It’s so simple to remove an email from an inbox – just a swipe or a click, and boom it’s gone! It’s much more difficult for a person to turn down a smiling face than to remove a plain text-based email. So, instead, put a face to your name. Breathe life into your personal prospecting message! In the early part of your sales cycle, it is far more strategic to connect personally using video. Thank or give your contact a warm praise to enhance your social connection. Offer a website link to relevant industry trends or information. Track actions taken by your contact to evaluate the person’s level of engagement.
You Have Two Options When Sending A Video Email to a Prospect
You have two video options to create and send. The first is a pre-recorded or evergreen video that’s instantly sent repeatedly as someone submits a form on your website or enters your CRM. The second video is a real, up-close one-to-one video in which you insert the individual’s name or other specific details in the animated sneak peek preview, as well as straight off the top as you begin speaking after you hit that record button. The latter is obviously more reliable, and the preferred choice, however, the former scales much better.
Dave Wanamaker is the owner of Five Star Solutions Group in Kansas City, KS. Dave uses video emails quite frequently for cold prospecting. Dave has a very unique and compelling approach when he sends a cold prospect a video email. Most of his videos are personal messages to a specific person that he is trying to get an actual face-to-face meeting with either through a phone call or through a Zoom call. When he is prospecting, he does a few minutes of research on each recipient. Enough to find them on LinkedIn, to identify something they’re personally passionate about, to understand what their role and company are responsible for, and to put those together into a must-open, must-play video email.
Video Email Helps To Put A Name To Your Face
One unique “calling card phrase” that Dave employs at the closing of the majority of his video emails goes something like this … “John, thanks for viewing my video today. John, I am going to call you tomorrow. All I ask is that when I call you that you take my call. Thank you and have a great day!” By using this technique Dave is extending an invite to his prospect to respond to his phone call. He has established a connection with them through video and put a name to his face. By sending a video email, Dave has removed the first layer of him no longer being a stranger. Video email does a great job of establishing his credibility as a professional. His recipient now had a face to go with his name. When he does go to connect with his prospect, a little bit of the defensive wall that some prospective clients feel when a “sales guy” calls on them out of the blue has been alleviated by sending a video email.
In the three-second animated preview of his videos, Dave’s got a whiteboard message that is personal and has the name of the person he is wanting to connect with written out (see an actual animated image of Dave on the right). Dave has refined his video email technique over time and his actions are producing more replies and setting more appointments. His video emails are a pleasant inbox interruptor and are getting results.
Great Videos Support Your Lead Sources
Whatever your video strategy, be sure that you create videos that support the lead sources being generated as much as possible. By using a great marketing automation CRM solution you can create great evergreen targeted videos to nurture responses for your marketing efforts. A few video examples to consider creating would be …
- “thanks for your interest in (our product and services)”
- “thanks for requesting a quote on (details product and services)”
- “thank you for downloading our guide to the 5 best ways to …”
- “thank you for registering for our upcoming webinar/seminar for …”
Analytics Help To Know If Your Prospect Is Interested
In all of the above strategic instances and if your system offers them, use email open analytics, video play analytics, and other analytic insights to know which potential customers are most interested and when to follow up. Often knowing your analytics will and how your contact is interacting with your video is the perfect action prompt to pick up the phone and call them. The probability goes way up that your cold prospect is now positioned as a warm prospect and will actually be available to take a quick phone call from you. Based upon others’ success with this strategy, refer to your video email in any kind of voicemails you leave and also refer to your voicemail in any video emails you record and send. Once again, you’re putting a face with your name and you’re also striving to build a professional rapport and trust with the hope to create a reply or action from your contact.
How are you using video emails to connect with cold prospects?
