I ran an inside sales team in a former life. If you’re reading this post, we may share common obstacles.
Our sales team was 99% outbound and absolute masters at cold calling. We were Fearless. Our number one challenge, like all sales teams, was getting people to pick up the phone. Reaching quality decision makers is a challenge that compounds with each passing day.
10 years ago, it was easy. Why?
Mostly because people answered the phone. The tactics that worked then, don’t hold a candle now. The world adjusted. Adding email and social media gave our cold first encounters some muscle, and still, here we are in 2019 climbing this mountain, in the snow, with no shoes... trying to remind ourselves that we can still be fearless.
You’ve got to stand out. You can’t be just another sales call/email/message that hour.
You’ve got to be much more.
Here are some ideas to help arm you in the daily sales battle we all live for:
1. Video Signatures
The employees at my former company were people, not robots. They each had their own personality and collectively, they built an eclectic sales force that we were proud of. They were unique, fun, and creative. They were mothers, fathers, daughters, and brothers….BUT to the person on the other end, they were just another sales person.
So, we were determined to bring color to their black and white emails and we were looking for the perfect ingredient that would allow them to stand out. That is when we added video signatures. We were blown away at the number of plays, re-plays, and responses they generated. Current clients and potential clients flooded our email with comments about our new email signatures. We suddenly had personality, and it was great. Don’t take our word for it. Look at Wistia’s.
2. Video Testimonials
One of the most highly requested items from the sales team at large was testimonials. And not just a pretty PDF with fancy words, but a video that conveyed authenticity. We never had enough. We needed them for every industry and every product combination we had. I cannot tell you how many deals simply relied on us proving to the client that we understood their business and knew how to help them. We were a media agency of sorts and our products/services needed testimonial. The easiest way to earn a client’s trust was to send them a video of just that.
3. Corporate Profiles or Anthems
All companies of decent size have bad reviews. In many cases it's the price of doing business. A disgruntled employee or customer will always find an outlet to let the world hear them out. It is much more common when they are angry, too.
At my former company, if the client gave us the opportunity to do so, we always made good where we were at fault. However, if you looked at our online reviews, they told a different story. Where do we get to tell OUR story? This was always an uphill battle for our sales reps and company reputation as a whole. We are so much more than these words. We were real people with an awesome company culture, and we truly cared about making a positive impact with our customers. We got our CEO, COO, President, and many front line employees on film showing (in a very authentic way) who WE were, from OUR perspective. That was powerful and a saving grace in many situations where we were battling bad reviews.
Video drives sales. It really is that simple.
Video is authentic. Video is real. Video is money.
Above: The Meticulous Image team in studio shooting our very own video signatures.