Rehumanize Your Business Read online

  Building trust, rapport, and relationships are best done in person, but time and distance have increasingly driven us to faceless, digital messages. To make matters worse, most of us aren't very good writers; our messages are often misunderstood or require longer exchanges to arrive at mutual understanding. Video puts you back into your communication in a way that accelerates sales and improves customer experience. It restores that missing face-to-face element. But now you can get face to face at scale. All through quick, simple video messages with the webcam or smartphone camera you've always got with you.

  Get face to face at scale with simple, personal videos.

  If you're in leadership or management, inside or outside sales, account-based marketing, recruiting or talent development, or customer support or success, you'll be more successful when you rehumanize your processes by mixing in video messages. If you're in software, consulting, education, real estate, mortgage, insurance, financial planning, automotive, nonprofit, public speaking, entrepreneurship, or almost any other role or industry, this applies to you. Anyone working in a professional capacity benefits from better relationships. And video does this better than any other medium except being there in person.

  Because you're reading this intro, you may already be sending video or at least you may have given it a look or tried it out. With more than a decade of experience and unique expertise, Steve and I offer practical and proven strategies, tips, and insights to help you implement video day to day. If you've not given it a look or tried it out, you likely know someone who is “doing video.” Have you ever heard someone say that?

  “I don't do video. But Mary does video.”

  “Yeah, Mary does do video. I tried video. Do you do video?”

  “No, I don't do video, either.”

  Replace “video” with “phone calls” or “email” or “meetings.” For example …

  “I don't do phone calls. But Mary does phone calls.”

  “Yeah, Mary does do phone calls. I tried phone calls. Do you do phone calls?”

  “No, I don't do phone calls, either.”

  Sounds silly, right? Well, that's where we're headed. Because “doing video” no longer requires scripts, lights, editing, or budgets. “Doing video” means occasionally recording a webcam or smartphone video in place of a typed-out message, a phone call, or even a meeting. In the pages ahead, you're going to learn why, how, and when to make video part of your business communication mix.

  My coauthor Steve got going with this video philosophy as he searched for a better way to sell software. He deployed personal video email to the members of his outside sales team as a way to generate more revenue both on and off the road. With video in place of text, they built value before getting to price, shortened the sales cycle, and closed multiple $24,000 annual contracts with people they'd never met in person and never even talked with over the phone. He transitioned from a BombBomb video email user to our Chief Marketing Officer a few years later and more than four years ago.

  My engagement started with part-time projects—creating a homepage video, writing an email nurture campaign, recording videos for those emails, and other deliverables for a couple of friends, Conor McCluskey and Darin Dawson. After founding the company a few years earlier, they were preparing to bring to market a video email service. Bored after more than a decade of traditional and digital marketing for local television stations, I was doing project work on the side with several other companies, too. But I exclusively locked onto this idea and locked in with this team for its forward-looking nature and rehumanizing potential.

  Most new technology is understood in terms of its predecessor and video email is no exception. I viewed our initial product offering as an email marketing platform with video uploading and hosting built right in. And, as a product, that's what it was at the time—and I fully expected MailChimp or even Google to devour the available market for it by rolling out a similar feature set. Through constant and direct customer contact (something I rarely had in my broadcast television career), it became clear that we weren't just a “video email marketing” service. This mental shift or change in understanding is most clear in the increasing gap between “marketing through video” and “relationships through video.”

  In this book, you'll get language, understanding, and practical applications of this rapidly emerging trend of rehumanizing communication, accelerating sales, and improving customer experience with video. It's about realigning some of your day-to-day efforts with millennia of human brain training that dictates how we communicate and connect with each other. It's about evolving tactics and improving results. It's about how and why a salesperson sent his 12,000th video—and the likelihood he's the first person to create that volume of video to build relationships and increase sales. It's about being there in person when you can't be there in person.

  Over the past decade, we've watched our own community grow from about 100 active, paying customers to well over 40,000. They live all around the world and work in all kinds of industries. We've learned and taught from their success stories and examples in hundreds of blog posts, webinars, podcasts, stage presentations, and, of course, videos. We've seen other companies come “down market” from prescribing scripted, lighted, produced, and edited videos to recommending our “video voicemail” style videos. We've read about multibillion-dollar companies like Coca-Cola and Levi Strauss & Co. intentionally reducing the quality of their photos and videos to make them appear more trustworthy to consumers, a phenomenon we'd described years earlier as the “Shiny/Authenticity Inversion.” With a growing range of companies, communities, and individuals getting involved, this movement is just getting started.

  Now is the time to start using video for relationships, not just for marketing.

  In Part One, you'll learn what personal video is, why it's rehumanizing compared to the status quo, and why you should participate. In Part Two, you'll see who's using personal video and when you might use it, too. Part Three is the how—recording and sending, cameras and equipment, psychological barriers, and more. Part Four delivers advanced strategies and a look to the future of this growing movement. Throughout, you'll get practical tips to replace some of your typed-out text with a more personal and human touch.

  And, no, the irony is not lost on us that this is all being shared by way of simple black text on a plain white page.

  PART 1

  Why It's Time to Rehumanize Your Business

  CHAPTER 1

  The New Way to Communicate, Connect, and Convert

  We see each other once or twice a year, but my sister doesn't call often. My wife talks with her more often than I do. We keep up through social media, text messages, and a phone call every now and then. So, when she called on a weekday in the late afternoon, I knew I needed to answer.

  “Hey, what's up?” I asked.

  “Umm … Mom's dead,” she quietly replied. Calm, but without confidence, she followed with an apology. “Sorry to be so blunt. I didn't know how else to say it.”

  Our mom died unexpectedly in early 2018. She felt dizzy, fell down, and never got back up. She was at home with my dad, sister, and nephew doing what she often did—rushing back into the kitchen to get that one final dish to complete a dinner already on the table. A two-time cancer survivor, she was in a great phase of her life after losing weight, replacing a knee, working out with a personal trainer, and traveling a lot more to see her kids, her grandkids, her friends, and the tropics. All that positive momentum made the phone call even harder to take than it would have been otherwise.

  A few days later, I flew back to my hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan. The first visitation was on a Friday evening. Prior to it, we put together a few photo boards from the hundreds, if not thousands, of prints she'd made over the years; framed and magnet-pinned photos of family and friends lined her walls and bookshelves. Seeing her face through the years and seeing her with so many other smiling, familiar faces was a pleasure. We saw many of them in person that
night; the volume and warmth of support for her and for our family was wonderful.

  The next morning, we hosted the second visitation, which was followed by the funeral service. You know how these social occasions go. You don't keep your gaze fixed when you're in a conversation. With no disrespect to the person with whom you're talking, you glance around the room. As I stood and spoke with a supportive family friend that morning, I saw a familiar face over her shoulder. But it was an unexpected face; it didn't make complete sense in the moment. It felt like seeing your dental hygienist at Costco—without the uniform and the context of the office, you don't recognize the person as quickly. After I wrapped up the conversation, I headed over to him.

  This gentleman greeted me with a soft smile and warm hug, as did his wife. I'd never met either of them in person. I'd never spoken with them on the phone. Neither one of them knew or had ever met my mom. Neither of them knew a single one of my family members. They knew no one else at the visitation. And yet they drove two hours across the state to spend three or four minutes with me. The gesture was incredibly meaningful; I can still feel the moment when my mind put together what they'd done.

  What inspired them to invest more than half a day to create that brief, in-person meeting? Relationship. Our relationship was built through simple video messages recorded and sent back and forth, off and on over a couple years' time. And it's a real relationship. I felt as though I knew him before I ever met him—and I know he'd say the same about me. When we later swapped video messages about their visiting with me that day, he speculated, “That never would have happened through regular email. It was the video portion of our emails that caused that to happen. And that just enriches life.”

  Video builds psychological proximity between people, even in the absence of physical proximity.

  I now call Andy Alger a longtime BombBomb customer-turned-friend. A real estate agent in Grand Blanc, Michigan, he generates nearly all of his business from his database of past clients. Staying in contact meaningfully with just a few hundred people creates repeat business and personal referrals. Relationships, then, are fundamental to his success. I suspect he's made gestures like the one I experienced many times before in other people's lives.

  To stay in touch with the new ways people are using video, we regularly look at the top customers in our database in terms of videos recorded and sent per day. We often reach out to learn about their motivations, strategies, and outcomes; this book is, in large part, the result of these efforts. Andy showed up on my radar pretty quickly. He signed up nearly five years ago and, in that time, has sent 4,000 videos. Back in April 2014, I reached out to learn more about what he was doing and why he was doing it. At the time, he was closing in on his 500th video. By one-to-one video, of course, he told me: “Personal videos make what I do fun again. And my clients respond to it very well—and, really, that's why I do it. I started it because I thought it was a neat idea, but then I saw the reaction of my clients and it's great. They love it. I love it.”

  To stay connected with the people who matter most to his business, Andy used to block out time on his calendar to make phone calls. But he increasingly felt like he was intruding on their day and interrupting their lives. A phone call became an imposition on his clients' time with which he grew less and less comfortable. Recording and sending videos, however, could be done on his own time. And each person plays his video and experiences the message whenever it's most convenient. One person might open it and see Andy immediately. Another might see it 10 minutes later, another two hours later, and another three days later—whenever it's convenient.

  The asynchronicity of recording and sending personal videos provides convenience for both the sender and the receiver.

  Because they provided a more effective and more satisfying way to work, simple webcam videos replaced phone calls as Andy's preferred way to stay in touch. In the same amount of time he'd block out for calls, he could record and send a couple dozen truly personal messages. One video for each person, couple, or family. Like a voicemail, but with his face, voice, personality, sincerity, enthusiasm, and all the elements that can't be delivered through faceless, digital communication. He delivers himself, in person, at scale. And unlike voicemail, video email allows him to know exactly who's opening the email and playing the video—and exactly when.

  This method is less demanding and more respectful of people's time. Andy treats people as he himself prefers to be treated, getting his message across more personally, more often. This is what it can look like to rehumanize your business.

  A SIMPLE VIDEO MAKES A BIG DIFFERENCE

  Andy sprinted out of the gates with 488 videos sent in under five months. Averaging more than 100 videos per month and more than three videos per day every day of the week, he'd obviously found a few very specific ways to use video and committed to them. At that rate, the videos are always personal, one-to-one sends. To learn best practices and to teach others, I've regularly reached out over the years to people like Andy to share their tips, insights, and successes with others. Here are two ways I could've reached out to him. Figure 1.1 shows a nice, traditional email and Figure 1.2 represents a more personal approach.

  Option One: Plain, Typed-Out Text

  FIGURE 1.1 Traditional Email

  Option Two: Personal Video Email

  FIGURE 1.2 Video Email

  The Difference

  Instead of constructing the 200-word email in Figure 1.1, I simply clicked “Record” and talked to Andy as if we were casually meeting in person. Instead of spending three or four minutes organizing my ideas into a well-structured email that didn't come across as pushy or demanding and didn't contain typos, misspellings, improper grammar, or egregious punctuation, I spent about 90 seconds speaking to him from my office through my webcam. Instead of relying on ALL CAPS, exclamation points, or emoticons to convey my excitement, I used an honest smile and my sincere enthusiasm to let him know how much I appreciated him and the milestone he was approaching. Instead of sending a laundry list of questions to answer, I asked the questions conversationally, just like I would in person. He then “knew” a person at our company. My smile and enthusiasm far outweighed any minor errors I may have made in the video—like an “um,” a pause, or a misspoken word.

  These are just a few reasons I went with the second option in Figure 1.2—and reasons why some of the messages you'll send this week shouldn't have two options anymore. With that video email, I improved communication, connection, and conversion with Andy, who complied, replied, and gave me more than I needed to publish a blog post. It was built from the excellent tips and insights he provided in his video reply. And I then “knew” one of our customers.

  I shared this example because it's so specific to the story on which this chapter opened. The ideas and execution, though, can be used in situations you face every day at your desk, across town, or around the world. With recruits and employees, customers and future customers, partners and suppliers, or anyone else connected to your business. Just as there's an art and science to writing effective emails, there's an art and science to personal videos. Your success depends in part on whether or not you take advantage of concepts like:

  Introducing yourself for the first time through video instead of text

  Making clear in the email body that the video's personal, not automated

  Holding a whiteboard, sticky note, tablet, or another surface in your video thumbnail or animated preview with a custom note

  Writing on that surface her or his name, a relevant detail, a common interest, or another idea inspired by briefly researching the person (even draw a logo or picture)

  Adding a little text along with your video that encourages people to click to play

  Providing a simple reason (“because”) along with your request or call to action

  Watching for notifications and alerts to confirm the email open and video play

  Several elements are in play here that you may not recognize or appreciate now.
But as you keep reading, we'll unpack strategies and tactics that can change your relationships and outcomes with all the stakeholders in your personal and professional success. You're going to click “Send” dozens or hundreds of times this week as you reach out to these people. Each send is an opportunity to experience the big difference a simple video can make. Soon, you'll understand why—and what to do about it.

  Everything you're going to learn was learned through years of our own use of video and years of working closely with community members in this personal video movement. What kinds of roles are they in?

  Inside sales

  Outside sales

  Customer service, support, and success

  Account-based marketing

  Account management

  Leadership and management

  Recruiting and talent development

  Business consulting and coaching

  Real estate, mortgage, and title services

  Financial planning and advising

  Automotive sales

  Insurance sales

  Network marketing

  Nonprofit fundraising and programming