It’s late Friday afternoon and you’re still waiting for the sales analyst to send over the week’s metrics. You’ve heard about cold email open rates hitting 37% (opens at an appalling 1%). You know the national average is 40% for no-shows in B2B, but you had hoped your team could beat the numbers. You hoped the team would start improve demo rates, but they’ve only dropped off.
The familiar ping on your computer sounds off and you open the email. Phone calls were at the usual numbers, the demos were a little lower than normal, and email was double last week’s. You expand that last graph and see that plenty of emails were sent to set appointments for demos or video calls. Unfortunately, less than a quarter of them were opened or received responses (most of which were cancellations).
Sound familiar? We understand that standing out in the sea of email can be difficult, especially to maintain demo/appointment rates. But what if there was a more efficient method that rehumanizes the process, while getting prospects excited to talk with your sales team?
Friendly greetings, personal connections, screen capture, all done without an expensive set of equipment. Below, we’ll show you how your sales team can adopt video into their sales cycle and get back on track while preventing no-shows from ever happening to again.
Timing is Everything
Setting schedules and deadlines for a sales team can be a complex and time-consuming act under the best of circumstances. Knowing how each individual operates, finding the best times to maximize their efficiency in the workplace. Having software that works with everyone, not against them, can make or break a sales team.
That’s where using video comes in handy. We work where your team works. With our Google Chrome extension or Gmail plug-in, you’re able to make scheduling videos to set appointments and improve demo rates a breeze. There are studies on the best time we go to bed, when to eat, even when to schedule reservations on Mother’s Day. Why not apply this to your demo process as well?Notice you’ve been getting dropped frequently if you schedule appointments in the morning? Try after lunch when you know they’ll have the day settled. In our Gmail client, using the powerwheel lets you set reminders if they haven’t opened your message and also schedule when a message can be delivered.
If your team only has time to record in the evenings but prospects are best reached during the late morning, just select that window on the schedule setting to maximize your team’s time.
SVP of Sales for SalesLoft, Jeremey Donovan has a laundry list of why you should be more selective in your timing. This can not only your improve demo rates, but also your amount of conversions. This is where utilizing our software can take you ahead of the game.
The Rolls RO(I)yce Your Sales Team Should Be Driving
Whether it’s showing proven results or applying a gentle first touch, you know you’re more likely to land a successful appointment if you can confidently discuss the return on investment. Doing this through video helps display the emotional depth needed for discussing ROI.
Our research has shown that people love video and are more receptive to communication exchanged by it. So much in fact, we even wrote the book on why adding it to any sales team is so important. John Miller of Marketo discusses the difficulty of showing ROI (regarding to marketing), but also notes it can be done once you begin that process of building a relationship. Sometimes just showing how you intend to build the relationship can sell itself.
Our Chief Evangelist, Ethan Beute discusses our six-step process to getting great customer conversion testimonials. “You’ll never get what you never ask for,” Ethan notes as he begins to explain the importance of having a set of videos from current customers praising the company.
Even something as small as a quick video highlighting benefits after a demo or a discussion of the next steps at the end of a demo or video call can make a big difference. If you can get your team to add this into their funnel after decisions have been made, it will provide a set of evergreen material that sells itself.
Encouraging your team to own up to not meeting ROI with prospects can help bridge a gap all too often missing through conventional messages: humility. Ethan had the opportunity to speak with Marc Rodan, Co-Founder of Ninjafy on our Customer Experience Podcast about what putting a customer first means for a client lifecycle.
Rodan talks about the idea of “growth-mindedness” and how this benefits a customer by looking at ways to improve and expand opportunities. One such moment is the humility in admitting when mistakes are made and how your sales team plans to fix them. Taking ownership through a friendly video can help bring clarity and allow clients to form relatability with your team members.
Following Up (Improve Demo Rates, Improve Party Rates)
Making sure to end an appointment setting with a confirmation doesn’t have to be a hassle, but it absolutely has to be done. Studies show that reaffirming plans enforces the appointment at the end of your correspondence. This illustrates that you are serious and considerate of your prospect’s time and your own.
Steve Waters of DiscoverOrg suggests making clear points about what will be covered in the demo/appointment and how your prospect can expect to be communicated with during the meeting. Using video for this can ensure they’ll show by building that positive mindset you started with them. They see your smiling face and hear your tone shifts as you remind them of each point you’ll cover in the demo.
If they end up no-showing, that’s okay. It happens to the best of us, especially when our pet eats something they shouldn’t have and you have to run to the vet. What’s important is that you immediately follow up with them and try to establish a fresh time and day as soon as possible.
Marketing Director of VOIQ, Margarita Yepes writes that understanding “what makes a prospect ‘no-show’” is half the battle. If they’re not the right decision-maker, find out who is in the company. If they forgot, trying sending a pre-meeting video clip an hour before. This can be an evergreen video that you have ready to send all clients ahead of the scheduled time as a friendly reminder that gets them ready for you.
Attaching previous conversations, or following up with a personal detail helps keep their mindset in check and shows you want to build a strong relationship with them. Our CMO, Steve Pacinelli notes that this is best done by using video, so that you are able to display empathy and create meaningful dialogue by showing them you’re just as human as them. This notion is a great way of playing to human psychology of expressing that sense of “humanness” in your communications. The video below is one example of how you can make this connection.
This time, it’s personal
No seriously, get personal. You know your prospect (or should try to at the least), and you know why they need your service. With video messaging, utilizing the animated preview (the first three seconds of your video looped) helps establish a human connection. You’re even able to apply a powerful call to action: yourself. Providing links at the bottom of a video and asking prospects to follow
Maybe write a friendly greeting on a whiteboard or start off celebrating something that may be going on in their lives. It will help guide the conversation, reinforce a positive feeling, and land more decisions down the sales funnel.
On another episode of our podcast, Ethan discusses how important adding personal details to any part of the customer lifecycle can benefit sales teams tenfold. You don’t have to over-sell yourself to do this. You just need to captivate them with what you offer that benefits your potential client.
If you have three services you’re offering, select one that best connects with them. They know what their team needs most, so following that can lead to a scheduled demo. Aja Frost of HubSpot recommends building that rapport as part of your eventual demo appointment. Doing so not only helps you know how to approach your prospect, it helps you nail the deal by connecting their issues with your service’s solutions.
Once a prospect has gone through the one-on-one demos, they can follow-up with shorter videos that break up complex concepts into evergreen content. This can be done through highlighting specific features a prospect may find useful during their lifecycle or a new integration for when they’re on the road versus in the office.
Call of the Demo (Educating for Demo Rates)
The last and most crucial step you can provide for your team is providing education on how to compose the best video messages. Showing your team how to analyze why some videos perform better than others gives them a proven set of metrics to work from as they create new video content.
Steve co-hosted a webinar with Scott Barker of SalesHacker to discuss some highlights of “Rehumanize Your Business.” He even goes over some examples where video can be more effective than text or phone sales-based tactics.
Your team is starting to improve hold rates, morale is rising, and it’s all because of video. But what steps can you take to maintain this driving force? Incentivizing video goals is a great way to ensure everyone in sales is consistent with how they set appointments.
Our team account helps you hold each member of your team accountable based on tracking metrics provided in your dashboard. The ability to track this based on all of our integrations means if you have half mobile and half Gmail with some browser use, you can see the team’s analytics all in one place.
No-shows can happen to the best of sales teams. It all starts with a separation of people, trying to connect with one another over mediums inadequate in relaying human emotion. Using video software to deliver meaningful messages, build lasting client relationships, and create an exceptional customer experience can drive a sales team to new heights.
Hopefully some of these tips will help improve demo rates for your team. If this isn’t enough, our team is always ready with a slew of features ready to tackle any challenge you might have. We’re hard at work scheduling demos for our software, just like your sales team. So as we mentioned earlier, we understand what standing out in that sea of emails is like. And we have more than a few ideas on how to sail through it.
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