Can Video Increase Sales? The Enquiry Reply That Works

video marketing podcast Jun 25, 2021

Yes, video can increase sales, and the quickest place to see it is your reply to a new enquiry. Instead of a typed email or a voicemail, send a personal video under 30 seconds long within the hour, thank them by name, and ask them to book a short call. It shows speed and care before you've met.

Key takeaways

Enquiries often go cold because the buyer doesn't feel looked after in the first exchange.
Chris's approach at Ridge Films was to reply to each enquiry with a personal video, within the hour, asking the buyer to book a 15-minute video call.
The video runs under 30 seconds and takes about five minutes to prepare, record and send.
The script, the recording and the email template all matter, and getting all three right is what lifts conversions.
Replying this way saves the time spent chasing people by phone and email.

Can video really increase sales?

Chris's answer to Amber, who sent this question in to Get Coached, was a flat yes, and he used Ridge Films as the case study. Before video, its sales process was the standard one: return the call, return the email. Sales were okay. The problem was what happened after someone enquired.

"People would inquire, they would be unresponsive, they we couldn't get back in touch with them." Chris Schwager

Maybe they found someone else. Or maybe, as Chris puts it, they didn't feel they were getting the love they deserved in that pre-sale stage. If you sell a professional service, that first exchange is where you win or lose a lot of buyers, and it's also the stage almost nobody thinks to use video for.

Why do enquiries go cold before the first meeting?

Because the first reply looks like everyone else's. A typed email says nothing about who you are, and a phone call means guessing when they're free and leaving voicemails. Meanwhile the buyer may well be talking to your competitors. A video reply does two jobs at once: it shows you're responsive, and it shows there's a real person on the other end who cares about their enquiry.

It also helps you filter. Ridge Films' sales process is fairly long, and Chris says a buyer who wants everything straight away is probably not the right fit, so the video slows the process down a little and shows a point of difference at the same time.

What should a video reply to an enquiry say?

Here is the script Chris read out on the episode, the one he was using at the time:

"Hi, Amber thanks for your inquiry. I'm Chris, the Video Marketing Specialist here at Ridge Films. And we're looking forward to learning more about your business whatever that business is. I'm just about to go into a meeting and thought I'd quickly send you this video so I can help you best please book a time for a quick 15 minute video call using the link in this email." Chris Schwager

Pull it apart and it's four lines you can reuse:

Their name and a thank you. The first word they hear is their own name.
Who you are. One line: your name and your role.
Why you're sending a video. A quick, honest reason, so it feels personal rather than automated.
One next step. Book a short call using the link in the email. Just the one ask.

It runs under 30 seconds. More ways to use the same idea are in personalised video replies and putting a personal video in an email.

How long does a video reply take to make?

About five minutes, by Chris's count: load up the script, change the name, the company and what they enquired about, record it and drop it into the email reply. The reason it's quick is that the script and the email template are already written. Chris calls the pieces the 1%: the script, the recording and the email template each matter, and lining all of them up is what converts.

What happens after the buyer watches the video?

They book the call, or they don't, and either way you've spent five minutes rather than an afternoon chasing them. Chris describes the time saving plainly:

"I'm actually not spending any time trying to reply to the email or leaving voicemails or any of that stuff." Chris Schwager

The people who genuinely want to learn more book in, so the calls you take are with better-qualified buyers, and Chris says they convert faster because the first impression has already done some of the work. The reply video is the starting point. After the call, more videos carry the sale forward, which the five sales videos that turn enquiries into buyers walks through one by one. For where all of this fits in a wider plan, see the video strategy guide.

How do you start replying to enquiries with video this week?

Write your four-line script once. Name, who you are, why a video, one next step.
Set up an email template with your booking link already in it, so all you change is the name and the video.
Record in the same spot every time, facing a window or a light, with the camera at eye level.
Send it within the hour. Speed is half the message.
Ask a few buyers what they thought. Their answers will tell you more than the play count.

Video and sales questions we get asked

Can video actually increase sales?

Yes. Ridge Films started replying to every enquiry with a short personal video and asking the buyer to book a 15-minute video call, and Chris says it had a big impact on how many enquiries turned into meetings and then into sales.

How long should a video reply to an enquiry be?

Under 30 seconds. Thank them by name, say who you are, explain why you've sent a video, and give one next step, usually booking a short call.

Isn't recording a video for every enquiry too slow?

It takes about five minutes once the script and email template are ready, which is less time than chasing someone with phone calls, voicemails and follow-up emails.

What if the buyer doesn't reply to the video?

Then you've learned something for five minutes' work. Follow up later with a short video, which can be a general one, so your face stays in their decision.

If you'd rather not do this yourself

The hard part of a five-minute video reply is that it has to be five minutes, every time. If you're setting up a camera and fiddling with lights before each one, the habit dies in a week. Ridge Films installs a Desktop Studio at your desk so a reply is one button away, and coaches you on what to say so it sounds like you. Book a call and we'll show you how ours works.

Episode transcript

Read the full transcript

Welcome to Get Coached the video marketing legend podcast where you submit your video marketing question at ridgefilms.com.au/question and I'll help coach you through them. By listening in each week you'll learn how each video marketing problem is solved, giving you the knowledge that will make your videos more valuable. And so you come across as a true professional on the open market.

I'm your host, Chris Schwager. Today's Get Coached question was submitted at ridgefilms.com.au/question and is from Amber. What Amber wants to know is can videos actually help increase sales?

This is an important question, because we all want to know how to leverage our video marketing investment, our time and to make sure that every dollar spent is improving our bottom line. Okay, so Amber, this is what you need to know first. Yes. Yes, videos can actually help increase sales. In fact, I would go as far as saying that actually directly relate in more sales.

We say this because we are the best case study for this because 12 months ago, we were just doing the standard old sales process return the call return an email, and sales were okay, but they could have been better. Because the problem used to be that people would inquire, they would be unresponsive, they we couldn't get back in touch with them. And maybe that's because they found someone else. Or maybe it was just because they didn't feel like they were getting the love that they deserved. In that pre sale environment.

Have you ever experienced that when you've inquired with someone, maybe this front end sales process is something that could be improved. And Amber, I don't know what your business is. But if it's a professional service, this is an absolute game changer. Since investing in the DIY program and understanding how to use video very quickly, we're now able to turn around a video reply, which has changed the game in terms of our sales conversion.

So let me frame the situation. A prospective buyer inquires it usually comes in for us as a email, it's not uncommon that a sales process for us is quite lengthy and, and we effectively for me like that prefer. So that's setting the stage a little bit. So when people inquire if they're really wanting something fast, they're wanting something straightaway, they're probably not the right fit. So we are using this mechanism as a way to try and slow them down a little bit, but also to show a little bit of a point of difference. So when they inquire, we now reply with a video within the hour, to not only show responsiveness, but also show humanisation personalization so that we actually care by sending a personalised video just for them.

This has had a amazing impact on our conversions, from people inquiring to them, booking a meeting, a 15 minute video call with me, people struggle with video full stop. But the understanding about how to use video in this way at that pre sales phase of their business is not even thought about right now. And so I want to take you through how we're doing it. And to give you some idea about how you might be able to implement this into your business as well. People who get this video reply from us from rich films, blown away by not only the the speed, but also the quality of the messaging and how it's actually all put together. And I think it's a lot to do with process. We're a big believer that we're winning on process.

Yes, the video is important. But also just the way that the whole mechanics of that pre sales phase is put together is pretty impressive, because the results are there. So let me tell you how it's done. So an inquiry comes through on email. And we reply with this message in video form. So let me take you through the script. I record personally for them and stick in an email as a reply, to get them to convert at this very early stage because I don't want to call them I don't want to waste their time, phoning them or waste my time phoning them without knowing a little bit more about what they're actually wanting first, and for us to actually meet face to face so that we can build some rapport. So here's the script that I go back with.

Hi, Amber thanks for your inquiry. I'm Chris, the Video Marketing Specialist here at Ridge Films. And we're looking forward to learning more about your business whatever that business is. I'm just about to go into a meeting and thought I'd quickly send you this video so I can help you best please book a time for a quick 15 minute video call using the link in this email because we'd love to learn more about your x y Zed videos and provide you with exactly what you need. Thanks Amber. We look forward to chatting with you.

Now that's a less than 30 seconds Yeah, it takes roughly about five minutes for me to load up that script, change the name change, the company changed inquiry within that script, and then recorded and implemented into the video, email and reply. Now, let's put things into a bit of context here. Because the script is one thing, the recording of the video is another thing. But also, the template of the email is another game changer, it's getting all of those little ducks lined up the 1%, as I like to call. And if you can do that, you will convert more sales.

The most important part about this process is it's minimising my time because I'm actually not spending any time trying to reply to the email or leaving voicemails or any of that stuff, I'm actually reaching out to them with a personalised human interaction in video form to say, hey, when it's convenient for you, why don't you book in and we can find a time mutual to both of us that's going to be suitable. And we can sit down for 15 minutes and make sure that we're both a good fit for each other. And that's such a better use of everyone's time, because then I can ascertain after that meeting, whether I'm going to send them over to Brendan and continue the sales process, or they would be better suited to a video marketing workshop.

Perhaps the timing is not quite right, just yet. So minimising time, I'm improving the sales inquiries, because the people that are legitimately wanting to learn more are actually booking in and going through that process. And therefore they're converting higher at a higher level. And they're converting faster, because they're blown away. It's such a great first impression. And so we've got them in the door, and then we have the meeting and then we send them across the brand and and then there's a whole other range of videos that we use throughout the sales process to help convert but this is very much the catalyst for that starting point conversation.

Have you ever wondered, why inquiry sometimes go nowhere? Well, perhaps it's because you don't have that reply inquiry video in your sales process. And it's something to really consider. It's something that we can show you how to do within the DIY program, or reach out to us and we'll help you.

Now just before we wrap up this week, if you want to learn how to convince decision makers in your business, through this go to ridgefilms.com.au/convinceyourboss and download our guide. We're always helping the business community become better video marketers so go to download and we'd love to help you convince your boss and Amber thank you so much for asking your question.

We know that video marketing can seem overwhelming knowing if videos actually help increase sales but if you use this method I've coached through to leverage your video marketing investment and to make sure that every dollar you spend is improving your bottom line I'm sure it's going to give you peace of mind and really help with what you're looking for in the first place away for your videos to actually increase your sales. And for everybody else out there trying to solve the mystery of video marketing your business what has you feeling overwhelmed on get coached? We are here to help you through it. Just submit your video marketing question to ridgefilms.com.au/question for your chance to get coached by me. Just go to ridgefilms.com.au/question and thanks very much for listening.