Latest / The Bigger Stage w/ Matt Stone / The Trust Accelerator: Why Video Builds Real Relationships | Paul Banks
Transcript
- BBR Show Pre-launch Convo - Paul Banks === Matt Stone: [00:00:00] Welcome to Building Business Relationships. I'm Matt Stone. Matt Stone: And before we officially launch, we are exploring what matters most when it comes to relationships in business, these early episodes. Are about testing ideas, learning from guests, and hearing what you think belongs in the conversation. So please listen in, share your thoughts, and help us shape what this ultimately becomes. Joining me today to help with this is my friend and colleague Paul Banks. He's the founder of Javelin Content Management. He's a proud husband, dad of two boys. And a guy who really gets people thanks to 15 years in retail leadership and a decade as a volunteer cop of all things. So mind your affairs people 'cause he's after you. Uh, after leaving corporate life to join an AI startup, Paul found his true lane helping businesses build trust and spark real conversations through repurposing video at scale. And I know from personal experience he's really, really good [00:01:00] at it and he has a lot of other good ideas too. Paul, thanks for taking a few minutes today. Paul Banks: Thanks for having me along, Matt, it's a pleasure. Great to be here. Matt Stone: When I thought about who I wanted to talk to in this preliminary phase pre-launch, like what, what is, what are the topics that are interesting? You were in the top five of my list, uh, and you've been such an incredible and generous partner, um, uh, in the relatively short time we've known each other, but you're just a great guy and I'm excited to pick your brain on a couple things. Matt Stone: Before we get into the other questions, I just wanna start off with the same question I ask everybody, which is, when you look back, uh, on your life and your career, can you think of a, a business relationship in particular that's had a major positive impact, maybe even transformational on your career and or your life? Matt Stone: Who do you think of? Paul Banks: I think the first person that I naturally think of is the guy who brought me out of corporate. He jail broke me. He, um, he [00:02:00] hunted me down without me realizing, um, who is Jimmy Hosang, who is my CEO at the startup when I left retail. I'd probably spent seven or eight years squandering my time in retail. I was bored. Paul Banks: I was done. I knew there was something else out there and I couldn't find what, and Jimmy was the guy that saw in me what I now am, and took a chance, took a huge leap of faith. As a startup owner who didn't have a huge amount of revenue in the business, he took a gamble on me and I'd like to think I've repaid him. Paul Banks: Um, but without that leap of faith, I wouldn't be where I am now. So absolutely the ability of him to see in me that I was everything that he needed and wanted in the business, but also see past what my current job title was, to look at the qualities and the way that I dealt with things that he was throwing at me, to give me that chance Matt Stone: Hmm. Paul Banks: the rest on me, you know, 'cause I said yes and I, I took that chance with both hands. [00:03:00] But you've gotta be given the chance to be able to prove yourself. I think. Matt Stone: Do you remember the moment when you realized that he was seeing, really seeing you? Do you remember that moment? Paul Banks: It was weird because he, he was pretty much the only person that appeared in my LinkedIn feed, and all he did was post ridiculous, um, humorous memes and gifs and images. There was no business substance whatsoever, and I liked him for no other reason the fact that he was the only person that was posting anything positive in my LinkedIn feed, and he messaged me one day out the blue and just said, Hey, would you jump on a call? Paul Banks: I've got a great idea and I'd like to kind of run it past you. And I was like. Yeah. Okay. Um, but I've got this big pallet of stock to put out and it's like, I'm gonna have to talk to you whilst I'm putting the stock out. He's like, yeah, yeah, that's, that's fine. Let's do it. And, um, I didn't even realize, I genuinely thought that he was just picking my brains at this point in time. Paul Banks: I just thought he [00:04:00] just wanted to, a bit of advice and for me it was something a bit different. I was, you know, like the chance to talk with another human and help someone was, was fun. Like it was different. Like nobody had ever asked me to help them before right? And I got to the end of the conversation and I'd explained my background in loss prevention and theft management and fraud analytics for the business. Paul Banks: And, um, I explained all my process and what I did, and he just went, oh, that's fantastic. And I said, well, well that's great. That's, that's my story. That's me done. And now I'm gonna go and get the next palette. And he was like, Paul. You, no, what, what are you doing? You can't just give me all that and then walk away like, I, are you gonna come work for me? Paul Banks: And I was, I was like, are are you serious? He was like, I'm gonna give you a test project and if you nail the test project, you come in with us. And I was like, this is bizarre. But like I said, it was just. The ability for someone to, we connected on a, on a level [00:05:00] that, like I, I'd not felt with anybody in my previous employment. Paul Banks: We just understood each other and being able to take that leap of faith on someone is, is a huge ask when you're in that position. So, but yeah, six weeks later I was working for him. Matt Stone: Wow. I wanna pull the thread on this just a little bit more before we move on to some other questions, because I wonder how much of it was conscious on your part. You know, it takes two to tango, so there was clearly something you were doing in addition to showing up, there were choices that you made. Matt Stone: There were things that you revealed the way you approached him, your energy. Do, do you ascribe him really seeing you for who you are, to anything that you did in particular? Paul Banks: It's funny, the, the word neurodiversity continues to pop up in my feed, my life and my relationships and everything that I do. And I know for a fact that without him being diagnosed, that that Jimmy is ADHD. There is no doubt about it. He laughs about himself. He's no intentions of being diagnosed, [00:06:00] but it's blatantly obvious, he's off the chart. Paul Banks: It's brilliant. He's such a genius mind. And at that point in time, I had no idea that I'm also A DHD and I know that there's a lot of kind of what we call neuro spicy people who just get each other, who really understand each other incredibly well, and I'm very proud to be part of that club, right? Like I'm, I'm going through the, the, um, assessment process to be formally diagnosed, but I know it's, it's a given. Paul Banks: I know I am. I think that ability of me to hyperfocus and to your point, bring the energy and the passion to that moment in time when called upon was really something that just ignited something within him. But then there was another point where he gave me the test project and he said, write a project brief for this theoretical project that we haven't actually created, doesn't actually exist. The next morning, he gave me that about seven or eight o'clock at night, and the next morning at 7:00 AM a 29 page document [00:07:00] landed on his email desk and he was like, oh yes, we're doing this. I'm like, yeah, I was up all night. I couldn't sleep. This is amazing. Like, I love the idea and I really want to do this, and oh my God, like look at these, these things. All, all this information. I think it boils down to a couple of things, is being able to connect with people who you have no other connection with. Just be able to find the commonalities and the, the shared interests and energies, but also to be able to tell a story. Paul Banks: And I think that is missing for so many people. We get lost in business cases and ROIs and metrics, and I'd far rather tell a story, true or otherwise, then I would listen to somebody talk about metrics. Um, and whilst metrics are important, of course they are. Um. You know, you can't just explain metrics to someone else and have them get it in the same way that you do. Paul Banks: You've gotta tell the story behind those numbers. You've gotta [00:08:00] bring people on the journey with you. And I think that's something I'm incredibly good at. And he saw that and knew that as an early business that didn't have a sales or marketing team at that point. I was it. Um, or I became it after I signed. Paul Banks: Um, I think he knew he'd need that because what else does a small business have? There's no use cases. There's no case studies, there's no social proof, there's no testimonials. There's a guy on a video call telling the story of the business and himself and hoping that that's enough. And you know, fast forward four years, I left them with a $25 million pipeline. Paul Banks: So yeah, it worked. Matt Stone: We could just drop the mic right there, but we're not going to. Okay. I just wanna take a couple minutes and talk about video content. You're helping people maximize the value of their video content and scale it and repurpose it and tell their story, but, get all the juice from the squeeze of the, of the video that they do right? Is that, is that a fair [00:09:00] characterization? Paul Banks: That's actually an image that I use in my own marketing is kind of that, that juice squasher, like you, you're putting a fresh orange, you know, episode in the top and you want to make sure you get all of that juice out of it because otherwise you're wasting your time and energy. Matt Stone: Great. I guess we're using the same metaphors, so we like citrus. Uh, why would you leave all the juice in the pulp and throw it away? Why not? Why not use the juice, the pulp and the peel? Um, and you kind of touched on it just now, but maybe explore this for just a minute or two. As a video content expert now, what connection is there between video content that you're helping your clients with and human relationships? Paul Banks: It's almost every level, right? Matt? I think more in 2025 than ever before as well because we've got this proliferation of AI. Everything is a competition of who can prompt the best AI to create the content that sounds the most like them. We've [00:10:00] got, um, content at a scale which has never been seen before by most people. Paul Banks: Um, you know, anyone can become an absolute content machine in this day and age, but where video stands out from the crowd is me being able to look you in the eyes and see what you are made of, without me even having to jump on a call with you. I can see whether you believe what you're talking about. I can see your energy and your passion. Paul Banks: And I've said for the longest time, for a lot of service-based providers, um, in business, there's this constant fear of a race at the bottom. And it's true across a lot of industries, but service providers see it the worst. If you provide the same services as person A over here and your person B over here, and the client, the potential client knows neither of you, I just want to get the cheapest service I can get for the same value, right? Paul Banks: But if I know this guy here and you believe in X, Y, and Z, and it's the same as I believe in, but this person over here is an absolute [00:11:00] stranger, I pay extra for this guy here because I know what I'm getting. I know I align with who you are. And the ability for video to convey that in a very short time. Paul Banks: The irony is the, and the truth is, even with video, you, you don't even need to have somebody watch your video. Just the fact that the video is there and it's playing as somebody scrolls past, is enough to increase your authority in their mind. It's all behavioral science. There's so much in behavioral science that just plays into videos, and Paul Banks: I think it's a great way of expressing yourself. I feel really cathartic once I've, when I've recorded my list, like whatever's my passion, whatever's really grinding my gears at that moment in time, I'm gonna get on video and I'm gonna talk about it and it gets it out there. And you'd be surprised how many people resonate with exactly your viewpoint, but they've just never had the confidence or the technical knowledge to be able to get that message out there themselves. Paul Banks: And you find your tribe with it, and I think that's really, powerful. That's [00:12:00] really important is that finding your tribe is where we all need to be. Not necessarily sandboxing yourself or putting your head in the sand, but being around people who want the same sort of things and same sort of outcomes as you, and live in the same sort of expectations of each other. Paul Banks: I think that's really important. Matt Stone: And to loop it back to the first story you told and people who really see and appreciate you, Paul Banks: Yeah. Matt Stone: I was just visualizing, as you were talking about vi the connect, you beautifully put the connection between video and relationship building. Video is a trust accelerator. Paul Banks: There's no faster way to do it. Matt Stone: And what an opportunity we have today when trust is so low in institutions and a lot of big companies and, and we've got real trust issues across the globe. So if you are able to build trust, it's like the great differentiator. Matt Stone: I mean, I think this is the, the problems we're seeing societally, [00:13:00] politically, geopolitically, all those issues are creating a huge opportunity for those of us who are genuinely into building real relationships. I think it's, it's a great opportunity. Let me ask you this, what's the topic about relationships that you think isn't given enough oxygen right now? Paul Banks: I think we've almost lost the ability to start from a position of trust. And I think that's the tall and short of where we are in 2025. Every new connection I get, every new person who comes into my network starts with a hundred percent trust, and it's down to you whether you keep that trust or you lose it. Paul Banks: But I will treat everybody with a hundred percent from the start. Unfortunately, that's a contrarian view to most people these days. Most people are starting from the bottom and you've gotta earn your way up bit by bit by bit. As you've said, you know, um, in this day and age, I think automation and AI [00:14:00] really help, unfortunately, really help those of us who know how to do things organically and without that automation, or augmented by that automation even, to really stand out from the crowd. Paul Banks: But I send messages out to people and I introduce myself. I tell them what I create content about. And for a lot of people, the first response is, no thanks. I don't need your services. Uh, that's, I didn't offer any services. I couldn't possibly take you one of them. Moment. I've got enough clients, thank you very much. Paul Banks: But, it's that almost expectation that we're about to be sold to. And I, I think distrust has never been at a greater level Matt. Honestly it's, it's both a shame and, but for me, it's my, I'm, I'm over the moon because it helps me stand out. Like I'm, I stand out like a sore thumb because I'm the only genuine guy in my network, you know, like, uh, not the only genuine guy, but the very few of us who are going about doing things the right way. Paul Banks: So painful to see other people going through that process, [00:15:00] but also it doesn't harm my business in any way, shape or form. If anything, it helps me. Matt Stone: Yeah. Well, you know, around where I'm from or where I live, you'd be referred to as a mensch. Matt Stone: I just have no compunction even, you know, recommending you to people because I know who you are as a person, just from just, and it didn't take that long. I mean, it's amazing. We gotta go 'cause this is a preliminary and I, I wanna invite you back when we launched the official pod. I want you on the team, I want you part of our guest hosts. Matt Stone: I want you part of our community. So I'm just throwing that out there. Now, you don't have to say yes on camera. Um, but, one final question, my friend. Tell us why are you excited about the Matt Stone: BBR show? Paul Banks: I think it's an awesome opportunity to shine the light on the way relationships can and should be created. I think we spend far too much time talking about the negatives and the things that are annoying us, and the thing where's things shouldn't be done, but where's the positivity? Where's the [00:16:00] light at the end of the tunnel? Paul Banks: Where's the guiding light, the North Star? And I'm praying. I know you. I can't wait for the day when you launch because I know that you are going to be highlighting the very best in people. And showing that there is, and there are people out there, there is a good way of doing things. Paul Banks: There are people out there doing those good things. Um, but also to pick apart, you know, what's going wrong with that relationship building. Why is that so hard in this day and age? Because it goes beyond social media tactics. It goes beyond whether you use video or not. And I think so few people spend their time considering that and thinking about why that is, Paul Banks: that my worry is that we just backslide into wherever we are going. We're almost zombie walk into distrust is where I'm gonna leave that. But I'm super excited for BBR to launch. I think you're going to do a tremendous job. It's gonna be so exciting, and I can just feel the [00:17:00] positivity coming out of it already. Paul Banks: So good luck with it. I'm, I'm looking forward to seeing it. Matt Stone: Well, good luck to it, but it's also a product of my relationships, including my relationship with you. So thank you for contributing and uh, I know that'll continue to grow. Well, thank you for your time, Paul, and, uh, and most of all your insights and your heart and sharing. So we'll, we'll catch you on the next one. Paul Banks: More than welcome. We'll see you soon. Matt Stone: Hi friends. If you're interested in connecting with Paul Banks, he's easy to find. Go to javelin content.com. That's javelin content.com, and we'll put this information in the show notes. Javelin, javelincontent.com. You can also find him on LinkedIn and we'll put that link also in the show notes for you if you want to connect with him. And of course, as always, thank you so much for watching this pre-launch content. We want you to contribute to what the show will ultimately become. So please let us know what you think, what do you [00:18:00] like, what do you hope that we discuss when we launch the show next year? Give us your thoughts, your feedback, and your suggestions. Matt Stone: Go to mattstone.co. That's mattstone.co, and you can send us a message through the contact form there, and we'll see you in the next show.