This week on MarTech Masters, Gabriel sits down with Katie Morissey of Wistia to discuss the many uses of video in the sales process. Join our discussion on using video remotely, how it can add value to your sales process, increase brand affinity, and some tips for getting yourself ready to be in front of the camera.
Listen to the Podcast version of this episode:
How to Improve Your Marketing Strategy by Conquering Video
Gabriel: Hello everybody and welcome back to MarTech Masters! Today I have Katie Morrissey from Wistia. She is a Sales Development Manager and I'm very excited to talk to you Katie, how are you doing?
Katie: Gabriel, great to see you! You always brighten my day and ramp up my personality. That's awesome! You are awesome. Pleasure to be here!
Gabriel: So, Katie why don't you tell us a little bit about you, who you are, what you do at Wistia, and a little bit about Wistia. I know we had Chris Savage on the first episode of MarTech Masters but tell us more about your side of Wistia.
Katie: Sure! Gabriel, I've known you for a while, I started my sales career at HubSpot then moved over to Wistia as an account executive, moved up a couple of roles there, and now I manage a team of sales development reps who mostly focus on getting demos or Account Executives.
Gabriel: That's awesome, that's awesome. Do you want to tell people who, again everybody should know what Wistia is right now, but let's tell people what Wistia is and what do you guys sell?
Katie: Sure! Wistia is a video hosting and marketing solution meant to help promote, track, and integrate with other marketing platforms so you can have good looking videos on your site that hopefully performs well and that you can, you know, integrate with the tools that you use every day.
Gabriel: That's awesome, and again, I'm very excited to have you today here because a lot of people are thinking ‘how can we adapt our strategy, how can we help our teams have a process to communicate at a more human level?’
And now that we don't have as many human interactions because of the unique times that we're going through, video has become an incredible tool not only live video but also we're gonna talk about other types of videos.
So, what have you seen happening in companies that you work with or some of your customers, or what are you guys doing with video to communicate from the sales perspective of Wistia?
Katie: Yeah, so we see video used in a bunch of different stages of the sales process, anywhere from STRs reaching out to companies trying to get them on the phone and then also for post-demo a lot of sales reps kind of get deals stuck in this "I've had the demo, I'm waiting for to close" - this middle phase - and we've seen video do pretty well in following up once you've had that interaction and you're trying to get them to close.
Gabriel: That's awesome. So one of the things that we talked about when we were discussing what to talk about today is the difference between live video and asynchronous video, you know, tell us a little bit about that and what works better for what right?
Katie: Yeah, so one of the main things that we have every rep at Wistia do is we use Zoom, just like we're using today, and you always want to show your camera because you always want people to know who they're speaking with and you're just way more attentive when you show your video.
So, that's a really good way to introduce folks to video, particularly from a sales perspective. If you're not comfortable showing your video the whole time we at least recommend that you turn it on the beginning. If you want to focus during the demo or the call that’s fine, and then turn it on at the end again. So that's a good way for people to get comfortable making videos, recording videos, and then using videos throughout the sales process as well in your outreach and in a follow-up.
Gabriel: That's awesome and I can't imagine people not being used to video. I remember we were having these issues a year ago, two years ago, and it was like how do we get salespeople to use video?
Now I believe that everybody has gone through their crash course in Zoom and made all the mistakes but it's very interesting getting salespeople, getting everybody, but getting salespeople to use Zoom and turn on the camera. That sounds like a great idea to get them to do more video right?
Katie: Yeah it's essential. It's just a comfort thing, the more you do it the more comfortable you are. And then you know you get better at focusing. You're not on your phone on Instagram on Snapchat, whatever else, you're more likely to pay attention to conversation and take better notes and have a better call really.
Gabriel: Of course and what about the other type of video? Asynchronous video is a completely different way of doing video. Why is that better? How would you use it? And what are the better situations, the better examples for asynchronous video?
Katie: Sure so we've seen an increase in reps sending videos just because of the current environment. I think people are more likely to want a human face in their email just because we're not getting a lot of interaction outside of, you know, Netflix or Disney Plus, but the most important thing we've seen especially if you're a sales development rep or an intro sales rep is that you don't send it in your first outreach.
That we've found to be a lot if it's relatively cold, if you're sending someone communication for the first time that's better kept just an email or just a phone call. We've seen better success in attempts two and three and when you make it clear that it's a video by including video in the subject line. That we've seen the best success when you write ‘video’ in the subject and have it within the body.
Gabriel: That's awesome and why would you think that the first outreach is not working as much? Did you guys go through that analysis? Is there any data? Is it because people are weird about, you know, this new phase that I don't know about? Like, tell me more about that part.
Katie: I think for people it's a lot because people aren't you know necessarily expecting if they sign up for a free account of something they might just want to play around or just try to navigate it themselves. They're not necessarily expecting a rep to reach out to them immediately with their face and saying hey let's get on a call.
We, a couple years ago, ran an a/b test with the SDR team of outreach that included video in the subject line and the body and you know outreach that did not and we were measuring the success by a click-through rate, so the main thing to click was the rep calendar and the video, and we saw the click-through rate of no video at 10 percent and with video in both subject and body at 42 percent. So it was pretty significant with the same amount of outreach for both but we did see quite a significant difference.
Gabriel: That's awesome. So, of course, Wistia has this amazing tool called Soapbox that we use pretty much every day for absolutely everything but I believe that Soapbox is uniquely great for salespeople. Tell us more about how you guys use Soapbox or how you see other companies using Soapbox to create videos for sales outreach?
Katie: Yeah, so for my team, in particular, we have a very visual product for the most part so if we see an area of opportunity, if someone's using a YouTube video for instance and there are ads that appear, it's very clear to point out hey if you don't want people taken off of your domain and going on to YouTube's we have a solution that could help you with that. Would you like to explore it? Very visual people see the ads, they see competitors, they're like oh I don't want this on my website.
They're more likely to engage with us we've found. Four companies, particularly agencies, we've seen a lot of folks do pricing proposals and presentations through Soapbox to make it a little bit more human and kind of walk through that situation and then we've also seen companies even like product companies use it a lot if they're demonstrating "hey here's this thing I want you to buy" is it a sofa, is it something like that. We've seen that pretty work pretty well just because it's a very visual product and it's very easy to get the value very quickly.
Gabriel: Of course, of course. Yeah we use Soapbox in a variety of different ways. For the sales process, I do like you said, second outreach or third outreach. Sometimes when we connected already and we're trying to bring someone back into the conversation that's great because you have your face you can put the typical board or you can have their website on the side with Soapbox, that could be the thumbnail and that brings their attention, but it's also we always talk about okay when you're gonna create a video the video shouldn't just be ‘hi John yeah call me back bye.
"How do you create value for that video" should be the first question that you ask yourself right? So how do you guys think about creating value for sales videos because people are not gonna reach back just because they saw your face and you say call me back right?
Katie: Yeah so it's always about them and I think reps can get stuck if they start to make videos. They're typically pretty long, they just kind of ramble about their solution, their product, it's mostly about them whereas we're trying to point out here's something on your website that you know it's about you first of all it's your website, it's your videos, it's your content, but then tie that back into how we can help them so making it really about about them and not about us.
Gabriel: And how long are those videos usually? What's the best...again it all depends on everything but what are the best you know how long the video should be?
Katie: If you can keep it around 30 seconds that's really people kind of want to click the video. You want to get them obviously to stay throughout the whole thing but you really want to keep it pretty quick even for video signatures for instance. I know your team has those as well, those are typically always 30 seconds as well so trying to keep things pretty consistent.
Gabriel: Actually that's a great example of another video for sales is creating your email signatures. We sometimes people don't think about it as a video for sales, we do it as part of video marketing and other efforts.
Usually, that's one of the first videos we create for everybody because it creates that human connection through that email but for a salesperson it's even more important because you can become more human in the conversation by just them clicking on that video.
You can tell them something personal, also why you're passionate about what you do, or something that makes them connect with you. At the end of the day people are not gonna buy because the product is $10 or $15 or $1. Those decisions are important but the human connection is more important than ever, right?
Katie: 100% totally agree.
Gabriel: I love one of the features that I love about Soapbox, we use HubSpot of course and the integration with the HubSpot calendar is amazing because that's Soapbox and, we're gonna show it right here right now, that Soapbox video ends and then all of a sudden you have the calendar right there to schedule a meeting or a button at the bottom.
I believe that increases the amount of calendar events and meetings that you can schedule through video. Have you seen that on your end too with the integration?
Katie: We have. We've seen a lot of folks have it with Calendly and HubSpot. We use HubSpot but it just makes it seamless. You don't have to click into a calendar, wait for it to load then, populate the link. It's just literally in your face as soon as the video ends so that's definitely something just from a customer experience perspective it's just easier for the customer and then obviously of the more meetings you get the better so it's a win-win.
Gabriel: Of course. I have an extra question: I was thinking about metrics and how sales teams should track video engagement. How does your team track video engagement and understand the impact of video on the sales process and how can people understand a little bit more on how video is actually creating that impact?
Katie: Yeah, so obviously email opens are great but really what we're tracking is the click. So if you can have the video in the email and then that's the one thing for people to click, you take out anything else for people to engage with, that's really how we're measuring it.
Number one are people clicking and actually following through with whatever the activity in the email is and then you can see ok who's viewing my video, you can see how much of the video that they watch, so likely you can track some of that as well. But really what we're looking for like any good marketing campaign is what is the click-through rate of this email.
Gabriel: Of course, of course, and also very important like you said, saying video in the subject line increases the amount of engagement that you'll have on that video, that's great. So um we've talked a little bit about you know Soapbox, the difference between live video and connecting directly with a Zoom meeting, and also how to use Soapbox to make it even simpler.
So, tell us a little bit about some of your advice or whatever other things that you have seen in the sales process that video can be used to actually increase the flow, reduce the friction in the process, what are the things that you would say to any salesperson that other opportunities to use video to make that process seamless?
Katie:
I think the best thing to do is mess up. (The video) shouldn't be a super polished video. Of course, you know, you don't want to be doing anything ridiculous in the video but if you stumble, if you sneeze, it's okay! It's a human interaction.
We're not you know video marketing experts as sales folks, we're for the most part just trying to have a conversation so I think the more you can do to just make it as human as possible, the better. Especially now when the barrier for video is pretty low with you know Facebook stories, Instagram stories, snapchat, people aren't expecting you to have this whole you know production. If you're a sales rep if you have headphones on that's fine. You know there's it's more just about that interaction and being yourself.
Your body language is very very important. You can tell if someone's leaning in that they're really listening, you can tell if someone is smiling, if they're if they're not, all that really comes through.
You might hear people, like when they sing they say to smile because that comes out in your voice, it really is the tone and you know just how you come across is very important. I think just don't be afraid to mess up, it's okay, it would happen in a normal conversation.
Gabriel: That's awesome, that's great advice. Again when we're training people to be on camera that's the first thing: go be on camera as much as possible, make mistakes, you know do it every day and then you'll get better. It's just like anything else it's like riding a bicycle, you get used to it and it gets easier and easier and then you don't even think about the camera any more and you start having fun which is the best part of it right? I love what you said about the smile. I went to different sales training and the best thing, the first thing they tell you when you're about to pick up the phone they say okay smile first.
Katie: : Smile and dial!
Gabriel: Even if it's a fake smile, and then start talking because that smile comes through the phone, of course in the videos even better and more important. So that's awesome advice, thank you, Katie.
Anything else you want to share with us? This is your time, thank you again for sharing all this amazing knowledge and talking today with us about video for sales. Anything else you want to share this is your time it doesn't have to be about video for sales or Wistia whatever you want to share this is your moment. Thank You Katie.
Katie: Yeah, of course, and I would just say too, even just thinking about it from a broader company perspective if you have a new hire during this time it's great to just have them record a video, record a Soapbox, send it out to the company just to have some of that interaction to feel like you know new folks from you know onboarding during this time can be pretty tough but I think also just thinking about it from that perspective it's been pretty helpful for us as well. Just create you know another barrier of hey I feel like I know that person even though I potentially have never met them before.
Gabriel: That's right, that's right. Thank You Katie again for everything. Thank you for an awesome partnership with Wistia, for all your help and all your advice over the years on the sales side of things and stay safe okay, take care!
Katie: You too. Thank You Gabriel!
Gabriel: Have a good one, bye-bye!