Let’s not let the Coronavirus Economy flatten our sales abilities. Stay confident in your vision and be on the offensive in how the pandemic affects your business.
One thing is certain: people everywhere have taken for granted the ability to meet face-to-face with others. Social distancing has quickly reminded us that, as a highly social species, humans crave the sight and sound of other humans.
Why else would videoconferencing apps have experienced a record-breaking week for downloads during March 14-21 when “safer from home,” non-essential business closures, and other such social-distancing policies became the norm in the Coronavirus economy?
At first, it may seem hard to differentiate your organization in an all-virtual sales and fundraising environment. Your team is no doubt using traditional email to reach out to individual prospects. Often, though, these emails look about the same and they’re highly susceptible to falling short on personality. Voicemails add a layer of personality but they, too, lack access to a universal language: the emotion seen in a human face.
Fixing the issues with innovation
Now’s not the time to dwell on what we can’t do in the Coronavirus Economy. Let’s focus on something we should do: video sales. This technique has even worked on me, and I’m a pretty tough critic.
About a year ago, I received a courier delivery at my office. It piqued my curiosity, as it was a bakery box with my company’s logo printed all over the outside of it and I hadn’t ordered custom baked goods. When I opened it, I found a gooey butter cake inside and a jump drive with my company’s logo on it. I didn’t see a vendor logo anywhere.
Intrigued about the identity of the sender, I popped the jump drive into my laptop, where I found a hyper-personalized video message from the sender’s CEO to me.
He explained St. Louis is known for its gooey butter cakes and wanted me to experience a little of the city he loved. The rest of his short video outlined the notable research he had conducted on my company and a request to visit me in the city I love.
This sales technique triggered the law of reciprocity. When someone does something truly thoughtful and kind for us, we have a deep-rooted psychological urge to return the favor.
This sales video broke through because it was far more about my company than his, which built trust and credibility. The video wasn’t highly produced. In fact, I could tell he had simply recorded it using his webcam. However, it was so tailored and thoughtful that it garnered the response he was looking for.
Video for sales is crucial in the Coronavirus economy.
The videos don’t have to be expensive, scripted or produced. Simple, genuine, human-centered webcam and smartphone videos are a transformative opportunity for connecting and communicating with your potential new customers in today’s times.
They’re the next-best thing to being there in person, and they don’t even have to be delivered on jump drive. Email is best due to the powerful analytics available.
When you send a video email for sales prospecting or fundraising, people feel like they know you before you ever meet. You become not one in a million email pitches, but one of a kind.
There are a few tricks to making these videos work:
Get Personal
Find ways to incorporate details about your prospect into your video, especially on the first still image your prospect sees before clicking on your video. Plant this personalization throughout the video with at least one of these moments at the beginning, one in the middle and one at the end to reward those who make it all the way through.
Be Conversational
Don’t read a script. Know what you want to say and deliver it as if you were sitting across the table from your prospect. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it needs to be authentic.
Be Relatable
Smile and relax. Let your unique personality come through. It’s about connecting through the camera and, remember, you’re answering our built-in social need for face-to-face human contact.
Lighting Matters
Overhead lighting is the worst. Instead, invest in three soft light sources: two behind your webcam (one on the left and one on the right) and one right behind you. Then just shut off the overhead lights. You can spend less than $200 and get what you need.
Brevity Matters
Don’t make your videos too long. Aim for somewhere between 30 and 60 seconds and make at least 75 percent of the video about them, not you.
Let’s not let the Coronavirus Economy flatten our sales abilities. Stay confident in your vision and be on the offensive in how the pandemic affects your business. Let’s do what we do best as business people: adapt and power forward.
Lori Turner-Wilson is the founder and CEO of RedRover Sales & Marketing Strategy, www.marketingresultsguaranteed.com
