Sales playbook for 2022

How video can increase your conversion rates by 4x

Transform your sales team

What does it take to get results like this?

90%

video click-to-play rate

70%

response rate = 4x higher than cold calling

24%

conversion rate = 6x higher than cold calling

Discover how one of Shootsta’s customers, a leading Fortune 500 business, managed to rocket their engagement, meeting booking, and closing rates with one simple change in their outreach strategy. Everyone shifted to digital selling when the pandemic hit, and it worked for a while. The problem is that buyers were soon inundated with cold calls, spammy emails, and LinkedIn messages that simply stopped moving the needle. Our client, always at the forefront of selling needed a new way to break through the noise and get their business growth back on track. Read on for details on the strategy, the results, and most importantly, the one hyper-customizable tool that is changing the way their sales teams crush their quotas.

“Elevate is incredibly powerful. Our speed to lead has accelerated.”

Challenge

‘Digital fatigue’ in a global pandemic

Our client’s APAC Regional Director of Sales and Business Development learned quickly that managing and developing a winning sales team of 80 during a global pandemic is easier said than done. COVID-19 has drastically changed the way businesses buy and sell, especially to one another. The world-wide shift to working remotely makes it harder to get in front of prospects, causing a drastic decline in lead volume and response rates across countless businesses. Needless to say that lead volume and response rates took a drastic decline, as they did in many other businesses. At the start of 2021, metrics were painting a dismal picture for the CRM sales and business developers, indicating an all-time low:

15% response rate

to cold outreach emails
10% response rate

to cold calls to leads

“Digital fatigue hit us hard. Our prospects just didn’t respond to emails or cold calling anymore.”

While in the early days of the pandemic lead numbers saw a temporary uptick thanks to webinars and marketing events, those numbers soon dropped due to widespread digital fatigue, a worldwide phenomenon where prospects feel overly inundated with emails, social media messages, and virtual events, even from brands they know and trust. With the clock ticking, and goals and targets remaining unchanged, the time for a new sales approach had arrived. Something new and exciting was needed to grab the attention of prospects once more and reinvigorate business growth.

Solution

Accelerating the sales cycle with video

How do we grab attention in a virtual sales landscape, and how do we speed up our sales pipeline? Those were the two biggest challenges facing the CRM Regional Director of Sales and Business Development. The team tried a range of different tools and techniques, but nothing quite met their needs or delivered the results they hoped for. Then they found Shootsta.

“We needed a more eye-catching way to reach out.”

At Shootsta, we believe the key to a hyper-fast pipeline is delivering the right video at every stage of the sales cycle. Selling through video brings back many of the benefits of face-to-face selling. Videos stand out against the barrage of other digital stimuli and build engaging relationships at a personal level once more. A personalised video is almost always unexpected but very well received by prospects, opening the door for a first conversation faster. And opening that first door is so important. Research has shown that your speed to lead impacts your chances of closing a deal: the quicker you can connect with your lead, the more likely you are to win the deal over your competitors. And 30-50% of sales go to the vendor that responds first. It’s really a survival of the fittest scenario. The idea isn’t to replace every touch point with a video; emails and cold calling still serve a purpose. However, implementing a balanced approach with video and other sales techniques can do wonders for keeping your pipeline moving along and stimulating growth.

The bow tie funnel

Identifying video opportunities

We worked with our client to review their entire sales cycle (including after sales and dead lead revival) and strategically mapped out each video opportunity along the way, even providing them the ideal video tool for each stage in the bow tie sales funnel.

Using Elevate, our AI-powered video app for sales teams, our client creates videos throughout the bow tie funnel in just minutes. Within the app, BDAs, BDRs, BDMs, and SDRs select a template (with a team-approved message and room for personalisation) and record the video using the in-app autocue. Next, the AI automatically edits (including branding, lower thirds, cutaways, and music) and adds the video onto a branded landing page. Just like that, the video is ready to send—and no technical video skills are required! Our client made eight sets of Elevate templates and landing pages, one tailored set per industry they wanted to target.

“The templated yet personalised video messages, the automated cutaways and the branded landing page Elevate offers, was everything and more we were looking for.”

With Elevate our client was not only able to connect with their customers in an empathic way by delivering a personalised video that is relevant to them, Elevate also ensures the value proposition is delivered to customers in a consistent way – even in different languages. In the second half of the funnel, after sales, the team uses Cast, our newest screen recording tool, to showcase and demonstrate industry-specific, multi-cloud presentations with clients. They also use it for internal sales training and feedback.

Results

A solid return on investment

After six months, the results were significant—to say the least. Response and conversion rates throughout the sales cycle skyrocketed to never-before-seen figures. Clearly, creating video with Shootsta proved effective at getting the much-needed cut-through at the top of the funnel. And not by a little. The response and meeting rates after sending a video with Elevate completely blew cold emailing and call calling out of the water.

That acceleration of the top of the sales funnel had a profound impact on their overall sales efforts, timelines, and deals won too. If our client had about 1,000 leads, then this is their ROI of using video in their sales cycle. For this comparison, we used our client’s actual response and conversion percentages. As you can see from the diagram above, sending personalised videos to prospects did not only increase the initial response rate from prospects but also increased the actual opportunities created and deals closed.

You can also see a clear acceleration of the speed at which the prospect moves into the next stage. On average it takes about eight cold call attempts to reach a prospect. In the case of our client, it would take seven touch points, or ten business days, to get a response after sending an email or cold calling. Elevate cuts that by more than half, taking only two touch points or four business days.

Adoption

Getting the team onboard

Getting sales teams to adopt new tactics and methods can be a challenge, particularly when introducing video into the mix. Most are sceptical, seeing merely another daily, time-consuming task added to their already busy workday. Some might even fear having to go on camera, or maybe they just don’t see the value. Like with any new tool you roll out, a good adoption and enablement plan is key. Throughout our partnership, we supported our client with the rollout, onboarding, and training to get everyone comfortable and confident with sales video. The global CRM software company set up an entire strategy to drive quick adoption from above by leading by example and from within the team itself by individual, coached and feedback learning. They also ran a sales performance incentive fund (SPIF), which encourages results over a short period of time, a best practice within the sales space.Our clients created a competition in which, using Elevate, the three team members with the most meetings booked within a week became the lucky winners of special, premium prizes. The final part of their user enablement efforts laid out clear guidelines on timelines for filming videos. To stay focused and efficient, sales reps were encouraged to either shoot their videos in 30 minutes every morning or bulk record them every Friday. The result? In just 90 days, 40 users made 240 videos with very encouraging results. Are you convinced yet?

Shootsta Elevate

The ultimate video app for sales team

Convey on-brand messages with precision Ensure your teams always hit the right company-approved messages and that your prospects digest and prioritise your emails first.
Fast, simple, and seamless Bring face-to-face back. It only takes a few minutes to create a quality personalised video and share directly in an email. No technical skills required.

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How video can increase your conversion rates by 4x

What does it take to get results like this?

“Elevate is incredibly powerful. Our speed to lead has accelerated.”

‘Digital fatigue’ in a global pandemic

“Digital fatigue hit us hard. Our prospects just didn’t respond to emails or cold calling anymore.”

Accelerating the sales cycle with video

“We needed a more eye-catching way to reach out.”

Identifying video opportunities

“The templated yet personalised video messages, the automated cutaways and the branded landing page Elevate offers, was everything and more we were looking for.”

A solid return on investment

Getting the team onboard

The ultimate video app for sales team

Learn More

Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest updates on our solutions

Before you leave, why not download our virtual selling toolkit?

Download our Virtual Selling Toolkit for Free

You’re one step away from free video tips, tricks, product guides, & templates to kick start your video strategy.

How video can increase your conversion rates by 4x

What does it take to get results like this?

“Elevate is incredibly powerful. Our speed to lead has accelerated.”

‘Digital fatigue’ in a global pandemic

“Digital fatigue hit us hard. Our prospects just didn’t respond to emails or cold calling anymore.”

Accelerating the sales cycle with video

“We needed a more eye-catching way to reach out.”

Identifying video opportunities

“The templated yet personalised video messages, the automated cutaways and the branded landing page Elevate offers, was everything and more we were looking for.”

A solid return on investment

Getting the team onboard

The ultimate video app for sales team

Learn More

Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest updates on our solutions

Before you leave, why not download our virtual selling toolkit?

Download our Virtual Selling Toolkit for Free

You’re one step away from free video tips, tricks, product guides, & templates to kick start your video strategy.

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