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REAL Sales Wins with Videos — The Hubspot Way

In a year marked by social distancing and remote work, the human touch matters more than ever — especially in your sales process.

So, before you write another robotic email, why not record a video instead?

In this Takeover episode, hosts Nikhil Premanandan and Karthi Mariappan from Hippo Video speak with Dan Tyre, Sales Director at Hubspot, about how to use video-selling to humanize your sales process. 

Why video is so impactful

So, why video? 

Video has unique characteristics for helping people solve their problems, which is the goal of any salesperson. 

You can send an email with written instructions that comprise a 10-minute read, or you can have someone watch a 2-minute video. 

Which would you prefer?

“Video is almost there as a mainstream way of delivering information — 1. It’s innovative. 2. It’s efficient. 3. It works.” — Dan Tyre

The human touch

It’s not just the efficiency of the medium that makes it so powerful, though.

One of the things that has been lost in the era of emails and cold calls — that’s more important in a post-COVID world than ever before — is the human element. 

Video allows a user to see your facial expressions, hear the tone in your voice, remember the color of your shirt, and identify the background details of wherever you shoot. 

Video is humanizing. 

Between automation, AI, and chatbots, everyone wants more humanity in the buying process. We are social animals and we crave human connection.

And in a world of social distancing and remote work, we are all craving that human connection a little more than we did a year ago. 

The data

At HubSpot, Dan has crunched the data repeatedly. 

And it shows overwhelmingly positive results for incorporating video into your selling toolbox. 

Video emails result in 4 times the engagement — a massive difference that translates to real revenue. 

The data shows that most people don’t answer the phone or respond to an email until the 3rd or 4th attempt — but when 1 or 2 of those attempts is done with video, it accelerates the response rate by 400%. 

Getting started with video

When Dan, who has been pushing video for years now, enthusiastically promotes video selling, he often comes up against the same objections:

  1. It’s too expensive
  2. It’s too hard to make perfect
  3. I’ve tried it and it didn’t work

When it comes to expense, video is cheap. People often think they need a production team, fancy cameras, and makeup.

But that actually goes against what makes video so valuable for differentiating and humanizing your message. 

People want human; you know what isn’t human? 

Yeah, a Hollywood production for a sales email.

And that’s the same reason it doesn’t need to be perfect. If you stumble on a word or two, that’s fine. That’s human. 

Finally, how many times did you try it? Be honest. 

If you tried it once or twice, you’re probably not going to see drastic results. The trick is to keep trying.

The best place to start

If you haven’t already started, you don’t necessarily have to implement video into your sales process right away. 

One of the biggest impacts you can see right away is by incorporating video into your knowledge base.

“Virtually everyone, especially young entrepreneurs, prefers video in the knowledge base.” — Dan Tyre

We’ve already gone over the efficiency of video, but it bears repeating when it comes to guides and how-tos. 

Video allows you to break down complex information into easily digestible solutions for your customers. 

If a customer is having trouble operating your app or website, instead of sending them a wall of explanatory text, you can have a real person talk them through while showing the steps, in real-time, on the screen. 

Why video hasn’t taken over (yet)

At HubSpot, Dan has been predicting that you’ll start getting 3 video emails in your inbox a day by the end of the year…for 3 years now. 

Now some of the objections above are part of the reason he hasn’t been right (yet), but there are other, more predictable, reasons organizations may be reluctant to make the transition. 

Change is hard. 

Moving to video selling means experimenting and figuring out what works for you, your customers and your prospects. 

And for many, it’s so much easier to keep doing things the way they’ve always been done. It’s safer. You already know how to do it. 

But when the world changes, that attitude is how you become obsolete. 

“In the next five years, if you’re not using video, you’re going to be at a huge competitive disadvantage.” — Dan Tyre

Right now, video is a great way to differentiate, grow awareness, and build a relationship with your customers and prospects. 

Five years from now, once everyone has caught on, not sending video in your message will probably just be seen as weird. 

And it’ll look like you really don’t care. 

So, why not start now and stay ahead of the curve? 

This is a #FlipMyFunnel podcast. Check us out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.