Before prospecting videos, you could only meet a prospect one-on-one, one at a time. You’re just one sales rep, after all. If you wanted to reach more people, you would have to do it en masse, which takes away personalization—and everyone knows it. But today, video allows us to multiply our output and make each conversation personal with highly relevant async prospecting.
The best part?
It doesn’t matter where the prospect lives, what timezone they work in, or if they’re too busy to talk when you send an email. The sales team could prepare its next video as the initial prospect listens to an offer—multiplying output! Video provides 24/7 communication to prospects—they can invest their time whenever they’re available to click their link.
Video prospecting is a powerful way to knock down traditional barriers to sales and offer more intimate connections that lead to deals.
First, we’ll define video prospecting. Then, we’ll cover the benefits, a case study, how to record, and how to get started. By the end of this article, you’ll even have the opportunity to record and share your first prospecting video within five minutes.
Are you ready? Let’s go!
What is video prospecting in sales?
Video prospecting is when a sales representative contacts a future customer with a personalized message.
Loom’s technology makes asynchronous videos possible, so sales professionals can communicate through videos instead of traditional methods like written emails or labor-intensive phone calls.
With 66% percent of consumers watching videos to learn about a brand or product in 2022, companies can take advantage of this growing preference. They can also provide a more engaging method of communication to yield better results.
9 benefits of video prospecting
There are various advantages to sending personal video messages to potential customers. You can quickly improve B2B and B2C sales by adopting videos to address your offer, pain points, and the unique needs of each prospect.
Below are just nine benefits of personalized sales videos:
1. More personal than email
Let’s be honest, whether it’s a cold or warm email, most people see it as spam (or borderline). It’s not easy getting someone’s attention, let alone making a meaningful connection with your prospects.
You can deliver quick, personalized videos introducing yourself and your product offering. When a prospect views it, they can get a more intimate message from you instead of a standard email. Additionally, seeing you face-to-face adds a personal connection.
2. Sales to prospect collaboration with Loom
When you use Loom’s video prospecting technology, collaborating with others is fast and easy. You can send a prospecting video with calls to action, additional notes, and more information. If the prospect has a question, they can easily interact with the video so you can respond. This creates a faster sales process and helps you improve your sales process.
3. Build trust and credibility
If you read an email, you might trust the sender. But if you’re like most people, you spend more time researching if the person is real than if their offer is worth the time and money.
There’s nothing like seeing someone up close. You catch onto their social cues and get a sense of their motives and character. When prospects get a video, they can absorb more information by watching you than if they were trying to grasp your tone and meaning any other way.
As a salesperson, you also build credibility. It’s hard to fake authentic emotions on camera. Whatever you capture, your prospect experiences first-hand. As you introduce yourself and present your offer, you convey authority in your industry—getting you one step closer to the sale.
4. Show, don’t tell
Ernest Hemingway famously said about storytelling, “Show the readers everything, tell them nothing.” He emphasized that great stories don’t say what’s going on. They show it—you feel the emotion and subtleties, making a much more powerful story.
The same applies to sales. You can say, “This app will save you thousands of dollars every year.” It might sound good, but it doesn’t hold weight. Instead, you use video prospecting to show it.
Imagine, in the same scenario, you pull up slides showing case studies, charts, and numbers to communicate, verbally and in real-time, your success stories. It makes a stronger impression and gets your point across much more effectively.
5. Simplify complex ideas
Videos are arguably the best form of media to explain complex ideas. Speaking instead of writing forces you to condense and simplify the processes and concepts you’re trying to describe. The video format (especially with tools like Loom that record your screen and yourself simultaneously) allows you to show and express concepts multi-dimensionally.
For example, as you talk on a Loom video, you have many options to communicate:
Notes can be used to explain a concept further
You can draw on your screen or show slides
Viewers can read closed captions and transcripts, and adjust speeds
You can leverage numerous features that allow for a holistic way to communicate full sales pitches and value offers
6. Share it anywhere, at any time
Async videos—or videos that are recorded instead of presented live—give you the time advantage. In other words, you can share it anytime, no matter your recipient’s time zone.
You can also share it anywhere around the globe. Prospects and decision-makers can view your video content two days later at 2 a.m. your time (i.e., selling your product or service while you sleep). That’s a huge advantage for a salesperson and a great way to make your offer more accessible no matter the prospect’s situation.
7. Provide a more engaging form of communication
As mentioned earlier, videos make sales prospecting more personal and include many ways to collaborate. With various ways to consume and adjust videos with tools like Loom (adding transcripts, altering the speed, or using AI to edit final versions), consumers can hear your offer and respond however they prefer.
You can also encourage prospects to watch your video despite hesitations by providing Loom’s animated GIF previews. Prospects get a taste of what you’re saying and are likely to hear you out (a lot like how an email subject line gives readers a hint of what to expect).
Features and possibilities like these allow companies like Intercom to boost reply rates by almost 20% with Loom.
8. Improve outreach and accelerate the sales cycle
As you get better responses with video prospecting, you improve your outreach strategy. You can speed up your sales cycle with more replies and better communication.
Sales teams can save time by providing details in videos before live meetings. Prospects will start steps ahead when you meet them in person with the added context you’ve shared with them.
Plus, your videos can streamline onboarding and optimize use. Prospects get all the information they need to successfully use your product or service. It’s referenceable whenever they want to go back.
9. Pre- and post-meeting recaps
Have you ever left a meeting with more questions than before? Maybe your team had great ideas about a new project. But by the end, you didn’t move forward. The same thing happens with sales and prospects. The sales professional has an offer, and the prospect has questions. But the whole cycle seems to go in circles and drag on.
You can send videos before a meeting to add context and help set the stage. When you meet, you can dig right into the heart of the objectives. Afterward, you can send a recap video to discuss what you achieved and what needs to be done. This keeps the whole process on track and prevents avoidable delays.
Case study: Is video prospecting effective?
Video prospecting is highly successful, and we believe it’s the future of sales. But don’t take our word for it. Instead, we’ll study Intercom’s experience.
Intercom wanted a way to communicate more effectively with their prospects. So, they decided to use Loom as their solution. The company helps businesses create better customer relationships through personalized, message-based experiences. And it wanted a way to put the “personal” in its sales prospecting, too.
By using Loom, they could quickly show their value to prospective customers. They sent personalized videos with relevant information and answers. And their prospects were very receptive to the videos.
They did this with the following:
Recording and editing personal videos while including custom graphics and images
Fast link creation right after video recording to share with prospects
Intercom increased its reply rate by 19%, and earned $120,000 from its video outreach so far.
Intercom used Loom not only for sales outreach but also for training and team communication. They saved an estimated 12 days of meetings and training with their 900 employees. Video communication has revolutionized the way Intercom connects with prospects and team members.
When Intercom started its video prospecting journey, it faced the challenge of making outreach unique, personal, and sustainable. Additionally, it wanted to drive more conversations and revenue from sales email outreach (while saving thousands of hours of sales calls).
They turned cold emails warm with links to beautiful videos that connected with their audience. Read more about Intercom’s story.
Today, Loom and the sales industry see video as one of the most effective ways to close sales (81% of companies in 2022 reported a direct increase in sales).
When to use video prospecting in sales
Video prospecting is a versatile method to communicate with people, offering a multitude of use cases:
Cold outreach
Make cold emails and messages more personal with engaging videos. Your personalized communication can directly connect with your prospect and differentiate you from others.
Reconnecting
Been a while since you last sent an email to a prospect? Send a video to rekindle the sales journey. Mention improvements, new features, and other relevant information that might spark interest.
Product demo videos
Show what your product can do first-hand by offering an immersive experience on video. Prospects will immediately identify personal use cases that can benefit their company.
Follow-up and recaps
If a prospect gets back to you with a linchpin question, you can easily and thoroughly respond by recording a video and showing examples on your screen. Additionally, you can send summaries of what you’ve already discussed and what prospects can do to move forward.
How to create compelling video prospecting messages
The first step to video prospecting is using a high-quality tool. Your message will fall flat if the video experience is poor and clunky.
Not only that, but you want a platform that allows for AI-editing capabilities, collaboration, seamless sharing, and other features that improve videos and increase engagement. Tools like Loom provide the latest and best technology to support your video prospecting strategy.
With Loom, recording is as easy as hitting a button:
Sign up and download the desktop version or extension of Loom.
Press Record. Talk and capture your screen simultaneously.
End the recording and share.
The recording process is so efficient that you can build a scalable video prospecting strategy and save prospecting hours while making more sales.
How to use video in your sales prospecting process
By now, you’ve seen the benefits of incorporating video into your sales strategy. But how can you embed it in your current process? It looks different for everyone, but we can start by analyzing the traditional sales journey.
Let’s say you have your prospect list. It’s full of cold contacts. Sending them an email or DM might be a hit or miss. However, incorporating a Loom video could improve reply rates immediately.
You can research each prospect and find a relevant need they have.
For example, let’s say you provide chatbox services for various businesses, and you stumble upon a competitive industry, like solar panels in Florida. When contacting the solar panel provider, you could write a few sentences about missed sales because people tend to hire companies that respond the fastest.
In that email, you can tell your prospect that you’ve “built a demo” entirely for their website. To view it, they click a link to your video.
In the video, you navigate their site, maybe show what the chatbox would look like, and walk them through the visitor’s journey. Then, you pull up your chatbox and show examples of what it can do. You type in “How much are solar panels?” The chatbox gives a rough range and a link to your estimate calculator. In less than three minutes, you show a valuable use case that increases company sales.
This is an entirely different, fresh experience for the prospect. They get to see your solution in their exact context and use case.
You can do the same for your own sales process. In fact, you can record a video right now for free and send it to your next prospect.
Video prospecting strategies: Best practices for video prospecting
Below are some ways you can upgrade your prospecting strategy using video:
Research your prospect
Not only should you know who you’re talking to, but you should understand their exact needs. It starts by studying your contacts' social profiles (i.e., LinkedIn), reputation, and company website.
Study how they engage and what they talk about on social media. Scan customer reviews for other clues. Eventually, you’ll be able to identify common themes, needs, and interests from your prospect and the customers they’re serving. Then, present the solution to your prospect. The more relevant you are, the better you’ll connect and close more deals.
Keep it concise
When you record your video, make sure it’s about one thing and not too long. Remember, your prospect doesn't know you yet. You’re borrowing their time and can’t expect them to watch a 20-minute video the first time you cross paths. Send a short video showing a relevant use case or solution to meet their needs.
Make it enjoyable
Everyone wants to be entertained, not bored. Ensure you’re presentable (grooming is key!) and in an office or somewhere with few distractions. Then, show off your personality, have fun, and try to be as helpful and relevant as possible. Make it natural. You don’t need a video script. You can use your screen, slides, or any visual reference to help guide you as viewers follow along.
Communicate a clear call to action
You presented your case. Great. Now what? If you don’t clarify what’s next, your prospect won’t either. This will most likely result in no response. Give them the next step. It might be to reply or schedule a call—there are plenty of appeals, but make sure it’s stated clearly. Loom allows you to add CTAs to your video, include notes, and display other complimentary media formats like graphics and images.
Record your video for prospects
This guide should give you everything you need to know to get started with video prospecting. But you can only experience its benefits by trying it yourself.
Today, you can record your first video with Loom.
Loom is the top async video prospecting tool, trusted by some notable companies like Amazon, Walmart, Disney, Apple, and Wayfair. The best part? Any brand of any size can use it. It’s fully scalable and starts with a free version.
More than 21 million people use Loom. Why? Because one video is worth a thousand words. And that’s a big deal when competing for a prospect’s attention. You can communicate way more with three minutes of video than any other traditional method (which means you have a better opportunity to close that sale).
You can easily record video messages for your prospects to share within seconds. Record today for free so you can turn more prospects into customers. Loom makes the sales cycle easier, more efficient, and effective to put sales on auto-pilot.