Rehumanize Your Business Read online

  Like so many of us, Danny was initially uncomfortable on camera. Out on the sales floor, he was surrounded by a couple dozen people, so he felt self-conscious. But, “You get over it as you send more and more” videos. You can waste two hours sending a 20-second video by rerecording and trying to be perfect. Instead, he recommends that you stop scrutinizing yourself and your videos. “Know that every imperfection adds to the human quality of the message,” explains Danny.

  Here are a handful of lessons learned on his journey to 10,000 videos and beyond:

  A video play “shows true engagement.” Most systems will show you an email open, but you can't tell if a person actually read your message. When someone clicks play, you know they've met you and you can see how long they watched.

  Pair videos with phone calls. “By sending a video email first with my phone number below, I introduce myself and let you know I'm going to give you a call ‘at the number below,'” explains Danny, who calls from that now-familiar number shortly after his video gets played.

  If the video doesn't get played, “You can't give up.” He continues with phone calls, text-based emails, and video emails to produce meaningful engagement. “Video just allows you to diversify your outbounding.”

  Always write the person's name or an important, personal detail on a whiteboard or note and hold it up to start the video. This lets each person know that video is specifically for him or her, not a generic, mass send. The result is higher play rates and reply rates.

  Don't type much additional information into the email body; only type in information that drives the video play or reinforces your call to action. “The less text I give them around that video, the more reason they have to push play on it.” Text he includes in every send: multiple ways to contact him in his email signature.

  “Don't overthink it any more than you overthink a voicemail.” And once you've established some rapport, feel free to have a little fun with it. “I love reaching that point where I can send a goofy video to someone. When you can laugh together with someone, that's when you level up the relationship. As a salesperson, that's exactly where you want to be.”

  When Danny's in the office, he sends about 20 videos per day. Like you, he talks faster than he types, so it saves him time while also building rapport – a win-win. He tries to keep each video under 45 seconds. The reason he keeps going? “There's no single aha moment. You see the relationship you can build so much more quickly with a video. That's what keeps me using it.”

  A SALES TEAM THAT'S SENT 10,000 VIDEOS

  Screen recordings, customer education, rate updates, next steps, lead responses, client check-ins, congratulations, birthdays—Clifton Saunders and his team send all kinds of video emails and video text messages. Together, the four team members drove Amcap Home Loans in Laporte, Texas, past the 10,000-video milestone in just two and a half years. Video's been “a huge game changer” and a time saver for them.

  “When it comes to converting leads, introductions to new real estate agents, follow-ups to people I just met, past clients, everyone—video's made all the difference,” according to Clifton. In addition to sending simple videos by email, he also takes video links and sends them by text message in this B2C sales process. In both cases, “it goes over very well. I get lots of responses. And they're surprised almost every time. They love it.”

  Were you the best writer in school, a master of spelling and grammar? Neither was my coauthor Steve. But Steve, like Clifton, shines when he's face to face. Do you write or type quickly? Clifton doesn't, so he used to use Dragon's “talk to text” software to dictate his emails. Now, he just clicks “Record,” talks into the camera, then sends the video. He benefits from the time and energy saved by simply speaking as before. But video gives him the added benefit of “showing people I'm a real person” and overcomes the problem that “tone doesn't come through in text messages or emails.”

  How did he get his team on board with video? He's still working on it but reinforces two main behaviors: come prepared to be on camera and don't think about it too much. While seemingly at odds, these ideas are complementary. Being prepared is not about having a perfect appearance. How you look on camera is how you look in person. If someone doesn't want to work with Clifton or one of his team members due to physical appearance, he feels the same way about that person. Instead, preparation is about mindset. It's about getting out of your own head and out of your own way. “We like to have fun in our videos,” says Clifton. “Just be yourself. You'll see instant results as soon as that happens.”

  Another team with high usage and great results is led by Justen Martin, who gets his team on board with video by recruiting, hiring, and onboarding into a “video-first culture.” Five of his iHomes Colorado team members have each sent more than 1,000 videos. A dozen have sent 500 or more, and 50 of them have each sent at least 100 videos. And they've got fewer than 100 active accounts at the time of this tally! They set up a private Facebook group in which team members can practice video recording and get feedback from their peers. Their people and processes are video-oriented because the single most important aspect of their business is how they make clients feel. Justen credits their collective, cultural commitment to video with “helping us with our response rates and conversion rates and, more importantly, our service and review rates.”

  PERSONAL TOUCH, FASTER CONVERSION, AND MORE REFERRALS

  “In our industry, as in any sales industry, you want to have as many touches as you can with your potential clients. Before they come in for a visit, after they come in for a visit, and after they become a client,” says David Blackston, a financial planner in The Villages, Florida who's sent nearly 1,000 videos in about two years. His team members have sent about 1,000 more. “We never send a video that's specific to anything related to products,” explains David. “We use it as a relationship-builder, not as a selling tool.” If you're in a business that works to increase appointments set and appointments held, David's processes are for you.

  His office sends mass video emails to their entire database regularly, including invitations to client appreciation events like shopping trips and golf outings. Even more valuable, though, are their weekly market update videos. Again, it's never product-focused; they talk about the economy and the markets in general. When the stock market took a negative turn one week, David says that market update video reduced inbound calls dramatically, saving him and his advisors valuable time. Prior to starting that process, they would have taken 50 to 100 inbound calls from nervous, anxious, or curious clients. Now, their clients know what's going on and feel the team's warmth and competence.

  More valuable, though, is their process for one-to-one video for prospective clients. As soon as the first visit gets scheduled, he sends a video with a welcome message to convey excitement about having them in and to remind them what to bring to the visit. When they arrive, “it's 100% different” from the way meetings started before he used video. It takes away the anonymity of the financial planner and makes the client feel special. Before the client ever gets home from the initial visit, another personal video from David waits in his or her inbox. He thanks the person for coming in, expresses enjoyment of their time together, previews what they'll do in the next visit, and makes himself available for any questions in the meantime.

  One Thursday afternoon, a husband and wife came in for an initial visit with David. As soon as the visit concluded, he recorded and sent a thank-you video. That Friday evening, David's phone lit up with real-time alerts over and over as his video was played 10 times within a half hour. When the couple returned for their second visit, David asked about it. “I loved the video,” the husband said. “We were having a dinner party at our house and I was showing all the people how my new advisor communicates.” Mind you, David wasn't their “new advisor” on paper, but he was in the hearts and minds of this couple. And they were already referring him to family and friends!

  David's team used to get 250 to 275 referrals each ye
ar, but since they started sending personal videos and mass video emails, it's been “steadily climbing.” And he finds it so easy to do: Recording videos “is like walking down the street.” David's tips for you:

  Just get started and do it.

  Smile and wave to start your videos.

  Place the camera above eye level so it's looking down at you rather than up your nose.

  Make sure your background is clean but personal (think: photos of your family).

  Put the majority of your information in the video rather than in the email body.

  IT'S NOT ABOUT THE VIDEO

  Through these stories, examples, and lessons, you may have started to see where video can fit into your processes. In every case, it's not about the video. Instead, it's about people and relationships. Video is simply a container for your message, just as the words written then printed onto this page are one of the containers we use to convey this philosophy of rehumanizing your business with video. Even if you're not directly selling products or services, you're moving hearts and minds. You're changing people. And video gives you a more personal and powerful way to do it. If you enjoyed some of the tips these practitioners provided, you'll be pleased to know that there are many more in the pages ahead.

  NOTES

  1. Pink, Daniel H. To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others (London: Penguin, 2013): 1, 178.

  2. Carmody, Dennis P., and Lewis, Michael. “Brain Activation When Hearing One's Own and Others' Names.” Brain Research 1116, no. 1 (2006): 153–158.

  3. Williams, Lisa A., and Bartlett, Monica Y. “Warm Thanks: Gratitude Expression Facilitates Social Affiliation in New Relationships via Perceived Warmth.” Emotion 15, no. 1 (2015): 1.

  CHAPTER 6

  Ten Times to Use Video Instead of Plain, Typed-Out Text

  We know what you're thinking: I'm not going to send a video every time I need to reach out to someone. You're right. You're not. Video isn't always the best answer. Very often, the typed-out messages you've been relying on for years remain the right choice. So when do you go to the “Record” button and when do you go to the keyboard?

  We break that down in this chapter with 10 specific situations that are ideal go-to times for video. These are the trigger points or moments when you'll remind yourself, “I should send a video for this.” And because video's not always the best choice, you'll also learn when not to send a video.

  TOP 10 TIMES VIDEO SAYS IT BETTER

  For improved clarity, stronger connection, and better results, you need to lead with your face, voice, personality, and expertise from time to time. Speaking your message can say it better than writing it out. Here are 10 specific times this is especially true. You probably experience a few of them every day.

  Time 1: Cold Prospecting, First Introduction

  Problem: Overcoming the volume of emails that yours competes with, standing out in the inbox, making an impression, generating a reply

  Why Video: To let each person know that it's a truly personal touch, to differentiate yourself, to create a remarkable experience, to increase reply rate

  It's so easy to delete an email—just a swipe or a click. It's much harder for a person to reject a smiling face than to delete more plain text. So, put a face to your name. Bring your message to life. Reach out in a more personal way earlier in the sales cycle. Say thank you or provide a compliment to enhance the social bond. Offer a link to related information. Track behavior to judge the person's level of interest.

  You have two video options here. The first is a canned or evergreen video that's automatically sent over and over as someone fills out a form or otherwise enters your CRM. The second is a true one-to-one video in which you include the person's name or other specific details in the animated preview and right off the top as you start speaking. The latter is obviously more effective, but the former scales better.

  Software salesperson Shane Ryan has sent more than 6,000 videos in three years. Most of them are personal sends, each to a specific person. When he's prospecting, he does a few minutes of research on each recipient. Enough to find them on LinkedIn, to identify something they're personally passionate about, to understand what their role and company are responsible for, and to put those together into a must-open, must-play video email.

  In the three-second animated preview of his videos, Shane's got a whiteboard message related to the person's passion. Via the screen recorder, he also includes a highly relevant web page, like her or his LinkedIn profile. You can see what that looks like in Figure 6.1. He's refined this technique over time and it's producing more replies and warmer conversations. He's standing out in the inbox and getting results.

  FIGURE 6.1 Let People Know It's Truly Personal

  If your volume is too high or price point is too low to justify all custom sends, create one or more automated, evergreen videos. Make each as specific to the lead sources as possible. Less “thank you for your interest in (our product or service category)” and more “thank you for requesting a quote on (specific product or service)” or “thank you for downloading our guide to the three best ways to (achieve outcome related to your specific product or service).”

  In both cases and if your system provides them, use email open, video play, and link click alerts to know which prospects are most interested and when to follow up. If someone's watching your video right now, she or he is almost certainly available to be reached by phone. Based on others' success with this tactic, refer to your video email in any voicemails you send and refer to your voicemail in any video emails you send. Again, you're putting a face with the name and building trust in order to generate a reply or response.

  Time 2: Nurturing Responsive and Unresponsive Leads

  Problem: Not getting a clear “yes” or “no,” leaving opportunities open, losing ROI by failing to engage open opportunities

  Why Video: To start building “know, like, and trust” before you ever meet or even talk on the phone, to differentiate yourself from competitors, to generate replies through reciprocity and social obligation

  The sales opportunities that move quickly do so because they get to “yes” or “no” quickly. And then there are the rest. Maybe. Maybe later. Maybe if. Some people say it explicitly and others say it with silence. How do you engage these people? How do you get them off the fence and into action? Adding video to your nurturing process gets you face to face earlier and more often, makes you more persuasive, and helps you judge each person's interest based on their real behavior. Opens, clicks, plays, and replies let you know who to continue following up with and who to let go.

  Block time in your day to run through your open opportunities—those responsive and unresponsive leads you've not yet converted or disqualified. Check in with each person, either by automating or by getting truly personal. We recommend the latter for all responsive lead follow-up. These are people who've replied or taken your call but have stalled out in the path forward. Speak specifically to your prior correspondence, inquire about their status or interest in going forward, and make clear the next step.

  For the unresponsive people who've never replied or engaged with you directly, you can get away with more automation, even though personal is better. If you opt to use an evergreen video, be sure to create a few distinct versions—one for each of your most common lead sources or situations. This allows you to provide enough detail or context that it can feel personal. Add any other specifics you can to increase that feeling. For example: “It's been two weeks since you …” or “A couple days ago, I left a voicemail …” The more specificity an evergreen video has, the more effective it will be.

  Time 3: Great to Meet You

  Problem: Not standing out or making an impression, failing to capitalize on social interactions like networking events and mutual introductions

  Why Video: To put your face back together with your name, to create a remarkable experience, to provide all your contact information

  After a networking event, conf
erence, or trade show, you've collected a stack of business cards or digital connections. And so has everyone else who attended. Bring your business card to life, stand out from everyone else, and capitalize on the connection by sending a personal video to each person you met. Mention something you had in common, a topic from your conversation, a personal detail you picked up, or an opportunity to pursue. Write a little note on each business card as you collect them to give yourself something to talk about later in the video.

  A “great to meet you” video is also useful for unplanned, in-person encounters through a mutual connection. For example, if you're having lunch with a friend or colleague and someone she or he knows comes by to say hello, you'll typically get introduced. If it makes sense and if there's opportunity there, take care to send a video within 24 hours. This gesture lets the person know that it was a meaningful connection.

  Your video is often received as a gift of your time and attention, even when it takes no time at all! You can send 10 short, personal videos to send along with your contact information in 15 to 20 minutes. Provide a clear call to action. Do you want to set an appointment, have a brief phone call, connect on social media, or simply deliver your contact information? Was there something specific to move forward that you talked about upon meeting? Or an unanswered question? Keep the conversation going by picking back up in a personal video.