If you’re on a sales team, chances are you’re all too familiar with call blitzes. That’s when a sales team dedicates a specific amount of time to call as many prospects and/or customers as possible with the goal of booking as many meetings as possible. It’s an old-school tactic–only effective when executed properly–that doesn’t necessarily align with the savviness of today’s buyers.
And today’s buyers are literally everywhere. You name it (phone, social, email, forums, etc.,) and you’ll probably find prospects in that channel. As a result, modern buyers now expect salespeople to respect the fact that one channel isn’t the silver bullet that will generate a meaningful conversation.
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While call blitzes can be effective due to the sheer volume of outreach, it’s important to remember that there are other, at times, more effective tactics that can be deployed to generate quick pipeline wins.
A perfect example of an effective tactic is executing a video blitz. While almost identical to a call blitz, a video blitz is when the sales team records themselves talking to a prospect, then uses software like Drift Video or Vidyard to deliver the message. The 6sense team has found that incorporating creative videos into our outreach significantly increases the chances that a prospect will respond.
I’m definitely biased, but sales is one of the toughest jobs out there. As a sales leader, it’s our job to provide our teams with the resources and tactics they need to make it much easier for them to succeed. Let’s dive into how you can help your team do this with video blitzes.
1. Creativity is king.
Due to the advancement of modern sales enablement tools, you can now automate nearly every kind of message (emails, voicemails, social outreach, etc.) and make it appear personalized. The problem with that is modern buyers expect hyperpersonalization and can sniff out automation a mile away. Not only are videos hyperpersonalized, they present the opportunity to express the creativity our prospects so desperately crave in a way that can’t be replicated through any kind of message.
If you were a Hamilton fan, imagine receiving a video from a prospect in which she was playing the piano reciting a script to the tune of a Hamilton song, while pitching her product to you (I’ve seen this before). Not only can you not replicate that level of personal connection, but you won’t be able to find a way to be more creative than that. Producing this level of creativity and connection at scale is what our prospects so desperately crave in a world full of automation.
2. You can connect through multiple channels.
A traditional call blitz limits your means of communicating with a prospect through a telephone call. Lacking the face-to-face experience–where you can pick up on nonverbal cues–can be a difficult way to form a relationship. Video gives you plenty of options to engage your potential buyer.
First, you can send the video directly to their email by pairing it with a short message about the content. Another avenue is through social media. My team has seen high success from sending videos through LinkedIn. Not only is the message delivered in a more personal manner, but it’s tied to the seller’s profile so the prospect can better understand who they’re engaging with before making a decision.
3. There is a better way to measure success.
People can get discouraged when just looking at the first metric: Did the prospect reply? But they’re forgetting about the second layer of engagement. Video offers the ability to extract more layers of analytics around your blitzes. Instead of simply tracking who answers and who doesn’t, you can look at video clicks as an additional engagement metric.
Just because you don’t see an initial response doesn’t mean your outreach isn’t working. We’ve had times when we’ve sent someone a video, and it gets clicked or viewed then shared internally to someone who requests a meeting. So, be patient in your outreach. There is a chance your video is being passed down the funnel on the other side.
Video blitzes are far from the standard in the sales world. There is no playbook for engaging with your prospects through this channel. As we’re all figuring out what works and what doesn’t, sales leaders must reassure their team that it’s OK to make mistakes. Similar to a call or a voicemail, it’s not always going to be perfect. Giving teams the freedom to get creative is part of the journey. By reinventing your blitzes through video, your outreach will stand out in the sea of cold calls and lackluster sales efforts.