Close More Bids and Impress YOUR Prospects Using Video
Sell More – Using Video As A Sales Tool
Close More Bids – Improve Your Bid Conversion Rate
How to Use Video to Sell More,
Close Bids and Impress YOUR Prospects
In several recent conversations with small business owners, I learned that a lot of them feel that in recent times one of the more challenging aspects of their lives is what they perceive as the increasing tendency of their prospects to receive their bids and then never call them back. Also, on the occasions that they do, they tended to squeeze them on their pricing so that profit on individual jobs is increasingly being eroded.
Handing out free bids is a wonderful service that you can choose to provide to your prospects especially when they include detailed drawings and or plans. It is not, however, very easy to make a living providing a free service like this.
What is your bid to sales conversion rate? Not one of the business owners I talked to could give a definitive answer to that question. Do you even track it? How many bids did you hand out last month and how many did you close? If your closure rate is below 80% you are providing a free service AND helping your competitors do more business! Sadly I am aware of several companies that have a closure rate of less than 20%. Where are you in this mix? What would it mean to your business if you could improve your closure rate?
There is much to be said about this subject and much that any company or salesperson can do to improve their closure rates. In this article, I am going to focus on just one of many techniques that anyone can use to get better results. This and other techniques are not theories, they are actual methods that either I personally have used or I have directly observed in practice. Together they make a powerful set of methodologies that have been shown to have a powerful impact on business growth and closure rates.
In subsequent articles, we will cover a whole range of additional methodologies that aid in improving bid conversions rates.
The use of video in the sales process
The next big thing – I am often asked what the next big thing is. The funny thing about this question is that when asked this question, I sometimes respond with the question, “do you know much about video as a way of communicating?” The response is funny to watch as I can often see the eyes of the person I am talking to, slowly glaze over. They seem to be, somewhere in the back of their brain, hoping that this revolution will somehow pass them by. Their wish is, sadly enough, only likely to become true if they are planning to retire in the near future.
Like it or not video is here and is here to stay. Video is it! It is dramatically affecting the way we communicate, market, and sell. It is not even the next big thing, it is here now and growing exponentially.
If you are like most people though, you have no idea how to go about making use of this new communication medium. You may be thinking vaguely of contracting with a marketing agency to produce a video for you. You probably cannot picture yourself actually in a video or producing one of your own.
And that’s the thing, that is where the action is. What has changed recently, is that anyone and I mean anyone, can produce really powerful videos in seconds that can present your company or your solution to a prospect in an extremely powerful way.
In this article, I am going to show you how, with next to no investment, you can produce your own videos that will wow your customers, make you stand out from the crowd, and help you improve your bid conversion rate.
Present Your Proposal With A Video Screen Recording
Next time you are ready to provide your customer with a proposal and you are not able to meet them in person, simply record a short video presentation talking them through the key points you would like them to see and understand. You could also show them one or two examples of completed jobs for reference just by having the pictures on your screen and mentioning some aspect of the job that is relevant to them.
The particularly powerful thing about this is that they will be very unlikely to have seen anything like this before, they will in fact be very likely to watch it more than once, not to mention show it to their friends and colleagues.
One of the problems with talking them through a bid over the phone is that most people do not remember everything you tell them a few days later. In other words, they will forget some of the key points you make about such things as the quality and or any special features you may want them to remember.
Research has shown that the average person remembers only about 20% of what they are told if they only hear it once. You can increase what they retain by being different and memorable. You can increase what they retain by engaging more senses. Seeing their drawings, bids, pictures of their vacant space where your product will go along with examples of completed projects will engage them personally and deeply.
People remember what surprises them. Also, people remember what they anticipate. The expectation associated with something unusual is one of the most powerful attention-getting methods. If you tell your customer that you will be sending them a video presentation of their proposal you will stand out from your competitors and pique their curiosity. These are powerful selling techniques.
Even if you go see them face to face which is always the best thing to do when possible, you still may not be able to close them immediately. However, telling them you will follow up with a video proposal will certainly get their attention. So even though you went through the details face to face they are very likely to watch your video out of curiosity if for no other reason. This will reinforce your key points, benefits and generally aid them in visualizing your solution.
We have many examples of using this technique even earlier in the sales process. You can do this simply by sending your prospect (who has not quite gotten off the fence yet and has asked you for a formal bid) a personal video showing them some examples of other bids and or finished products that you have completed or installed that you think maybe similar to what their solution might look like.
Imagine sending this email “Hi Joe, I was thinking of you today and thought this particular job we just finished for a customer that might be similar to what you are looking for, so I recorded this short video so you can see it, what do you think?”
There are very few people who will be able to resist watching such a video and visualizing themselves with your proposed solution. If nothing else they will remember the guy (or girl) that sent them the video.
How to record a video proposal and send it to your customer
Okay, enough with why you should do it – just how difficult is it to do? You are busy after all and don’t have time to spend playing with computers. The good news is that it’s really easy, in fact, once you have done one or two you will find it quicker than typing an email. Really, watch this next video to see how I recorded the last video.
Sell More – How to record your own videos using Jing
Sell More Using Jing For Free
Simply go to Techsmith, http://www.techsmith.com/ download and install Jing. It’s free, though I would recommend purchasing the Pro version, which last time I checked was just $15 a year.
Jing-A Simple Application That Could Revolutionize The Way You Communicate With Your Customers! |
You can get cheaper webcams, however, this one is the best price/performance I have found! |
Once installed, drag the crosshairs and start recording. It will work quite happily on most computers, you don’t need a high-performance system to run it. You will need a computer with a microphone though. If your current system does not have a microphone I recommend the following webcam “Logitech 720p Webcam Pro 9000” that comes with an integral microphone. It’s what I use, it produces great quality recording and video even in low light. It generally requires no setup – it just works.
Equipment needed and different types of videos
| Confused? What equipment do you need and what about real camera recorded videos? The process above is based upon simply recording “screen” videos. To do that all you need is a computer, microphone, and the Jing software. That’s it. If you want to get fancy and include a live camera recording of yourself as I demonstrated in the videos above then you just need to add a webcam. Sell More – What equipment do you need and what about real camera recorded videosJust a computer, microphone, and the FREE Jing software |
Here are some example videos |
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Custom Wine Cellar Short Hills New JerseyHere is a video presentation about a Custom Wine Cellar in Short Hills New Jersey produced by Jerry Wilson the owner of Coastal Custom Wine Cellars. This type of presentation can be used to impress your customer AND add content to a website. |
Custom Wine Cellar DoorsThis is a simple example of how to present a range of new products or product choices to your customer and discuss the merits of different features and options. This type of presentation can be used to up-sell your prospects to better and or more profitable lines. The creation of this video literally took less than four minutes and was produced by Luis Mora at WholeCellar. |
There are many more things that you can do to increase sales, those will be the subject of future articles
