This episode was filmed at the Nationwide Marketing Group (NMG) PrimeTime event and expo in Nashville, TN (August 2025).

On this episode, NMG’s Director of Marketing Communications, Julie Manson, sits down with Angela Warner of Warners’ Stellian Appliances to talk about:

• Building and maintaining a multi-generational family business
• Prioritizing the customer experience
• Social media content strategy
• Embracing AI technology
• Employee training and growth opportunities for both family and non-family team members

 

WATCH this episode on YouTube.

 

Read the full transcript below.

 

Julie Manson (JM): So we’re here with Angela, also known as the Appliance Whisperer. Angela, thank you so much for taking some time out of your PrimeTime to talk with us. I wonder if you could just kind of introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about you. 

Angela Warner (AW): Yeah, my name is Angela Warner, and I’m a third-generation family member at Warners’ Stellian Appliance, which is, we have nine stores in Minnesota and then two in Iowa and two in Kansas City. 

But we’re originally St. Paul, Minnesota, and I’ve worked there for close to 30 years. I spent like 23 years on the sales floor and now I’m doing mostly sales training, running our customer experience initiative. And I’m our spokesperson, so I do all of our TV and social media and radio, which is kind of fun. 

JM: Amazing. So, speaking of customer experience management and kind of that training, I understand that you’ve got some of those nuggets from a prior PrimeTime. Could you tell us a little bit about that? 

AW: Yeah, well, it’s actually not a PrimeTime that we went to necessarily, but there is a program called 95 Share that was presented to us through being members of NMG. And so we were able to go to Chicago and be a part of this program that was called 95 Share. And it’s creating best-in-class customer experiences. 

And then we learned through that, like we’ve gone to a lot of conferences, right? And sometimes you’re like, oh, I really like that. And then you forget about it when you get home.  

This time, not myself, but my uncles came back and they were like, we don’t want to forget all of that. This was so cool. What can we do? So we created our own called 95 Care. And over the last four years, we’ve been running that program and it’s gaining so much traction. 

It’s really, really been cool for us as a company to be able to talk about core values and culture and all that kind of stuff and how we want to treat our customers as we’ve grown into all these other markets where they never knew my grandpa and they didn’t know like what we were about in the beginning. So that’s kind of what we’re doing. 

JM: How do you infuse that then? So what are some of the examples of how you take that sense of like family history and culture and purpose and then bring that into training? It must be hard to train on that, right? 

AW: It can be. So the very the very beginning, it was just like the idea that if you talk about something once and you don’t talk about it over and over again, they’re going to think, oh, that was cool. And they didn’t… So we had to talk about it. So we were talking about it all the time, email and in person. 

And then we brought the entire company in and did a big group training on it, took everybody out of the field, which was a big deal. Then they knew, oh, this is an investment in time and money. 

We have a committee formed that meets once a month. We ask for issues. We try and solve those issues for the people that bring them and then we get back to them and let them know. There’s a lot that goes into the program. 

And, you know, I think it’s only in its infancy. I’m looking forward to seeing where it can go from here, because I think it’s going to end up being a pretty big part of who we are long term. 

JM: And then in terms of strategic planning, when you’re looking at the future and where you’re going to continue to invest your time and resources and energy, what does that look like in a family business that has a lot of stakeholders and a lot of history with the company, with the brand? 

AW: So I’m the second oldest of thirty-seven kids in my generation of Warners, third generation and twenty-one of us, I think, right now are full time. There’s seventy-three kids in the next generation, and a few of those kids are already full time. So it’s like it’s crazy. 

And the cool part for me, too, is no one is like you have to work here, like people… One of our core values is passion. And I feel like that was, for me, why I wanted to be there, because I wanted to get some of that.  

JM: Yeah. 

AW: How can I have some of that in my life? And it felt like that’s where you go to get it. You go to work like dad does and like it just was part of who we were. But what’s been cool is that because we’ve grown, it’s given people avenues to kind of get into what they really love to do and enjoy doing. So, I mean, it’s kind of part of the deal. As a family member, you need to work harder than everybody else. You need to be more invested and then that’s how you can grow. 

So nothing’s been handed, which has been awesome for me to watch the rest of the family members. But also, I think for our other employees, because there’s a lot of them, to see that they also have opportunities and not just like, oh, that’s a Warner they’re going to… 

JM: Yep. 

AW: So I think, yeah, you earn your spot and you work hard and a lot of opportunities from growth have happened. So I thought I would be in sales for a really long time and I love sales. But I find that customer experience is really my jam and where I really get super juiced up. And so I’ve been spending more of my time there. And that’s been great. 

JM: So speaking of passion and finding new avenues, it sounds like content development… So, tell me more about this Appliance Whisperer and how you approach content to bring this really incredible culture that you built to life in social media. 

AW: So when I was in sales, I spent a lot of my time, as we do, educating customers and I made myself really available. So people would call all the time and say, oh, there’s a problem with this appliance. And it was, a lot of times, dishwashers. And so it kind of started out there. 

But I was like, oh, no, it’s not actually a problem with the appliance. You just don’t know how to use it. We’re going to get you to love it. Okay, so it sort of became this persona that I took on, like I’m going to whisper this and tell you. We’re going to figure this out. So that’s kind of how that happened. 

But then, when the opportunity became available for someone to take over as the face, because I understood so deeply the appliances, it became a natural progression for me to take that on. And I’m comfortable talking and doing all that stuff. So that’s one of the things that they thought would be good for me. 

But people really enjoy, I think, the realness and the relatability. Like I’m a mom of five. I talk about that. I use appliances like a lot of our target customers do. I understand the challenges of the day to day life. And so I think that has been a cool part for us. We do a lot of social media campaigns around just talking to customers how they’d want to be talked to, like this is what is going to be great about this for you in little short snippets that’s not super… I don’t know what you would say… 

JM: Like academic or technical.  

AW: It’s just really realistic. We’re just not formal. And I think people really relate to that. 

JM: Good. Good. And how long ago did you start kind of putting that content out there and was everybody on board and thinking that this was great or were there discussions? Did you have free reign in terms of creativity? 

AW: Well, my sister is the director of marketing. And so it’s kind of like really more her brainchild to where she was like, I think this would be something that we could, you know, we could do more of. And yeah, I mean, it was sort of just organic. I don’t think there’s ever been any pushback. 

JM: Awesome. 

AW: We’ve just gotten really great feedback from the family. 

JM: Super supportive. 

AW: Yeah, it’s been super supportive. 

JM: Do you look for trends outside of your industry in order to kind of keep a pulse on… because social changes so much and kind of what’s trending? 

AW: We’re not so much on I would say on that. It’s more just like, we’ve created this brand for ourselves and this is who we are. And we’re not looking to be followed by a hundred thousand people. We actually just want our customers to follow us. 

JM: Yes. Yeah. 

AW: And so the fact that we don’t have all these followers is really okay. I think we’re seeing just organic growth and from the builders and the designers, maybe architects who are in our network, and then some of our clients and that’s working out.  

JM: It feels more like a community, always kind of blasting out. 

AW: Yeah. 

JM: Yes 

AW: Yeah. We’re not trying to educate people who are like, we’re in Washington, necessarily. Like we’re Minnesota. We’re Iowa. We’re KC. 

JM: Yeah. So keeping it local. 

AW: Yeah. 

JM: Great. Is there anything kind of on the horizon that you’re really excited about in the next year? Just like overall from a business perspective? 

AW: Well, for me personally, because we’ve been spending time here over the last couple of days, I almost can’t wait to get back to implement some of the ideas that I’ve learned, like about AI. And I’m already really into it. I’ve been into it for a couple of years. 

In fact, I remember when our HR lady sent me an email one day and she was like, you’re not going to believe this. It was like two years ago. And she’s like, you’re not going to believe this. But this ChatGPT thing… 

And so we were like very early adopters because of her. And I’ve been using it. But now I just sat in on a session with Shawn Ashby where I’m like, oh my gosh, I need to leave here so I can go do these things because I think it’s going to… like I don’t have anyone helping me train. 

JM: Yes. 

AW: And I’ve been looking for it. I’ve been looking forward to having somebody on my team. But now I’m like, maybe we can save the money. I don’t know. 

JM: Yes. 

AW: Maybe I can do this by myself just with the tools that are out there. 

JM: It’s so empowering. 

AW: Yes. 

JM: And it’s exciting to kind of be in an environment, whether it’s through a relationship with a vendor partner… I know Google was here providing a really in depth overview on where AI was headed and trying to keep it more practical, because I think there’s a lot of buzz around AI, but like, really just trying to take into what can it do for the independent channel? 

AW: There’s been so many things shared and I’m sure people are like no more AI. But every time I sit down in one of those sessions, I get a little nugget that I’m like, oh, I didn’t know that. I didn’t know that. So that that will be interesting. 

I’m also just… we’re really interested in just learning more about what our customer wants and trying to bring that. That’s our competitive advantage, right? 

And so we’re doing a lot of customer journey mapping and really just kind of understanding every facet of our customer’s journey so we can just improve little, little things, you know, and I think that’s going to make a big impact in the overall, even just revenue and all of it. I think employee experience, it’s all going to be better because of that. 

JM: And are you doing that through your NMG partnership, then? 

AW: No, that’s just something we’re doing internally. 

JM: Yeah. 

AW: Yeah. 

JM: Because I know that when we talk about some of these technologies, you know, overlaying some of the capabilities with some of our digital solutions, because we use that same journey as well. So it’s like where are there opportunities to automate and where…  

AW: And if there’s a program I should know about from you and then we can… 

JM: I’ll refer you. But just kind of like every step in the journey, you know, there’s the communication touch points, but then with marketing automation, that that’s our language. So yeah, it’s exciting. 

AW: Yeah. 

JM: So, when you think about the next 12 months, it looks like there’s a lot ahead on the technology front. Where are you looking for those opportunities in terms of customer experience and that journey? I tend to find some people are like, hey, we might be struggling with awareness, or it’s really conversion, and then we have sales training… what part of the journey do you feel like is the biggest opportunity right now? 

AW: I think the biggest opportunity would be even just people understanding how to better communicate. I think that every time we really deep dive on where the issues are coming from, it’s communication, which I don’t think will be a surprise to anybody. Like communicating between departments. Communicating, just in language that our customers understand and in the desired format that they want.  

We have a lot of aging community, people that have been with us forever. They’re so loyal. They’re in more of an aged community, and then you, you’re trying to attract a younger group. And so how do you communicate to both groups and everybody in between? How fast do they want to be communicated to? And can we accommodate that with our processes? Or do we need to find efficiencies to speed it up? So I think the biggest opportunity is just really in the overall communication. And we’re really spending a lot of time and resources to try and make it better. 

JM: Yese. And it sounds like you’ve made a significant headway. 

AW: We have made headway. I am proud of us. I think we’re doing an amazing job, but there’s always work to do. There’s always work to do. 

JM: So when you think about your generation, every legacy kind of built on the prior. What did you feel like the legacy that your predecessors kind of brought? And then where do you hope to leave things better than how you found them? 

AW: Oh gosh, I feel like I could talk for so long about what the second generation did for us. They really just teed it up so nicely. Like grandpa had one store and then they came and their vision was grand. They were like, one store is great. How about we keep growing? And that was really neat that that happened and that they kind of brought us along. 

They did a great job mentoring along the way too. So I feel like, because there were nine of them, you could pick… I was mentored by a few. There was enough of them to go around. So they did a great job there.  

JM: And everybody probably had their own little…  

AW: Like their niche. Yes. So, I maybe spend a little more time with like one aunt or one uncle because they spoke my language while we had interests in similar things. And then, of course, some of the other people that they hired… they’ve hired some great, great people. 

And so I think that their legacy is just building this amazing company out and then entrusting us now and bringing us along on the journey and getting us ready to say, go ahead, you can do it. 

And I think we’re getting to that point now where they’re really bringing us along and saying, okay, we feel like you guys have got a handle on this. And that just feels really good to have that be what’s happening. And to think that there’s still… I mean, I probably have 20 years left and I’m really excited about it. 

JM: That’s awesome. 

So not every family, especially a family of that size, is successful in creating the types of mentorship relationships and I’m sure it’s not perfect, everybody getting along and moving towards… what is like the one word, if you can put it in one word or the one value that really allowed your family to do this for three generations? 

AW: If I say one word, it would be… I can’t even, my voice, my voice is hoarse because it’s, it’s been loud, right? Everywhere I go here in Nashville is loud. 

JM: Even just have regular conversations. Yes. 

AW: But I would say grandpa, because he was so special and he really, he made sure that the family was a unit. And so that was the legacy he left, was making sure that the family was a unit. 

And yeah, there’s been struggles for sure, but we’ve talked about it. Like it’s not swept under the rug. And so you kind of learn. I think a lot of us cousins and siblings now in the third generation, we’re like, this is what we saw. How can we be better? And they want that too, right, that generation.  

So gosh, I think we talk all the time. Like I was just talking to my cousin, Ryan, who’s here with me. And he was like, don’t you think it’s so crazy? We’re such a unit, like the cousins. 

JM: Yeah. 

AW: And it is, we really, really do care about each other. 

JM: Yeah. 

AW: And we spend a lot of time together, and the family business is the glue that’s held us all here. 

JM: It’s beautiful. 

AW: I’m so grateful for it. I’m so grateful for it. The fact that I get to work here is another cool part of it, but like being with your family, there’s really nothing better. 

JM: No. And are your kids showing interest? 

AW: Yep. I have five kids and two of them are full-time and one of them is in college, but comes back for the summers, and he actually wants to be a movie director. So I’m saying, okay, well, if it doesn’t work out, you can come and do production for us. So we’ll see. It’ll either be like Hollywood or Warners’ Stellian. I don’t know. 

But yeah, I’m the second oldest, so other people’s kids are starting to age in. But we’re encouraging them to just be passionate about what they’re doing. At least I am as a mom, like you want to work here? Great. You’re going to start at the bottom and work your way up like we did. Or if you’re not passionate about it, go figure out what that is. 

JM: Yes. Yeah. 

AW: So I’m hopeful for this next generation that they saw from us what we saw from the generation above and if they want to be a part of it, that they come ready to dig in. 

JM: This is awesome. Thank you so much. What a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing it with us. And I hope you have a great PrimeTime and… 

AW: It’s been great. 

JM: Yeah. So nice to meet you. 

AW: Nice to meet you too. 

JM: Thank you. 

AW: Thank you.