July 25, 2023 • 31 mins
Your favorite episode theme is back, baby! We've gotten so much love from the first two ring-buyer interviews, we came back for a third one. What's the general approach to engagement ring buying from someone not within the jewelry industry? What do couples know about jewelry, and what misconceptions did they have before the process?
Mike spoke with two first time ring buyers in two different demographics to hear about their ring buying experiences. We hope this informs you of what is important to ring buyers when they are shopping for engagement rings!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome back everybody to In the Loop.
What is up everybody?
My name is Michael Burpo.
Thanks again for listening toIn the Loop.
This week we're bringing backour most popular little
sub-series called let's TalkWith Ring Buyers, and these are
little interviews that I do withrecent shoppers that have
purchased engagement rings andto hear about their shopping
(00:25):
experience, whether that startedin-store or online, where they
actually purchased the rings.
If they bought anything alongwith the rings, it's a very
interesting kind of peek behindthe curtain in something that is
a unique way of getting insidea shopper's mind, which is very
important when it comes to userexperience.
I'm interviewing Nick Weber,one of my friends from Growing
(00:46):
Up, and we talk about hisengagement ring, which has a
sapphire in it and is modeledafter Princess Diana's ring.
And then we're interviewing theproject manager at Punchmark,
lorenzo, who most of you haveprobably met at some point, and
we're talking about his ringthat he bought for his husband,
and we're talking about howthere's kind of a weird lack of
(01:08):
options when it comes to menbuying rings for men, and
Lorenzo is a very discerningshopper so he did a lot of
research and he brings all thatto the table.
It's a really fun talk.
I hope you learned something newabout what goes through a
shopper's mind, but when you'remaking your sales, you are able
to better suit them.
Alright, thanks and enjoy.
We'll see you next time on thefree demo today at punchmarkcom.
(01:58):
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enjoy in the show.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Thanks, hey everyone, this is Ross Cockrum, ceo and
co-founder of Punchmark.
If you're going to the IJLCleveland show, we'd love to
chat with you so we can learnabout what's really working well
and also share some marketingadvice on what's working for our
retailers.
You can even check out our newAntwerp Marketing campaign that
we're unveiling.
Go to punchmarkcom slash IJL tomake an appointment.
(02:34):
In light of Punchmark's 15thanniversary this year, you can
save 15% off your design andservice plan over the next 12
months just by making anappointment before the show and
now back to the show.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Welcome everybody.
I'm chatting with my buddy,Nick Weber.
How you doing, Nick?
I'm good.
Michael, how are you Doing?
Alright?
So it's just kind of theback-star between us.
You're one of my brother's bestfriends.
You were in my brother'swedding and you guys played
football together and now weplay in the same fantasy
football league but, moreexcitingly, you just got engaged
.
Congratulations.
(03:15):
Thanks, man, You're veryexciting.
Yeah, so okay, like I just kindof just walk you through.
We've got all these listenersthat are interested in like kind
of like the customer journey,the buying process, for you know
a you know a male in his early30s, early-ish 30s, and I kind
(03:36):
of want to just like maybe cheeryour process behind us.
So can you like talk me through, like first of all, the
decision-making this is a bigdecision and like how you kind
of got to the point of decidingyou were going to purchase a
ring.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Yeah, I guess.
So I had a couple of differentsteps.
The first was like I told myfamily about it, right?
So I told my dad.
I was like I'm going to proposeand I was like the biggest
thing, I really wanted to be asurprise.
So right now, I've beentogether forever.
I was like I want her to besurprised.
I don't want to come up to hertomorrow and be like hey, what
do you want for a ring?
Yeah, so we're brainstormingand we're talking and we're like
(04:11):
should I just like not get aring?
Like get a placeholder, dosomething where it's like yeah,
you know, here's a fake ring,but we'll go get one together.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Like a ring pop or something.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Yeah, me and my dad are like yeah, yeah, great idea.
And then I went and I told hersister because she was like the
first one from her family that Iwas talking to and pretty much
unanimously everyone was likeyeah, like not a great idea.
Get a ring and like know whatshe wants.
(04:42):
And thankfully her sister waslike yeah, I know exactly what
she wants.
Oh, interesting.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
interesting Because sometimes you know some of the
people I've spoken to about thisin the past they bring their
significant other and they do itas like you know, as like a
partner kind of thing, wherethey actually have them go and
pick exactly what they want andthey bring it to them.
But it's kind of cool to hearthat someone actually went with
like more of a surprise route.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Yeah, and my dad actually did that.
Like I was talking to my momafter the fact and she's like,
yeah, your dad just had like aplaceholder and then we just
went.
It was awesome.
So that's where the idea camefrom, sort of, but it was like
organic to me and then my dadwas like, yeah, good idea, and
he didn't really let on.
That's how he did, it Right,yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Okay, so you I mean, I'm giving something away at
that was going to kind of besurprised, but it's like.
So you purchased a engagementring with a sapphire in the
center stone.
So how'd you come to that, thatdecision, because obviously
that's a little bit atypical,but increasingly popular.
How did you decide to kind ofgo out on a limb with that?
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah, I was talking to her sister and her sister was
Like I just hoped that Shawnknew what ring, so thankfully
she was like I know exactly whatshe wants.
So she says she wants KateMilton's ring.
So if you look at it's like thebiggest ring of all time, right
, and she wants like it doesn'thave to be like that big, but
(06:14):
she likes sapphires and shelikes that style.
And I know nothing about range,right, like.
I think what's interesting tome is that throughout this
process I don't think I've everlike looked at a girl's hand and
tried to like see what ringthey're wearing or anything.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
A classic guy right there, so I like no Expectations
, no background, no, yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
So I was like, oh, sapphire, I don't know like kind
of a traditional guy.
I was like I don't know if I'mgonna like this.
So I go home and I look at therings right Just online.
I'm looking like these areactually sick, like these are
awesome.
They're yeah, cool.
I think the coloring was likevery unique and different, yeah.
(06:58):
So then I got pretty excitedabout it, right.
So then after that, like allright, where am I gonna go to
actually get the ring?
So Siobhan Raid's sister and herhusband had they got their ring
at Barmequine Jewelers, whichis just this like local jeweler
in Boston.
My dad has always gottenjewelry there, right.
So, yeah, anyone in our family,a little bit of loyalty, that's
(07:21):
pretty cool.
Like my sister always gets thebest gifts and she would always
get these like BarmequineJewelry and the boys would get
like button-down G-shirts.
Anyways, I knew about the placeand then I looked it up online
at a great reviews.
So, yeah, I mean it was prettyeasy.
(07:43):
It was all honestly likeinsanely easy.
So I go in there.
I made a reservation.
This guy Marat, he was great,he was just.
He gave me this feel right, bigrundown yeah, we get our
diamonds from XYZ.
They're all like really, yada,yada, yada.
Here's why they're great.
Wasn't really paying muchattention because I was like,
actually I wanted Sapphire, likeI'm not, oh, interesting, okay,
(08:03):
did you do?
Speaker 1 (08:04):
you have a budget going into this, like, did you
kind of have like a like agoalpost, like on what you were
kind of hoping to spend, or andalso follow a question to that
Did you actually fall inside ofthat range?
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Yeah, I think I had like a very wide range.
I was pretty much if I seesomething I like, I'm gonna get
it.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Hopefully you only have to buy this once, you know
I mean there's this whole likethis, so many things in
succession.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
They're so expensive, right, like you get a ring, the
wedding process, and thenyou're at the family.
You're like, all right, shouldwe like buying houses?
Should we do all this stuff?
So like a million differentthings, they're all expensive.
But for me my thought was kindof alright, she's gonna wear
this every day, right?
So like she will have this fora really long time.
If I bump up a little bit, likethe difference over the course
(08:57):
of our lives is gonna be nothingcompared to you know it's
between two or three, nothingcompared to you know it was
between two rings.
So I looked Pretty much at allthe options and, yeah, all right
, this one very much.
So I Kind of like the most.
There's actually two that Iliked, but the one that I got
was more similar to Princess,okay, middle to the train.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Yeah, you know Kate Middleton's ring.
I was fairly certain.
I just googled it reallyquickly.
You know, it's actually um, yes, it's Princess Diana's ring.
Yes, it's Princess Diana'sexactly.
Oh, such a cool it's.
That's a really nice connectionthat you know that kind of
shares it.
It's not just a famous person's, but it's actually a famous
person's with a great storybehind it.
(09:42):
So it's actually great, great.
We're saying great.
I think it's a pretty solidstory behind it.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
You know like, don't you think so?
Maybe yes, I think that thehistory of it is great.
I think that there is, you know, potential tragedy in there,
but overall, okay, okay you know, I see I see fair point, fair
point.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
I guess that was the other thing.
So Of course we do websites,but increasingly we I've
definitely talked to a lot, of,a lot of men.
When they get, when they dogood, do they're purchasing kind
of process?
And I like to hear kind of likedid you look online at all, too
, before you went in?
Because we see that, like forgifts, it's a lot of it's done
(10:22):
just like from a comfort oftheir own home, because you know
they get expedited shipping,because they waited too long.
But this one it seems like youdefinitely had some more time to
think about it.
Did you look online or did youkind of go in and let the
jeweler sort of guide yourprocess?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
I Looked online, I should want to send me a link to
three or four rings.
It was like, you know, she sentthe picture of Kate Milton's
right and it was like so, maybesomething like this or like this
.
Yeah, you know there was threeor four.
And then I went in and Iremember like one that I liked
Online being sold out and I waslike, oh, I wonder if that's
(10:59):
actually representative of whatthey have in the store.
And I went to it was I got thevibe that it wasn't very
representative, right, like theyhad a couple things on their
website, but if you went in thestore there was many more
options and then they kind ofwalked you through everything
that they had.
So, yeah, a little bit ofresearch, not a ton.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Yeah.
So from the time that you wentto when you thought to yourself,
hey, I might buy this ring, andwhen you actually purchased it,
what was that timeline?
How long was that?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Maybe, like I don't know, like a week I was like
what oh jeez.
Wow, that's a lot quicker thanI thought it was going to be
Well actually.
No, that's not true, sorry.
When I talked to her sister andknew what to actually get, it
was probably Then it was a week,but like talking to my parents
and being like, hey, I'm readyto do this, yada, yada, yada
(11:53):
Definitely a lot longer thanthat.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yeah, that's super cool man.
I'm super stoked for you.
Maybe just kind of high leveloverview?
I just kind of like to leave itwith this, because I think a
lot of the jewelers that we haveare the reason why they are
still in jewelry is because theyreally enjoy kind of like this
idea of love and this connectionkind of thing.
Would you be able to give uskind of like an overview on like
(12:15):
are you proposed or were youproposed, or something like that
?
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Yeah, I did it on our rooftop and so it was.
We just have an apartment inBoston, right?
So we have kind of a uniquesetup at our place where we're
like pretty close to downtownand we're on the top floor of
like an old building and there'sactually a spiral staircase in
our apartment, nice, and it's upto a skylight that opens up.
(12:39):
But it's in our lease thatwe're not supposed to go up
there, right, in a way, good forus, because we're not paying
for some patio or something inour rent.
And you know, hypothetically,where do I go up there?
Don't tell my landlord, right,like you would get a great
Hypothetically, yeah,hypothetically, you would get a
great view of the city.
So, yeah, so I invited hersister over.
(13:00):
I was like Shabon, can you justmake plans?
Can you like ask to go todinner?
I want you here to be a part ofit, and then you can also be
the videographers, right?
So she came over with herhusband.
It's pretty casual, right, likeI wanted to keep her surprised,
make it feel like a normalnight.
Then we went upstairs.
(13:20):
She was pretty much like can wego take pictures upstairs?
We've never been up there.
So we went up there took apicture of them.
I was like all right man, likeI don't think we've taken a
picture up here either.
So then we took a picture it issmoother than silk man.
Nice.
Yeah, it was nice, I don't know.
I feel like it's kind ofromantic, right when we first
shared our first apartment alonetogether.
(13:41):
The backdrop in Boston, whichwe were both kind of raised near
it's like the biggest city.
We spent a lot of time here, so, yeah, and the weather was
beautiful, so the backdrop wasperfect.
Yeah, it went up a little bitahead.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
That's awesome.
And the final question I guessI was wondering when you were
making your purchase, did theyoffer to upsell you on anything?
Did they try to offer you, forexample, like a deal, Like a
wedding band, or did they giveyou coupons for future purchases
to kind of keep you as acustomer?
Or did you kind of walk in,walk out with this engagement
(14:17):
ring?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Yeah, the guy was great Again.
Like I didn't feel like therewas any pressure.
It was like super laid back.
He was just like, show me somerings.
And I was like, all right, heshowed me, like the base and
then I said like, do you haveanything else?
Like at least the options.
He's like no, I got some morestuff.
So he went, he grabbed it, cameback and then, yeah, the ring
(14:43):
size was an interesting thing.
So I'm raised to six.
The ring was a seven.
That was like what normallyhappens here.
Again, every ring size of down.
Yeah.
So he's like well, if I was tomake it bigger, right, I could
do it in like 10 minutes youcould have it.
But he's like making it smallerit's a little bit more of a
process.
So, a few, just like proposedand then come back and we'll do
(15:08):
all the ring size and everything.
And then he was even like ifyou don't like, if she doesn't
like the ring, like you can justreturn it and pick another one.
Like I was between two and Iwas like I think this one now
and they were really happy withwhen I chose, I think that was
the right call.
But he was like but we're notgoing to afford to keep
something that she's not happywith.
So she doesn't like it, justreturn it.
(15:29):
We'll pick something else out,so that's great man.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Nick, I can't thank you enough.
I'm super excited for you andRay.
I think that this is going tobe great and, honestly, it's
really interesting hearing your.
Your buying journey is.
You know, it's pretty similarto Steve's and my brother.
He was on the first time we didone of these episodes way back
in like I think, season two run,I think our fourth season right
now, so it's been a little bitof time.
But people that you know,whenever we do one of these
(15:54):
episodes, our retailers reallyenjoy listening to, kind of like
, the buying process of a normal, you know, person buying and
engagement ring, because everytime it's unique but also kind
of similar, and seeing where youcan draw the similarities and
the commonalities of everythingis kind of you know where you
can start to improve and targetand get after it a little bit
(16:15):
more.
So, Nick, can't thank youenough.
Man, Thanks for coming on.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Wait, I got a question for you.
She was.
So for me this was super easy,right Like it was.
I left there.
Being like that was insanelyeasy.
I thought it was going to belike much more difficult.
So my big question I went alone, right Like I was, like I just
want to like feel like what Iwant to get, not have any like
judgment.
Do you find that people go withlike their dad or something, or
(16:40):
family member, or do peopletend to go along?
Speaker 1 (16:43):
So we've done.
We've done three of theseinterviews on in the loop, but
I've talked to obviously a lotmore people, but we've done
three interviews and I believemost people go with one other
person.
So I think that, like they, Ithink for one we did two women
and they went together and theybought each other their, their
(17:05):
rings.
One time I mean, Steve went inby himself but he did a ton of
research online.
And then, I think, one he wentwith his dad and they like kind
of bought it together and theysort of did like a like, like a
Brosnan kind of thing.
But I it's more increasinglycommon to have the significant
other come with them and go tothe, the shore, and then they
(17:26):
pick it out and then it's kindof like they've got it in the.
You know they've got this ringand they're going to kind of
wait for the right time.
But I don't really love thatone as much, truthfully.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
She's a part of the surprise.
Also, merida has this hilariousnarrative where, like, I feel
like the whole thing, she wasvery surprised by it and now
she's like, oh, like, I knew, Iknew, I knew, but that's the
risk, right, like if you walkinto a store and you get it with
a partner, I think that's superslick.
In a way, it's very smartbecause you know that they
(17:58):
that's what they want, right,but in another way, like some of
the surprise gets taken away.
Probably a good hedge now thatI'm looking back on it.
But I think that's why I wassuper happy with this guy that I
went to.
He was like, listen, like youwant to trade it?
Like, trade it, come back, lookat more rings.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Yeah, take that weight off and, honestly, you
can also just like you can swapanything out.
If you had a sapphire in themiddle and she was just like yo,
I definitely want a diamond andyou like completely read the
room wrong, you could probablygo in and they would probably
buy back the ring or buy backthe stone and could sell you a
replacement diamond or whateverstone you wanted.
(18:37):
It's just like.
Increasingly, diamonds, as thenon center stone, are increasing
in popularity, though, you know, diamonds are just still the
number one choice for engagementrings.
I think that there's still kindof the hallmark of all the
advertising by, you know, thebeers and all the different
groups.
So it still is very popular.
(18:58):
But I really like that's one ofthe reasons why this jumped to
my mind when I heard it I waslike dude, that sapphire is sick
.
I love that you guys chose that.
So I swear yeah, all right, man.
Well, we're going on to thenext one.
All right, everybody.
I'm joined by Lorenzo Millican.
How you doing today, lorenzo?
I'm good, Mike, how are youdoing?
I'm doing all right.
(19:19):
So, project manager atPunchmark, you've probably
spoken with every new clientthat we've picked up in the last
.
What?
Two and a half years?
At this point, three years.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Yeah, so it's super, super amazing, especially our
client workshop.
I found out that I know most ofour new clients even more so
than kind of our senior members.
It was really nice to see thatrecognition there, that's super
cool Because.
I don't know it without verymuch.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Yeah, I think it's really neat that you're like the
welcoming committee, likeyou're the first people to you
know, get a chance to speak withthese people and you walk them
through the whole process andthen kind of pass them off to
the other teams.
Definitely something that wereally needed when we brought
you in and I think you've done areally great job, super stoked
to have you here.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
I appreciate that.
Yeah, it's been really fun.
Like you said, I am thewelcoming committee, I'm the
first person that you see otherthan sales, and I'm with you
directly for a good bitdepending on the little website
package that you have and it'sreally interesting to get to
know all of these new clients.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
So we're talking about the ring buying process
and, to set this up for thepeople that are listening, renzo
is the most, I guess, thoroughconsumer I've ever met.
Very into tech, verywell-versed, like reads up
everything that he's going topurchase.
Can you kind of talk me alittle bit through about the
(20:49):
research process and then we'llget into how you actually bought
things?
But can we talk about theresearch that you did ahead of
actually buying your rings withyour now husband and our fiance,
I guess, and we can go fromthere.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
Yeah, so I of course I am looking at clients'
websites all the time for my job, so I started just kind of
perusing.
When I'm going through QCwebsite, just looking at the
engagement ring selection formen, it's very, very restrictive
(21:25):
in comparison to women'swedding bands, so that kind of
narrowed down the search a goodbit because, unlike wedding
bands for women, men's weddingbands are.
Each company has kind of aniche.
Each wedding band company sofor instance Benchmark, they
(21:48):
have a bunch of differentcollections and each collection
has its own niche, whether it'smeteorite rings or they just, or
they have a collection that'sjust like classic gold bands and
stuff like that.
So I started researching that.
I already knew that I wantedrose gold for me and white gold
(22:08):
for Jonathan.
So then I was kind ofcontemplating whether I want
stones or not.
So I was looking at somedifferent stone options.
I'm not a very big diamondperson, which I work in jewelry
industry, so that's a little oddI guess.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
But I don't think any of us really are.
It's kind of crazy.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Right.
Yeah, I'm definitely not a bigdiamond person, so that was not
high on the list, but there aresome other gems that I really do
like, so I was looking at those.
I didn't really find anything.
It's just not very many goodways to put a stone in.
Just a band was what I found.
So I kind of nixed that off thelist.
(22:50):
And then I was looking forsomething a little bit different
, but not too different.
That it's striking.
I want it kind of like atimeless design, but it also be
a little modern, and I reallyfound that Gabriel and Co that's
their stick, that's everythingthey make.
(23:13):
It's just timeless, not tooflashy.
They have a couple of yellowgold ones that are really flashy
, but not too flashy, but alsoreally well made.
They're all solid gold.
So that's kind of where Inarrowed the search down to was
Gabriel and Co.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Yeah, and did you?
Were you perusing?
Which website were you lookingat?
Were you looking at Gabriel andCo's website, or were you
looking at one of our clientsthat carries them?
Speaker 4 (23:39):
Oh, a client shot of Harris Jeweler Shout out to them
.
I, we just I feel like we had areally kind of good
communications back and forthduring our launch process and I
was just looking at her websiteand that's where I found the
ring on her Super cool.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
So were you doing the shopping for both you and
Jonathan, or what was Jonathan'sinvolvement in this process,
jonathan, had zero involvement.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
It was a surprise.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
I love it, but you know what?
Let the experts be experts, youknow.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
And I wanted our rings to be the same in style
but the different gold colors.
So I was looking for somethingthat would look good both on
Jonathan and my ring finger,ring finger, excuse me.
So it was.
It was kind of hard because,jonathan, you know our hands are
(24:36):
they look quite different.
So I had to try to findsomething that was not too thin
but not too thick.
We set it on the six millimeter, especially this Oscar by
Gabriel Encoe with that name ofthe ring.
It just fits really well forboth of us and I really like the
geometric shape as well as kindof the beveling on each shape
(25:01):
that this cut out.
It's really, it's really good.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
It's super cool, man.
I really, really, really likethe rings that you guys picked.
I think that they're definitelyvery pretty.
I do agree.
I think it's kind of crazy how,man I hope this doesn't offend
anybody, but I feel like therehasn't been a ton of innovation
around how to set stones in alow profile.
(25:26):
I feel like it's very much like,you know, everything is a
raised profile and then there'sa lot of different ways you can
do that and there's a lot ofbeautiful ring designs, but I
feel like they haven't reallyexplored the option of having it
so that it just is the samesize as a band and it's kind of
more iterations around how canyou cover it up.
(25:47):
And I do understand that one ofthe big problems around having
one of those stones in there isthat the light doesn't get in.
But I don't know, I'm hopingthat there will be more options
out there.
I remember when I was talkingwith my brother, I did one of
these ring buyer episodes withhim way back in season two and
he was like, yeah, I got to behonest, I didn't really have
(26:08):
like I feel like all the men'sbands were kind of looking the
same and I was like, well, youknow they're kind of similar, so
that's something that I wantedto bring up during.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
This is there.
As far as I can see with myresearch, there was no option
for a men's engagement ring.
Um like, absolutely none,except for Tiffany and co.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Oh, yeah, I remember that.
Yeah, you sent that to me right, that's.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
That's the only option that I saw, and and even
that was like super plain,frankly, um, so I I was a little
put off by that.
I think, like you said, thatthere should be some more
innovation in that realm, um,especially because, you know,
same sex couples are not new, soI think that that would be a
(27:02):
market that someone could getyou know, take it into right.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Yeah, to me it's like it's.
It's about like it's not thatyou should kind of identity or
make it differently, like it'snot that they need to be
different materials, but it'slike treating them.
Treating, you know, guys andand guys, engagements and you
know same-sex Engagements andalso just like traditional
(27:28):
engagements, things like thattreating them all the same.
I think that's like the numberone thing we've learned about
marketing is that you knowpeople want to be spoken to
Personally.
They want to be spoken to likeyou understand what they are
looking for, and if you treateverybody the same, then it's
almost like no one is gettingthat special touch.
So I totally agree.
(27:49):
I wish, I wish that there wouldbe a little bit more options
out there, but who knows, maybewe're heading that way.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
Yeah, and like you said there, it doesn't have.
It doesn't have to be like aseparate section, you know, on
someone's website or in thestore, but just making ring
settings, you know, in widersizes, for instance, like larger
sizes, and both making the ringitself wider.
That could reach us as far asthey.
(28:14):
Even you know people that arein heterosexual relationships
they might like a wider ring aswell.
They might have anunconventional hand size.
So I think that that would be areally good market.
To start, I yeah Tiffany and co.
Like I said, I think they'rethe only brand that I found that
makes that cater someengagement rings.
(28:34):
So I had to pick just a weddingband, which is fine, but I
would I would have liked to gothrough that form process.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
So you are engaged right now, you and Jonathan.
Congratulations, oh, married.
So I was going to ask you Didyou end up getting a second ring
as well, or did you decide tojust stay with Just the, just
the band, or what is your, yourplan with that?
Speaker 4 (29:05):
so, like my other friends that are in same-sex
relationships, are in theirmarriage now, we just decided to
get the one ring because it's abit awkward to have to just ban
.
So that's, yeah, that's what wedid, and we decided to upgrade
them every five years.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Oh, fancy, that's super cool, though I you know
what I really like that you kindof took I don't want to say an
unconventional approach, becausethat makes it sound like you,
you know, tried something thatisn't as intended, but I like
that you were really thoroughabout how you research things
and that you scoped up theentire market and then decided
(29:47):
and found exactly what you'relooking for.
Did Jonathan?
Did Jonathan like his?
Speaker 4 (29:53):
He did he loves his right.
I Will say that they are proneto scratching because of the
design, but Gabriel has awarranty, but they'll refinish
them, and for a year, I believe.
So we'll be sitting in theminute to get refinished, that's
so cool.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Ranzo, I'm so happy to have you on.
This is the first time I'vebeen able to have you on this on
this podcast.
I'm super excited.
Happy Pride Month.
We're recording this June 22nd,so you know, really excited to
have you on hope.
You and Jonathan have many,many more years of upgrading
your rings and getting new,exciting ones.
Hopefully there will be by thetime you upgrade them in five
(30:33):
years.
Maybe there'll be more optionsout there.
Who knows?
Speaker 4 (30:36):
Hopefully.
Yeah, thank you so much forallowing me on.
It was been good fun.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Awesome.
Thanks everybody.
All right, everybody.
That's the end of the show.
Thanks so much for listening.
This week's episode was broughtto you by punch mark and
produced and hosted by MichaelBurpo.
My guest this week were NickWeber and Lorenzo Milikin, and
this episode was edited by PaulSuarez with music by Ross Cocker
(31:01):
.
Don't forget to rate thepodcast on Spotify and Apple
Podcasts and leave feedback atpunchmarkcom.
Slash loop.
That's L-O-U-P-E.
We'll be back next week,tuesday, with another episode.
Thanks, bye, you.
Welcome back everybody to In the Loop.
What is up everybody?
My name is Michael Burpo.
Thanks again for listening toIn the Loop.
This week we're bringing backour most popular little
sub-series called let's TalkWith Ring Buyers, and these are
little interviews that I do withrecent shoppers that have
purchased engagement rings andto hear about their shopping
(00:25):
experience, whether that startedin-store or online, where they
actually purchased the rings.
If they bought anything alongwith the rings, it's a very
interesting kind of peek behindthe curtain in something that is
a unique way of getting insidea shopper's mind, which is very
important when it comes to userexperience.
I'm interviewing Nick Weber,one of my friends from Growing
(00:46):
Up, and we talk about hisengagement ring, which has a
sapphire in it and is modeledafter Princess Diana's ring.
And then we're interviewing theproject manager at Punchmark,
lorenzo, who most of you haveprobably met at some point, and
we're talking about his ringthat he bought for his husband,
and we're talking about howthere's kind of a weird lack of
(01:08):
options when it comes to menbuying rings for men, and
Lorenzo is a very discerningshopper so he did a lot of
research and he brings all thatto the table.
It's a really fun talk.
I hope you learned something newabout what goes through a
shopper's mind, but when you'remaking your sales, you are able
to better suit them.
Alright, thanks and enjoy.
We'll see you next time on thefree demo today at punchmarkcom.
(01:58):
While enjoying this week'sepisode, take a moment and leave
us a star rating on the Spotifymobile app or, if you're on
Apple Podcasts, leave us a starrating and a review.
It's the best way to help usgrow into show that you really
enjoy in the show.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Thanks, hey everyone, this is Ross Cockrum, ceo and
co-founder of Punchmark.
If you're going to the IJLCleveland show, we'd love to
chat with you so we can learnabout what's really working well
and also share some marketingadvice on what's working for our
retailers.
You can even check out our newAntwerp Marketing campaign that
we're unveiling.
Go to punchmarkcom slash IJL tomake an appointment.
(02:34):
In light of Punchmark's 15thanniversary this year, you can
save 15% off your design andservice plan over the next 12
months just by making anappointment before the show and
now back to the show.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Welcome everybody.
I'm chatting with my buddy,Nick Weber.
How you doing, Nick?
I'm good.
Michael, how are you Doing?
Alright?
So it's just kind of theback-star between us.
You're one of my brother's bestfriends.
You were in my brother'swedding and you guys played
football together and now weplay in the same fantasy
football league but, moreexcitingly, you just got engaged
.
Congratulations.
(03:15):
Thanks, man, You're veryexciting.
Yeah, so okay, like I just kindof just walk you through.
We've got all these listenersthat are interested in like kind
of like the customer journey,the buying process, for you know
a you know a male in his early30s, early-ish 30s, and I kind
(03:36):
of want to just like maybe cheeryour process behind us.
So can you like talk me through, like first of all, the
decision-making this is a bigdecision and like how you kind
of got to the point of decidingyou were going to purchase a
ring.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Yeah, I guess.
So I had a couple of differentsteps.
The first was like I told myfamily about it, right?
So I told my dad.
I was like I'm going to proposeand I was like the biggest
thing, I really wanted to be asurprise.
So right now, I've beentogether forever.
I was like I want her to besurprised.
I don't want to come up to hertomorrow and be like hey, what
do you want for a ring?
Yeah, so we're brainstormingand we're talking and we're like
(04:11):
should I just like not get aring?
Like get a placeholder, dosomething where it's like yeah,
you know, here's a fake ring,but we'll go get one together.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Like a ring pop or something.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Yeah, me and my dad are like yeah, yeah, great idea.
And then I went and I told hersister because she was like the
first one from her family that Iwas talking to and pretty much
unanimously everyone was likeyeah, like not a great idea.
Get a ring and like know whatshe wants.
(04:42):
And thankfully her sister waslike yeah, I know exactly what
she wants.
Oh, interesting.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
interesting Because sometimes you know some of the
people I've spoken to about thisin the past they bring their
significant other and they do itas like you know, as like a
partner kind of thing, wherethey actually have them go and
pick exactly what they want andthey bring it to them.
But it's kind of cool to hearthat someone actually went with
like more of a surprise route.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Yeah, and my dad actually did that.
Like I was talking to my momafter the fact and she's like,
yeah, your dad just had like aplaceholder and then we just
went.
It was awesome.
So that's where the idea camefrom, sort of, but it was like
organic to me and then my dadwas like, yeah, good idea, and
he didn't really let on.
That's how he did, it Right,yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Okay, so you I mean, I'm giving something away at
that was going to kind of besurprised, but it's like.
So you purchased a engagementring with a sapphire in the
center stone.
So how'd you come to that, thatdecision, because obviously
that's a little bit atypical,but increasingly popular.
How did you decide to kind ofgo out on a limb with that?
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah, I was talking to her sister and her sister was
Like I just hoped that Shawnknew what ring, so thankfully
she was like I know exactly whatshe wants.
So she says she wants KateMilton's ring.
So if you look at it's like thebiggest ring of all time, right
, and she wants like it doesn'thave to be like that big, but
(06:14):
she likes sapphires and shelikes that style.
And I know nothing about range,right, like.
I think what's interesting tome is that throughout this
process I don't think I've everlike looked at a girl's hand and
tried to like see what ringthey're wearing or anything.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
A classic guy right there, so I like no Expectations
, no background, no, yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
So I was like, oh, sapphire, I don't know like kind
of a traditional guy.
I was like I don't know if I'mgonna like this.
So I go home and I look at therings right Just online.
I'm looking like these areactually sick, like these are
awesome.
They're yeah, cool.
I think the coloring was likevery unique and different, yeah.
(06:58):
So then I got pretty excitedabout it, right.
So then after that, like allright, where am I gonna go to
actually get the ring?
So Siobhan Raid's sister and herhusband had they got their ring
at Barmequine Jewelers, whichis just this like local jeweler
in Boston.
My dad has always gottenjewelry there, right.
So, yeah, anyone in our family,a little bit of loyalty, that's
(07:21):
pretty cool.
Like my sister always gets thebest gifts and she would always
get these like BarmequineJewelry and the boys would get
like button-down G-shirts.
Anyways, I knew about the placeand then I looked it up online
at a great reviews.
So, yeah, I mean it was prettyeasy.
(07:43):
It was all honestly likeinsanely easy.
So I go in there.
I made a reservation.
This guy Marat, he was great,he was just.
He gave me this feel right, bigrundown yeah, we get our
diamonds from XYZ.
They're all like really, yada,yada, yada.
Here's why they're great.
Wasn't really paying muchattention because I was like,
actually I wanted Sapphire, likeI'm not, oh, interesting, okay,
(08:03):
did you do?
Speaker 1 (08:04):
you have a budget going into this, like, did you
kind of have like a like agoalpost, like on what you were
kind of hoping to spend, or andalso follow a question to that
Did you actually fall inside ofthat range?
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Yeah, I think I had like a very wide range.
I was pretty much if I seesomething I like, I'm gonna get
it.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Hopefully you only have to buy this once, you know
I mean there's this whole likethis, so many things in
succession.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
They're so expensive, right, like you get a ring, the
wedding process, and thenyou're at the family.
You're like, all right, shouldwe like buying houses?
Should we do all this stuff?
So like a million differentthings, they're all expensive.
But for me my thought was kindof alright, she's gonna wear
this every day, right?
So like she will have this fora really long time.
If I bump up a little bit, likethe difference over the course
(08:57):
of our lives is gonna be nothingcompared to you know it's
between two or three, nothingcompared to you know it was
between two rings.
So I looked Pretty much at allthe options and, yeah, all right
, this one very much.
So I Kind of like the most.
There's actually two that Iliked, but the one that I got
was more similar to Princess,okay, middle to the train.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Yeah, you know Kate Middleton's ring.
I was fairly certain.
I just googled it reallyquickly.
You know, it's actually um, yes, it's Princess Diana's ring.
Yes, it's Princess Diana'sexactly.
Oh, such a cool it's.
That's a really nice connectionthat you know that kind of
shares it.
It's not just a famous person's, but it's actually a famous
person's with a great storybehind it.
(09:42):
So it's actually great, great.
We're saying great.
I think it's a pretty solidstory behind it.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
You know like, don't you think so?
Maybe yes, I think that thehistory of it is great.
I think that there is, you know, potential tragedy in there,
but overall, okay, okay you know, I see I see fair point, fair
point.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
I guess that was the other thing.
So Of course we do websites,but increasingly we I've
definitely talked to a lot, of,a lot of men.
When they get, when they dogood, do they're purchasing kind
of process?
And I like to hear kind of likedid you look online at all, too
, before you went in?
Because we see that, like forgifts, it's a lot of it's done
(10:22):
just like from a comfort oftheir own home, because you know
they get expedited shipping,because they waited too long.
But this one it seems like youdefinitely had some more time to
think about it.
Did you look online or did youkind of go in and let the
jeweler sort of guide yourprocess?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
I Looked online, I should want to send me a link to
three or four rings.
It was like, you know, she sentthe picture of Kate Milton's
right and it was like so, maybesomething like this or like this
.
Yeah, you know there was threeor four.
And then I went in and Iremember like one that I liked
Online being sold out and I waslike, oh, I wonder if that's
(10:59):
actually representative of whatthey have in the store.
And I went to it was I got thevibe that it wasn't very
representative, right, like theyhad a couple things on their
website, but if you went in thestore there was many more
options and then they kind ofwalked you through everything
that they had.
So, yeah, a little bit ofresearch, not a ton.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Yeah.
So from the time that you wentto when you thought to yourself,
hey, I might buy this ring, andwhen you actually purchased it,
what was that timeline?
How long was that?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Maybe, like I don't know, like a week I was like
what oh jeez.
Wow, that's a lot quicker thanI thought it was going to be
Well actually.
No, that's not true, sorry.
When I talked to her sister andknew what to actually get, it
was probably Then it was a week,but like talking to my parents
and being like, hey, I'm readyto do this, yada, yada, yada
(11:53):
Definitely a lot longer thanthat.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yeah, that's super cool man.
I'm super stoked for you.
Maybe just kind of high leveloverview?
I just kind of like to leave itwith this, because I think a
lot of the jewelers that we haveare the reason why they are
still in jewelry is because theyreally enjoy kind of like this
idea of love and this connectionkind of thing.
Would you be able to give uskind of like an overview on like
(12:15):
are you proposed or were youproposed, or something like that
?
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Yeah, I did it on our rooftop and so it was.
We just have an apartment inBoston, right?
So we have kind of a uniquesetup at our place where we're
like pretty close to downtownand we're on the top floor of
like an old building and there'sactually a spiral staircase in
our apartment, nice, and it's upto a skylight that opens up.
(12:39):
But it's in our lease thatwe're not supposed to go up
there, right, in a way, good forus, because we're not paying
for some patio or something inour rent.
And you know, hypothetically,where do I go up there?
Don't tell my landlord, right,like you would get a great
Hypothetically, yeah,hypothetically, you would get a
great view of the city.
So, yeah, so I invited hersister over.
(13:00):
I was like Shabon, can you justmake plans?
Can you like ask to go todinner?
I want you here to be a part ofit, and then you can also be
the videographers, right?
So she came over with herhusband.
It's pretty casual, right, likeI wanted to keep her surprised,
make it feel like a normalnight.
Then we went upstairs.
(13:20):
She was pretty much like can wego take pictures upstairs?
We've never been up there.
So we went up there took apicture of them.
I was like all right man, likeI don't think we've taken a
picture up here either.
So then we took a picture it issmoother than silk man.
Nice.
Yeah, it was nice, I don't know.
I feel like it's kind ofromantic, right when we first
shared our first apartment alonetogether.
(13:41):
The backdrop in Boston, whichwe were both kind of raised near
it's like the biggest city.
We spent a lot of time here, so, yeah, and the weather was
beautiful, so the backdrop wasperfect.
Yeah, it went up a little bitahead.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
That's awesome.
And the final question I guessI was wondering when you were
making your purchase, did theyoffer to upsell you on anything?
Did they try to offer you, forexample, like a deal, Like a
wedding band, or did they giveyou coupons for future purchases
to kind of keep you as acustomer?
Or did you kind of walk in,walk out with this engagement
(14:17):
ring?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Yeah, the guy was great Again.
Like I didn't feel like therewas any pressure.
It was like super laid back.
He was just like, show me somerings.
And I was like, all right, heshowed me, like the base and
then I said like, do you haveanything else?
Like at least the options.
He's like no, I got some morestuff.
So he went, he grabbed it, cameback and then, yeah, the ring
(14:43):
size was an interesting thing.
So I'm raised to six.
The ring was a seven.
That was like what normallyhappens here.
Again, every ring size of down.
Yeah.
So he's like well, if I was tomake it bigger, right, I could
do it in like 10 minutes youcould have it.
But he's like making it smallerit's a little bit more of a
process.
So, a few, just like proposedand then come back and we'll do
(15:08):
all the ring size and everything.
And then he was even like ifyou don't like, if she doesn't
like the ring, like you can justreturn it and pick another one.
Like I was between two and Iwas like I think this one now
and they were really happy withwhen I chose, I think that was
the right call.
But he was like but we're notgoing to afford to keep
something that she's not happywith.
So she doesn't like it, justreturn it.
(15:29):
We'll pick something else out,so that's great man.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Nick, I can't thank you enough.
I'm super excited for you andRay.
I think that this is going tobe great and, honestly, it's
really interesting hearing your.
Your buying journey is.
You know, it's pretty similarto Steve's and my brother.
He was on the first time we didone of these episodes way back
in like I think, season two run,I think our fourth season right
now, so it's been a little bitof time.
But people that you know,whenever we do one of these
(15:54):
episodes, our retailers reallyenjoy listening to, kind of like
, the buying process of a normal, you know, person buying and
engagement ring, because everytime it's unique but also kind
of similar, and seeing where youcan draw the similarities and
the commonalities of everythingis kind of you know where you
can start to improve and targetand get after it a little bit
(16:15):
more.
So, Nick, can't thank youenough.
Man, Thanks for coming on.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Wait, I got a question for you.
She was.
So for me this was super easy,right Like it was.
I left there.
Being like that was insanelyeasy.
I thought it was going to belike much more difficult.
So my big question I went alone, right Like I was, like I just
want to like feel like what Iwant to get, not have any like
judgment.
Do you find that people go withlike their dad or something, or
(16:40):
family member, or do peopletend to go along?
Speaker 1 (16:43):
So we've done.
We've done three of theseinterviews on in the loop, but
I've talked to obviously a lotmore people, but we've done
three interviews and I believemost people go with one other
person.
So I think that, like they, Ithink for one we did two women
and they went together and theybought each other their, their
(17:05):
rings.
One time I mean, Steve went inby himself but he did a ton of
research online.
And then, I think, one he wentwith his dad and they like kind
of bought it together and theysort of did like a like, like a
Brosnan kind of thing.
But I it's more increasinglycommon to have the significant
other come with them and go tothe, the shore, and then they
(17:26):
pick it out and then it's kindof like they've got it in the.
You know they've got this ringand they're going to kind of
wait for the right time.
But I don't really love thatone as much, truthfully.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
She's a part of the surprise.
Also, merida has this hilariousnarrative where, like, I feel
like the whole thing, she wasvery surprised by it and now
she's like, oh, like, I knew, Iknew, I knew, but that's the
risk, right, like if you walkinto a store and you get it with
a partner, I think that's superslick.
In a way, it's very smartbecause you know that they
(17:58):
that's what they want, right,but in another way, like some of
the surprise gets taken away.
Probably a good hedge now thatI'm looking back on it.
But I think that's why I wassuper happy with this guy that I
went to.
He was like, listen, like youwant to trade it?
Like, trade it, come back, lookat more rings.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Yeah, take that weight off and, honestly, you
can also just like you can swapanything out.
If you had a sapphire in themiddle and she was just like yo,
I definitely want a diamond andyou like completely read the
room wrong, you could probablygo in and they would probably
buy back the ring or buy backthe stone and could sell you a
replacement diamond or whateverstone you wanted.
(18:37):
It's just like.
Increasingly, diamonds, as thenon center stone, are increasing
in popularity, though, you know, diamonds are just still the
number one choice for engagementrings.
I think that there's still kindof the hallmark of all the
advertising by, you know, thebeers and all the different
groups.
So it still is very popular.
(18:58):
But I really like that's one ofthe reasons why this jumped to
my mind when I heard it I waslike dude, that sapphire is sick
.
I love that you guys chose that.
So I swear yeah, all right, man.
Well, we're going on to thenext one.
All right, everybody.
I'm joined by Lorenzo Millican.
How you doing today, lorenzo?
I'm good, Mike, how are youdoing?
I'm doing all right.
(19:19):
So, project manager atPunchmark, you've probably
spoken with every new clientthat we've picked up in the last
.
What?
Two and a half years?
At this point, three years.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Yeah, so it's super, super amazing, especially our
client workshop.
I found out that I know most ofour new clients even more so
than kind of our senior members.
It was really nice to see thatrecognition there, that's super
cool Because.
I don't know it without verymuch.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Yeah, I think it's really neat that you're like the
welcoming committee, likeyou're the first people to you
know, get a chance to speak withthese people and you walk them
through the whole process andthen kind of pass them off to
the other teams.
Definitely something that wereally needed when we brought
you in and I think you've done areally great job, super stoked
to have you here.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
I appreciate that.
Yeah, it's been really fun.
Like you said, I am thewelcoming committee, I'm the
first person that you see otherthan sales, and I'm with you
directly for a good bitdepending on the little website
package that you have and it'sreally interesting to get to
know all of these new clients.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
So we're talking about the ring buying process
and, to set this up for thepeople that are listening, renzo
is the most, I guess, thoroughconsumer I've ever met.
Very into tech, verywell-versed, like reads up
everything that he's going topurchase.
Can you kind of talk me alittle bit through about the
(20:49):
research process and then we'llget into how you actually bought
things?
But can we talk about theresearch that you did ahead of
actually buying your rings withyour now husband and our fiance,
I guess, and we can go fromthere.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
Yeah, so I of course I am looking at clients'
websites all the time for my job, so I started just kind of
perusing.
When I'm going through QCwebsite, just looking at the
engagement ring selection formen, it's very, very restrictive
(21:25):
in comparison to women'swedding bands, so that kind of
narrowed down the search a goodbit because, unlike wedding
bands for women, men's weddingbands are.
Each company has kind of aniche.
Each wedding band company sofor instance Benchmark, they
(21:48):
have a bunch of differentcollections and each collection
has its own niche, whether it'smeteorite rings or they just, or
they have a collection that'sjust like classic gold bands and
stuff like that.
So I started researching that.
I already knew that I wantedrose gold for me and white gold
(22:08):
for Jonathan.
So then I was kind ofcontemplating whether I want
stones or not.
So I was looking at somedifferent stone options.
I'm not a very big diamondperson, which I work in jewelry
industry, so that's a little oddI guess.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
But I don't think any of us really are.
It's kind of crazy.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Right.
Yeah, I'm definitely not a bigdiamond person, so that was not
high on the list, but there aresome other gems that I really do
like, so I was looking at those.
I didn't really find anything.
It's just not very many goodways to put a stone in.
Just a band was what I found.
So I kind of nixed that off thelist.
(22:50):
And then I was looking forsomething a little bit different
, but not too different.
That it's striking.
I want it kind of like atimeless design, but it also be
a little modern, and I reallyfound that Gabriel and Co that's
their stick, that's everythingthey make.
(23:13):
It's just timeless, not tooflashy.
They have a couple of yellowgold ones that are really flashy
, but not too flashy, but alsoreally well made.
They're all solid gold.
So that's kind of where Inarrowed the search down to was
Gabriel and Co.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Yeah, and did you?
Were you perusing?
Which website were you lookingat?
Were you looking at Gabriel andCo's website, or were you
looking at one of our clientsthat carries them?
Speaker 4 (23:39):
Oh, a client shot of Harris Jeweler Shout out to them
.
I, we just I feel like we had areally kind of good
communications back and forthduring our launch process and I
was just looking at her websiteand that's where I found the
ring on her Super cool.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
So were you doing the shopping for both you and
Jonathan, or what was Jonathan'sinvolvement in this process,
jonathan, had zero involvement.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
It was a surprise.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
I love it, but you know what?
Let the experts be experts, youknow.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
And I wanted our rings to be the same in style
but the different gold colors.
So I was looking for somethingthat would look good both on
Jonathan and my ring finger,ring finger, excuse me.
So it was.
It was kind of hard because,jonathan, you know our hands are
(24:36):
they look quite different.
So I had to try to findsomething that was not too thin
but not too thick.
We set it on the six millimeter, especially this Oscar by
Gabriel Encoe with that name ofthe ring.
It just fits really well forboth of us and I really like the
geometric shape as well as kindof the beveling on each shape
(25:01):
that this cut out.
It's really, it's really good.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
It's super cool, man.
I really, really, really likethe rings that you guys picked.
I think that they're definitelyvery pretty.
I do agree.
I think it's kind of crazy how,man I hope this doesn't offend
anybody, but I feel like therehasn't been a ton of innovation
around how to set stones in alow profile.
(25:26):
I feel like it's very much like,you know, everything is a
raised profile and then there'sa lot of different ways you can
do that and there's a lot ofbeautiful ring designs, but I
feel like they haven't reallyexplored the option of having it
so that it just is the samesize as a band and it's kind of
more iterations around how canyou cover it up.
(25:47):
And I do understand that one ofthe big problems around having
one of those stones in there isthat the light doesn't get in.
But I don't know, I'm hopingthat there will be more options
out there.
I remember when I was talkingwith my brother, I did one of
these ring buyer episodes withhim way back in season two and
he was like, yeah, I got to behonest, I didn't really have
(26:08):
like I feel like all the men'sbands were kind of looking the
same and I was like, well, youknow they're kind of similar, so
that's something that I wantedto bring up during.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
This is there.
As far as I can see with myresearch, there was no option
for a men's engagement ring.
Um like, absolutely none,except for Tiffany and co.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Oh, yeah, I remember that.
Yeah, you sent that to me right, that's.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
That's the only option that I saw, and and even
that was like super plain,frankly, um, so I I was a little
put off by that.
I think, like you said, thatthere should be some more
innovation in that realm, um,especially because, you know,
same sex couples are not new, soI think that that would be a
(27:02):
market that someone could getyou know, take it into right.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Yeah, to me it's like it's.
It's about like it's not thatyou should kind of identity or
make it differently, like it'snot that they need to be
different materials, but it'slike treating them.
Treating, you know, guys andand guys, engagements and you
know same-sex Engagements andalso just like traditional
(27:28):
engagements, things like thattreating them all the same.
I think that's like the numberone thing we've learned about
marketing is that you knowpeople want to be spoken to
Personally.
They want to be spoken to likeyou understand what they are
looking for, and if you treateverybody the same, then it's
almost like no one is gettingthat special touch.
So I totally agree.
(27:49):
I wish, I wish that there wouldbe a little bit more options
out there, but who knows, maybewe're heading that way.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
Yeah, and like you said there, it doesn't have.
It doesn't have to be like aseparate section, you know, on
someone's website or in thestore, but just making ring
settings, you know, in widersizes, for instance, like larger
sizes, and both making the ringitself wider.
That could reach us as far asthey.
(28:14):
Even you know people that arein heterosexual relationships
they might like a wider ring aswell.
They might have anunconventional hand size.
So I think that that would be areally good market.
To start, I yeah Tiffany and co.
Like I said, I think they'rethe only brand that I found that
makes that cater someengagement rings.
(28:34):
So I had to pick just a weddingband, which is fine, but I
would I would have liked to gothrough that form process.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
So you are engaged right now, you and Jonathan.
Congratulations, oh, married.
So I was going to ask you Didyou end up getting a second ring
as well, or did you decide tojust stay with Just the, just
the band, or what is your, yourplan with that?
Speaker 4 (29:05):
so, like my other friends that are in same-sex
relationships, are in theirmarriage now, we just decided to
get the one ring because it's abit awkward to have to just ban
.
So that's, yeah, that's what wedid, and we decided to upgrade
them every five years.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Oh, fancy, that's super cool, though I you know
what I really like that you kindof took I don't want to say an
unconventional approach, becausethat makes it sound like you,
you know, tried something thatisn't as intended, but I like
that you were really thoroughabout how you research things
and that you scoped up theentire market and then decided
(29:47):
and found exactly what you'relooking for.
Did Jonathan?
Did Jonathan like his?
Speaker 4 (29:53):
He did he loves his right.
I Will say that they are proneto scratching because of the
design, but Gabriel has awarranty, but they'll refinish
them, and for a year, I believe.
So we'll be sitting in theminute to get refinished, that's
so cool.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Ranzo, I'm so happy to have you on.
This is the first time I'vebeen able to have you on this on
this podcast.
I'm super excited.
Happy Pride Month.
We're recording this June 22nd,so you know, really excited to
have you on hope.
You and Jonathan have many,many more years of upgrading
your rings and getting new,exciting ones.
Hopefully there will be by thetime you upgrade them in five
(30:33):
years.
Maybe there'll be more optionsout there.
Who knows?
Speaker 4 (30:36):
Hopefully.
Yeah, thank you so much forallowing me on.
It was been good fun.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Awesome.
Thanks everybody.
All right, everybody.
That's the end of the show.
Thanks so much for listening.
This week's episode was broughtto you by punch mark and
produced and hosted by MichaelBurpo.
My guest this week were NickWeber and Lorenzo Milikin, and
this episode was edited by PaulSuarez with music by Ross Cocker
(31:01):
.
Don't forget to rate thepodcast on Spotify and Apple
Podcasts and leave feedback atpunchmarkcom.
Slash loop.
That's L-O-U-P-E.
We'll be back next week,tuesday, with another episode.
Thanks, bye, you.
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