Do you incorporate video into your sales process? Video in sales humanizes the experience for your prospects. Sales is all about building relationships and engaging with others. Video creates a personal and engaging connection between you and your audience, which in turn develops trust and credibility.
Video in Sales Promotes Engagement
As sales tactics evolve, we continue to see trends favoring video. Video has become a staple in most digital marketing efforts, and it’s definitely leaving its mark on the sales process over the last year or so. You may be wondering why video is so crucial to the sales process. I’m glad you asked! Let’s take a look at some of the stats behind it…
- 82% of Twitter users watch video content on Twitter.
- An initial email with a video receives an increase click-through rate by 96%.
- Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in text.
- One-third of online activity is spent watching video.
- 51% of marketing professionals worldwide name video as the type of content with the best ROI.
- Social video generates 1200% more shares than text and images combined.
- Native videos on Facebook have 10 times higher reach compared to YouTube links.
These are just some of the video stats on WordStream’s post, 37 Staggering Video Marketing Statistics for 2018. If you’re not currently using video in your sales process, there are many more stats that will make you reconsider your stance on video.
So why are we, a sales engagement platform that mostly relies on email, sms, and live phone conversations talking about video? It’s simple. Video is just one more way to engage. You can embed a product video in your email. You can have a video call instead of a traditional phone call. It’s another way to “engage” with your future customers.
Let’s get into the meat and potatoes of why, where, and how you should be using video in your sales process.
The Why
There are a lot of reasons why you need to get your sales reps using video. I’m just going to highlight some of the more important ones here.
Personalized Connection – Video is a great way to create a personal connection with your audience. It gives prospects a better idea of who you are and what kind of personality you and your company have. They have the experience of putting a face to you and your brand. It creates a real connection.
Humanization – Video helps to humanize the sales process. Seeing the person and making eye contact makes the experience more authentic.
“It humanizes it. I have to actually look at the video. I feel a connection. I like the fact of having the eye contact with another person” – Scott Amerson, VanillaSoft
Trust and Credibility – People do business with people they know, like, trust, and value. Video is an excellent way to establish or build trust with your audience or warm them up about you and your company. By sharing tips, insights, and useful information, you start to develop a bond with prospects and existing customers. Video opens the door for people to engage with you and gives you an opportunity to showcase your knowledge. They start to view you as an expert in your field, which establishes the trust and credibility.
High Demand – People want video. Remember this stat from earlier? One-third of online activity is spent watching video. Yeah, that alone should get your attention and encourage you to get your sales reps using video in their sales activities.
The Where
There are lots of platforms to showcase your videos. However, you need to consider your audience and what makes the most sense in reaching them. Here are some platforms you may want to consider when it comes to sharing your videos.
Social platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter are great for getting started and for short-form videos to engage your audience. However, if you’re looking to do long-form videos, you may want to consider setting up a YouTube channel to host the content. Make sure to know how to create an engaging YouTube intro to catch the attention of viewers immediately.
A few weeks ago, I interviewed Dan Disney from The Daily Sales, and we talked about the role social media plays in the sales process. He recently launched a YouTube Channel to supplement his activities on LinkedIn. His YouTube Channel gives him the opportunity to share long-form videos with his target audience and give them a deeper connection by diving into his area of expertise …sales! Expect to see a lot of informative videos on his channel in the next few weeks.
The How
Oh boy, this is the fun part. It’s easy to come up with tons of excuses for why you can’t do something like video. A lot of it comes down to you just don’t know how to get started or what to do. So, I’m here to drop some how-to knowledge on you and kick the excuses out the door.
Know Your Audience – The key to being effective in your video efforts is to have a good understanding of your audience.
“If you want to help anyone with a face, you’re not going to help anyone at all.” Viveka von Rosen, Vengreso
You have to be clear on who your buyer personas are and align your video messaging with them. If you aren’t talking about things that matter to your audience, you will lose members. Always be aware of your audience.
Learn more about using LinkedIn and incorporating video on LinkedIn in the below video interview with Viveka von Rosen from Vengreso.
Be Recognizable – Others should be able to recognize you in your video from your social profile pic. When you incorporate video, especially LinkedIn’s native video, make sure viewers can easily recognize you in the video based on your profile pic. People want authenticity from the people they buy from.
“You create a huge disconnect when your LinkedIn profile image is a well-crafted, photoshopped image of you, but in the video, you look like your older sibling.” Viveka von Rosen, Vengreso
Be Creative – There are many ways to incorporate video into your sales strategy. You just need to figure out how it works best for you and your audience. Not sure where to start? Here are a few suggestions.
- Social – Share your videos on social. Mention others in your post and ask them to provide their feedback to create engagement.
- Interviews – Interview someone in person or online using a tool that allows you to both be on video, like Zoom or GoToMeeting
- Trade Show Follow Ups – Follow up with connections you meet at tradeshows with an email that includes a personal video. It helps to refresh their memory on who you are, and it helps them to remember your conversation from the conference.
- Trending Topics – Do a live video chat on a trending topic related to your industry.
Get to the Point – The average person’s attention span is only 8 seconds. Get to the point of the video within the first 10 seconds. If you don’t manage to capture their attention in the first 10 seconds of your video, chances are you’ll lose them.
Keep it Short – Sixty percent of videos under five minutes are watched. In 2017, 56% of videos published were less than two minutes. Remember that short attention span we mentioned? So, try to keep it short so you keep your audience engaged. There will be times longer videos are appropriate…just make them count!
Get Over Your Anxiety – If video isn’t something you usually do, it may be very intimidating for you to get started. It can be scary not to know how others may view you or maybe you’re concerned that you may not come across as an expert in your field. Here’s the thing…the only way to know if video will yield positive results is to just do it. Here are some tips from some pros on how to get comfortable in front of the camera.
“From a video standpoint, you have to be using it today – even if you’re afraid or even feel like you don’t want to do it. I see it as a virtual voicemail…and 90% of people will view your video because it’s unique and it’s something that’s completely different than a regular outreach.” Morgan Ingram, JBarrows Sales Training
Catch the full interview with Morgan Ingram
“It definitely takes practice! You’ll never become comfortable in front of the camera without putting the time in. To help with the ‘practice makes perfect’ method, you can start with screen recording instead of using the webcam to broadcast yourself close-up. This will help you get used to the talk tracks without focusing on staring at yourself in the webcam. (or halfway between like the image below where you’re in a smaller bubble)” Dan Wardle, Vidyard
Check Out the Tools Available – Familiarize yourself with the different video platforms available. There are some really cool ones out there to help you do live video, recordings, instructional, etc. You just have to find the one that’s right for you and what your goals are for your prospects or customers. Video can be used as a tool to promote or engage. Here are some tools you may want to check out.
- Vidyard GoVideo – Vidyard’s online video platform takes you beyond hosting and management, generating better business results through exceptional video experiences, engagement, and insights.
- Videolicious – Videolicious makes professional-looking video creation fast and easy.
- BeLive – Engage your audience on Facebook Live with an amazing live broadcast. Once your live broadcast is done, you can download the video and upload it to other platforms such as Google, LinkedIn or Twitter.
- Zoom – Up to 100 interactive video participants, ideal for panels. You can organize your webinars and your live video streams on this single platform
The Bottom Line
So, now that you understand the why, where, and how to incorporate video into your sales it’s time to make it happen. The most significant thing I hope you walk away with is the importance of knowing your target audience and create content geared to them. Just like Viveka mentioned in her interview, if you’re primary audience is men, you probably shouldn’t use a lot of feminine colors and fonts, or you will have a disconnect with your audience. As long as you keep your focus, video should help add another layer of connectivity with your prospects and customers.
