A guest post from Nick Belcher at Reputation Selling
The recommendation from someone else still remains one of the most trusted sources of information in helping people to decide buy a product or service. Many businesses acknowledge that word of mouth is an effective way of attracting new customers and so make an effort to use written testimonials in their websites and marketing materials. But is this enough?
Research has shown that more and more internet users are making and viewing video clips for all sorts of purposes; YouTube is an obvious example. It is important that businesses realise that customers can help to promote a business’s services by using online videos for their testimonials.
So are you capturing the great things your customers say about you and turning them into a sales development tool?
Benefits of using video testimonials
To prospect customers – they feel more reassured that the product or service they intend to buy from you has been rated highly by someone else and they are therefore more likely to buy. Prospects may also have a concern or objection about the service and if the video clip addresses this they will feel much more motivated to buy.
To the business – the main benefits to the business using video testimonials are increased sales and a stronger reputation. They will also find their website more helpful to prospect customers. The process can also be an enjoyable and interesting experience for the customers participating in the testimonial. In addition, it has the added benefit of creating a stronger bond between supplier and customer that can lead to repeat business.
To sales and marketing people – marketing managers have a new source of information with which they can employ to attract new customers. They can use video clips in websites, PowerPoint presentations, videos at conferences and exhibitions.
To sales people – video clip testimonials offer a new sales tool to boast the benefits of the service to prospects. They can be used as part of a presentation made on video conference calls and PowerPoint presentations. When sales people are at the introduction stage with a prospect they can show clips from laptops, mobile phones and iPads. We find that sales teams benefit from short bite size sales training sessions to get the best from video testimonials and to refresh their skills in resolving customer objections therefore reducing the time taken to convert a prospect to a paying customer.
Now on the subject of producing video testimonials there are two approaches. The first is to do it yourself. Select one of your best customers, get their agreement to do a testimonial, clarify the purpose and content of the video clip, grab an HD camera, find an office or other suitable location, set up the camera on a tripod and rig up the microphones; you may need to set up some extra lighting too. Make the customer comfortable – ask them to look at you when they are answering questions and let the camera roll. Then ask the customer prompting questions to get them talking about the positive aspects of buying and using your product or service. Once the filming is complete you need to edit the footage to create a video clip of all the good bits. Editing takes time and effort; as a result you could finish up with a rotten video testimonial or a great one – the difference lies in the editing stage. This is where the effort and skill is needed; it’s where the magic is added.
On the other hand you can employ a specialist like Reputation Selling who will manage the whole project for you and will ensure that the video testimonials do the job that they were designed to do and that is to attract more customers, increase sales and build the business’s reputation. Reputation Selling’s USP is their blend of talent; from sales and marketing experience gained at the sharp-end to a team of professional videographers; from expertise in website management to a proven capability to create bespoke sales training programmes. For more please visit www.reputation-selling.co.uk and speak with the managing Director, Nick Belcher.
Image by jsawkins
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