The concept of sales cadences have been around for quite some time since their first recorded usage in 2003 by IBM, their relevance and emphasis in this day and age couldn’t be more justified.
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Sales cadences as they are called are a series of touchpoints in a certain order used by sales reps. It means employing one or more channels (phone calls, emails, social media etc) to reach out to the prospect. The different steps in a sequence can be a journey from the prospecting stage until the conversion. It can look something like this :
Different steps in a sequence
- A prospect has expressed interest in a product/service or was just discovered.
- Qualified prospects are passed along by the marketing department for a sales follow up
- Nurturing a qualified prospect
- Adding value to the prospect
- Closing the deal
Sales sequences are beneficial in defining the sales reps contact with the prospect. It spells the interval of time, how and which medium using which a prospect should be communicated.
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Automation of Sales Sequences :
As businesses have started to lean more towards AI, the automation of sales sequences has started gaining ground.
Automation of sales cadences can present a bounty of benefits can assist in the sales outreach process as below :
- Frees up a ton of time for the SDRs to focus on other activities.
- Eliminates the burden of remembering and manually emailing several prospects and helps efficiently handle the touchpoints seamlessly.
- Ensures that prospects are continuously engaged. After all, it takes at least 6-8 touchpoints to close a deal.
- Sales preps can prioritize their time and focus on prospects that are showing interest
- It provides insight into every sequence. Based on a prospect’s engagement in a certain sequence, it is possible to shuffle prospects between cadences with the help of analytics and reports.
Top sales engagement platforms like Outreach, allow sales reps to automate these cadences through a feature called ‘Sequences’. They not only trigger emails but can also trigger a phone call based on the specified set of actions performed by the prospect.
It takes two to Tango: Videos + Sequences
Like any other automation, sales sequence automation also comes with its downsides. But fear not! We have a secret ingredient called ‘Video’, which, when integrated into an email sequence, can be a perfect marriage that will bring back the once lost human connection into sales communication.
Feature-loaded and easy-to-use video tools seamlessly integrate into outreach that help you create, personalize and share videos for sales easily and also track them effectively.
Videos for Personalization of Sequence:
While automated sequences elevate the framework of sales communication freeing up a lot of time for the SDRs, it is not uncommon for a prospect to guess that they are just spammed with templated emails.
Adding videos into your outreach email strategy helps you connect better and convert more. In an otherwise automated email, prospects get to see the video of an SDR who smiles and waves at them exuding sincerity and warmth.
Result: More personalized and better relationship building with higher chances of a response.
Customized Videos for Sequences :
Every outreach sequence may vary based on buyer personas, industry and use cases. No one size fits all approaches when you are reaching out to people across a broad landscape. Videos can be customized and nestled inside every such communication without any hassle.
For eg., While reaching out to a C-suite or VP-level persona, longer and manual touches are required, videos can be a perfect solution. Likewise, when you want to schedule a meet for a demo, and the prospect looks busy, quick product tour videos can be incorporated inside emails saving time and money.
In addition to this, use case videos can be stored away in a repository. This repository adds the convenience of repurposing, reusing them when the need arises for a potential client.
Performance Tracking using Video analytics
How effectively can one measure the effectiveness and success of the sequence? The dependence is high on variable metrics like open email rate, reply rate (where there are higher chances of opt-out rate artificially inflating this figure) and bounce rate.
With videos, there are more accurate metrics such as – understanding when a video email was opened, when the video was played, how many times and for what duration etc., which can help determine the success of a particular sequence.
By tracking this, it is easier to understand prospect engagement, thereby improving and capitalizing on sequence performance.
Result: These metrics play a vital role by adding an invisible layer of filter to determine if a lead should be qualified or discounted after the first touch.
Videos for Prospects to Take the Next Step
Every time an email shoots from the follow-up (FUP) sequence to the prospect, there is a reason to rejoice. It subtly implies how the efforts are paying off, and you are inching towards closing a sale.
It would be a crime to let go of the potential to turn them into a customer, NOT AT THIS STAGE!
A prospect may have several challenges immediately after the first meeting. Questions, doubts, or lack of knowledge about a product/service or authority can act as an impediment in taking the next step.
Consider using a video to give a product tour to the prospect highlighting the USP. Use comparison videos to detail the value your product provides directly addressing the pain point of the prospect (which the competitor has missed or doesn’t address). Sometimes customer testimonials can be recorded and inserted as carousels just below your explainer videos. All or any of this will urge your prospect to take action without delay.
Result: Using videos to emphasize usability and to showcase credibility will go a long way in building trust with your prospect.
Land Marquee accounts with Videos:
When you are dealing with a Marquee account that typically falls under a large banner or big industry, the need for manual touches becomes high. These niche accounts don’t need standardized templates from your sequences but will require a custom-touch that is very industry/recipient-specific.
With videos, it is easy to deliver your value proposition that addresses specific challenges, tailor-made for the recipient, and relevant to the industry. More so, humanizing your pitch by having a real person speak on why your prospect should hear you out.
In addition to this, marquee accounts need higher sequences for a longer duration – 20 emails, 12 calls, 10 LinkedIn Touches over 90 days. Although there are several touchpoints across multiple channels, videos ensure that one does not get lost in the myriad of communication.
Not only can videos in Outreach be used in the email, but it helps to leverage any channel that prospects choose to engage in – be it LinkedIn, social media, text, or blog comments section.
Result : You get to close some big deals without coming across as too pushy.
Chance to Revive the Prospect Who have Gone Dark:
Prospect never replies or goes dark if they think your emails do not offer any value or if they believe it is not the right time. Videos have the capability to exemplify what exactly you like your prospect to see.
Be it product demos, explainer videos, 1:1 personalized videos that drive the value proposition directly addressing problems, customer testimony videos, you won’t be wasting their time and will exactly get to the point. Furthermore, the cheerful smiling you and a thumbnail that can be customized prods the prospect to click and view the video.
Result: You get a response (yes or no!)
Wrap Up:
Above all this, carefully reviewing your sequences in a timely fashion and also A/B testing them will certainly be worthwhile when you want to excel in your Outreach. Perfecting sequences is a myth because it only gets better. So it is a wise idea to employ videos in your sales playbook to humanize your outreach efforts and also provide a memorable customer experience.