Sales prospecting isn’t getting any easier.

In recent years, traditional “go-to” prospecting approaches like cold calling and automated bulk email have become less effective as potential customers have gotten better at filtering sales and marketing messages. For example, today it takes more than twice as many cold calls to reach a prospect than it did in 2007 (TeleNet and Ovation Sales). And although email generally has a higher return than cold calling (Marketing Sherpa), email open rates have generally shown a downward trend since 2008 (MailerMailer, SilverPop).

In this kind of environment where attention is hard to earn, video can be one of the best sales prospecting tools you aren’t using.  Video sales presentations can help sales reps stand out, deliver a compelling message, and get better engagement from prospects. Specifically:

• Video increases email response rates – According to Implix, an introductory email that includes a video receives an increased click-through rate of nearly 2x, and a recent Forrester study found a 2-3x increase in click-through when video was used in email.
• Video messages are personalized and more personable – When more and more pre-sales outreach is automated and done in bulk, video gives reps the opportunity to combine a message that’s tailored to an individual with the human element that comes with seeing the rep on camera.
• Video provides insights into prospect engagement – Many email prospecting systems provide information on open and click-through rates. When you add video to your emails, you get additional insights into how many times a video was viewed, how long the video was viewed, and how many people watched the video.

In addition to providing a more compelling way to introduce yourself and your company, video can be used in email to educate prospects, to demonstrate your product, or to point prospects to helpful information.

Sales Prospecting With Video Is Easier Than You Might Expect

Panopto’s industry-leading video platform makes it easy to support your best-in-class sales operations with video. Here’s how:

1. Recording – Panopto videos can be recorded on any Windows PC, Mac, iPhone, or iPad. You can capture video of yourself, and combine it with a short slide presentation or an on-screen demonstration.
2. Sharing – Once your video is recorded, it’s automatically uploaded to your organization’s video library, where it’s converted for playback on any laptop, tablet, or smartphone. Within minutes, you can share your video in email or through social networks like LinkedIn.
3. Tracking – From any web browser, you can access reports showing whether your video was viewed, how many times it was viewed, how long it was viewed, and whether additional people viewed the video.
4. Customizing – As you send your introduction to additional prospects, you can personalize parts of the video for specific contacts without re-recording the entire video. You can also attach PDFs documents such as product data sheets, and you can embed questions directly into your videos.

The video doesn’t have to be beautifully produced. All that’s required is a webcam and a few minutes of your time. The end result will look something like this:

 

 

For more information on how Panopto can help with your sales enablement and prospecting strategy, contact our team to request a free trial of our software.