One of the most recognizable sales mantras comes from Glengarry Glen Ross. You likely know what we’re referencing. To a group of unmotivated real estate agents, Alec Baldwin articulates that famous three-word phrase:

Always be closing.

No matter the size or sector of their businesses, sales and marketing professionals have to constantly think of ways that they can generate more sales. Whether they are focusing on current customers or new customers, the goal is to continuously generate revenue so that the underlying business can grow.

That being said, the actual process of generating revenue from current customers or prospects has many moving parts. Often, expectations don’t meet reality. It is much more difficult to convert that key prospect than we initially thought. Or you may find it surprisingly difficult to go back to that paying customer and generate repeat business from them. If this happens again and again, it can be extremely frustrating and demoralizing. Not only that, but failing to hit your internal goals and numbers can both harm your business and lead to some personal career risk.

Fortunately, sales and marketing professionals like you can have fewer missed opportunities and increase your conversion rate. Better yet, you can do all of this while building organic and long-lasting relationships with customers and prospects.

It all comes down to leveraging the power of video.

Video solves many of the trust issues that emerge throughout the sales and marketing processes. By incorporating video into your processes, you will substantially increase your odds of reaching your business goals.

And even if you may be intimidated or somewhat unclear about how to incorporate video into your processes, the great news is that you can do so through a must-have sales and marketing app. It is called Dubb. Essentially, you can think of Dubb as your trusty companion as you go on your sales and marketing adventure.

The Importance of Trust in Sales and Marketing Work

Whether you have just started in a sales or marketing position or have been in your position for quite some time, you have undoubtedly recognized some of the major challenges that emerge in sales and marketing work. Everything from recognizing your prospect’s true problems to generating consistent traffic and leads is fair game.

We are living in an increasingly competitive world. To address these problems, everyone from the smallest startup to the largest multinational corporation has to consistently refine and retune their sales and marketing processes.

However, one of the most significant problems in sales and marketing centers on one word. That word is trust.

Trust is an important part of any relationship, yet it can be extremely difficult to establish and maintain. This is especially true in the early stages of a relationship between a prospect and a company. When a prospective customer learns about a new company, that company can often seem like a faceless monolith. He or she may think of the company as one with no personality and with a hyperfocus on the bottom line. If the company is in a certain sector, that prospective customer is going to be skeptical from the get-go.

For instance, looking at the Edelman Trust Barometer, we can see that technology remains the most trusted industry sector (78% trust). Education, professional services, and transportation are also among the most trusted while consumer packaged goods and automotive industries were toward the bottom. According to the Barometer, financial services is the least trusted sector, with only 57% trust.

Even if your business is in a “more trusted” sector, it is always a challenge to build trust between your business and customers or prospects. Much of this comes down to the fact that sales and marketing lack authenticity.

In today’s day and age, we have been so overwhelmed with corporate videos that are overly produced and sleek. While the justification for these videos often seems sound, the effect is often unintended. Customers and prospects watching these videos aren’t able to connect with the companies producing the videos. Everything seems too sleek and perfect. Life, on the other hand, is rarely so sleek and perfect. Your customers and prospects are facing real problems and issues in their lives. While a sleek corporate video may place your company in the best light, it often does not build trust with the audience of that video.

Not having that sense of connection and trust is a major problem for both salespeople and marketers. Whether a prospect is first hearing about your business or you are trying to persuade a warm prospect to make a purchase, trust will determine your fate. Having built trust with that prospect, you are much more likely to generate that sale. On the other hand, without some semblance of trust, your task is virtually impossible.

The Problem of the Follow Up

Trust isn’t the only roadblock that is preventing marketers and salespeople from hitting their goals. Another problem that specifically affects salespeople is the so-called hunt philosophy. Essentially, the hunt philosophy is this idea that salespeople need to keep dialing and keep calling to get the sale. In other words, the idea is encapsulated by the phrase “the gold is in the follow up.”

Granted, there is value in the follow up. Without following up with some of your key prospects and customers, you may be leaving some valuable sales on the table. All of that being said, salespeople need to tread very lightly when following up. Constantly hitting the phones and encouraging prospects to make a purchase can lead to irritation and annoyance. The prospect eventually becomes numb to these follow up inquiries, meaning that you’ll not only lose this sale, but likely any sales in the future.

It’s almost like you’re going on a blind date. Even if you and your blind date are interested in each other, you don’t want to incessantly call or text him or her. While you may be extremely interested in having a second date, being too pushy or burdensome will scuttle your chances.

For many salespeople, this is intuitive. They certainly don’t want to be bothered by annoying solicitations in their time off. Yet in their day-to-day work, it can be all too natural to follow up more than is necessary. While the intentions may be good, the execution may cause some unintended consequences.

The Solution: Video

These problems of lack of trust, absent authenticity, and overambitious follow up are all too real. They can play a huge role in whether you achieve your sales or marketing goals. Whether you work at a tiny startup or a much larger corporation, you need to keep these issues in mind as you work to find new and recurring customers.

The natural question, then, is how you and your colleagues can overcome these problems.

Ultimately, it comes down to one thing. You should be using video to build long-term relationships with your customers and prospects.

Video can provide salespeople and marketers with all kinds of unfair advantages. To start, video addresses the problems mentioned above. By appearing on camera, your viewer gets to see your face and body language. Your company doesn’t feel like a faceless monolith; instead, you or another one of your colleagues are speaking directly to the prospect or customer. While this may seem like a little thing on the surface, it can go a long way in helping you build trust with your audience.

Moreover, authenticity can be easily conveyed through video. This just goes back to the idea that video is, quite obviously, a visual medium. Your audience can intuitively sense whether you truly believe in your product or service or whether you are faking it. If you are faking it, you are going to struggle when using video to connect with your audience. It’s like trying to BS through a presentation to your colleagues or even BS a homework assignment in school. Your colleagues and teachers are going to immediately catch on. It isn’t going to work.

But on the other hand, if you are being your true self and are passionately explaining your product or service, your audience will reward you. You will likely get the sale that you are expecting right now and you will set yourself up for more sales in the future.

As for the art of following up, video can help you follow up without being overly annoying. The power comes from asynchronous videos. Basically, asynchronous videos are characterized through a lag time between recording and consuming the video. You can record a quick follow up video for your prospect and then he or she can consume it when they are free. That prospect can get the gist of your message and then even reply with a video of their own. This minimizes the dreaded back and forth and ensures that you are succinctly communicating your message.

As if that wasn’t enough, video makes your life substantially easier. It is simple and accessible. Instead of needing to type out a lengthy email to a client or prospect, you can take out your cell phone and record a quick video. It helps save you time and lets you build true, authentic connections with the recipients of your videos.

To put it simply, the value is in the video. Furthermore, the power of video comes from the showing, not the telling.

You can think of it in a way that a filmmaker thinks about video. The best filmmakers show and don’t tell. They don’t hit their audiences with a hammer when trying to convey their message. Rather, they are more subtle about it. In other words, they show the audience a certain feeling, argument, or message that underlies the heart of their work.

The same philosophy applies to sales. You don’t want to tell someone that you’ll have this great success by purchasing your product or service. You may even say that you have happy clients and an awesome product. Instead of that, you need to show your audience the features, benefits, social proof, and other ways that your product or service can improve their lives.

Executing with Video: Some Key Practices and Principles

For salespeople and marketers that are looking to hit their goals, video can be a killer asset. It is the tool that can help you build close relationships, overcome objections, generate sales, and keep generating sales.

So how do you get the most out of video? As with many things in life, there are things that you should do and things that you should not do.

Let’s start with the things that you want to avoid.

One problem with video is that it sometimes lacks humanity. While video is a great way to be your authentic self and share stories, it can sometimes be easier to create other types of videos that prevent you from leveraging these attributes. Things like whiteboard videos fit into this bucket. Those sleek commercials referenced above also fit into this bucket. They can include professional actors who look nothing like your customers and behave like your customers never would. Even though these types of videos can sometimes be effective, they often lack that humanity that you would expect in video content. You don’t need to totally avoid these types of videos, but it is important to keep this in mind if you decide to move forward.

Along with lack of humanity, it is a mistake to ignore empathy. If you and your colleagues are going to leverage video, you must connect with your audience’s problems. You need to step into your audience’s shoes and understand the issues that they are trying to solve. While this sounds easy here, it can be surprisingly tricky. Make sure that you are stepping into your audience’s shoes and thinking about how your product or service can address their problems. Even if you already do this in your normal sales and marketing work, make it a separate point when you are recording your video content.

So what should you be doing when using video to communicate with prospects and customers? There are several extremely important things to keep in mind.

First, prioritize the story. Like we referenced above, you need to show and not tell. Story is a quintessential part of not only video content, but building a brand. A great way to think about this is through Don Miller’s idea of building a StoryBrand. While you may want to read his book to get a full sense of his thesis, the general idea is to leverage seven universal story points that speak to all humans. Essentially, you are piggybacking on the hero’s journey and using it in a sales and marketing context. The hero in this journey has a conflict or problem, they go on a journey, they meet a guide to help them on that journey, they learn something or evolve, and then they get to a place of success or happiness. In the sales or marketing context, you and your company can be the guide that assists the customer on his or her journey.

You can get really deep into story theory and leveraging the well-known story arc in your video content. The bottom line? Make sure that you are telling compelling and tailored stories to your audience. It will substantially increase the effectiveness of your videos and your odds of generating more sales.

Next, your videos should be actionable. What does it mean for a video to be actionable? Basically, it must let your viewer immediately take some type of action after consuming your video. In the marketing world, you may already be familiar with the idea of a call to action (“CTA”). A CTA prompts an immediate response or immediate sale after a certain stimulus. This is essentially what we are talking about here.

As far as where you want to direct your audience, the choice is yours. The possibilities are virtually endless. You can direct them to things like specific URLs, scheduling an appointment on your calendar, downloading an eBook, or even making an immediate purchase. No matter what you are trying to accomplish, you can find a CTA that helps you accomplish that objective. Pretty awesome, right?

Simply put, your videos need to make it extremely easy for your viewers to advance down your sales and marketing funnels. It is hard to do this on a platform like YouTube. While YouTube obviously has massive scale, it doesn’t let you direct your audience to a certain destination. The same is true when sending your videos via SMS. Not only are you going to clog up the viewer’s phone, but there is no way that the viewer can take immediate action after watching the video. Therefore, make sure that your videos are actionable. This is an important point and one that can play a huge part in the effectiveness of your video content.

Finally, some of the best videos are testimonials. Video testimonials are so powerful because they take advantage of social proof. They show a prospect (or even a current customer) that other satisfied individuals are using your product or service. Whether the feelings are conscious or subconscious, your target will be more likely to become a paying customer.

Think about it: are you more likely to make a purchase simply by relying on a company you just discovered? Or are you more likely to make that same purchase from that same company if real people (perhaps people you know) recommended it? The answer is obvious.

While they are extremely powerful, video testimonials can be difficult to gather. For many salespeople and marketers, it becomes quickly apparent that there is a laborious back-and-forth when gathering video testimonials. You may have to ask a customer multiple times to get the testimonial that you expect. In other circumstances, that customer may agree to help you, but then may not feel comfortable on camera.

The good news is that times are changing. Your customers don’t need to go through an elaborate process to create a testimonial video. They can simply pull out their phones, record a quick video, and then send it to your company. Rather than relying on substantial production value, these testimonials rely on authenticity to convey their message. Make sure that you are leveraging these types of videos in your own video sales and marketing work.

These are just some of the many practices and principles that you should avoid and implement when working with video. There are undoubtedly more. That being said, keeping these principles and practices in mind can help you avoid mistakes and capitalize on many things that are great about video.

Dubb: The Must-Have App for Leveraging the Power of Video

Considering everything that has been discussed above, you will certainly want to find a tool that can help you leverage the power of video. There are plenty of available tools out there, but there is only one that helps you get the most out of your video content.

That tool is called Dubb.

Dubb is a tech company based in Los Angeles. Experiencing hyper-growth in recent years, Dubb helps over 30,000 businesses easily create videos from the palms of their hands. It is the app that salespeople and marketers swear by, whether they are trying to attract new prospects into their funnels or persuade prospects to make a purchase. Using Dubb, you can send video messages to get more bookings, sales, conversions, clicks, and more.

So what is it about Dubb that has caused so much hype? Ultimately, you can find an entire list of features in the Dubb ecosystem by clicking here. Having said this, there are some key Dubb features that can help you accomplish your sales and marketing goals. They include the following:

Easily Record All Types of Video Content

One of the best parts about Dubb is that you can easily record virtually any type of video content. From videos that you record with your webcam to videos that you record while you’re on-the-go, you and your team can seamlessly create stellar videos for your audience. Using Dubb, you can even create screen recordings, which can be useful if you are trying to show off a digital product or service.

The magic comes from Dubb’s mobile app, desktop app, and Dubb’s Chrome extension. With Dubb’s mobile app, you can easily create or upload engaging videos directly from your mobile device. You can download the iOS version of the mobile app by clicking here and the Android version by clicking here.

Dubb’s desktop app is a fully-integrated screen and webcam recording desktop app. Using your Mac or PC, you can do everything from record a casual video of yourself at your desk to record a screen recording that displays both your face and the content on your monitor. Everything from PowerPoint presentations to PDF documents is fair game. You can learn more about Dubb’s desktop app by clicking here.

Finally, Dubb’s Chrome extension is a must-have tool for creators, salespeople, and marketers. The Chrome extension lets you easily make and share videos that you have recorded from your screen or webcam. With just a few clicks, you can share your videos to so many different channels and platforms, including well-known options like Gmail, LinkedIn, Salesforce, and more. If you are a Chrome user, you can click here to install Dubb’s Chrome extension.

In effect, Dubb’s tools let you seamlessly clone yourself. Once you get in the habit of creating video content, you’ll quickly discover that your video content is working for you 24/7. Even when you are sleeping, your video content is speaking to an interested prospect or customer. Pretty cool, right?

Seamlessly Create Actionable Videos

Another critical feature in the Dubb ecosystem is the ability to make your videos actionable. As referenced above, this is a vital feature that can help you accomplish your sales and marketing goals. You may have created the best possible piece of video content, but without making it actionable, you are missing out on significant business opportunities.

With Dubb, you don’t need to worry about whether your videos are actionable. Whenever you record a Dubb video or upload another video to the Dubb platform, you get an automatically-generated Dubb action page. This action page can be customized as you see fit. Most importantly, it lets you incorporate a huge number of CTAs, including things like:

  • Downloading an eBook or white paper.
  • Completing a form.
  • Scheduling a call on your calendar.
  • Communicating through Facebook Messenger.
  • Purchasing your product or service.

One of the most important CTAs is the ability for your viewer to reply with video. This addresses many of the issues with gathering video testimonials from your customers. After watching a specific video, your viewer can easily click on the “Reply With Video” CTA and start recording their testimonial on their cell phones or desktop computers. Once they have finished recording, they can immediately send their testimonial to your organization. It’s as simple as that.

Another key CTA in the Dubb universe is the playlist feature. Using the playlist feature, you can direct certain audience members to certain types of video content. For instance, you may have just met an interesting individual who could become a key customer for your company. After meeting him or her, you can shoot a quick follow up video on the Dubb mobile app and tack that onto a video playlist. That video playlist can include a previously-produced video about your product or service and even several customer testimonials. Using this feature, you can easily combine different types of video content to achieve your intended message.

Ultimately, actionable videos provide a clear path for your prospects and customers. After your viewers watch your video, they can click on a CTA, send a real-time message through Dubb, or even trigger an automation trigger. The possibilities are virtually endless when using Dubb.

Leveraging Personalization at Scale

Another key advantage that Dubb offers is the ability to create personalized videos at scale. The dream of any salesperson or marketer is to offer personalized interactions to all of their prospects or customers. Yet this often seems impractical—especially if your company has thousands or even millions of customers and prospects.

Using Dubb, however, you can easily incorporate personalization into your sales and marketing work. For instance, Dubb offers a feature called personalization text, which lets you automatically include the viewer’s name on top of your video. This may not seem like much, but using the viewer’s name like this can entice the viewer to click on your video and consume your content. It creates an inviting atmosphere.

Along with this, Dubb lets you send personalized video emails or SMS text messages in bulk. This is through Dubb CRM. With Dubb CRM, you can import and manage contacts, track deal flow, and leverage personalization at scale. Even if you don’t want to use Dubb’s CRM, you can use Dubb’s many integrations to send your personalized video content through your preferred CRM. This includes popular CRMs like Salesforce, Follow Up Boss, HubSpot, and more.

These are just some of the many features that you can leverage within the Dubb ecosystem. Dubb has become the must-have app for salespeople and marketers because it lets them easily create video content that their prospects and customers will love.

Get Started Today

No matter the size or sector of the organization, there’s a good argument that salespeople and marketers are at a fork in the road. One fork goes toward a path of some business growth, but plenty of missed business opportunities. The other fork, however, leverages video to build much closer audience relationships and generate more sales. As you can guess, the answer is extremely clear.

While you may want to follow Alec Baldwin’s lead and “always be closing,” there are good and bad ways to move forward. Video helps you close more deals while growing relationships with your prospects and customers. You don’t need to burn and churn through your buyers. Instead, you can use video to help them improve their own lives. By doing so, your customers will return the favor.

Ultimately, you also shouldn’t hesitate to use Dubb in your video sales and marketing work. Signing up only takes 30 seconds and you do not need to provide a credit card. Simply go to dubb.com/register to take advantage of your free 14-day trial. We encourage you to get started today!