How to Utilize Videos Throughout Your Sales Process

Have you been thinking about how to utilize videos throughout your sales process? If you have, you are certainly onto something. Video can go an immensely long way in helping you develop stronger relationships, build brand equity in your sector or industry, and generate significantly more sales.

Better yet, you can do all of this on a limited budget. You don’t need expensive equipment to create professional videos. Rather, you can use the equipment that you have right now to create video content that accomplishes your sales goals. Pretty cool, right?

So while the value is there, you may still be thinking about how to utilize videos throughout your sales process. It’s a great question because the theory doesn’t always match up with reality.

For all of the best intentions, there are some businesses or creators that still struggle to capitalize on everything that video has to offer. This is especially true in the sales context. For as much as we talk about new technologies, sales are still heavily conducted by phone and in-person meetings. While these may seem like effective strategies, they come at the cost of investing in high-quality video content.

Consequently, I want to spend this post talking about how to utilize videos throughout your sales process. Whether you are thinking about incorporating video into your sales process or are contemplating ways to better leverage video in your process, these tips and insights can help you accomplish your sales goals.

How Video Solves Problems and Brings Out Humanity

Before getting into the nitty-gritty of how to utilize videos throughout your sales process, I think it’s important to explore what makes video so special in sales. I’m sure that you are already consuming lots of videos in your personal life, whether it is following your favorite influencer on TikTok or watching an educational video on YouTube. What makes it so valuable in the sales context?

Ultimately, when I think of value, I think of results. I think about how you can help someone overcome challenges at their company. We all face issues or roadblocks at work, whether they are finding a consistent influx of prospects or bringing that one key prospect across the finish line. Because of this, we are constantly looking for solutions to overcome these short-term and long-term problems.

Companies can offer a plethora of products and services to create value. But going beyond the product or service itself, these companies can leverage video to create immense value for their audiences.

One of the best ways to use video is to guide your viewers. At Dubb, we recommend our users provide their audience members with a piece of content, a piece of information, or something else that helps those individuals solve problems. As just one example, you can create a short video that shares some of the hidden “hacks” or features within your digital product. Granted, you may not be saving the world with this type of video. That said, this type of video can better help your audience members solve goals or problems. You may discuss one killer feature that saves them time or helps them create even more value for their customers. Ultimately, by acting as your audience’s guide, you get to create immense value in their life and make it more likely that they become paying customers.

That’s not the only benefit of the video in a sales context. Simply put, the video brings out your humanity. I think that video is the next best thing in real life. When a prospect sees a video of or your colleagues, that prospect is more inclined to trust you. Video breaks through some trust issues that your prospect may have had with your company.

Video can connect to a person. It can connect to a product. In the end, it makes those relationships real. In fact, we have seen its effectiveness in the data. Ultimately, video content satisfies people’s curiosity. This is unlike email, where prospects often find the text too lengthy or difficult to read.

So by thinking about how to utilize videos throughout your sales process, you are already on your way to creating stronger relationships, showing off your humanity, and generating more sales. To put it another way, video is an excellent tool to generate immense value for you and your audience.

Best Practices in How to Utilize Videos Throughout Your Sales Process

With that discussion in mind, let’s now discuss some of the tangible steps that you can take to utilize videos throughout your sales process. As you can imagine, there are plenty of ways that you can do this. I want to focus on some of the most effective strategies. Whether you choose to implement some or all of these strategies, you will quickly discover that you are building stronger relationships with prospects and generating more sales.

Use Screen Videos to Explain Concepts

This is one of our favorite ways to educate and build stronger relationships with our audiences. Screen videos are simple, yet highly effective ways to connect with your viewers.

There are nothing people like more than to visually see what positive results look like. Most simply, instead of seeing how a product works, they would much rather see how that product works. The visual nature of video creates more trust and validation and makes it more likely that the viewer will purchase from you. At the very least, they will want to speak with you to learn more about your product or service.

This is where screen recordings can be so valuable. They open the hood and show how your prospect, by working with you, can achieve massive success.

Even better is the fact that you can incorporate screen recorders throughout your sales pipeline. You can use screen recordings to show off your product or service or even answer a frequently asked question about your product. All you need to do is open up a video recording tool like Dubb, record your screen and add any comments that you may have, and then send it out to your audience.

The use cases can go even further. For instance, let’s say that you have to send over a contract or proposal to an important prospect. If you have been on the sending or receiving end, you’ve likely noticed that certain elements need to be explained. This can be everything from a key responsibility in the proposal or the proposed asking price. In the past, you or a counterpart may have included footer notes to provide some much-needed context.

Using a tool like Dubb, for instance, you can avoid footer notes and send over the proposal through a screen recording. This is a more personalized way of sending the proposal and it provides context to some of the most important provisions. With just one click, you can record your screen (which contains the discussed proposal). From there, you can use the screen recording to explain each line of the proposal. This eliminates most (if not all) confusion and can eliminate much of the back-and-forth between you and a prospect.

Considering all of this, don’t hesitate to use screen recordings at every point of your sales funnel. They are easy to record and can make life easier for everyone involved.

Create and Edit Content Wherever You Are

One of the most liberating things about video content today is that you can create and edit content anywhere. With only your cell phone, you can create one-to-one or one-to-many videos for your audience. The restrictions of several years ago have simply disappeared. Instead of needing to have fancy and expensive production equipment, you can simply pull out your phone and record professional video content.

This is especially important in the world of digital sales and marketing. If you are trying to build an online audience (which you arguably should be doing), you need to constantly be making great content for your viewers. The more consistently that you release new content, the greater chance you have of building a robust, passionate audience. As you can imagine, by building this type of audience, you create stronger relationships and generate more sales.

The great news? Right now, there are so many tools that let you create and edit content when you’re away from the office. For instance, Dubb has a mobile app that lets you create and edit videos in real-time. You can find the app for iOS devices by clicking here and Android devices by clicking here. Dubb’s mobile app offers plenty of features that let you create virtually any type of content that you’d like. Leveraging a full suite of editing tools, you can then send your video through a long list of distribution channels, including email, SMS, LinkedIn, Slack, and more.

Dubb’s mobile app is just one of many tools that you can use to create videos on-the-go. Whether you are trying to convince a new segment of prospects to learn about your company or trying to connect with a key prospect, make sure you are using these mobile creating and editing tools. Who knows — one spur-of-the-moment video that you created outside of your office could convince that key prospect to become a paying customer.

Leverage Video Action Pages

Video action pages are some of the most powerful ways to engage with your audience members — including your prospects. If you haven’t heard of a video action page, it is essentially a central hub for a specific piece of video content. Compared to something like a YouTube page, video action pages are much more powerful ways to showcase your content.

When you upload your video to YouTube, your video is competing against many other videos. In fact, some of your competitors’ videos may be right next to yours. Yes, YouTube has the scale and size that any creator would want. That being said, it doesn’t offer the best tools to maximize attention to your video and doesn’t offer an easy way to connect with viewers after they have consumed your video. Even if your video content is stellar, there is a chance that a viewer sees a competitor’s content and opts for their product or service.

A video action page offers a completely different story. Essentially, a video action page is a one-stop-shop for both getting viewers to watch your content and travel down your sales pipeline.

Looking at Dubb’s video action pages, for instance, you can see that your specific video is prominently located at the top center of the page. Below that video are call-to-action buttons. As you likely know, calls to action are extremely effective tools to lead prospects down your sales funnel. Some of the calls to action that you can use with Dubb include:

• Download a white paper or eBook: This is a great call to action for prospects at the top of your sales funnel. After watching your video content, these prospects can download a digital document to learn more about your company.
• Communicate via Facebook Messenger: Facebook Messenger can be a great communications outlet for prospects that don’t want to provide their phone number or email address. While it may be unconventional, don’t hesitate to consider this call to action.
• Completing a form: This is a more conventional call to action that can provide a wealth of knowledge about your prospects. Whatever information that you’re looking for, you can design a form that gathers that type of information.
• Make a purchase: Think that your prospects are ready to make a purchase? If so, don’t hesitate to include this call to action below your video.

Ultimately, Dubb’s video action pages let you include as much information as relevant to a prospect or group of prospects. From the many calls to action to Dubb’s stellar playlist feature, you can have your prospect do anything you want from that video landing page.

Show Off Your Personality

This may be an underrated tactic in how to utilize videos throughout your sales process, but it can be a great way to build those strong relationships with audience members. The general paradigm is that our video content needs to be stringent and “professional.” After all, we see sleek business commercials that are produced with huge budgets. It’s easy to think that our video content needs to be like that.

As you can guess, your video content does not need to be “professional” in the traditional sense. In fact, I’d argue that letting your hair down and showing off your personality can be a more effective way to connect with your audience. Every video that you make, therefore, is a chance for your audience to become friends with you. They get to know your voice and get to see you speak knowledgeably about your product, sector, and company.

Therefore, each follow-up with a prospect or audience is a chance to get ahead of any questions that they may have. But at the same time, they get to know you. Prospects buy from people, not monolithic companies, so showing off your personality in your videos is a great way to get closer to a sale.

Incorporate Personalization in Your Video Content

The personalization doesn’t just stop there. I highly recommend that you leverage the power of personalization in your video content. This means treating your viewers like individual human beings — regardless of the specific video.

It just makes intuitive sense. Even adding something as simple as the viewer’s name can improve your relationship with that viewer. It shows that viewer that you have taken the time to single them out. In a world where companies are shouting at us and treating us like numbers on a spreadsheet, personalization can make your organization stand out.

So how can you leverage personalization in your videos — especially if you are sending them at scale? Using Dubb, you can incorporate our personalization text feature. This feature lets you add the viewer’s first name as overlay text on every video.

While this may not seem like a huge deal on the surface, this small feature can strengthen your audience relationships. In some circumstances, it may even go so far as to convince a prospect to make a purchase. If you decide to become a Dubb user, definitely take advantage of this feature.

Use Video to Follow-Up With Tentative Prospects

When thinking about how to utilize videos throughout your sales process, it’s easy to contemplate those situations where video helps you easily convert a prospect. But what happens if a prospect is getting cold feet?

For example, let’s say that you have reached out to a particular prospect. You think she is interested in becoming a paying customer, as you had a great phone call with her. That being said, she hasn’t yet made a purchase. What happens next?

One great idea is to send a video follow-up. A video follow-up lets you send a personalized message to that prospect. You can remind them of your product or service’s value, assuage any concerns or trepidations they may have, and actually ask them to purchase your product or service. By sending a video follow-up, you put a name to your face and continue to build trust with your prospect.

As an example, in your video follow-up, you can say something like, “Hey, it was so great getting to meet you. We had a great conversation about my company’s product or service. I’m here to answer any questions or concerns that you may have.”

You will certainly want to add more detail to the sample above. If your prospect had a specific objection in your initial conversation, don’t hesitate to address it in your video. And if that prospect didn’t mention anything specific? Use your video follow-up to show your passion for your product or service. Make your video as personalized as you can while articulating the value that your product or service can bring to their lives.

In the end, you’ll definitely want to leverage video follow-ups. By recording a customized video for them, you will become a huge differentiator in their inbox. In other words, as we all navigate through our busy days, your video content will stand out. As you can guess, this bright, shining light on your video content will make it more likely that your prospect consumes your content and makes a purchase from you.

Follow the Analytics

Finally, when thinking about how to utilize videos throughout your sales process, I encourage you to closely track your data and analytics.

Ultimately, your analytics can offer plenty of insights about your video content and your audience members. From overall watch time to click-through rate, these data points can show you whether your videos are resonating or not. In effect, they let you avoid what isn’t working and double down on what is working. With these insights, you can create even more effective video content, which will provide incremental insights. The cycle then continues.

One of the most beautiful things about using a platform like Dubb is that you have a wealth of data at your fingertips. For instance, using Dubb, you can actually track whether a certain prospect has watched your video content. If that prospect has watched your video, you can be more confident about following-up with them. And if they haven’t? You may want to tread more carefully when contacting that prospect again.

There are plenty of other data points that you can find on Dubb. You can see if a particular prospect has opened your email, what percentage of your video that they watch, and if they didn’t watch your video at all.

If that prospect didn’t watch your video in the first place, you can follow-up. In either text or video form, you can say something like, “Hey, my team and I made this video for you. I know that you are going to love it. Let me know what you think.”

And if that prospect still doesn’t watch your video? You can bump it up a third time. Your message could be similar to, “Hey, I see you didn’t get a chance to view that video I made for you. I know that you’ll find it interesting. Let me know your thoughts.”

If you notice that your prospect did, in fact, watch your video, you can follow-up in a different way. You can say something like, “Hey, I saw that you checked out your video, but didn’t take the call to action. Is there anything I can do to help you make a decision or move forward?”

These are just some of the ways that you can use analytics and data to accomplish your sales goals. No matter the content or length of your video content, granular analytics can help you create more effective content.

Take Advantage of These Opportunities

So in this post, we covered a whole host of ways to incorporate video throughout your sales process. It isn’t just the first touchpoint. Instead, there are many more opportunities to leverage video to generate more sales.

Every single chance that you are communicating with your prospects represents a chance to use video. Yet if you are intimidated by making these changes, there’s no need to worry. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. All you need to do is embrace the power of video in your day-to-day sales work.

If you would like to learn more about Dubb and how it can help you incorporate video in your sales process, click here. You can also click here to register for a free 7-day trial of Dubb’s premium plans.

About Ruben: Ruben is the founder of Dubb. When he’s not creating his next video, he’s probably playing drums, at a Taco Tuesday or with the fam. Follow Ruben on IG, FB, YT, TW, Medium, and his blog.

About Dubb: Dubb is a popular video creation, hosting, sharing, and tracking platform. Follow Dubb on IG, FB, YT, TW, and the Dubb blog. To get a free trial to Dubb, request an invite.

Originally posted at Dubb on January 2021.