Oli from Bonjoro shares his guide on how to use personal video as part of your sales funnel. Head over to Bonjoro if you want to add video to your sales strategy today!
Outbound
(Getting your prospect from 0-1)
There’s lots of talk out there about using personal video for cold prospecting, and whilst I think that some of the hype is justified, I’m going go against the grain and say that I think this is the least impactful part of personalised video. Video by it’s very nature takes you right into someone’s personal space, and here at Bonjoro we feel this needs to be a permission based dynamic. The simple fact is, when you are cold prospecting, people do not know who you are, and it’s less likely a video is going to be well-received.
Of course you will have some successes using video as part of a cold approach, but judged against other methods of sales outreach I wouldn’t call it a silver-bullet.
This is a somewhat downbeat way to begin an article about how to use video in sales, but I think it’s important to drive home that video is not about taking a relationship from 0-1, it’s more about taking that lead from 1-1000. Read on for how video can help you achieve that...
Inbound
(Getting your prospect from 1-100)
OK, so here’s where video get’s really powerful. Marketing has done a stellar job, and someone lands on your site and gives you their email. This is the perfect moment for video. The person on the other end here has actively given you some level of permission to engage with them, and what better way to engage and build trust quickly than to introduce yourself personally. Before the demos, the meetings, or any follow up call, put them at ease, and tell them a bit about yourself and how excited you are to help them. Demonstrate in this video that you have done your research and you understand their specific challenges and you’ve already started thinking about them as a unique customer, rather than just another lead to be closed.
Then watch this lead go from 1-100. Effusive replies are not guaranteed, but those customers who do reply will be 1000% more positive than any response you’ve seen to a standard email or call.
Pre-pitch
(Getting your prospect from 100-250)
Think of every pitch you’ve ever been on. It always starts with a little chit chat, and getting to know everyone in the room. Whilst there is nothing wrong with this and it’s an important part of forging a bond with your prospects, it’s even more powerful if the people in the room feel like they know you first.
Over here at Bonjoro we’ve been using personal video like this for years. Being founded in Australia, our team in Sydney send personal videos to all our prospects before any business development visits to the UK and USA. Not only does this prime the customer better for the upcoming pitch, but very often they share our videos with their entire team because they’ve never seen anything like it before. There’s nothing quite like turning up to a pitch and the entire office knowing who you are, and using your name before you’ve even introduced yourself. Talk about being on the front foot!
Pre-demo
(Getting your prospect from 100 - 250)
Demos can always feel a little impersonal. With the advent of tools like Calendly and Mixmax, very often they are booked with little interaction between you and the client. And when the demo finally rolls around, you and the client are rushing (if they haven’t cancelled it last minute because you weren't top of mind), and their abiding memory of the experience can be the hold music on your UberConference account, or a few key points you manage to hit home during the course of the demo.
This is all fine, but what if before every demo you sent a quick video to introduce yourself, and outline expectations? In one felled swoop you make yourself familiar, which immediately puts your prospect at ease when they join the call, and gives you an easy jumping off point. And you significantly reduce the chances of them cancelling the demo - we all know demos are cancelled because without that personal connection prospects lack any human connection with you, or your business. The personal video you send helps them see that you are a real person going out of your way to make time for them and their business. Make sure to show in the video that you understand their business, and explicitly outline how you will help them get value from the demo - this is the key to ensuring their attendance and unlocking the perfect experience for them.
PRO tip: Especially if you're reaching out to warm leads gathered by a lead generation software as Leadberry, your video outreach can really get great results!
Post pitch / demo
(Getting your prospect from 250 - 500)
Don’t forget to follow up! An email is nice, and it’s important to have all of the learning and next steps outlined in a clear, concise and easily accessed place, but it’s equally important to reinforce the human connection, and elevate the relationship you built on the call.
Sending a quick 30 second video to thank them again for their time, and touch on one personal insight they shared with you is a good idea. They might have shared something about their life, for example their holiday plans - this is the time to wish them the best, and take that relationship to the next level.
Saying thank you, and appreciating your prospect as a fellow human being is the absolute key to closing more business - this is just as true at enterprise level as it is selling to small businesses. People buy from people, not businesses. We’ve heard it before but it’s true.
Sales to Customer Success handover
(Getting your prospect from 500-1000)
Now this is where it really gets interesting. And this is the bit sales teams often neglect.
So, you closed that sale. Your work is done right? Not true.
The big killer of most businesses is churn, not sales velocity. And the best way to help reduce churn and create loyalty from the outset is a smooth handover from Sales to Customer Success.
Here at Bonjoro we wrote a long piece on this, which includes a handy Sales to Customer Success handover doc. There are many ways you can ensure a smooth and happy handover, but again at the heart of this should be a personal and human approach. Getting your Customer Success team to send a personal welcome video is an effective way of doing this. Again the key thing here isn’t a long checklist of everything the client should expect (that is best done on email that they can easily reference later), it’s about forging an immediate connection.
Like we said in our blog, this is an opportunity to share your culture, and create a real human connection with the customer to surprise and delight them from the very first day.
Conclusion
So that’s it. That’s the power of video for sales. Sure it can help you create more leads. But personal video is about so much more than that. In a super competitive world getting your prospects from 1-1000 is the lifeblood of your business. A customer at 1000 is worth more to your business than anything else you do - they are the fuel of all future growth. So give video a try and grow your business in the most fun and rewarding way possible.
Sign for a free trial of Bonjoro here and turn more cold leads into meetings, and more closed sales into happy customers!