Interview with Glen Garner

I met Glen Garner of Retailers Advantage nine years ago at RFID Journal LIVE!, an industry leading trade show. He talks about what he misses about live events as well his life as an inventor and entrepreneur.

Watch: https://youtu.be/j4wSHDJ4BmM

Unedited transcript.

Jim Allan: Starting in 2006, I did videos for a trade show called RFID Journal Live. Part of the fun for me was approaching and meeting vendors in their booths, who were often small business owners or entrepreneurs trying to catch people's eye. One of those people I met along the way is with me today, Glen Garner of Retailers Advantage. Welcome, Glenn.

Glen Garner: Hi, Jim. Good to see you again.

Jim Allan: Yes, it's been a while. I figure about eight or nine years. I met you in a booth at RFID Journal, and I think I actually did a video for you in your booth, which was not typically done.

Do you miss trade shows?

Glen Garner: I enjoy trade shows. I enjoy meeting different people. You don't necessarily sell things, but you meet a whole group of people of all different types, and it gives me the opportunity to see parts of the United States or parts of Europe that I've never been to before, and I love it.

Jim Allan: Was it frustrating that that's kind of been cut off in the last couple of years, that kind of access, that kind of sales?

Glen Garner: Yeah, I miss the travel feel. I do like...

Jim Allan: So you like traveling, you like being on the road.

Glen Garner: Yeah, and it makes you feel alive. You're getting involved, you're excited about something. It's not necessarily about money, so it doesn't mean you're going to make sales, but you meet a lot of interesting people, and I like that.

Jim Allan: I mean, you're very active on LinkedIn, right? But I notice sometimes you may kind of be opposed from a multinational corporation, and you're not afraid to kind of jump in there with a little bit of snark.

Glen Garner: I have to. So it's like, hey, look at me, or what's your thinking there when you're doing that? It's like putting your hands up, hey, I'm over here.

Jim Allan: Do you get response from that at all? Because sometimes it's definitely a bit of English. I think it's subtle.

Glen Garner: My concern with LinkedIn is there's so many of us sharing information, thoughts, and ideas. There's so much information that does it really get lost? So I think that's why, I think it's why trade shows, when we get back to normal again, and you can go to a trade show and then you can focus and ask more questions and talk about things and you discuss things. And I think it's relationship building. You've got to keep slowly getting to know each other. Is Glenn telling the truth? Does he really believe in what he's saying?

Jim Allan: What's your favorite method of selling?

Glen Garner: My favorite method is keep turning up. It's like, you know, keep going to the same company that I've been going for for many years, 10, 20, 30, 35, 40 years, and you build relationships up and you start to build trust. And you're looking forward to the time when, yeah, you know, we win an order. So, I mean, it's persistence, though

Jim Allan: I mean, you have people say no to you for 20, 30, 40 years?

Glen Garner: I think the biggest one is actually, that's a good question, Jim, actually. The biggest one is great idea. I like it. But nothing gets done. Right. And I think that's quite typical. So you make a little mental note, somebody said great idea, but they didn't actually follow through with an order. Yeah. And I've had so many compliments from so many different people saying, oh, Glenn, you should have been taken over by now, or Glenn, this is fantastic. But it doesn't mean the marketplace wants to move forward.

Jim Allan: Right.

Glen Garner: And you keep turning up, you keep talking, you keep chatting, and somehow you find the means to pay for these things. And yeah, I think that's, I don't know how we do it sometimes. Yeah.

Jim Allan: People watching this, if they don't know you and don't really know what RFID is, that's how I met you. But tell me a little bit about, this isn't an infomercial for starters, but what is the main thing that you produce?

Glen Garner: My number one focus was updating all traditional security tags, EAS tags, and updating all that's been made the last 30, 40, 50 years.

Jim Allan: And these are used in retail situations, like on clothing.

Glen Garner: That's it. So a little tag on clothing in a typical retail store.

Jim Allan: So a huge market, potential market.

Glen Garner: Massive.

Jim Allan: So are these tags that you put on clothes, so if people are shoplifting, it sets the buzzer off kind of thing?

Glen Garner: Yes. And typically now you can go online to Amazon or Alibaba, eBay, and you can type in security tag removal and simply buy the magnets or the hooks or the rogue detachers and go shopping.

Jim Allan: You mean to break the tags.

Glen Garner: Yeah, to defeat the tags.

Jim Allan: So you've made a better mousetrap.

Glen Garner: Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.

Jim Allan: So you've made a better tag.

Glen Garner: My first version, which I had at the show that we met Jim, there I introduced our first double lock tag with a smart detacher. So we actually record when the item is sold.

Jim Allan: Right.

Glen Garner: We could also program the tag to say, you're that yellow dress, $125. And it could be done in like a split second.

Jim Allan: there's information on the tag in a chip.

Glen Garner: Absolutely. So that means then.

Jim Allan: So you have software as well that reads that tag.

Glen Garner: And then, so number one, you can't defeat the tag with a magnet or that defeats other tags or a simple hook. Number two, when you remove the tag from the garment, you can actually record when that item was sold, at what time. So both those two thoughts alone can reduce your external theft and reduce your internal theft.

Jim Allan: So the main reason is that it discourages shoplifting and just internal, what are they called?

Glen Garner: Yeah, shrinkage.

Jim Allan: Shrinkage is a word. So you're controlling both external and internal theft. And you're pushing the thieves to your next door neighbors.

Glen Garner: Right. And it's possible for us now to design a tag, say for five different retailers, and they could all have a double lock, but each one could be different to the next door neighbor. So you create uniqueness.

Jim Allan: I mean, in sales, you have to kind of eliminate obstacles, right? So what are the obstacles that are getting in the way between you and being Steve Jobs, I suppose?

Glen Garner: Yeah. A good question, Jim. Actually, I think, and that's a very good question, because even though you do these things, you believe in what you're doing and you believe you have a good idea, but how can you actually turn it into making money?

Jim Allan: Right.

Glen Garner: And I did try to go to some of the larger companies. Many of them said nice things and nice thoughts, and they didn't spend money. So then I tried to target some large accounts because I knew that if I could win a big account, then I'm breaking into the marketplace. And I got very, very close many, many times.

Jim Allan: I mean, is price an obstacle, or what's holding these people back? That's a good thought. Are you competing with cheaper products from somewhere else in the world?

Glen Garner: Yeah. I mean, now a typical retailer says, hey, we know these security tags don't work anymore. That's their thought, because they haven't really tested anything else. I did do a test with a major department store chain. I proved amazing results of 83% shrink reduction, as well as I proved an increase in sales. I did a trade show with another RFID show in London, England, and a gentleman came over to me and said, Glenn, that sign you have saying 83% shrink reduction, no one's going to believe it. Like, it's not believable. It's too much. It's too high. And I thought that was really good, that someone actually told me that because I didn't think like that. The sad thing, what happened after that is the company that tested it actually decided to purchase another product that was cheaper and quite traditional. But I think that's part of the learning curve. It's just the things you go through. Fortunately, we've got some good customers that buy some traditional products from us. So the money we make from that helps us finance new innovations, new ideas.

Jim Allan: What's your definition of success?

Glen Garner: That's a good question. Really good question, actually. What is the definition of success?

Jim Allan: Do you put a number on it, or is it...

Glen Garner: I don't think it's money, money. I think it's just like having a baby. You're so pleased with yourself if everything's OK. The baby's OK, and you just feel you're in love. You feel good that, yeah, we did achieve... We are the best in the industry. And that sounds a little bit overconfident and a bit cocky, but you know you've upgraded all the single lock devices made with a double lock.

Jim Allan: Is there any advantage, I mean, for whatever reason you've settled in Canada, but maybe there's personal reasons, but is there any advantage to being in Canada or the United States, or I know you try to sell this product internationally, right?

Glen Garner: Yes, good thought. I think if we were based in New York, or in a major city like New York, or say it could be Los Angeles or somewhere like that, we would have more success, because the large customers are on your doorstep in the United States. But then saying that, if you look at the Nordic countries, they're very good at exporting globally, and they thrive on getting exports. But this is where the innovation came from.

Jim Allan: I mean, looking back, are you happy that you became an inventor in tech? Or is it sometimes you feel like you should have done something else?

Glen Garner: I think it just happened. You can't help it, can you, Jim? It's like yourself. You involve the camera industry, the radio industry. I mean, you've always been in the industry. You can feel it. You can't help it. Yeah, naturally, I was an inventor when I was a kid. I invented three board games. And I still got those ideas in my head today.

Jim Allan: Do you set goals for yourself? Do you wake up like, I want to come up with one new thought today? Sometimes writers get up and write for an hour every day, even if it's gibberish, just to flex that muscle, right? So do you have any kind of structure to your day at all? Or are you just in sales mode all the time these days, like chasing leads?

Glen Garner: I think I'm trying to learn not to overdo it, not to sell too much. I think what I love is like playing tennis. The more you hit that tennis ball, and I should be playing more, the more you hit that tennis ball, your head relaxes and it turns off. And that's when, out of the blue, an idea comes up. Technology evolves. Does your mindset evolve as inevitably technology keeps moving on? That's why I like trade shows. It's kind of cool when you walk around trade shows, and I met a gentleman, one gentleman, I remember coming to his show, he says, all the innovation comes from the outside, the small little stands. Right. It's not from the big stand in the middle. Maybe they're the ones that are presenting it, because they discovered it from the smaller stands around the outside. And so I'd recommend anyone going to a trade show, as well as going to the big stand in the middle, don't forget the little people around the outside, because I think that's good for them too, and I think we can learn a lot from that. Yeah, that's a good point, actually. The last couple of years, actually, we've shaken the marketplace up so much that I think we recognise now we need more intelligence, we need better security devices, we need better everything.

Jim Allan: Glen, thanks for coming out. I appreciate the trip out, and best of luck in 2022.

Glen Garner: Jim, much appreciated, and I'm really pleased that we met each other, what was it, nine years ago?

Jim Allan: Something like that, yeah. Definitely.

Glen Garner: Thanks again, Jim. Take care.

Jim Allan: Thanks.