The (not so) Secret Weapon of Master Sellers

Why Video?

Video has changed my career in more ways than I can count. A half-a-dozen years ago or so, I had sold my small service business and was doing coaching and consulting work.?

Almost everything I did was remote and I found that the only time I really felt like our programs and projects were working was when we were either in-person or on a video conference call. I would notice an immediate drop-off in execution and performance the second things went “offline”.?

Around that time I started experimenting with video tools to create short, simple explainers on lessons and topics we covered. I also started posting these videos online and while my content certainly never went viral, the response was incredible. I would constantly hear from people about how they felt like they knew me and the videos really were the extra personal touch they needed to take action.?

Since then, I have held a few different software sales roles and have consistently weaved in video into almost everything I do. There is no other sales technique that I have used that has resonated more with buyers & team members more than flipping on the camera and talking rather than typing.

Where can you use video?

I have used video to get booked on dream podcasts, sell a business, buy a house, land a job, hire employees, close 6 figure sales and everything in between.

So the short answer is everywhere but let’s give you some simple buckets in a sales context.

My general rule of thumb is to use video whenever there is an opportunity to explain something that is more than 2-3 sentences and where a visual aide would be helpful/more engaging.?

Examples uses for Video in Sales:

- Prospecting

The most common use case for videos in sales tends to be focused on prospecting. While this is certainly a very powerful strategy, I find most sales people fail with it for a number of reasons. I will outline the best practices that have worked for me:

Mistake #1: sending a video as the first touch point with the prospect.

If you are cold emailing/messaging and the prospect has never heard of you before, they may be unwilling to open up and click on some random link from a sales person. Instead try to build familiarity and at least see if you can warm the prospect up to who you are.

My strategy: I like to engage with the prospect's content on LinkedIn and follow what sorts of things they are talking about publicly. After a few points of engagement, I will direct message or email them a video expanding upon a topic they posted about and weaving in a unique perspective that I showcase in the video. They are far more likely to open the video once they recognize your name and you are showing that you at least looked into them and this isn't automated.

Mistake #2: Videos are too long and pitchy

The goal of the video is to offer some fresh perspective and pique their interest. Where most reps go wrong is they treat their videos like a mini demo. As if this is a requested elevator pitch. It is not. It is a chance to captivate this otherwise hard to reach person in a the short window holding their attention.

My Strategy: My goal is to offer something of value as early on in the discussion as possible. For example, after seeing their content, I may recognize something they are asking their audience for advice on and maybe it is something I have a resource on.

I may send a direct message on LinkedIn like this asking if they would be interested in me sharing some insights from someone just like them dealing with a very similar problem:

Now, I have captivated interest and I then crafted a personalized video that laid out 2-3 key insights and unique perspectives of how she could think differently about this problem. From there it was a matter of seeing if these insights were interesting and worth learning more about.

At a minimum, she walked away with a template and a few new ideas to get her brain thinking in a new direction.

Don't hold your value until the demo. Your prospects deserve value at EVERY stage of the sales process. Use video to share visuals and unique resources that strike a cord causing emotional reactions.

Example Video:

- Confirming an Upcoming demo or sales appointment?

Want to decrease no-shows and actually have people look forward to your upcoming meeting? Set a task at the end of the day to create 30 second "look forward to seeing you" videos to send to all your first time meetings for tomorrow.

Example:

- After demo - Wrapping up the take-aways & outlining next steps

Often times for the prospect, demos can feel overwhelming with all this new information being shot at them in a 30 or 60 minute session. Odds are your prospect is going to forget 60-70% of what you covered and the last thing they want is a 9 paragraph report of what you covered via email after the call.

The demo was a visual experience... so check your recording and find where their "aha" moments were. Those are your sticking points to drill down on in the followup email recap.

The key is to use video to pull out those key points in SHORT increments. As much as the prospects say they want the whole Zoom recording.. rarely will anyone watch the entire thing. But bit-sized chunks curated based on insights from the conversation? Very valuable.

Second added benefit is that these short videos can be shared with other decision makers that were not on the call. Instead of sharing that 60 minute recording or relying on your prospect to do the internal selling to their team, craft up a personal 5-min mini video demo for those other DMs to view based on what resonated with your original prospect.

Sample "after demo recap email":

- Followups

Want to add that personal flare to your followups that is hard to ignore? Use video. I send followup emails recapping things we covered in our last meeting. It shows that they are worth me taking the time to create another video for.

I also will send these via LinkedIn, text or even chat in addition to email.

Keep them short 30-60 seconds.. make it actionable and direct. No "just checking in".

"Hey Kelly, when we chatted Friday you mentioned the next best step for us was to get Emily linked up with me for a conversation. I know she was out last week... I looked her up and have her email as [email protected]. Would it be okay if I just sent her a quick intro myself with my calendar link for us to connect?"

- Multi-threading

When working large deals, there tends to be multiple decision makers and even multiple departments effected by this potential opportunity. When trying to break into a large account or gain momentum from other stakeholders, it can be advantageous to prospect to other points of contact within the same account simultaneously.

When you have had any sort of traction or foot in the door, I have found it helpful to send videos explaining the progress or conversations I have had with the other team member to see if they would be open to a discussion.

Seeing your face and the name dropping tends to be much more of a warm lead than direct cold email outreach. I will often do this on LinkedIn.

- Cross-functional Buy-in

Ever have a great call with a prospect and then they say... "great let's loop in the Sales Engineer team [insert other department]"? This outside department has no idea who you are or what they are walking into but they already have their defenses up because they feel like someone has to be keep things close to the chest.

Happens constantly in mid & enterprise deals. What has worked for me is anticipating this and being proactive. I ask on the initial call:

"Jim, apart from you and Pam, who else usually gets involved to evaluate and implement new systems like this?"

Then I usually get the insight I need for who the other parties are. When I send that recap email, I also go and create short, simple intro videos for each of the teams/departments they mentioned and send them personal emails preparing for that call.

I will also leverage stock previously recorded videos like this below that the prospect can forward to their other departments if they will not be needing to set an additional meeting. I frame up those to be in the arena for what that department might care about to anticipate possible objections.

- Team Collaboration

Sellers need to protect their golden hours. Sometimes team huddles, 1-on-1s and other meetings can be a bit more of a standard practice rather than a necessity.

Wherever possible use video to eliminate the meeting all together. The asynchronous nature of video makes it so you can lay out your part of the meeting, your counterpart can lay out theirs and you can do so in 5 minutes in between calls without having to eat up valuable calendar real estate.

- Pipeline Reviews

Excited about your pipeline? Bummed out my Q4s holiday decline?

Regardless - show some initiative and record a 2-3 minute video of you going through your pipeline for the last month/quarter and sending that ahead of your one-on-one. Let your personality come up. Have a hypothesis prepared about what worked, what didn’t and what changes you would like to make.?

Be proactive… your manager will love it and your pipeline will be better for it.?

I also find that the visual sharing of your screen and going through your pipeline helps to really crystalize your message. Bring your visual pipeline up on the video and walk through it in a few clicks.

- FAQs

One of the lesser-known approaches is using videos to answer frequently asked questions. As a sales rep, there are 20-50 common questions that you asked about your product, service, market, competition etc. on a weekly basis.

Best practice is to have short 1-5 minute videos made answering each so that when they come up you can quickly link out to them in seconds in a chat or email with ease.

Bonus Tip #1: send the link to a library or site where you house all these FAQs this way you can send it out prior to a meeting and actually answer SOME questions before they are asked. Will show authority and thought leadership in your space. Plus another place your prospects are seeing and hearing you, building your familiarity.?

Example:

Bonus Tip #2: Use a text expander tool like TextBlaze and add the link to the videos as different short codes. For example if I get asked about privacy on our software... I have a short code "/priv" and that automatically expands in the link to a video and resource page about the privacy information. Will allow you to get back to your prospects quicker and have answers faster.

What tools should I use?

I am not here to promote one tool over the other. They all have their strong suits, unique integrations and value props so do your research and do some free trials. Here are a few that are popular.

• Loom
• VidYard
• BombBomb
• Soapbox (by Wistia)
• Bonjoro
• There are others @ www.google.com

In my opinion, it is not which tool you choose but how you use it that matters.

Key features for me:

• Browser extension: ?must have an easy way for me to access on the fly wherever I am online
• Decent foldering system: I make a lot of videos… like thousands in a year. I need to be able to categorize and quick organize them with a quick drag. Bonus is if you are doing training or want to pull common threads.. You can share the whole folder of like-kind videos.
• View/comment tracker: I find the notification when someone views my video for the first or 15 time very helpful insight. I also like that I can see how much of the video they watched/ where they dropped off
• Easy controls: I switch between camera only, camera and screen and screen only constantly. I need a really easy tool bar that I can toggle between without much fuss
• GIF previews: I have found that the visual nature of the GIF preview really helps pique interest and encourage a click to open

What equipment do I need?

The true, simple, scrappy startup answer is nothing but your laptop. As long as your computer has a webcam and microphone, you can start cranking out perfectly fine videos. However, if you are like me and you already hate your voice and would like to invest in a little production upgrade, I got ya covered.

This is my equipment stack - I am NOT a photographer, audio engineer, or professional of any kind so do your own research but this is just what has worked for me.?

Camera (the worst part): You can get away with an external click in Web Cam for low cost and be a pretty good update compared to the default camera on your computer. For me though, I wanted a crisper, cleaner external camera and one that I could setup separate from my computer.?

• WebCam: If you want to go the slight upgrade. On Amazon here for $36
• Digital Camera: If you want to up your game, you can use any quality camera. I happen to use this Sony A6000 which is pretty old but still really does the trick.?Anywhere from $300-1,000

Camera Stand Tripod: The tripod is a clutch gadget to have with the digital camera.?

• $50-$90 on Amazon here

Cam Link Camera to Computer Connector: this is the annoying little gizmo you need to format the feed from the camera to your USB on your computer.?

• $99 on Amazon here

Microphone: There is a low cost version that does the job:

• $60 On Amazon here

Then there is a premium version that is much higher quality. This is my personal preference but mainly because I have to do a lot of voiceovers in my work.

• $260 On Amazon here

Lighting: This one you can go anyway you want, because I have a big, poorly light room, I went with a larger box light but you can use any light you want including one of those little ring lights.

• $45 On Amazon here

Other than that, I installed some book shelves behind me to have a nice backdrop which is all just my personal flare.?

The keys are:

1. Make sure you don’t have a nasty echo
2. If there is a window in your office, make sure it is on your side or ideally in front of you and not behind you
3. If you need additional light, put it behind the camera shining front and center on you

With tools like Loom & VidYard, you can easily toggle between the default computer mics and cameras and the externals. Makes life easier without any additional hardware or software.?

Video Recording Best Practices

• Keep it short. For Simple introductions or first encounters, keep them short less than 2 minute - preferably less 90 seconds.
• Keep it light. Don't overwhelm people with information. If you have multiple points and segments, break them into separate videos.
• Slow down. If you are a NorthEasterner like me, you talk way too fast. Take a beat, your goal here with video is to communicate clearly and effectively through this easy to digest medium
• Break up your screen. If your video is longer than 1 minute, switch your screen between full camera and screen share. Being locked in one position for too long gets boring and your audience will lose interest. Break up the video with a little screen share, a little main video. It helps to keep it engaging.

All in all, if you want to stand out and make lasting impressions on your prospects, weave in video whenever you can. Your audience, manager and wallet will all thank you.