The Importance of Sales Enablement Videos

Want to know the one of the biggest mistakes most businesses make with video?

They prioritize traffic and lead generation, instead of using video to optimize their sales process.

Sure, it sounds like a reasonable strategy. After all, that’s how the big brands use video.

Wouldn’t it make sense to follow in a brand like Apple’s footsteps?

Clearly, they’ve done something right...

Unfortunately, top-of-funnel video strategies don’t work (right away) for most businesses.

A much faster and lower-risk strategy is to use video to improve your sales velocity first, then circle back to creating videos for traffic and lead gen once your sales process has been streamlined.

So to help you get ROI on your video investment, I’m going to share:

• Why top-of-funnel videos don’t work for most businesses
• How sales teams can use content to overcome buying resistance
• Why video increases the effectiveness of sales enablement content
• A case study example from a recent project

If you’re thinking about investing in video for your business, it’s critical that you understand this strategy. Otherwise, you’re going to be leaving a ton of money on the table.

Warning: You Might Have the Wrong Idea About Video Marketing

Here’s the thing…

Most video “gurus” are either YouTube experts, or they work exclusively with large brands that already have an established audience.

That’s why you hear so many video marketers encouraging businesses to create videos to drive traffic and generate leads.

Based on their experience with large brands and YouTube campaigns, this singular focus makes sense.

But the problem is that their recommendations are based on a strategy that isn’t efficient for most businesses.

Their experience is limited to the early adopters of video (big brands and YouTubers). From that frame of reference, it’s easy to overlook the fact that getting ROI from this kind of strategy requires either a large audience or advertising budget to promote your videos.

Otherwise, you’ll never get enough views to generate ROI.

And even if your video generates a ton of leads, it means very little if you don’t have a streamlined process for converting them into customers.

No sales = no ROI.

Makes sense, right?

So until you develop a big, loyal base of customers, chances are you’ll see depressingly low ROI from lead gen videos.

Don’t get me wrong, making videos to generate leads can be an extremely effective strategy, but it takes lot of time to see ROI if you don’t already have an audience ready and waiting to share your latest videos.

It’s just how the math works out!

Sales process videos, on the other hand, don’t have that problem — you can show your key stakeholders tangible, measurable ROI within weeks, not months.

Long story short, we usually recommend creating evergreen videos for your sales team first, especially if you have a long or complex sales process.

And that’s exactly where sales enablement videos come in...

Is Your Sales Team Sharing Content With Prospects?

Providing information to qualified leads is a great way to speed up the sales process and improve your close rate.

So if your sales team is already sharing content with prospects, then you’re on the right track!  

The power dynamic in sales has shifted. It used to be that sales teams had all the information, and therefore, all the power. But these days, your prospects have access to more information than ever before, and they’re using it to make smarter decisions.

That’s part of the reason why sales content works so well...it helps you build trust and overcome buying resistance. You can use content to handle objections, answer common questions, eliminate doubt, and reinforce the value of your offer.  

In fact, the average person consumes more than 10 pieces of content before making a purchase decision. And if your sales process is complex, it’s probably even more.

Think about it...every unanswered question, every anxiety-inducing unknown, every lingering objection is a roadblock that can stop your deal in its tracks.

And since people overwhelmingly prefer to perform their research “independently” (that means without your salesperson on the phone), you need your salespeople to be sharing content to close deals.

But it only works if your prospects are actually consuming your content. And if you’re sharing that information in the form of text, less than 10% of your prospects will consume it.

How do you get the attention of the other 90%?

First, you need to give them that content in a format that they’ll actually engage with. Reading sales enablement content feels like work, especially in B2B sales.

But fortunately, people are 4X more likely to engage with product video than they are with text.

That’s why converting your sales enablement content into video makes a lot of sense. Doing so will improve the likelihood of your prospects consuming your content, which means you’ll convert prospects into customers faster.

Think about it — How often are your prospects ready to buy the moment you get in touch with them? We’re all pressed for time, so hearing yet another sales pitch is just not a priority.

Sales emails are far too easy to ignore, and a call can lead to many unanswered questions. In an ideal world, you’d meet all your prospects meet face-to-face, so you can be sure everyone’s on the same page...but that’s not practical for most businesses.

Video is the next best thing.

It provides clarity. It evokes heightened emotion. And your audience will actually pay attention to it.  

Using Sales Enablement Videos Effectively

Since sales enablement videos fall towards the end of the sales funnel, they’re going to be most effectively used after the pitch.

While it’s still a good idea to add them to your website and share them on social media, you’ll see the biggest returns when your sales team starts using them with prospects after the initial sales call or demo.

And when used correctly, sales enablement videos will:

• Overcome objections
• Build trust in your product
• Shorten your sales cycle
• Reduce time spent on follow-ups

Instead of trying to answer questions with lengthy emails, now you can simply send them an email linking to a relevant video that’ll do a better job.

Plus, you can add video to your automated email sequences and let the content do the work for you. Meaning that, theoretically, you could automate the process and eliminate the need for a sales team entirely, or use it to score leads so your sales team can just jump in when prospects are ready to buy.

Hopefully you’re starting to see why we recommend sales enablement videos over awareness content to most of our clients.

If you want to see how we’re helping businesses use video to close deals and develop an efficient team, take a look at the case study below!

Case Study: Redirect Health’s FAQ Videos

Redirect Health is a rapidly growing company with a complicated product and sales process.

Once you “get it,” their product is a no-brainer. But the problem is, they created a new industry that competes with traditional health insurance; an industry that’s already plenty complex and anxiety-inducing.

So our challenge was to help them clarify their message and overcome that anxiety. Not only that, but they were also growing so quickly that most of their sales team was still learning the ropes.

As their busiest season approached, they knew they’d need some help.

So we rewrote their sales copy and created an explainer video to solve the clarity problem.

But we didn’t stop there...we also created 10 sales videos designed to:

• Overcome objections
• Answer common questions
• Explain the most complex concepts
• Articulate the problems with competing solutions

Here’s an example:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2:22

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Simple, right?

It’s a question that will come up again and again, for years into the future. And now they have an evergreen asset that communicates a nuanced, company-approved message.

As the season begins to take off, they’ll be able to share these videos with prospects to speed up their sales cycle and boost their close rate.

Ready to create videos that generate serious ROI?

Remember, focus on making video content for the end of your sales process first, and then circle back to awareness content.

Think about converting any sales enablement assets you’ve already created into videos, that way your prospects are more likely to engage with them. This step alone will generate immediate and noticeable increases in your ROI.

And lastly, think about how you’re going to use your videos after they’re produced. The more frequently you share the videos with prospects, the more ROI you’ll see.