04.16.2024 Ryan Humphreys
Video can be an incredibly powerful tool for salespeople. 75% of late-stage prospects that received a personalised video closed and 94% say that video converts better than any other source . What salesperson wouldn’t want those statistics on their side?!
These figures tie in with what most salespeople know: showcasing your personality and building a connection is important and that’s much easier when people can see your face.
Face-to-face meetings aren’t always appropriate (and certainly haven’t been possible during the One-way videos help bridge the gap for when face-to-face meetings aren’t possible or appropriate, such as earlier in the sales process.
It’s therefore no surprise that Vidyard found that those who report using video in customer and sales conversations increased by 93% year-over-year between 2019 and 2020.
So as social selling tips go, the evidence is quite clear: using video is a must.
Here’s the best ways to do so: from grabbing their attention, to moving deals forward quicker and growing and retaining your customer base.The video social selling tips that grab The video social selling tips that help you grab prospects’ attention
With social selling becoming increasingly popular, grabbing your prospects’ attentions has become harder. Here are our tried-and tested ways of using video for social selling to stand out from the competition. Connection Request Or Event Invite
Everyone wants to feel valued and so social selling tips always focus on ensuring you take a personal approach to sales outreach. Even if you don’t make the cardinal error of sending a token [name] change approach, a video connection request or event invite forces you to take a more personal approach. Unless you’re a Tik Tok YouTube star then your recipient will know you’ve put time and effort into your request or invite.
By giving your prospects the VIP treatment, you should bring a smile to their face at the very least - and in our experience, a much higher acceptance rate!
Thanks For Your Invitation
Alternatively, you may wish to reserve using video for social selling for when someone has accepted your invitation or request. As long as you’re clear that the video’s just to say hi and not a sales pitch then this nothing-to-gain approach can do wonders for building trust and connection.
First Touch Response / Initial Assessment
To secure a meeting, prospects will often want an initial assessment of how they’re currently performing and how your services could help their individual business. Usually, it’s a dreaded time-consuming process. It takes a lot of effort to reference and comment on relevant documents and online background research/findings.
With videos, it’s a much quicker process and, not only does it save lots of time, it also creates more impact. It’s a tactic we use at Tribal Impact a lot to move deals forward more quickly – making it one of the social selling tips we always recommend to clients!
Here’s a quick example of what we’d say here at Tribal:
Hi XXXX
Great to meet you (virtually) and thanks for the introduction XXX.
I had a quick look at the social channels of and how ‘social’ your employees are today and recorded a quick video based on my very early insights. It’s always good to have a chat but hopefully this will give you some indication as to what we do at Tribal and we can activate your social presence at XXX.
Take a look here:
https://share.vidyard.com/watch/Aa
All the best,
Sarah
Using Video For Social Selling To Move Deals Forward Quickly
Every salesperson understands the importance of moving prospects forward faster – it frees up more time and reduces the risk of them changing their scope and going with a competitor.
Here are a few ways of using video in social selling to help make their buying jobs easier, not harder.
Proposal Summary
If there’s one time when you really need to create an impact and show value to your prospect’s time-to-date and business, it’s at the proposal stage. When we began to include video summaries in our proposals the feedback was resoundingly positive.
A video not only ensures you leave a lasting personal impression at the final decision stage, it helps bring your proposal to life - and gives a quickfire taster of what they can expect when they sit down to go through the proposal with a fine toothcomb. And when they do so, the chances are they’re excited to read it!
So if you’re going to start experimenting with any of our video social selling tips, this is an easy place to start!
Whiteboard Explainer Videos
In B2B sales, there are often complex aspects to your services that are best explained with diagrams and doodles- which is when using video for social selling can make your life much easier (and reduce the buyer friction).
So when you need to ensure a prospect is fully onboard with the WHY or HOW of your product or service, a video explainer video using MS Whiteboard (or equivalent) is invaluable.
We certainly couldn’t do without them when explaining the Hubspot Flywheel or moving employees through our Social Maturity Model.
https://share.vidyard.com/watch/FzeeJ6Qj7rYVuEkvJKKje5?
FAQ Videos
Just like with whiteboard explainer videos, many sales process FAQs can be much better (and more quickly) explained with a short video. This is particularly useful for explaining product features or how you use industry tools to deliver your service.
With FAQ videos, there’s no need to personalise them. Instead, concentrate on building up or curating a bank of go-to videos.
Grow And Retain Customers
Customers can be your biggest brand advocates and study after study shows that focusing on customer retention affects profits. In fact, according to Gartner Group, as much as 80% of your company’s future revenue will come from just 20% of your existing customers.
We’ve spoken in-depth before about the importance of delighting your customers in the customer era (see our blog; The 3 Fs of Customer Experience: Fans Like Frictionless). Using video can help you build loyal customer fans and is therefore one of the social selling tips you can’t afford to ignore.
Thank You For Your Order/Coming Back!
Your prospect has finally become a customer! Your marketing team may already send gifts to new or repeat customers to show their appreciation, but a quick sales thank you video from you provides a more personalised touch and helps show that you won’t be “handing off” to marketing now they’ve signed on the dotted line.
How To…Training Videos
While it’s likely that your service team will have an onboarding process that includes training, why not address the most common issues that customers may have when first using your product or services by sending instructional training videos?
https://share.vidyard.com/watch/y8TkFvz9LAr3vCW9YEmj36?
I Saw This And I Thought Of You
If you want a loyal fanbase of customers, they should always be the first to hear of any new updates to your products and services. But why stop there? Sending the modern-day business equivalent of an “I Saw This and I Thought Of You” - such as a commentary on the latest industry news or your thoughts on how to make the most of a new industry tool update - can help ensure your customers receive the VIP treatment.
https://share.vidyard.com/watch/7iiTZjaSdLqXMQsfnJDDQh?
Additional Resources
7 Pieces Of Equipment You Need To Record Professional Videos At Home
The Best Online Video Tools and Look-For Features
With so many ways to start using video, find what feels right for you. We always say that when you have fun, the numbers will come and when it comes to video social selling tips this couldn’t be more accurate! So build your confidence, have fun with it and build on your initial successes.
