in the past.

Susan

And there’s there’s some really good alcohol ones that are coming through too that I’ve been watching. So I love this season, but it again, your your spot on, it’s about bringing that joy resonating with your audience. So it doesn’t feel like an ad it or it doesn’t feel like an influence. It feels natural and authentic and you want to.

Glenn

Watch it. Yeah, whenever I’m posting. Something. Sell it doesn’t engage and I know that cause I’ll post it and you know view, you know views and likes and and and comments engagement are really low. But if I’m having fun and I could be wearing a product and having a great time people engage with. That and then. The last questions, yeah. And I think advertising these days, you know, I’m an actor and a presenter as well. I work in the. Media industry as you know. And often, you know, we’ll, we’ll. Work on amazing campaigns. I just did one, actually. For lions, Nathan. And they had us on the beach having a great time with the Jeep. They had us, you know, at backyard barbecues, having a great time, kicking a ball. Yep. You know, it’s relatable stuff. Advertising these days can be a little. Bit lazy. And I think people need to get a bit more creative and come up with ways to connect with, you know, the the, the public. Which, you know, invoke some of those good feelings, which then wants to connect that person with your business, which then allows you an opportunity to then service them. Yeah. Which ultimately will end up resulting in a sale.

Susan

100% and it comes down to like my my personal view is one of the future trends is all about right product placement.

Glenn

Yes.

Susan

Or right service placement and your example of what you’ve just been doing in the media that will probably be out very soon. For line Nathan, we’ll show that it’s about showing that moment of enjoying that product. But you’re with your mates, you’re with your family. It’s not about the product, it’s about the activity around the product.

Glenn

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And putting yourself in that picture.

Susan

100%.

Glenn

Yeah. So we. We we all know with advertising. It’s gotta be really outlandish and silly and kooky to kind of cut through, or at least relatable these days because. I mean, I’ve read something years ago that said that we see something like 2 1/2 to 3000 advertisements each day, billboards, TV, radio. We’re seeing so much of it that it just becomes background noise. So what is it that’s going to get you to cut through what’s going to cut through some of that? People go, oh, I relate to that.

Glenn

Hmm. Wow. Ohh, that’s that’s caught my eye. Yep. How does it catch their eye? Because.

Susan

Got the smile happening something?

Glenn

It there’s there’s something in it that just makes them feel good. If you just got, you know, crap, you know, a big white sign with black writing. No one’s gonna read that. You’ve got something colourful and choosing very deliberate colours which you know make people feel good. If you’ve got amazing imagery, if you’ve got a catchy you know slogan, and if you all of these things are adding to it, don’t be lazy in your business. But don’t just, you know, don’t be lazy when it comes to advertising. Don’t be lazy across all your channels. Think about every single one of your channel. As part of your customer mapping and think about at every point that I could potentially come into contact with a customer, how do I engage with them at that point so that it does connect with them so that it keeps them there, keeps them interested so that we have, you know, a relationship because I’m more likely to buy from someone to have a relationship with. Then with someone that I that I don’t.

Susan

Makes like. Then it all comes back down to that DNA of connection.

Susan

Wonderful. Wonderful. Is there anything else you’d like to to share about how you’ve built your social media platform? Before we do our final. Question.

Glenn

Yeah. Look, I. Have built my social media platform. Purely based on a strategy of having fun. And. I’m very deliberate.

Susan

You can. You can see that too. It’s beautiful.

Glenn

Look, I’m deliberate in. What I post and there look don’t get me wrong. There has been times that I’ve posted things. You know, anyone listening probably attest that at times social media and creating content can feel like a chore because it is. It’s another task that you have to do, and sometimes it can feel a bit clinical and thinking about the strategy of that and how I make it fun. And sometimes, you know, you’re producing content thinking. I know that I’m forcing this and trying to make this look so much fun, but I’m actually not enjoying it. You know, and that’s when I I I think I’ve built my my following and my channels by having a good time and recognising when I’m not in the right frame of mind, you know, we have to remember that we talked about this before too with leaders. You’ve got to be, you know, got to be a bit of a chameleon and then you know across all your channels, you’ve got to be flexible. The. Summers, you know I hate the line. My pet hate is from any business. Well, this is just our. Process.

Oh. I mean.

Glenn

I don’t care about your process, right? I’m the customer. I’m telling you that process doesn’t fit with, you know, with me. I want you to be a bit more flexible. Look outside the box, you know. So I’ll often when I’m creating content. Kind of ask yourself that question almost like customer experience. How did I feel about? Doing that, and if it felt incongruent to who I am authentically, I’m I I I have a couple of times taking time out, and even for an extended period because I know I’m not in creative frame of mind. I’m producing stuff that I’m actually genuinely enjoying and it doesn’t. It doesn’t. It doesn’t translate. So I think I’ve built.

Glenn

The following that I have by. Learning how to get better creatively by.

Glenn

Focusing on the skills that I do. Have. As well as having a go at things that I’m not so good at which people can laugh at, not taking myself too. Seriously.

Glenn

But ultimately, doing it to have fun because I need to as as you said before and rightfully so with my media background, with my celebrancy, with what I do and how I earn my money, it’s me that they’re buying. So if I don’t buy into me, then I don’t sell. You know my services, which means I’m not making any. Money. Yep, and I’ll pay for the kids to go to school and, you know, do the extracurricular stuff that we want to do and, you know, afford ourselves, you know, holidays and entertainment opportunities. So it’s really important that I’m putting out who I am. And. Yeah, a a big part of that too was me learning more about myself. You know in in my 40s, I think now that I’m looking back on my life, I made a lot of mistakes and anyone who knows me will pretty well. Like, Yep, you’ve made a. Lot.

Susan

Of mistakes. I think that’s all of us, it’s.

Glenn

OK, well, there’s some things I look like and go. I’m so ashamed that I that I did those things, but they they teach us, they teach us more about ourselves and. We just need to keep everyday, you know, evolving as human beings and getting better. And the way I’ve built those those channels is through evolution, evolution of me, evolution of my content, constantly learning, you know what’s trending and and how can I execute some of those trends but still keep it really honest. So that people feel like they can kind of understand me, yeah.

Susan

Wonderful. And for everyone listening, what are what is the actual handle for your social media? So what’s your tick tock and what’s your insta?

Glenn

My handle for TikTok is the Glenn Paul. I don’t use my surname. Social media is Glenn Paul 0.

Susan

The Glenn claw.

Glenn

Or Sydney celebrating Glenn is my celebrant business handle, which I find on. The the the web, the World Wide Web, the social media, sorry, Instagram, Facebook, or all of those, you’ll find that Sydney, I think that’s got a Twitter account as well, which largely is very dormant. I don’t know. Does anyone use Twitter anymore?

Susan

Some people do. I don’t know if ask Elon these days, I think. See how many he lost? But I’ll make sure I add these into the description as well for this podcast so that everyone can find you as well.

Glenn

Yeah. Can I just say on the the Twitter thing cause I make a joke. I think the reason I don’t gravitate to Twitter anymore. I did for a while was. It goes against what I’ve said. People are attracted to. We always seek out if we’re out kind of looking at dating someone, we’re looking for the person that looks like having the best time. We’re attracted by positivity, right? So I think it’s the same with social content and creation, but it’s just become a bit of a cesspit for just venting. And it’s so.

Susan

Where you’re going for.

Glenn

Negatives I get on I read comma. And I’m like no one’s got. Any nice to say which is? Why I bailed on that, you know?

Susan

It makes sense. And again it comes down to down to you being authentic to yourself, what what channels represent you and that’s what businesses need to decide as well. The channels, as you said, have the strategy for each of the different ones of where it makes sense on how to engage and that’s what you have done as.

Susan

1. You’ve demonstrated yours is about where they are.

Glenn

Yeah. 100% that’s a really good point. And I would say to businesses that are listening, you definitely need to be on socials thing like like Instagram and TikTok are good for business, despite what people think. Instagram in particular is where majority of my leads come from because people are looking at me. And what I do, and imagining them, you know me as their celebrant, potentially on their wedding day. They wanna see videos, they wanna see photos. So where are they gonna go? They’re gonna go to Instagram. So 80% of my leads come through Insta. TikTok, I don’t know that I don’t have any numbers around, you know, besides the influencer activities. But I’ve gotten as a result of, you know, followers. I don’t know who’s buying through TikTok. I just think it’s good to have a presence and present a brand. But Facebook. You know, think about your business. Where are people? Where are majority of your people and where are they looking? They’re the channels that you need to have and you need to service them.

No.

Susan

And things have changed so much that we don’t have the traditional channel 279 and 10 and SBS, no one sits and watches at 7:00 PM show anymore. You watch it when you need to, you engage it where you want and whatever channel you’re buying it through. And that’s the same now with socials. You don’t have newspapers now you have your phones. Look, when you’re commuting, everyone’s on their phone. They’re they’re doing what they need to on their channels and. You’re 100% right. Go to where they are. They’re now on socials and get the right social. And makes sense for you.

Glenn

Absolutely. You’ve only got to look at news.com dot AU these days to see that a lot of the stories they’re publishing are from TikTok.

Glenn

All the stories they’re publishing, and I often see them and kind of shake my head like how is that newsworthy? But suddenly it is. So you have to ask yourself that if people are. Going there for news. Is there opportunity for me and my business?

Susan

Exactly. Exactly right. And that actually comes to a fantastic point that I love. I love my final question. I ask everyone. So. I I did give Glenn the heads up people, so I’m hoping for a good answer.

Glenn

You know what you gave me the heads up, but I’ve given no thought to it. Because you.

Susan

Well, my final question I ask everybody is if you were a brand that represented who you are, what would it be and why?

Glenn

If I was a brand representing me.

Susan

What brand best represents you?

Glenn

Look, I’m going to say. Probably country Rd. Because I like. Country roads presents. I like their style, but it’s a really nice blend of. Casual and a little bit more full, which is tends to be how I present myself. I want people to feel connected to me and I’m easygoing and casual and bright, like a lot of the colours of country Rd, but I could also kind of step it up a notch if I need to. Yeah, and be the, you know, the. Uber professional that.

Glenn

Like to tell myself and profess to be in my. Own lunch box.

Susan

I love it. I love that one. And I do think that is a perfect fit for you as well. Thank you so much, Glenn. For today, we have learned so much about service selling, particularly how to translate that into social media, which is media selling. We we’ve got some great tidbits about the DNA. It’s all about connection, empathy, energising and empowering your customers through making sure your team has purpose and your team is driven to that success with you. And and and really making sure that you evolve overtime with social media so that you are engaging at all times as well. Thank thank you again so much. Glenn, I really appreciate this. Thank you everyone. Everybody, please make sure that you sign up to more on marketing to listen to more podcasts in the future.

This is fun.

Susan

And I can’t wait for the next. Podcast coming soon. Have a great day. More to marketing.