Get your FREE 30-day trial.
Please complete all fields.
Trust is a fundamental component of any good sales relationship, and – as any great salesperson knows – you can create incredible trust with a personal connection. All of your efforts to humanize your brand and connect with customers are worthwhile because people ultimately want to do business with genuine, authentic people that they like.
But how do you connect with your prospects when you are 4,000 miles away? Traditionally, sales reps used email and phone conversations, but I’d argue that there’s absolutely nothing better than a video for expressing the authenticity that makes someone want to work with you to find a solution. Video is compelling on a psychological level, and it’s the key to making an emotional connection with customers.
To start, it’s always good to be thinking about what type of content your prospects typically enjoy.
Because the play button has become an ingrained ritual in our everyday lives, it’s important that you start serving up the content that today’s empowered B2B customers prefer.
Not only are videos preferred and even expected by your customers, but they really work for getting attention and driving action. According to Forbes Insights, 60% of business respondents said they are likely to watch a video on a webpage before reading any text at all and, after watching a video on social channels or other locations, 65% end up visiting the marketer’s website.
Based on these numbers, decision makers, including c-level executives, are not only watching video, but also find it persuasive enough to continue on through the sales funnel seeking even more information.
Beyond the fact that your prospects simply enjoy and respond to videos, you also have to consider that video is a great way to have your message scale. Unlike a typical sales call, Skype chat, or Google Hangout, a video can perfectly summarize your entire message over and over again as often as you need.
As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, videos embedded on your website are the equivalent of a sales rep that never sleeps.
While we know there’s a demand for video, there’s always the question of why.
Susan Weinschenk, Ph.D., consults with brands like Walmart and Disney to reveal the psychology behind customer behavior and she insists that video is persuasive for reasons tied to our anthropological makeup.
We’re psychologically hard-wired to respond to movement, the pitch of voices, and body language; all of which can convey much more emotion than we realize. There’s even a part of the brain designated for facial recognition. The fusiform facial area causes us to look at faces to gather information and assess credibility.
On a very human level buyers respond to watching real people in videos and are instinctively assessing their trustworthiness. Just imagine the impact you can have when you showcase helpful and welcoming support staff in a video sent to your hottest prospects.
That said, here are a few things you can do today to take advantage of video for building your credibility and emotional connection as a salesperson:
After a successful demo, record a short video on your tablet, webcam, or smartphone answering follow up questions, or thanking your prospect for their time. You can share the video straight through your CRM (via Salesforce Chatter), and see exactly which leads watch the bonus content.
You can do something similar with thank you videos from your whole team. Next week, have your team pre-record a few thank-you messages and sub in a personalized beginning or ending for each video. While the video’s format stays the same (i.e. Thank you <lead’s name>, we really appreciate your business!) the message is always clear to your client – “we think you’re worth a personalized thank you.”
Because your marketing automation system is tracking a prospect’s clicks all over your site, it’s no mystery as to what they’re most interested in. As a sales rep, why not record a personalized video with your smartphone and send it over via Chatter? The message could go something like this:
“Hey <name>, I noticed you were on our site today checking out <product> and I thought I’d follow up and see if had time to chat about <specific topic they were interested in>. Let me know when you’re free!”
This immediate, personalized video follow up based on triggers in your marketing automation makes the most out of your investment in both your CRM and MAP. Moreover, in your targeted video you can recommend that your viewer watch additional videos of interest.
Overall, video is a really powerful tool when it comes to creating an emotional response because we are psychologically hard-wired to respond to it and it makes a personal connection. It’s quite literally the next best thing to being somewhere to sell in person and I hope you start using it proactively as a salesperson to see amazing results.
Michael Litt is the CEO and co-founder of Vidyard, a video marketing platform helping marketers measure the impact of their video content. Thought leader, surfer, and serial entrepreneur, Michael is passionate about content marketing and changing the way we engage and purchase with video. Chat with Michael on Twitter or LinkedIn to learn more.
Looking for even more insight? Download your copy of the free e-book below:
