When a customer talks about a brand or a specific store, their good encounter typically involves the salesperson with whom they interacted.
Thus, why wouldn’t you invest in your most valuable asset–your people? This week we tackle salespeople and the importance of them developing their own personal brands and the value this provides back to you as a business and brand owner.
Also….
In this episode, we feature the musical stylings of Charlie DeCarlo. Be sure to check out his music on Spotify. Charlie’s a super talented singer, songwriter, and musician who happens to be one of us! He’s in the bedding business. Thanks to Charlie for sending us his tunes and letting us share his amazing work with the Dos Marcos galaxy.
One more thing…want to get Dos Marcos’ #1 Amazon Bestselling book for FREE? Listen to this episode and find out how.
Full Transcription:
Mark Kinsley [0:05]
Today is our buddy Charlie Decarlo. You can check him out on Spotify. He’s a betting business guy today. We want you to join the band of pioneers who are making their way into the personal brand. So it’s the band of the personal brand. And Quinn met somebody on the beach. We’re taking you to Costa Rica this very day. Right here my friends on the DOS Marco show.
Mark Quinn [1:15]
A very nice visual effect you have their
Mark Kinsley [1:25]
That’s the shot glass takeoff is what I call that.
Mark Quinn [1:27]
I like that. So how was your vacation brother?
Mark Kinsley [1:30]
Good vacation drove down to the panhandle. We were around the seaside and Florida never been there. And it’s you know, it’s sandwiched in between Destin and Panama City. So I’m like on the lookout for Florida man. But it was amazing. It was amazing. We had a great condo on like this freshwater lake that connected to the ocean. It’s one of only two places on the planet with that little ecosystem. Nice beach, not a lot of people around. Amazing. How about you, you went to Costa Rica, you met Eric Garcia. We’re going to talk about on the show today. How was vaycay with the fam?
Mark Quinn [2:01]
It was really cool. And I’m glad I did what I did, which was we didn’t ask any other family to go. And we…
Mark Kinsley [2:08]
Did you’re listening to this? We’re apologizing to all the Quinn family right now. He’s sorry.
Mark Quinn [2:12]
No, I’m sorry, Quinn family, but I was being selfish Bridget and I were because we wanted time with our kids because they’re about to be 17 to 19. And at some point, they’re gonna have their own families. Plus, after all the craziness, we just wanted some time together. And it was so incredibly cool. Costa Rica is a beautiful place. The people, Kinsley, of Costa Rica are beautiful people. They’re so friendly, so gracious. So it was really cool. By the way, if you’re tuning in to this, and you’ve heard the other podcast, the Marriott did well by me, so I got a text message from Austin bond. And he’s like, hey, how did he listen to the show? He’s like, hey, did they take care of you? And they did. And no, it was by any threat, but they, you know, if you are a Marriott member, and you have status, that’s a great property to go to. It’s the western player control. And they but they have, you know, if you are titanium or one of those levels, they have upgraded alcohol and private pools and concierge places. So it’s a really cool place to go. But they were very, very nice to us. So thanks to them. It was a fantastic experience. And so yeah, I have a question
Mark Kinsley [3:17]
You, what you’re saying essentially, is you threw your celebrity status around you threw that wait around, and it worked.
Mark Quinn [3:25]
It wasn’t throwing the weight around, it was me saying you guys need to be mindful of the fact that just because someone books through someone like Apple vacations, which is what I did, you can’t discount the fact that that person is still a very loyal married person. And so I think that’s very unfair to exclude them from the benefit of what they’ve spent 1000 nights earning just because they didn’t book direct with you. Right. So that’s not fair. I didn’t think that was fair. And so all I was saying was, I’m going to tell the story one of two ways. We have a podcast, and we have some media outlets. So I want to celebrate you right. That’s the point I want to tell the great story. I want to say that you guys were awesome, which is what I’m doing now. But if you screw me around, then the other story I would tell is you didn’t take care of me. So I don’t think that was a threat. I think it was a carrot, didn’t you?
Mark Kinsley [4:19]
There are two ways to look at it. And we’ll just let our audience decide. Right or carrot? Well, tell us on the comments section on this post on fam dot news. How about that.
Mark Quinn [4:30]
I just don’t want it to sound I have never ever you know, not like we have any leverage. And it’s funny because we’re you know, we’re a podcast in the mattress category. But you know, there’s an audience to it, but I just wanted them to know that. You know, there’s an opportunity for them to do something good and be celebrated by that and that’s what they did. And that’s what I’m doing so
Mark Kinsley [4:51]
Well. And speaking of people doing something good. How about nationwide primetime that was record-shattering attendance at the well what probably is the last virtual primetime at least of this year, because it’s going to go live in Nashville coming up in August and we’re going to be there.
Mark Quinn [5:10]
No, I can’t wait for that. But check out the statistic Kinsley nationwide dealers who partnered with retailer Web Services insight on times that time both of those groups owned and operated by the nationwide peeps, on average saw 27% higher, you did not hear me stutter that is 27% higher sales than retailers on other platforms. So that’s pretty crazy. If that’s not compelling enough for you to give nationwide a look at becoming a member. I don’t know what is plus the live events plus all the money you save. I talked to Mike Darrow and Jeff Rose recently, and they said that the Palozza event was a massive success. Tons of people saved money. And so yeah, man, I’m loving it. And so it’s the 59th edition, by the way, in the show is August 15. Through the 18th at the Gaylord operate resort center in Music City, Kinsley, and I can’t wait.
Mark Kinsley [6:02]
It’s gonna to be fun times, indeed, we will be there mark your calendars for nationwide primetime, when we can all get together again, safely, of course in Nashville, Tennessee. And we can see each other August 15, through the 18th. And, you know, our friends from door counts are going to be there. And you know, Jerry, I can’t believe Jerry still doing this thing. He’s still like saying, Look, 90-day free trial, complete free trial of door counts 3.0. This is a Retail Sales Cloud. This is not just Oh, somebody came in the door, we’re going to assign them to an up board. And we’re going to know exactly who came in our store and what happened with them, how we cared for him how we loved him, that that happens. But there’s so much more behind the scenes that take you from data to doing and Jerry and team believe in this so much, that he’s still passing out a buck 50 not $1.50 150 bucks. So you get your 90-day free trial. And let’s say for some reason you find out the door counts isn’t for you. Jerry’s gonna give you 150 bucks just for your time. And I’m like, yes, that’s worth it. I actually just got a voicemail from Matt man himself. Matt man has a podcast on fam News. And he was talking about using door accounts, and how like the morale boost of using door counts for the sales team. And it’s a very unique angle. And we’ll talk about it coming up on the show that we’re going to do with Batman. So Batman is going to be on the show either next week, or the week after you do not want to miss this Oh, are we having to pay him again. We pay him in snooze pill pills, which superheroes in the sleep space, take snooze pills, and they love them. And a snooze pill is actually a giant mattress just looks like a pill superheroes.
Mark Quinn [7:46]
Superheroes aren’t cheap to get on shows. So I’m excited that he’s agreed to do ours.
That’s very cool.
Mark Kinsley [7:59]
So it’s kind of cool to talk to him about how door counts is boosting morale in his retail environment. So that’s your teaser, you got to listen to this story. But what you got to do right now is there’s literally zero risk. You need visibility in your business, you need this personal connection, you need to know who’s coming in, you know if Mark Quinn walks into the Marriott, and they don’t have door counts, and they don’t know he’s there, then he might go thrown around his weight on his microphone and saying, Hey, I’m going to tell one to two stories here. And if you can make sure he tells the right story.
Mark Quinn [8:37]
Why are you painting me as some guy that is like, you know, I’ve never done that? And you know, I was when I was a kid, I was an immigrant rewards for that my dad was the manager of and they sold popcorn, you’re probably too young but they sold popcorn and a little concession stand area and I’m a Grammy Awards and they had popping candy and stuff. So I was maybe six. And the guy wouldn’t let me behind the counter. And I said to that guy, do you know who I am? My dad didn’t know who my dad is. So the guy’s like, oh, okay, so he took me to my dad and he told my dad what I said and my dad beat the crap out of me. So ever since then, I try not to do that
Mark Kinsley [9:15]
Just punched the six-year-old right in the face, didn’t he?
Mark Quinn [9:17]
He just slapped me down. He’s like, Don’t you ever so anyway, that’s my story. Jerry is a little crazy given away the money but you know why he does it. Kinsley you know, I had saved because no one ever wants to 150 they liked the program so well.
Mark Kinsley [9:34]
So yeah, start today at door counts.com. And, you know, we’re talking about what I said about Matt man earlier, like his salespeople having a morale boost. And today on the show, you know, it’s, it’s interesting, you went to Costa Rica, and you saw life and in person, what it means to build a brand and to be the champion for that as an individual You did it with Eric Garcia. And there’s we think there are parallels here. Because just like we were talking about that morale boost, with door counts, as people come into the store, each person that walks in the store has an opportunity to do one thing. Really, really well that’s going to aid the sale, and the care that you can show that customer and that connects with a human being. That’s what door counts is all about. And that’s what Eric Garcia was all about. Whenever you went down to Costa Rica. And you had that experience with him. And I think you step back and you looked at what was going on with this guy in Costa Rica who’s giving tours you said, Oh, my gosh, there are huge lessons here for the mattress industry.
Mark Quinn [10:42]
Well, so I’m reading reviews can see on Trip Advisor about the property right. So I’d never been to this place you had been so that was a good review for me. Not that you know, I just went because you went but I mean, you’ve been there, you’ve stayed at the property and you loved it. But I’m reading the rest of your, your views, and this guy’s name kept coming up over and over again. And it was Eric Garcia. So they go, if you go to the beach, you have to book your tour through Eric, they’ll take great care of you. So anyway, I was hell-bent on meeting this guy to find out what everyone else saw. And so I’m thinking there’s probably gonna be like, 15, to these guys selling tour packages. I’ve been to these beaches before. And that’s kind of how it goes. But I didn’t have to look hard, because Eric Garcia has a big hat on and it says, Eric Garcia. And if you guys go to the fam, you’ll see the video of this because I actually did an interview with him. And we’re gonna give you a little taste of that here in a minute. But so he’s got this happen. It’s as Eric I see, he’s got a shirt that says Google and Trip Advisor because the guy is well known on these platforms. And it just it really hit me that here’s a hustler, who really gets the personal branding thing and in connection to people walking out on the beach. And Kinsley, we can kind of talk about it here. I asked him a question. During our interview, I said, Eric, you’re not in the tour business, though, are you? And he said, No, I’m not. And they said, so what business are you in? And I really thought his answer was spot on. It’s a lot of what we talked about in the book, when it’s your role that
Mark Kinsley
You’re selling tours for you, but for you, though, it’s not just about selling to No, no, it’s this purpose in that. What is your purpose when you approach your job every day?
Mark Quinn
Okay, so my purpose is this, these people are coming to Costa Rica and their hard-earned money is to have the best time of their life. And they have limited days here for three days, four days one day. So you, I got to ask them, what is what brought them here? What was the last thing you do? What do you think, what do I do if I select an interview to them, and then boom, let’s us do this. As listen to the customer. This is very important in my business is first to listen to the customer complaints because he wants to do he if it’s good for him, because they is people who want to do things, and they think they’re good for them. But you got to gotta go a little deeper because then you’ll find out that knee hurts, or they have a bad rolling or they’re allergic to this. And then you say okay, sir.
Mark Quinn [13:16]
So, so we go through all that Kinsley in, in so for him, it’s not about selling the tour. It’s about something a tour that he knows is going to deliver a kick-ass experience for the person that he’s selling it to. And if he doesn’t drill down, then he’s like every other tour operator and salesman. So yeah, they want to go on an ATV ride to sell him the TV, right? But if you don’t ask them questions, like I was going to do that. And he said, Okay, so what do you like, why are you wanting to go on the TV? Right? And I’m thinking, well, that’s kind of a weird question. But I said, Well, we want to see the monkeys, we want to see the, you know, the jungle, he’s like, you don’t see any of that on the ATV, right? So I would have gone on the ATV ride. And then it completely disappointed afterward, had he not taken the time to go a little bit further with me and find out what I really, really wanted. And if you relate it back, Kinsley, to the sleep space. You know, a lot of people come in, and it’s, hey, what size you know, what are you looking for, and then they just start throwing people on beds. And they don’t really get to know the person they’re talking to. And they don’t really understand the problem that they’re trying to solve for, you know what I mean?
Mark Kinsley [14:22]
Such a good reminder that open-ended questions are your superpower if you can ask open-ended questions and really get to the spirit of what people are after. Then, like you said, Eric Garcia is able to say, wait a minute, man, these ATVs are really loud and we go on certain paths and we’re not gonna see any monkeys. So if somebody is coming into your store, you got to understand what they’re trying to see on this tour. You know, are they trying to see lower back pain alleviated? Well, what led to that lower back pain? Is it chronic? Is it something that is cute and they feel like it’s going to go away in a relatively short amount of time? I mean, you really need to just care and ask open-ended questions. And we talked about this before, but one of them for me that I think is just great as the follow-up open-ended question, which is somebody’s like, yeah, I’ve got back pain. And then they’re silent. You, as a salesperson can say, what do you make of that? And when you use the two words, what and you, you get a response. There’s a great book I read. I think it’s called the ‘Coaching Habit”. And out of that book, the absolute piece of gold I got out of it was when you reframe your questions, you don’t ask how you don’t ask why. When you say what, and you and you can read, rephrase about any question to say what you in it, you get responses, because what is very specific, and you makes it personal, it’s not about some abstract concept that you have to come up with an answer for. So I love what Eric Garcia does. And whenever you see really amazing salespeople, they slow down, they take their time, and they’re not trying to shoehorn you into a process. Because, yeah, I’m sure that Eric has certain tours or other tour companies have, like the process, they want to take all the tourists through, and get it done as fast as possible and make their money and get their tip and move on. But that’s not what’s going to create a remarkable experience, which is literally something that’s worthy of telling to another human being, which is what we’re doing right now.
Mark Quinn [16:32]
No doubt. And Kinsley, let’s put this through the filter of the mattress and furniture store. Right. So here I am in Northwest Arkansas, about to get on a plane and go to Costa Rica, I know already, before I ever get there, that I’m going to find this guy. Because if he does something remarkable that all these people like, that’s who I want to do business with, right. And so the point here, going back to some companies, if you’re listening to this, your company may not be that cool with you, creating your own Facebook page or having a social media presence. So definitely go through them and find out what the parameters are. If you’re a manager or an owner of a company, and you’re listening to this, I would highly encourage you to understand social media enough that you can coach your people to become ambassadors for your business through their own personal feeds. Because if I’m a customer, I’m going to go to a furniture store and I’m looking up different furniture stores, and I read reviews. And I keep seeing Eric Garcia’s name pop up in the furniture store reviews, and they’re like this guy is awesome. This is when I go to your furniture store, guess I’m going to see, I’m going to see Eric Garcia. And so the reason Eric Garcia is earning that kind of celebration is because of how he interfaces with them and how he delivers on the promise of great service and great product. And so if you’re memorable, and another part personal branding-wise, he’s got that hat with Eric Garcia on it. He’s got the shirt with all the logos, which right away tells me that he’s proud of the feedback he gets from people reminds me that TempurPedic ad, don’t ask us, ask everyone else, right? They can tell you how great we are. And so that’s what he’s saying. I’m great. But ask everyone on these different properties. Why I’m great. And you can do that, too. I don’t know if you can wear a hat with your name on it in your store. But wouldn’t it be cool if 80% 90% of the volume you’re doing at a sleep shop or furniture store came? Because you’re so good with other people, the reviews were there and it was word of mouth. And that’s how they find you. That should be the benchmark
Mark Kinsley [18:31]
Whenever I did a sweep. This has been a few years ago, a couple years back of reviews posted on mattress retailers, Yelp pages, I found a theme that I didn’t expect. I was like, Huh, I didn’t expect when a customer last left a review for the majority of those reviews. To mention a person by name. So whenever customers were coming in, and they were having a great experience. They weren’t saying the sleep shop and they weren’t just saying yeah, this sleep shop is great. They’re saying, Jane at the sleep shop was amazing. So here’s the here’s, here’s the headline, let’s zoom out, bring it home for you. Whenever people are going to leave your store, you can’t control what they say or what they do. So they’re going to mention your people by name. So why would you not empower them to plant those seeds ahead of time, so that when they do mention your people by name, you’ve created a great experience that’s tied back to your business. And this is the thing that I think a lot of people get hung up on like, you know, there’s a lot of churn in our industry. Sometimes there are training issues within retail environments. You don’t have enough RSAS who are really up to speed and have the chops I get it. But it’s like Doug Stewart told me one time he’s like people always kind of say, Well, what if I train my people and they leave and Doug says What if you train them and they don’t. So this is happening behind the scenes and in front of the season. And I think business owners and retail managers are looking at planting these seeds with the machine. No, they’re disking that ground and they’re planting the seeds with the machine. Or you can plant those seeds with people. Yeah, it’s probably less efficient. You know, advertising, maybe as your machine. But your people can plant the seeds. And I guarantee you one thing, whenever I put a seed in the soil, with my hands that’s touched my skin, I’m gonna have a much deeper, more personal connection to that plant that I want to grow. So you’re gonna have that connection.
Mark Quinn [20:45]
Yeah, totally agree with that. I think that’s absolutely right. And, you know, you guys, it doesn’t take a lot to be memorable, either Kinsley. We’ve talked about this. And so when they come into your store, even if they didn’t read about you online, so what are you leaving them with? Right? Is it a funny little, hey, X marks the spot when I tell them my name, just so that they remember it when it comes time for reviews? This is why I like podium technology to Kinsley because if each of your salespeople has their own text number that goes through your podium dashboard, the cool thing is, you’re a salesperson, you can text them after the sale. And I’m going to tell you, this guy’s if you’re here listening to this and say, oh, it’s not as easy as it sounds.
Mark Kinsley [21:23]
Oh, we have proof coming up. We have a sound bite that we didn’t expect to play today but we are going to give some more proof to what you are saying here in a moment.
Mark Quinn [21:31]
Okay, well, I’m excited. I’m not aware of that. But the point there is, if it feels weird to you, to ask a customer to give you a review or mention you interview and not that you need to say mentioned me but if it feels weird for you to ask, then my sense of that is, you probably didn’t feel personally like you earned the right to ask them, right? If you do a kick-butt job for somebody and you crush it and they’re super happy, then it’s really easy for you to say, hey, would you mind because you’ve earned it. So that’s why it kind of also is a cool way to push you to really earn that review and on your social media stuff. It’s okay guys to talk about what you do. It’s a tech, it’s okay to talk about your passion for sleep, design, the home versus the house, engage people online, don’t sell it, then just talk about their life, talk about their sleep, talk about their living room, if you want. And then maybe you become a source of for people to ask questions, or say, hey, what do you think of this? Or hey, why am I not? If you become known for being knowledgeable in this spaces, then you’re building your brand, one brick at a time.
Mark Kinsley [22:36]
And if you’re knowledgeable in the space, and you couple that with something that’s so delightful, that people can’t talk about it. Then you have the perfect secret sauce. And there’s one person that we know that does this better than anybody on the planet. He did not apologize. I asked for forgiveness, not for permission. But Matt man himself, Andrew Schlesser, with sweet dreams mattress and furniture in North Carolina, sent me a voicemail. I downloaded it because I knew we’re going to be talking about personal brands. And what he does, he is asleep superhero. If you go to fam dot news, and you look up the Matt man podcast, he’s got well, eight episodes are gonna be on their very soon, of how he became a sleep superhero and how he uses that in the retail environment to create surprise, delight, and customers who love him. And we’re talking about personal brands. And there’s a range of experiences you can offer. Everything from I’m just a caring person that people really connect with, too. I put on a sleep superhero outfit. And I use puns galore to make people laugh. And here’s what happens.
Mattman:
Another side note, I’ll try to make this one shorter. Friday I had these people come in I was wearing Matt man and I had pillow puffer and I’m making all these puns. I have a truck we call it the Mat mobile. I mean, like everything that they every time they turn, I had another name or word for it in the Matt universe of superhero universe until I send him some podcasts and send the podcast episode to awakening your superpowers. So they went home and they were getting delivered the next day. They went home and they showed their parents. They said they said the lady said to her mom. Oh yeah. My mattress guy has a podcast. And they listen to the podcast. And sure enough, mom and dad came in and bought an adjustable mattress The next day, like literally on Saturday last week was their governor. So we’re talking about that’s like 4500 bucks, total, and an exceptional WhatsApp experience. And now they know they have the podcast so maybe we can just keep in touch so I just thought it was fun.
Mark Quinn [24:56]
Oh my god. Well done, matt man.
Mark Kinsley [25:02]
I mean, like, it’s Quinn, I just feel like so glowing because so much of what we’ve talked about for years. We see Matt man doing. He just doesn’t he just does it so well. And I’m telling you if you want to learn from the best, go to fam dot news, make sure you’re subscribed to the fam Audio Stories. You can get it on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe, make sure you’re subscribed to us and all of our other podcasts but like he is sharing gems after gem like you’re saying this like, I feel like this should be mandatory for your salespeople. These are like five-minute episodes. So they’re really consumable and snackable. But he’s dropping gems of wisdom on how to do it. And this is not theoretical. At this point. We’re not just two guys over here in the mattress business. Yeah, between Quinn and I, we hit 1000s of retail doors. There’s no doubt about it. And we see a lot of the retail industry. But this is a guy that’s doing it, living it out and telling stories about it. And I’m just so proud of him.
Mark Quinn [26:08]
I love it. And personal branding is a big deal. He definitely gets it and he’s memorable. I mean, how many people wear a mattress costume you know?
Mark Kinsley [26:14]
I love that story. Told you just like they went home and told their mom dad Oh, yeah, well, my mattress guys got a podcast, they come in and buy this. This is what we’re talking about this stuff works.
Mark Quinn [26:24]
This may be the first example I’ve heard of my mattress guys better than your mattress guy. Because that’s kind of what this sounds like. So I love that you know, personal branding Kinsley, to see this little shot glass here. Yeah. If you ever start buying beds, I think we’re in really good shape. Because I took some of the shot glasses. I’ll we’ll post some of the pictures online. But we took some of them my family did to Costa Rica. And we were able to celebrate different events with these. So it was really nice, you can put them in your pocket because they’re silicone, right? And a monkey got ahold of one. And so anyway, we’re out on a river tour. So we’ve got a picture of a monkey holding the shot glass so that even when you’re in the jungle,
Mark Kinsley [27:10]
He is go to a hold one right now.
Mark Quinn [27:14]
So, there you go. You know, the reason you do personal branding stuff is so you can drive traffic into your store. Did you know that?
Mark Kinsley [27:21]
Oh, I totally knew that. I knew that. A million% I quit. Why are you telling me that I already knew it.
Mark Quinn [27:27]
No, I just want to make sure you do it.
Mark Kinsley [27:29]
Are you ready to drive more foot traffic? You [inaudible 27:33] we are.
Mark Quinn [27:35]
We are because we got a really good one here. And I think it’s really relevant to kind of what we’re talking about where did it go? How did it?
Mark Kinsley [27:47]
Customer appreciation? Event
Mark Quinn [27:50]
Customer appreciation Thank you. I have it bookmarked and everything and I don’t know why I couldn’t find it. But so you know, my son is yet my son and daughter both went through in orthodontics office in Joplin at the time and la villa and it through an annual party for their customers. And I just thought that was really cool and it’s a great idea to do a customer appreciation event and Beverly Adams in Frank McLean at Howard’s recommend this create they created a customer appreciation day with games and food trucks. You know, it’s a great thing to do because you’re not trying to sell them stuff. You’re just saying hey, thanks. We know that you purchased from us. Here’s a hot dog. Here’s a jumping tent. Here’s you know a clown making balloons for your kids. And it’s just our way to say thank you for all of our customers in the area. And I think that’s a really cool way to spread joy and to bring people to your retail so take that into consideration. Thanks a bunch, Beverly Adams and Frank McLean. You guys are in the book come back to bed so hope I hope people are reading it and taking your advice.
Mark Kinsley [29:15]
We’re gonna do something I don’t think we’ve done this in years. But I did. It’s been probably 2015 2016. The last time I did a sleep mask review. And so as part of our become a sleep selling superhero segment. Today we’re going to talk about the Manta eye mask, the triple black, and the waited. And here’s the tip for you. Here’s today’s sleep tip.
Mattman:
It’s time to become a sleep superhero.
Mark Kinsley [29:53]
Your tip is to learn to sleep with an eye mask even if you have it on upside down like Quinn.
Mark Quinn [30:01]
Oh is it is it really. Oh, it’s not.
Mark Kinsley [30:05]
Oh man, I almost had him laid upside down.
Mark Quinn [30:09]
Oh man, stop it.
Mark Kinsley [30:09]
I almost had him.
Mark Quinn [30:10]
We don’t even sleep superheroes, every sleep superhero, like a lot of them, have masks. The problem with this one is you can’t see through it. You know what I mean?
Mark Quinn [30:17]
I was talking to matt man about that. And he’s now wearing a sleep mask to bed. Because light is a major sleep disrupter, there’s a study done, where they had people who were actively sleeping, so they were hooked up to all the brain monitoring. So you knew they were asleep, you know, they had their respiration and at the heart rate, and that everything hooked up to them as part of the sleep study. And they shined a little bitty laser light. Remember those laser lights that you could shine, they’re pretty popular for a while, on the back of the subject’s leg, and the brain activity increased. So even though this person was asleep, the body, not even the eyes, the body was registering light. So you got to think about us as travelers, and we’re probably going to be getting back on the road here. And a heavyweight coming up very soon. If you can control the conditions to a higher degree in unknown environments, then it’s going to do a couple of things, it’s going to give you better sleep because you’re blocking out light from your eyes. And it’s also going to create a signal. And that’s a key thing. Whenever you go to sleep. You want to create as many cues in your environment as possible. The biggest cue is bedtime. But another cue is for me, I take a shower every night. It’s like a full-body signal that bedtimes about head your way. But another signal you can create is that pressure effect and that gentle relieving pressure effect and the light-blocking effect of an IMS. So I started practicing wearing an eye mask. And I think it’s a skill. It’s something you get to work at. But now I can translate that skill from home to any environment. I sleep a lot better when I’m on the road. Even better when you have a good mattress. But we got in touch with people at Manta and we have to have their eye masks and I’m so pumped because I love some of the features of the Manta, triple black in the waiting, which I have. I’m not gonna put it upside down though.
Mark Quinn [32:15]
I didn’t either. So what do you think about See, there you go, that is such an improvement.
Mark Kinsley [32:20]
Now one of the things they talk about with the triple black is complete blocking capabilities. And this is a key factor for any eye mask. So we’ve developed a criteria for evaluating eye mask light-blocking comfort weight, side sleeper considerations, the strap, and features. So and the reason we talk about the strap is that I’ve had probably a dozen sleep masks in my day, at least. And sometimes the straps have metal on them. Sometimes they’re thicker, sometimes they’re different fabrics are elastic. And so it is something to take into consideration, especially if you’re a side sleeper, or even, you know back sleeper because it’s gonna be resting against your pillow. So right out of the gates, I want to know you have the triple black, you took it to Costa Rica, you give us the lowdown give us the run.
Mark Quinn [33:15]
Yeah, I will. But can you put your back on? I want to show the audience something here like, yeah, so do that. Good. What are you doing that I can’t just turn around and show him how the strap fits on the back. See, it’s so easy to put on. It’s like super easy to do. And it’s thick. So my experience was it. I think you’re I was giving you a hard time earlier. Okay, you’re good. You’re I was giving you a hard time earlier about saying it’s a skill but in truth. The very first time I wore it, it was awkward. Right? So it does take getting used to so I completely understand what you’re saying. I took the, I black went on to so we’ll have to post this picture to my family. So I don’t know why they’re so embarrassed of me a lot of times and I guess I do because I can you know, I’d like to hear a loud talker and make people’s personal space a lot. And I get in people’s personal space and I don’t smell great. Okay, I smell good. But anyway, so I do stuff that you know like I’ll be the one to jump on stage and like, you know, have some fun with the band or whatever but so I’m sure that’s why they get embarrassed. But anyway, so I was on the plane I had this eye mask on because it was really bright. And you can see in the photo how the sun’s coming through. But I had this on then I had my Bose noise-canceling headset on because I don’t want to hear anybody on the plane and then I had my mask on so I looked like some assassin like heading to Costa Rica. It was so funny. So they took pictures of me. So we’ll share those in the show notes. But anyway, I liked it. It blocked out all the sun. I had no problem with that. Even in Costa Rica in a hotel room when I was traveling. They didn’t have the room darkening shades. To the degree that I wanted, so yeah, I mean, it was really cool. And I had honestly not ever worked with a sleep mask other than like flying overseas to on a trip like that. I think I’ve used it then. But I was kind of impressed. In a funny side note, Kinsley, I had an Australian at home. And my wife, of course, is making fun of me because I was wearing the one that you had on at the moment that the waited one. And so I had fallen asleep. And so my wife, like, nudges me, and then she’s like, hey, turn the lights off, you know, and it’s like his switches over by where I’m at. I’m like, the lights are off. I mean, what are you talking about? I’m like, I was sleeping. She’s like, turn the lights off. I go, the lights are off. Why are you waking me up? The lights were on. I just had my mask guides. I couldn’t tell. She’s like, you’re the biggest idiot. I’m sure I quit. She’s questioning why she married me at the moment. But anyway, so how was your mask? What was your experience like?
Mark Kinsley [35:57]
So we have two separate masks that we’re talking about? We’re talking about the triple black. And then we’re talking about this one, the weighted masks. So let’s start, do you have the triple black hold it up, we’ll show it. I like this, by the way, that the logo on here, it’s very subtle, there’s not some word to pay attention to kinda looks like a little mustache or an eye mask. But some, I don’t know why it drives me nuts. But sometimes whenever sleep masks have a word on it, it’s something I’m like, I feel like I’m wearing an advertisement on my head. And I really don’t want that. So I liked that they didn’t have any type of there’s a little tag on the side, but you can cover it up whenever you actually put the strap on. So I like that it should, you should have a calming environment. And for me, that’s part of my calming environment for some reason. So criteria number one that we talked about is light blocking. If you’re gonna have an eye mask, it should block out the light. And the triple black, according to Manta is 100% light blocking, I put it on right out of the box, complete light blocking like 100% there’s always that spot right around your nose where the light creeps in. And you want to say Callaway like do I need to tighten this up and then you’re having to crank down the strap on your IMS to make it tighter and then it’s too tight. And it may block out some of the light. But I’ve always had a sliver of light coming in. Maybe it’s the shape of my schnoz, who knows, but with the triple blackout of the gates right out of the box, complete light blocking. But the cool thing is, as you pointed out, you have these removable eyecups. I’ve heard people call them eye donuts. But the beautiful thing about this is, depending on how wide your faces are the dynamics of your melon, you can put these on. And then you can bring eye mask up to it. So you get the perfect distance whenever you put the cups in the place that fits your face. So if you feel a little pressure, if it’s too close too far away, if it’s not right over the circular part of your eye, you can adjust these appropriately. And I think that’s a great feature. So that helps with the light blocking. And so I adjusted mine fine-tuned it and it was even better.
Mark Quinn [38:05]
You know that that is a good point and your eyes fit right in this cup and the weighted one. There’s like a weighted blanket effect on that one. For me, Kinsley, there’s a little bit of security kind of feeling in that. But what I liked also is the carrying case, honestly, because I was traveling, I just searched my backpack, it folds up really nicely. And you can just tuck it into the carrying case. So anyway, I think it’s a really well-made product. And I think we should no, we’re not being paid to do this review where we’re talking about this one, because we want to make sure everyone out there understands this could be a great item for you to bring into your store or try it for yourself.
Mark Kinsley [38:39]
Well, and you got to use the sleep ecosystem in your retail environment. We think that’s really important. So you need to be talking about sleep disruptors talking about light. These are you know, lower ticket add ons that create conversations in a retail environment. So we think adding some of these reviews and making sure that we’re talking about products that create the sleep ecosystem and the sleep Store of the Future are really important and is this is a brainer and Manta does a good job. I mean they really do a good job with their email and their products. If you get a man to sleep.com, I mean you can see all these products on there the weighted mass, the silk mask, they have cooling cups and warming cups so you can replace these but the triple black go back to the triple black comfort from a comfort standpoint I thought was very comfortable. If I was going to make any adjustment to it whenever I sleep on my side, these eyecups are really comfortable but I do feel a little pressure as you’re on your side and maybe it presses into your nose a little bit but it depends on the shape of your face. It’s not that bad. I love the side of this that’s so thin. The fabric is really silky soft. And the way they did the strap makes it very low profile so you don’t feel any buckles you don’t feel any weight or bulk and they use a very high-end Velcro-like device Kinda looks like a micro hook that we used to have on the bottom of these adjustable beds. So really great comfort, I would give it five stars, I’m like blocking five stars on comfort, especially since you can make those adjustments to the cup. Like I said, a little bit of maybe pressure here and there when I was doing side sleeping, to consider, but maybe, you know, adjusting the eyecups based on being a side sleeper or something that we could experiment with. And then the triple backs super lightweight. I liked that a lot. And like I said, I love the straps you love the travel kit. And the adjustable eyecups are cool for two reasons. Number one, you can adjust them, get it comfort, comfortable how you want it. Number two, if they were out, you can replace them. Or if you have a black guy because you got in a fight with a monkey in Costa Rica, you can use the cooling cups to maybe offer yourself a little bit of relief.
Mark Quinn [40:54]
It could happen. No lights a big deal. Obviously, I liked him. Kinsley, I really did. I’ll be traveling with him for sure. And thanks to the guys at fantasy. You guys rocked it out with this? I would. Wouldn’t it be cool if you could have a customized one? I mean, you could do your own customization on the front, right? You could put your name on there or draw some eyes. Right? You could do that and make it look like you’re awake. I don’t know.
Mark Kinsley [41:20]
Yeah, you can love it, guys. I will, I will say one, one little thing that I did notice about the weighted mask. I love the category of weighted products. Weighted blankets offer a lot of security. You know, when you go to the dentist, they put that weighted blanket over the top. Yeah, there’s a moment when you’re like, Oh, it’s okay. But weighted blankets have really picked up as a cool hot item, there’s a lot of growth. In weighted blankets, I think it’s something you should really look at bringing into your store because it’s demonstrable, immediately put somebody down, hey, you want to try this weighted blankets really cool, you may not have a chance to try this at another point. So this is an extension of the weighted blanket category. And for people that want that feeling of really being snug and extra secure. This is a cool product. Now, I would not recommend the weighted mask for side sleepers, it starts to shift, there’s enough weight there where it starts to kind of fall down or create some pressure points, not uncomfortable to the point where you’re like, oh, get this thing off me. But it’s noticeable. And also, it’s a little, it’s a little warmer, I didn’t notice some heat coming off this one. Now. It was springtime when I was trying this out. And so there’s a little more heat, you know, obviously, it’s wintertime, maybe you wouldn’t have that. So maybe it’s more of a wintertime mask. But for back sleepers, maybe even for people that are traveling on planes and just need a little bit of weight on their eyes to like prop their head back in that crease between the seats. But I did notice side sleeping, not the best for me. And then the heat factor was a little higher than I wanted. So the triple black is probably my day-to-day go-to. But for those moments of like extra comfort, or when here’s where I really think this will shine. Taking a 20-minute nap. You get that immediate hug around your head. And I usually if when I do take a nap, I don’t nap a lot. But when I do, it’s on my back. So this would be the perfect match for that.
Mark Quinn [43:18]
Well, to wrap this up, that’s great feedback, especially the weighted part if your site’s safer because I am, and I kind of experienced that too. If you’re out there we talk about personal branding, how cool would it be if you are a sales rep for a furniture store, go to go to Manta and maybe see if you can source some of these if you have, maybe they could do a custom job for you on branding or if you bought some of the Manta masking if for anyone who spent you know 10 grand with you and more What if you sent him one of these right? Just as a gift to say hey, thanks forget what the furniture store is doing. Just do it for yourself. And just make it a thank you and so he lights a big deal to Big Sleep inhibitor and this is for me to you. Thanks for spending money with me. And I just want you to know I appreciate you so anyway, a lot of good stuff today. Kinsley, I’m glad you had a great time in Florida. The monkeys in Costa Rica will never be the same because they’re drinking out of a does Marco shot glass some other pictures cool pictures of places that I was able to strategically place that is Marco shot glass if you don’t have one go-to the fam at fam that is and get your very own there. And anyway I hope all of you had the opportunity over spring break to spend some time with family or just relax, unplug and just really kind of take a minute and take a breath and just kind of enjoy a break for yourself so from our fam to your fam when Thank you for tuning in today and remember that sleep is a big deal and the Dos Marcos toast right here’s to
Mark Kinsley [44:59]
Great sleep
Mark Quinn [45:50]
And living your best life.
