By now you’ve probably realized that having video in your sales toolkit is not a nice-to-have, but essential for reaching more prospects and converting them. 

How do we know? Because we asked! One of our clients, a leading Fortune 500 business, managed to rocket their engagement, meeting booking, and closing rates using personalized video sales. While using Shootsta Elevate to reach out to leads, they saw: 

    • 90% video click-to-play rate 
    • 70% response rate (4x higher than cold emails and calls)
    • 24% increase in meetings booked (6x higher than cold calls)

That said, investing in the right video solution for your company is a big decision. There are a number of considerations that will impact your video selling strategies, including scalability, security, and ease of use. And, at the end of the day, investing in a tool won’t net the ROI you want if teams aren’t using it.

To help you figure out which solution is likely to tick all those boxes, here are seven questions to consider.

1. Is it scalable across an organization?

Videos have an edge over cold calls or emails because they create a human connection. Think about it: a prospect can easily delete an email from someone they’ve never met. Same goes for those generic talking head video messages – your prospect can tell when a video has been mass-produced and distributed to every buyer in the area. 

On the other hand, it’s a lot harder to ignore a friendly face who speaks to you (not at you!). To capture their attention and keep it, you need to tailor your outreach videos and make it clear you understand your prospect’s business problems and offer helpful and relevant solutions.  

This personalization element means you shouldn’t limit video making to one person. Empowering all your reps to make videos means they can inject their personalities into their outreach videos. 

To empower your team, your video platform needs to be accessible. It would be downright inefficient for videos to be saved on someone’s hard drive. In fact, having a decentralized repository for videos is a straight-up security risk, as it gives ex-employees or contractors access to sensitive or proprietary content long after they’ve stopped working with you. 

Shootsta is built for scalability. Subscriptions make it easy to ramp up access, while our cloud-based platform allows users to store their footage, design assets, scripts and other resources and feel safe in the knowledge that every upload is backed up and protected.

2. Will the outcomes outweigh the costs?

It’s all well and good to create regular video content, but if your cost per video is high then this approach won’t be sustainable in the long run. And while it makes sense to bring in a professional video production team for high-profile projects, you’ll blow your budget pretty quickly if you’re spending big for simple outreach videos. 

To be cost-effective, your video tool must strike a balance between high-quality and replicable. Thanks to our AI capabilities, Shootsta Elevate quickly adds in professional design elements like relevant cutaways, branding and lower-thirds. Its Hyperbatch feature also allows users to record personalized intros that are then stitched together with a recording of a more general script. This feature reduces recording time by an estimated 80% – helping sales teams reach more prospects faster. 

The result? Professional-looking videos created in minutes.

3. Is it time-efficient?

While it’s important to stand out, no sales professional can afford to devote all their time to a single prospect. Nor should they waste their time fiddling with specialized or overly manual video technology. When evaluating video tools, consider:

  • How long will it take to assemble a ready-to-send video? 
  • Can you upload branded video templates?
  • Is it possible to add professional cutaways of your product or service?
  • How long will training take and will the tool be adopted quickly? (more on this below)
  • Can you upload pre-approved scripts?
  • How quickly can you get in touch with an expert if you run into trouble?
  • And finally: What will the final output look like? A basic recording of someone speaking to camera (yawn) or a professionally produced video with music, branding and cutaways?

We get it, the time crunch is real. Your team shouldn’t waste precious selling time learning new tools, manually uploading brand elements or writing engaging scripts. In particular, poorly written scripts can actually damage your brand if reps don’t articulate your brand well or misrepresents your solutions.  

You need a tool that is quick to learn, makes it easy to include branding elements and helps your reps feel natural in front of the camera.  

When using Shootsta Elevate, all your team needs to do is select a branded template, record a pre-approved script on your smartphone and AI will take care of the rest. Elevate’s Hyperbatch feature even allows them to record multiple personalized videos off a single script – we’re talking 50 personalized prospect videos in 30 minutes. Talk about efficiency!   

And none of that arduous video downloading either – once you’re happy with the video, sales reps can easily plonk it into an email, sequence tool or LinkedIn message. And if you do end up wanting professional support, Shootsta has a team of professional videographers and specialists ready to jump in and help.

4. How much time do you need to dedicate to training?

Real talk: Sales reps are sales experts, not video experts. It’s not fair to expect them to manage an end-to-end video production just so they can book a meeting or maintain engagement with a prospect. 

The platform you choose needs to make people’s lives easier, not stress them out with technical details. Of course, like any new tool, some training and onboarding is always necessary, but if the video tool requires specialized technical training then it might not be worth your time. 

Shootsta bridges this gap by making professional video creation so easy anyone can do it – regardless if they’re seasoned staff or newbies. In fact, Shootsta can be easily integrated into the onboarding process: newcomers can start creating Elevate videos within their first week thanks to templated scripts and automation. And no need to wait for them to learn the elevator pitch – they’ll learn it while they record! 

You could even opt for professional support or post-production that can be turned around in 24 hours, allowing your team to focus on selling, while our technology and experts take care of the rest.

5. Does it have data capabilities?

So you’ve created a sales video and sent it to your lead. Now what? 

Video selling is an iterative process. Reviewing how they perform will help you glean how much traction your video is getting, who is watching them and what they’re clicking on.  

This is why your video tool must have a data dashboard. For example, Shootsta Elevate users can easily track recent engagements of their videos on a performance dashboard. But the insights don’t stop there – we also provide insights on splash page visits, video views, call-to-action clicks and even the viewer’s location. And, why not invite some friendly competition? We have an in-built leaderboard so you can acknowledge those who are having a great month.

6. How easy is it to add branding elements?

It’s important to choose solutions that allow teams to move faster and smarter, but messages need to stand out amid growing digital fatigue and competition for eyeballs. Professional flourishes and a strong brand can help your videos stand out from the crowd.

As a result, your videos need to reinforce your brand identity. But if your sales team has to continually upload the same design elements to every video? That’s time and money down the drain. 

This is where Shootsta’s branded animation suites come in. We offer three tiers of branding services to match any budget. Plus, Shootsta’s centralized platform will store your brand elements so you can ensure a consistent visual brand across multiple projects. 

And remember how we were talking about personalization? Shootsta Elevate allows sales teams to create videos and landing pages with a prospect’s branding too! This will demonstrate to them how much you understand their brand and make them feel valued as a unique organization, not just another lead.

7. Between onboarding, adoption and project speedbumps – will your team be supported?

If your team can’t quickly get help when they run into a problem, they’ll avoid using a tool. To ensure adoption, your video selling platform should include training resources, professional support and expert tips. 

We’ve got you covered here too. Learn about our professional services solutions, where you can choose from a range of services designed to help you take your sales videos to the next level. 

    • Customized training: including workshops and tutorials, video planning and filming techniques.
    • Creative services: including strategy, shooting, filming and editing assistance.
    • Video creation resources: including tutorials, events and professional support.
    • Videographer services: leverage Shootsta’s global network of producers and videographers to capture the footage that you can’t.

Which Shootsta solution is right for you?

We know you know that cold calls and expressionless emails no longer cut it. Shootsta Elevate will have your team creating videos with minimal training that will boost your sales targets, while solutions like Cast can help you create product demos or onboarding material. 

Mike Pritchett

Author: Mike Pritchett, Founder & CEO, Shootsta