video engagement

Video Games: The New Sales Contest

February 19, 2016February 19, 2016 Madeline Milani

Video Gamification

What’s the fastest way to boost revenue and grow your business? The trick is to tap into a powerful resource that you already own- your sales force. But when your employees are disengaged in the workplace, as 32% of U.S. employees are, their full potential goes untapped. And as any manager knows, when their team lags drive, performance suffers. But in today’s data-rich, highly mobile and tech-savvy workplace, B2B representatives need unconventional and challenging training programs to motivate them, now more than ever.

As a team leader, it’s your job to keep your employees engaged. Maybe numbers are dipping or you need a way motivate CRM adoption, which is crucial in driving pipeline visibility and predictability. You’ve surely heard of or tried gamification, a concept which has gotten a lot of buzz lately. When reps get excited about competitions that align with their goals, that reward the right behavior and that set challenging but realistic benchmarks, gamification works wonders (inside sales), engagement and performance improves. By incorporating technology, leaderboards and metrics into their competitions, Sales leaders are finding success in reinvigorating their reps. A little friendly office rivalry in the already competitive sales pit helps take motivation up a few notches.

Benefits of Gamification

Increase engagement during a training program
Drive adoption of training resources, new programs, or CRM software
Gain better insight into practices that are effective and ineffective
Inspire collaboration when reps share best practices with each other
Grow revenue by encouraging competition and shared goals
Create a culture of recognition and praise within a team

While we’ve shown you how video is helpful in onboarding and educating employees, it can be a real game changer when it comes to gamification. We’ll show you not only how OneMob engages reps through video, but measures their performance as well- giving reps and managers alike actionable insights.

Run a Successful Sales Contest with OneMob

Recording the Best Video
- Video allows reps to try out different approaches, and really see how they look and sound. Challenge them to make the most creative introduction, or the compelling break-in video. See who makes the best follow up to a cold call, or see who can revive the most dead leads

Customizing Player Page
- Creating different video player page layouts lets reps figure out what — works best for them. Testing out different combinations of content types, external buttons, and CTA messaging let’s reps experiment to find what approach works best, and in what situation. Experimenting with different email subject lines and video thumbnail images helps reps determine what gives them that extra advantage.

Sending Internally & Externally
- By asking reps to send their best pitches, managers can instantly provide direct feedback with a response or a follow up example. Or, reps can send to their prospects, and A/B test their different video/layout combinations to see what resonated best.

Tracking & Analytics
- Managers can see how their reps are performing based on the metrics that matter most to them. Number of email opens, watches, button clicks and responses are all automatically written back into the rep’s individual Salesforce accounts, and tied to existing Opportunities. Over a longer period of time, managers can easily determine which accounts got (the most videos/ highest video watches) per rep, or who closed the most deals with video.

To be successful, contests must not only be motivational and moral boosting, but efficient and effective as well. Whatever your approach, make sure that it addresses key business objectives, is data-driven and can be managed in real-time within your CRM. With the OneMob platform, you can be sure all three of these requirements are met. To help your reps to embrace their full potential through video, contact us to get started.

3 Ways to Better Engage, Right On the Page

January 25, 2016February 9, 2016 Madeline Milani

Last year, we gave you all our best practices for creating and using video, which became an essential part of digital marketing in 2015. But we know that 2016 isn’t the year to start using video in your outreach- it’s the year to start engaging with and measuring its impact. Whether they be personal recordings or high quality productions doesn’t matter, since v ideo is already the most engaging form of content. What matters is how your viewers interact with your videos, beyond just a watch.

In the past, we’ve looked to views and watches to determine a video’s success. However, number of views is becoming more of an irrelevant metric, since watches don’t truly help you gauge the level of a viewer’s interest. What you need to know is if your videos are generating responses. Does your audience follow your call to action, register for your event or download a piece of content, and more importantly, have you given them the means to easily do so? That’s why we’ve created Engagement Pages, or customizable landing pages to host not your videos, but your other digital content. By combining multiple digital components onto one page, you not only create a viewing experience unique to you/your brand, but an interactive one as well that furthers interest and inspires action. So here are 3 parts of the OneMob player page that will help turn your watches into meaningful responses.

1) Response Form:

Tried and true, the response form is your viewers’ direct line to you. Whether you’re trying to set up a meeting or gather feedback, our form makes it easy to get the responses the you’re looking for. Your viewers can reply back with their own written or video message, and a date and time that’s convenient for them to meet. This ability to directly reply right on the page starts the conversation off, right away. Talk about efficiency. Here are a few examples:
- Recruiter asking a hiring candidate to create an introduction video
- Real estate agent booking appointments with interested buyers
- Sales person getting a first meeting/call

Click the page to hear how OneMob Customer Success Lead, Kyle, begins account activation.

2) Iframe:

If a direct response isn’t what you’re looking for, there are more ways to engage. With our new Iframe, you can replace the response form with any additional content of your choosing. Whatever you include, just having that side by side view of your video and supplemental content creates a more interactive experience for your viewer. Amp up your custom pages with:
- Informational content, such as one sheeters or articles
- Downloadable applications, contracts & proposals
- External web pages or links to support articles
- Interactive maps or virtual tours

See how this agent provides a 3D home tour to go with her own listing video.

3) Custom Button:

By adding a supplemental button below your video, you can direct viewers to whatever that next step may be. Label your custom button with proven CTA’s:
- Download the latest case study, report or whitepaper
- Sign up to see a demo or start a free trial
- Read more or get the latest news from a featured article
- Visit your website’s homepage to learn more

Here’s an support video that provides instructions and a link to live assistance.

We know that video should inspire and attract viewers to go beyond a watch. That’s why we’ve built all these features to inspire not only more views, but more actions. And to help you measure the results of your efforts, OneMob brings you the analytics to prove it, with not only the number of watches, but the viewer information, shares, clicks, replies, etc. By giving you both more opportunities to engage and greater insights, OneMob shows you how your digital content is performing and making your profitable.

OneMob Sponsors Inman Connect, Helping Realtors Sell With Video

January 19, 2016February 9, 2016 Madeline Milani

OneMob is excited to sponsor Inman Connect, a 4-day conference that brings together the best of real estate and technology in New York City later this month. Produced by Inman, the leading source for real estate news and technology, the event will feature some of the biggest names in the industry to discuss the future of real estate and the latest trends in sales, marketing and customer outreach.

OneMob will be there to show real estate agents how they can sell more properties with video. With the OneMob platform, brokers and agents can record or upload videos of listing, send to clients and then track engagement. Instead of sending YouTube videos, agents can build a custom video player page tailored to their clients, which are fully branded and trackable. Companies such as RE/MAX, Wells Fargo, and Meritage Homes use OneMob to leverage video with their clients more effectively. To learn more, read here on Inman, or visit www.onemob.com to get started.

Did You Know? Adding OneMob to Email Signatures

November 20, 2015February 9, 2016 Madeline Milani

If you think video messaging is just a sales tool, think again. With a little thought and creativity, the possibilities for implementing video in your everyday business applications are endless. Thankfully, we’ve done all the brainstorming for you. Each week, we’ll bring you fresh ideas on how you can use OneMob everyday, in every way. First up: how incorporating a video improves your email signature.

For most, email is the main method of workplace communication. Given its high volume and wide reach, there’s a lot of opportunity for sharing content and increasing brand awareness. Opportunity also lies beyond the message of the email body itself. Maybe the phrase “email signature marketing” rings a bell. You may choose to promote your company’s website, blog, social media channels, upcoming events, new marketing offers, product demo, free consultations, etc. Without making your email signature longer than your actual email message, video is an unexpected but effective medium to share something extra. It’s also beneficial for you as a professional. Adding a video thumbnail makes your signature more attractive and personal, allowing you to really introduce yourself. Most importantly, video helps increase engagement, drive opportunities and promote brand awareness. With OneMob, you have the ability to track this activity, with all the analytics written back to your Salesforce accounts.

Make the most of all your digital communications with a personal touch, even in your signature line. To learn how you can link your OneMobs to your email signature, see our support page.

“After the Beep, Shoot Me an Email”

November 17, 2015February 9, 2016 Madeline Milani

Cold calling. You’ve done it a million times, and will probably do so a million more. But we keep hearing same the questions pop up in trending sales discussions and articles everywhere. Is it effective or is it outdated? Will we ever move away from it? Is there a better method? A practice endangered to extinction, social sellers everywhere are pronouncing cold calling nearly dead. With so much back and forth, what’s a salesperson to do? The answer isn’t to stop cold calling- it’s to stop leaving voicemails.

The Challenge

As every salesperson knows, making initial contact is the hardest part. Picking up the phone has long been the first step in this process. If someone answers your call, great. But when you’re sent straight to voicemail, that’s where things start to go downhill. It used to take about three to four calls to reach a prospect. Given our increased mobility and new modes of communication, the number of attempts has doubled. On average, less than 1% of calls get returned and less than 2% of those calls result in booked meetings. So what does this mean? It means that there’s a fundamental hole in the way sales teams are reaching out to prospects.

Communication is Broken

Simply put, leaving voicemails is no longer very effective. We’ve all been in the situation where, upon seeing a missed call and voicemail from a friend or relative, you choose to call back without listening to the message. “Did you get my message?” they ask. “No,” you reply, “but I saw that you called.” Unfortunately, the business world doesn’t operate in the same way, and your prospect is not going to call you right back. According to Business Insider only 33% of people listen to voicemails from business contacts daily, and only 18% listen to voicemails from numbers they don’t recognize. Meaning, four out of five of your cold voicemails aren’t even being played. I’m not suggesting that you put down the phone indefinitely. Real-time verbal communication is absolutely essential. But when you do get sent to voicemail dungeon, you need to be more strategic with your follow up.

Resolution

As evidenced by text and email, much of our communication has evolved from verbal to visual. InsideSales reported that the top three forms of messaging that people respond to are email, office phone calls and cell phone calls. Clearly, people are choosing their email inboxes over their voicemail boxes. But even those are becoming inundated with mass amounts of generic messaging. As text becomes less compelling, what is the next medium that will catch, and hold, our attention?

It’s time to take a step back and re-examine our methods. Don’t let an unreturned voicemail slow down your sales cycle. Following up with email is still more effective, but even those can get lost in the mix. So how can you ensure your emails are not only being read, but eliciting more and higher quality responses?

Personalize Your Outreach

Putting a face to a name goes a long way. When someone sees a smile and hears a voice, a sense of trust and a layer of objectivity is established around that individual and their context. Not like in an email, where a text-based barrier makes it difficult to accurately express yourself in letters, fonts and whitespace. And more often than not, your messages are being misinterpreted. With video, this is unmistakable. You’re essentially unmasking yourself and gaining more credibility with your viewers. People don’t want to be sold to. Buyers want to be engaged on their own time, in a new way that’s more dynamic, less about products and more about their business application. They’ve gathered enough information on their own to form an educated opinion. What they need is an expert, trusted advisor and source of guidance. So how are you going to elevate yourself, get more attention and receive more responses? By personalizing your outreach.

Thankfully, we live in an age where new tools and technologies are making communication easier, more engaging and enjoyable. Video messaging allows people to record, send, watch and reply to each other whenever and wherever it’s convenient for them. Technology has advanced enough to the point where we’re not limited to recording videos on our webcams and uploading them to YouTube. Nor are we required to own expensive DSLRs to record high-quality videos. Look no further than to your smartphones. You use it every day, in x amount of ways. The practice of moving the phone from the ear to the front of the face is becoming less of a novelty, and more of a norm.

At OneMob, we practice what we preach. By incorporating video into our email outreach, we’ve seen increases in our open rates, click-through rates and higher quality responses. See how our customers are getting results with video messaging and contact us to learn more.

Send Emails that People will Actually Want to Open (and Watch!)

October 29, 2015February 9, 2016 Madeline Milani

Can you remember the last email that stood out to you? Given that we receive so many emails that are solicitous, transactional and dry, it’s hard to recall. As any professional, this is the last way you want your messaging to come across. Luckily, there are ways to rise above the rest. Taking a few minutes to spice up your emails has proven to make a big difference. The numbers don’t lie- personalised emails deliver 50% higher open rates and 22% higher reply rates. Here are some themes to keep in mind that will make people remember, reopen and refer on your emails

Be Straight

Cut to the chase. Our attention spans are short, so you have a limited amount of words and time to catch and keep someone’s attention. A simple message, without too many ideas and directions, is the easiest to remember.

Make them Unexpected

People expect lame emails and pitches. What they don’t expect is a sharp subject line, a funny GIF or a dynamic video- and those are what stick out. Be counter-intuitive and send something unexpected.

Stay Authentic

Forget the technical jargon, product features and bulleted statistics. Images and videos bring an email to life and encourage engagement. Visual content is substantial, and can translate an idea or experience instantly into a memorable and meaningful concept.

Establish Trust

With consistency comes credibility. Sending current and relevant content on a regular basis builds up your integrity with customers, and will make them more likely to pay attention to and engage with your content.

Evoke emotions

A successful company doesn’t just sell a product, they sell an experience. In the B2B space, it’s buying into relationships as well, which are formed through discovering mutual commonalities and connections and take time to nurture. It’s not enough to communicate and engage through text. Step up your messaging with engaging content in a dynamic format that will truly resonate.

Tell a Story

Relating to my previous point, emotional appeals increase engagement and build rapport. Creating a narrative around your brand captures these emotions and experiences, and takes your viewer on a journey. Make your story about the customer and tailor the information to the individual. This will encourage not only reaction, but action as well.

There are many mediums out there that can capture these ideas, but only one is capable of embodying all five- and it’s video. Video puts a live face to the name, connects sounds and visuals to the story and triggers emotional reactions through the senses. A dynamic video will inform and engage your audience, keeping relationships strong through the entire customer lifecycle. It doesn’t require a lot of time or resources either. There are a number of video platforms that you could choose as your host, but only OneMob gives you the tracking, analytics and freedom of mobility. For tips on how to improve your emails and examples of video use cases, check out our support page.

Your Emails Are Terrible

October 23, 2015February 9, 2016 Madeline Milani

Yeah, we said it. Here are five, all too common ways that plain text emails are bringing your sales down. The good news? Video helps turn them around.

Vague Voice

You can only say so much about yourself in an email. Words limit our ability to not only convey, but interpret emotions. In fact, studies show that over half of emails are misinterpreted. This means there have been times where you’ve come off in a way that you didn’t intend to. From a sales perspective, this can be detrimental. When selling becomes less emotional, and all about logic and facts, the connection is less personal and thus diminished.

Solution: Video is better than a phone call because it allows you to express yourself verbally and physically. Yes, body language is still important. Show that you mean what you say.

Mechanical Messaging

Cold calling is the more personal attempt to reach out, but can be awkward and end in a harsh hang up, bruising your ego. It’s easier to say “no” when you don’t know the person on the other end of the line or email chain.

Solution: Video is a much better alternative, letting you introduce yourself and make your point, without interruption. Your prospect can puts a face to the name, and it shows rather than tells others about you. A visual along with a voice makes you more likeable and proves that you’re not a robot. Nobody wants to be a robot.

Pointless Replies

You’ve been in that frustrating situation with a client where after a confusing email exchange, it’s just easier to explain verbally. And to add to that, you’re playing phone tag and it’s getting you nowhere.

Solution: An easy and instant medium to explain yourself, videos can be watched on a person’s own time, as many times as they want. If they still still have questions, they can shoot you a video back as well (hello, new video reply feature). Problem solved.

Idle Conversations

Have you ever liked someone just by the sound of their voice? It’s the intonations, cadence and emotion that bring a name to life. You can tell if someone is interested or not, which is why phone calls have traditionally been the base of selling. Buyers like to know and trust who they’re buying from. With so many missed calls and connections, it’s hard to keep up.

Solution: Sending a video of yourself keeps the conversation stimulating and dynamic, helping you foster trust and maintain a solid relationship– which will ultimately get you that deal.

Prolonged Sales Cycles

With our inboxes flooding on the daily, it’s easy for messages to go unnoticed or have delayed replies, holding up the sales cycles.

Solution: If you can’t meet in person or talk on the phone, video is the next best thing. It speeds up communication. OneMob has proven to shorten the sales cycle by increasing response rates tenfold.

The way we consume media is becoming less text based and more visual. We’d rather watch the news than read the paper, send a snapchat over a text and chat via video rather than phone. So it’s only natural that our business practices align with our personal ones. But before any of these innovations, (even writing) communication was done in person. In an increasingly global and digital age, this is no longer as possible. Video is the next best way to maintain personal connections. Using OneMob can help professionals connect, build trust and ultimately make better sales. You’re not a robot, so don’t sell like one.

Social Selling in 5 Minutes

October 20, 2015February 9, 2016 Madeline Milani

In the first of a three-part series, OneMob Sr. Account Executive, Devin Reed, shares his philosophy and methodology for sales communications. Here are his tips for making the most of social selling.

“Break through the noise” is the newest catchphrase in sales departments. But while sales leaders tell you to make your messaging standout, what they really mean is get creative. The desire to have a unique approach has become a need to have rather than a nice to have. Why?Buyers have more options than ever, and are being flooded with more attempts to grab their attention than they can honestly handle. So it’s up to you, the seller, to get crafty. And that’s where social selling comes in.

Social selling is much simpler than its reputation portrays. With all the LinkedIn training available, plus the numerous 3rd party social selling companies offering training, mastering this new communication strategy can seem overwhelming. And while it’s becoming the newest, and nearly expected, form of literacy within Sales organizations as it gains traction — it doesn’t take long to become effective — nor does it require knowing the full product suite of LinkedIn.

Here’s my definition: social selling is finding actionable information related to a prospect and/or company that is relevant to your value proposition, and most importantly, initiates and accelerates engagement while building rapport. It’s that simple.

In my opinion, the end goal of a “social selling touch” is to (1) set a new meeting,(2) be referred to the person you wish to contact, or (3) build credibility — in no particular order. The key to being effective is not always getting exactly what you want when you want it, but any response, for even a quick “no” saves time and money for any sales professional. I’ll break them down a bit further:

1) Setting a new meeting — this one is most obvious. It’s what sales reps live for and what sales leaders love seeing (and hearing). First, or Net New, meetings are the lifeblood of every hunter’s pipeline and the foundation of success for every closer.

2) Reaching your ideal contact — There’s no shame in asking who the right person is, though some would argue you should already know via LinkedIn. But if your product needs that special someone — the person in charge of webinars, evaluating sales enablement tools, or putting pen to paper for every key purchase — it helps to triangulate that person to ensure your outreach is landing on that ideal contact.

3) Building credibility — I loop this in with “accelerating deals” because it’s an outcome of becoming credible in the eyes of your buyer. If you see a prospect post an article, give it a quick read and comment to let them know that not only did you read and enjoy their post, but you’re smart enough to give some insight into how it pertains to them. The more they trust you, the faster they’ll move, and they less they’ll push back since they’ll view you as a consultant.

The Tools for Social Selling

First is LinkedIn. If you don’t have their Sales Navigator, get it. It’s the base for all my social selling. It’s a fantastic software and the best for locating target prospects, but it really only tells us what they’re current responsibilities are in their current/past roles, shared connections and their collegiate alma mater. It tells us who to contact but rarely how to engage. It provides relative topics and talking points regarding their interests and focuses that can be leveraged to initiate a conversation, and hopefully, a two-way relationship.

Next up is Twitter, my personal favorite. This is a great tool to use in addition to LinkedIn , since most peoples’ Twitter feeds are loaded with both professional and personal posts. This could range from their company’s new product offering, updates and events, to their opinions, interest and hobbies. These are the best feeds of information as an outsider looking in and should be treated as such. Take time here to find relevant information, creatively tie it into your ask, then make your outreach entertaining to read and relevant to them. This is how we come full circle, combining our foundational LinkedIn information to more useful and personal content from our prospect.

Lastly, we have content. This isn’t so much a specific “tool” so much as an aid, per se. This is why we reached out. This might be their personal blog, an interview they’re mentioned in, an article featuring them, or simply something that you know pertains to them. It’s a win-win because you’re always in the know about current events in your space, and you get to leverage this knowledge for your own benefit.

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Between LinkedIn, Twitter, and relevant content, the rest is up to you. Use your personal flavor to come full circle with a detailed and personal message. Deliver a message that can’t be ignored. Basically, be the the cool rep, the prepared rep that’s hard to say “no” to. Before long, you’ll find your responses will be more frequent and with a tone of sincerity not commonly offered over the first exchange.

Lastly, be weary of when you turn on the “sell” switch and start pitching directly. The fastest way to become a corporate social leper is to blatantly pitch your product prior to your audience’s consent. Social forums like LinkedIn (not including InMail), Twitter feeds and comment sections for articles are not the places to deliver your value prop. Instead, offer relatively unbiased opinions or thought leadership that justify your ask for their time and attention.

About the Author: Devin Reed is the newest member to the Sales team at OneMob as a Sr. Account Executive and author of The Reeder. Having spent his career in technology sales, specifically on ROI-focused software selling at the executive level, he credits audience analysis as the success of his outreach, along with overcoming the fear of clicking “Send” on those not-so-ordinary emails to top executives.

Make the Most of Events with Video

October 14, 2015February 9, 2016 Madeline Milani

Trade shows and conferences are one of the best ways for sales reps to meet new prospects and connect with existing clients. Conversations that go down in person are more meaningful and have lasting results, especially since face to face interactions are becoming rarer in this digital age. However, sponsoring events can be costly, making them fewer and farther in between. So when your company does sponsor that premier event and sends you cross-country, you better make it worth their while and score some big deals. No pressure. How can you ensure that you’re making the most of the experience, every step of the way? The answer is video.

Motion picture is a powerful medium that’s a game changer when it comes to events, and is applicable throughout every phase. Here are some tips on how best to use it:

Leading Up to the Show

Send an appealing invitation: a unique and unsolicited way to stand out to those prospects or clients, who are getting plagued by tons of other cold calls and templated emails.
Inform without being boring: highlight all the details of where you’ll be, what you’ll be showcasing, etc. Promote any special plans, such as prize giveaways or after parties.
Prepare prospects to meet you: attendees will recognise you at the show, taking out the initial awkward guessing game.

On the Floor

Entice and engage with attendees on the floor: Show live demos, conduct interviews and capture the action, all on your smartphone and without leaving your booth.
Record message with your new leads: By capturing your conversation on camera, you and your prospect will remember what you spoke about.

Following Up After

Stand out from the rest: While attendees are getting bombarded with follow up emails, video breaks through the mass of boring, plain text emails.
Revive the conversation: Sending your prospect the video that you recorded on the floor will refresh their mind of you and your conversation, keeping the post-show momentum going.

There are a million ways to get creative with video. Tell a good story, make it upbeat and incorporate calls to action. Perhaps the most important thing to remember is to not get over complicated. Keep it short and sweet, because engaging viewers in those first few precious seconds is crucial. So what’s the easiest and most cost effective way to do this? With OneMob. Our mobile platform allows you to:

Capture prospect and customer feedback in the moment to leverage later
Share the experience with attendees in real time and post to Chatter & communities
Brand with your company or event logo

Want to know more about how OneMob can help you at events? Sign up now to try it for free.

OneMob 💙s Video

September 3, 2015February 9, 2016 Neda Hillyer