Delivering Better Buyer Experiences With Video: 6 Practical Applications

If you’re in sales you’ll know it’s rough out there. Not only are sales org’s, by and large, struggling to generate quality pipeline but close rates, from SMB through to enterprise, have dropped by 42% on average in the last 2 years alone (Winning by Design).

We’re being asked to do more, with less. So naturally It may feel like hitting targets is an unsurmountable challenge.

But let’s turn the tables for a minute. The challenges that we are facing, are likely also burdening our buyers. Purse strings have been tightened to the point of no return, buyers are being bombarded by text-based outreach from a whole host of businesses. For any one challenge they are trying to solve, there are a variety of solutions and for every type of solution, there are a multitude of providers.

On top of this, it’s likely they have been burnt in the past by a salesperson making unattainable promises. In fact only 23% of B2B buyers think salespeople are trusted resources for solving business challenges (Miller Heiman).

The?B2B buying?journey is as?complex?as it's ever been:?more?channels,?more?people involved from?more?functions,?more?interactions. In fact, 77 Percent of B2B Buyers Say Their Latest Purchase?was either “Difficult” or “Very Complex” (McKinsey).

So given that B2B buying journeys are more complex, and budgets are under constant scrutiny, we can hardly be surprised that more and more deals are being lost to indecision. So how can we meet our buyers where they are,? improve the buyer experience and increase the likelihood that we reach a mutually beneficial outcome?

It just so happens that 72% of B2B buyers would prefer to learn about a new product or service by video. So here are 6 practical applications in which you can leverage video throughout your process:

1) Outbound prospecting:

We know that our buyers are buried under text-based outreach, with the average professional having 200 emails in their inbox and receiving 120 new ones each day.?

So why not use video to stand out from the noise and grab your prospects' attention?

Video allows you to deliver hyper-personalised and human comms that help to earn trust, build rapport and become more memorable.

Tips:

• Keep it short! 45-90 seconds (aim for 1 minute!)
• use visual elements and screen shares to make the message more impactful and to make a personal thumbnail.
• ALWAYS use an animated thumbnail - people are 27x more likely to click on something that’s animated over something that’s static.?

2) Following up with Leads?

This is crucial, as it’s not always that it’s a one-hit wonder with that first video. In fact one of my highest converting videos is my follow-up video in which I have the Vidyard analytics section in the background, showing the notification that my prospect has watched X% of my video.

Tips:

• Screenshare the analytics section or the notification that the prospect has watched your video and include a soft ask for a next step (call)… “Is it worth a quick chat? If so my calendar will appear at the end of this video”?

3) Meeting Reminders/Confirmations

One of the worst feelings in the world for a salesperson is when you have invested time in cutting through the noise and booking a meeting with a prospect, only for them to no-show. So create a custom video reminder to reduce no-shows and ensure meetings are a success.

Tips:

• Short and sweet (10-15 seconds)?
• remind the prospect of the time data and location of the meeting
• personalise (include some key agenda items)?
• ALWAYS include your calendar link in case they genuinely can’t make it. We want to make it as easy as possible for them to reschedule and get themselves back in the calendar.

4) Follow-ups & Deal Progression

Following a high-impact meeting, ideally, we want to keep to momentum going and ensure that the impact we made sticks. So what better way than recapping the meeting, touching on the key takeaways and actions ahead of the next call?

It’s a great way to pre-emptively answer questions and address potential objections.

It also enables us to get DMU-wide buy-in and alleviate the pressure on our champion to get it. The reason is that people are 52% more likely to share video content compared to any other type of content (HubSpot)

Tips:

Why not put this into a Digital Salesroom, with supporting documents, research, and case studies? Ensuring that your buyers have everything at their fingertips to make better, more well-informed decisions.

5) Answering Questions In A Better Way.?

Not only does our brain process visuals 60,000x faster than text (3M Corp.) but it’s also between 5x-9.5x more memorable (Insivia & Cone of Experience, respectively).

So if you want to your buyers to remember the answers to questions, send a video.

Tips:

Leverage a visual to help clearly break down the question and answer.

6) Proposal Walkthroughs & Contract Reviews

The last thing that we want to do is to throw a proposal or a contract over the fence and hope for the best. So why not break down the options that are available to your buyers and the reason each costs what it does?

Ensure that you call out key points and address common questions.

Tips:?

If you are operating in a complex sales cycle, with various departments involved, use video chapters, so that each department can quickly navigate to easily find relevant sections that are speaking their language.

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If you’re keen to learn more here is a Vidyard Room that contains a more in-depth video, with supporting docs:

https://rooms.vidyard.com/rooms/qoW8jxLsWKJqa9bO2X2yBg

Let me know where else in your process you are using video.?