You’re a professional services team looking to nurture your leads and turn them into paying customers. You know you need to step your digital marketing game up, but you don’t know where to begin. Is video right for you? How can you actually turn something like video into a viable step in your sales process?
If you need more insight into your customer’s buyer’s journey and how to apply video through every step of the way, check out this in-depth article, which outlines exactly which types of videos your company might need. But before you decide on the specific video, let’s take a look at how video can impact your sales process and how you can apply video most effectively alongside the tactics you use every day to seal the deal.
What is a sales video?
Contrary to what countless youtube explainer videos try to predicate, there is no hard-and-fast rule about what constitutes a sales video. Generally, a sales video is a video you use to sell your product or service. Technically, that means any type of video can be used as a sales video, so let’s dig in a little deeper into the semantics.
Ultimately, whether or not your video is a sales video depends on how you utilize it as part of your sales process. For example, if a welcome video simply lives on your homepage and nowhere else, it isn’t technically a sales video. But if you use that same video in your opening email to a new web inquiry to help that lead learn a bit more about your company, product, or service — that’s a sales video!
The bottom line: Actively incorporating a video in your sales process makes that video a sales video!
Buddha Teas & Matcha Now // Lemonlight from Lemonlight Media on Vimeo.
Use sales videos as part of the sales process.
There are no rules about using a particular video at any particular stage in the process, but there are definitely some best practices about when and where to use a video. In the end, you’ll want to use your video in as many places as possible without overwhelming your prospective lead.
Why? Because video is proven to be incredibly influential to customers seeking to make purchase decisions. Ninety percent of online users said just that in this survey conducted by Dimension Research. And it makes sense — according to Unbounce, videos on landing pages increase conversion rates by 80 percent, and Wyzowl’s 2017 State of Video Marketing report stated that 73 percent of customers are more likely to buy products online after watching a video. Of businesses who use video marketing, 81 percent saw an increase in sales.
This is why your sales team is going to want to use video in as many places as possible. Here are a couple places to start incorporating video that you might otherwise overlook.
Intro Emails
When sending a cold introduction, especially a templated one, it’s hard to come off as sincere or genuine, and your prospective leads can usually tell the first email is pretty generic. So why not spice it up with a “Get to Know Me” introduction video that’s highly personalized to the individual sales rep? These videos can be light and fun and focus on showing the personality of the individual behind the email. Plus, they require very little set-up to produce. Just grab a high quality camera and film your salesperson answering a series of quick and fun questions. Then, sneak these videos in a hyperlink, or if you want to be a little more subtle, tagged in an email signature.
Email Follow-Ups
As a potential customer who ends up on a lead list, there’s a certain amount of dread (or annoyance) that comes with receiving a follow-up email. Instead of sending a wall of text or a quick one sentence check-in that offers very little value to the decision-process of your prospective lead, why not include a sales video in your email follow-up that aims to answer more of their questions? This could be a product review video from a trusted source, or a before and after video showcasing your product or service’s effectiveness. Even a customer spotlight can provide value and help nurture a prospect in a more valuable way than your standard “Just checking in” email.
beBee – Cindi 30sec // Lemonlight from Lemonlight Media on Vimeo.
Proposals
Another area to consider a sales video is in your sales proposals. If you offer a specific set of packages or services, making an explainer video for your proposal that breaks down each service will really help your prospective lead understand what you’re offering.
While it might be a little more work for your team, it will save your customers a lot of work trying to visualize your services for themselves, and in turn, can lead to a higher conversion rate.
Additionally, you can always include an FAQ video with your proposal to try to anticipate as many of their follow-up questions as possible, helping reduce the time spent going back and forth after a proposal has been sent out.
Lemonlight FAQ 8 – What Kind of Video Do I Need // Lemonlight from Lemonlight Media on Vimeo.
Nurturing Check-Up Emails
Sometimes your leads disappear off the face of the earth, and, like any rational person, you’re left wondering, “Is everything okay?” Try breaking up the monotony of your sales sequence by sending a fun video that provides them with more value, instead of the typical “Are you still interested?” line of questioning. You can try using some social content videos featuring a quick 30-second highlight reel of a recent promotion or company update.
Or try sharing an event video, featuring footage from a recent event, to give them a brief snapshot of what you’ve been up to while they’ve been missing – instead of badgering them. Ultimately, the goal of nurturing your leads with sales video content is to stay top of mind, even if you aren’t directly trying to sell them.
BurgerFi – Summit // Lemonlight Media from Lemonlight Media on Vimeo.
Replace or Add to Current Sales Tools
Leads are always asking for more information, and our sales teams have created plenty of accompanying materials to accommodate their needs, including customer testimonials, case studies, and infographic pitch decks. Whenever possible, try to use video to replace or augment these company docs and add a little production value to your sales materials. Try using a case study video format instead of a traditional case study to visually summarize the meaty parts of a successful client case study. Or create a customer testimonial video to let your customers speak to your services’ benefits in their own words. You can even augment infographics with an animated infographic video to bring some focus to a sometimes-overstimulating visual medium.
My Houston Surgeons – Dr. Boutros (Testimonial) // Lemonlight from Lemonlight Media on Vimeo.
Overall Rule: The more video, the better!
There’s a reason human beings absorb and retain more information through video than through words or images separately — because video combines both auditory and visual senses in a winning combination.
The average viewer retains 95 percent of content watched, as opposed to only 10 percent of content read. Adding as many sales videos as possible to your sales process is only going to add value for your sales team, add value for your customer, and increase engagement across the board, in addition to increasing positive sales outcomes.
Think about it — video marketing isn’t just about marketing. Attracting customers to your website with a flashy commercial or two is just the beginning of what you can do with video. The average customer goes through a much more nuanced and complicated buyer’s journey before making a purchase decision, so you can’t operate under a “film it and they will come” mentality. Be creative with your video marketing and apply all sorts of different video types to your sales process with specific and strategic outcomes in mind. You’ll be amazed how much easier your sales process will become!
If you’d like to get creative and explore some more ideas about how to better nurture your leads and close more deals, we can help. Schedule a call today to kick around some ideas with one of our creative producers. Reach out today!