In the last couple of years, the shift from traditional to digital has been massive for the go-to-market sales and engagement models. Video Selling has emerged as the top virtual selling approach to capture a prospect’s attention, fast-track deal cycles, and close more business as the world continues to go remote. In fact, according to a recent McKinsey survey, “globally, 61% of buyers say they can get as much value from meeting suppliers over video conference as they can from in-person visits.”
To dive deeper into how exactly sellers can make the most of this opportunity, we spoke with Shari Levitin as part of our Limitless Webinar series. A renowned global sales leader and the CEO of the Levitin group, she shared incredible best practices and tips on “Cracking the Code to Selling with Videos.”
Along with being a celebrated speaker and mentor, Shari is also a bestselling author of “Heart and Sell” and a contributor to Forbes, CEO Magazine, Huffington Post, and more. She has been recognized as one of the Top Ten Voices in Sales for LinkedIn 2018, 35 Most Influential Women in Sales, and Top 20 Global Sales Experts. Outside of work, she is an outdoors enthusiast!
While you can watch the complete webinar, here are some insights from that episode (scroll down to after the video)
Watch the complete webinar
Question: Why should you consider videos to improve outreach?
Using videos in sales emails, relationship building, and prospecting translates into better open and reply rates. And there are plenty of stats out there reinforcing this. But we wanted to hear from Shari about what her experience has been.
Shari: “Video is more impactful than, say, a prospecting email or a phone call or a follow-up email after a presentation. Number one, you get a higher open rate. So, if your inbox says, ‘Just checking in,’ or ‘Email from Jack,’ or whatever the case may be. You got about a 3% open rate. I will tell you with video right now, you’ve got a 3X open rate. You have a three times greater chance in terms of open rate.
My experience after using Hippo Video has been like 10X. What happens is when I send an email, I put in the subject line: Video or Video Message for Heidi. The minute you click the video, it is right there. They don’t have to click on a link. That’s why you need a video platform. Instead of just, for example, sending a video on YouTube, the video actually shows up in the body of the email. So, it’s novel. People are intrigued. It’s kind of amazing. So again, think of the fact that your customers are crazy busy. They don’t want to answer their emails any more than you do. And then all of a sudden there’s this video that’s moving and catches their eye and they’re like, whoa, that’s as novel as the telephone was in the 60s.”
Question: How do you run discovery calls in a way that draws your prospects in?
While we all have our own checklist of questions for executing a good discovery call to wow the prospects, there is perhaps no foolproof process. Or, is there?
Shari: “We have a framework that we teach at the Levitin Group — one we’ve actually taught for over 20 years, which is very effective, no matter what you’re selling. And it’s called the skin, bone, heart, and connective tissue framework.
Skin questions are surface-level questions. They’re fact questions. For example, ‘How long have you been using X software?’ ‘Where are your other offices?’ … Bone questions uncover problems or challenges that the customer is having. So a bone question might be something like ‘If you could change anything about X, what would it be?’…
We’ve got to ask the skin questions, but better salespeople ask bone questions, and the best salespeople in the world break past the skin, through the bones, and into the heart. Heart questions are questions like ‘If you could increase your sales,… and earn an extra $5,000 a month because you start implementing video. What would you do with the extra money?’
Skin and bone questions are usually who, where, and when questions, and heart questions are why questions. There’s a new kind of question that you need to ask, particularly, if you have a complex sale, and that’s a connective tissue question. If you have a lot of decision-makers, you want to ask, ‘What are your criteria for decision-making?’”
Question: How can you revive dead deals?
Don’t we all want a chance to revive dead or stalled deals? Sure, there are ‘off days’ for all of us, and some deals are not meant to be. But a well-thought-out, personalized approach significantly ups your chances of reconnecting with a prospect who has gone ‘cold’.
Shari shares how tailored video messages can bring a deal back to life. “Videos are great CPR for dead deals. You know, you’ve got somebody who went dark. They’re in your pipeline, and the deal’s dead. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sent a video and, kind of, resurrected that deal. As a side note, if a deal’s really dead, I send a ‘breakup email’.
If I haven’t heard from somebody in a long time, I’ll put in the subject line ‘Are we breaking up?’ ‘Haven’t heard from you in a long time.’ Or, ‘Good luck. It sounds like you’re going to use somebody else to be your keynote speaker. There are plenty of great speakers. Happy to even give you a referral.’ ‘Looks like you’ve gone in a different direction.’ It’s showing you’re being a good sport. But if you do that by video, that breakup email is even more powerful, and it works almost every time.”
Question: What’s a sales process fundamental that is an absolute non-negotiable?
Despite its many benefits, virtual selling can be tricky. When you’re already competing for their attention, time, and interest, perfecting your approach is key. Once you’ve executed a great discovery, what can you do to improve your chances of closing the sale?
“We will never get off a call until we confirm the next call; my mentor taught me this 25 years ago — a very silly phrase called HAM, BAM. That is, Have A Meeting, Book A Meeting. So, if you’re doing a one-call close, of course, this doesn’t apply. But if you’ve got a sales process, that’s maybe 1, 2, 3 calls, or maybe five calls, you want to book that next call while you’re on the call. Why? Because you don’t want to play chase games. It’s no fun. It’s exhausting for everybody and it’ll waste a lot of your time. So, one of the things you do in your follow-up video is you confirm that time that you both agreed to.”For more information on Shari’s unique four-part sales framework, great use cases for videos, pro tips, and how Hippo Video can help, watch the entire conversation.