5 Things Top Video Sellers Did Differently in 2021

Roddy O'Caoimh took his outbound prospecting conversion rate from 8% to 27%. Kayla Cytron-Thaler sent 300+ personalized videos every month and never missed quota. Conor Hassett increased his opportunities created, and his close rate, each by 50%.

These are just a few of the stories from the 36 winners and finalists of the 2021 Video in Business Awards. As the host of this annual program, I personally review every submission to learn what the impact of video was for each seller, why it worked so well for them, and what lessons we can all take away to enhance our own sales efforts in the year ahead.

After countless hours of reviewing submissions, watching videos, and speaking directly to many of the finalists, I distilled it all down into 5 important lessons that the rest of us can learn from to be more personal, engaging, effective, and even efficient sellers in 2022.

If you'd like to dive further into each of these lessons and see some real video examples, check out my on-demand webinar recording below - free to watch and ungated.

Lesson #1: What you show can be just as important as what you say.

Video is the one messaging format that gives you the opportunity to show-and-tell. Take advantage of that and think creatively about on-screen or in-hand visuals that can help you earn their attention and/or more clearly explain the message you're trying to deliver. If a picture's worth a thousand words, how many words is a 60 second video worth? Let me know in the comments :)

Kayla Cytron-Thaler at Canny is a master at using her prospect's LinkedIn profile to get their attention, then other browser tabs to clearly illustrate how she can help. Kaela Bernardino at Docebo created a video using Lego to help connect the dots for her prospects, and it was so successful that her marketing team stole the idea! With her permission of course.

Lesson #2: How you say it can be just as impactful as what you say

Video is also the only medium that lets you put your energy, your passion, and your personality on display. These can go a long way in motivating your prospect or customer to watch, keep watching, and then act on your message. Put on a big smile before you press record. Show them you are genuinely excited to help them solve a problem. Break out those juggling balls or sing your heart out if that's true to your own personality!

Joanne at LinkedIn Marketing Solutions and David at Snyk both showed us that serenading your prospects with a short song can be a fun and unique way to get your message heard. Carroll VanHook-Weaver from Akara Partners has us smiling every time we watched one of her videos, because her own energy and positive was just so darn infectious.

Lesson #3: Not every video has to be personalized 1:1

We often think about video messages as a form of one-to-one communication. However, just like those great off-the-shelf email templates you use over and over again, pre-recorded videos can be a great way to deliver that personal touch or to show-and-tell how you can help - but in a highly scalable and super efficient way.

Kaela at Docebo (see lesson 1) uses that pre-recorded Lego video over and over with different prospects to capture their attention, and their imagination. Even though it's not personalized for each individual, it still feels exceedingly personal. Sales teams at Whatagraph, Salesloft, and many others have incorporated on-demand demo videos, customer stories, and other pre-recorded or pre-produced videos into their prospecting and deal cycles. There are countless ways to use pre-recorded videos to make your more effective, and eficient.

Lesson #4: Clearly demonstrate how you can help with video walkthroughs

Whether you're in early stage discussions with a new prospect, or trying to show a key decision maker how your solution will solve a problem they care about, custom videos can help you demonstrate your solution in a way that's fully tailored to the needs of that prospect but can be consumed on their own time, on-demand, and even shared around with others.

Roddy at Publift has discovered an amazing formula for using video-based walkthroughs to triple his conversion rate on new leads. To make it crystal clear how he can help, and that he's willing to invest time in this relationship, Roddy records customized videos for new leads to show them exactly how his solution can help them. He walks through how they are doing things today, clearly explains how his solution would fit in, and shows an example of what the outputs and outcomes would be.

As you can see in the image above, these videos are often 7+ minutes in length, bucking the myth that every video needs to be less than 2 minutes. Why does this work? Well, the 7-minute video actually saves his prospect 23-minutes of their time because they no longer need to take that 30-minute call. And they can rewatch the parts of interest, and easily forward to others on their team.

Lesson #5: Video can play a big role in every step of the customer lifecycle

If you've read my book The Visual Sale, you'll know about the four E's of video. If you haven't read it, spoiler alert, here they are. Compared to static content, video is more:

1. Educational
2. Engaging
3. Emotional
4. Empathetic

And when you think about it through that lens, it's clear to see why video can work well at every stage of the customer lifecycle. The top video-wielding sales reps and teams of 2021 took this to a whole new level.

Conor at Leonardo 247 (images above) made video messages and custom screen recordings an integrated part of his sales process in 2021. The results? A 50% increase in opportunities created, an increase in close rate from 20% to 30%, and an annual quota that was left in the dust. Like, waaaaayyyy in the dust. The fine folks at Salesloft have mastered the art of using video messages to help close deals and improve post-sale customer satisfaction. And the team at Sophos kept going with an amazing online video hub that has changed how they deliver customer support and community engagement.

See it for Yourself!

After all this talk about the power of video to show-and-tell, it's no surprise that I have an online video walking you through all of these stories. Check out my on-demand webinar below (ungated, I promise!) to dive deeper into these stories and to see some of their videos in action. Stay tuned to hear the 4 lessons learned from our video marketing award winners if of interest.