By Tim James

Adopting a new technology into our lives can be challenging. When CRMs first came along, many salespeople preferred to keep using their stacks of index cards. Now that we’re in the age of video, many salespeople prefer to use phone calls and emails to communicate with customers. Why change?

Videos incite a significantly greater emotional response from people versus phone calls, emails and text messages, making it easier for salespeople to build relationships. In fact, most automotive salespeople are “at their best” when they are face to face with a shopper versus on the phone (or trading emails/texts), so they are much more effective when communicating with a shopper via a pre-recorded video or live video call when the shopper isn’t ready to (or can’t) visit the store.

If you’re in sales and still aren’t using video to communicate with customers, it’s time to get started. Here are some tips.

1 Just Start

One excuse I hear is “I’m not good with video.” The only way to become good at something is to do it.  Practice and keep practicing. Accept the fact that you’re probably your own worst critic and that you won’t like the first few videos you’ll make. However, they’re probably better than you think, and they’ll get even better as you become comfortable with the technology and the process.

2 Maximize Your Effort

If you’re going to shoot a vehicle walkaround video to post to YouTube or Facebook, don’t stop there! If the video is good, post it on your website VDP and export it to any 3^rd Party Marketplaces that you utilize. Live vehicle walkaround videos will increase the engagement and leads that your dealership has coming in from ALL of your other marketing sources utilizing the same video content. Also, share the video in your video email responses to other leads along with your personalized video message. These are effective ways to maximize the impact that the video will have that all require little to no additional effort on your part.  The more exposure you get for every video, the better.

3 Track Your Efforts

Use a technology that gives you real-time notifications when a lead watches one of your videos. Include other inventory videos, value proposition, and testimonial videos and you’ll know when they watch those videos as well.  This gives insight into a customer’s intent to purchase. Additionally, you can get notifications when a consumer watches one of your videos on an online marketplace or third-party shopping site, such as Autotrader. So, you’ll instantly know if a lead switches from looking at new models to used models, and what they’re interested in. Knowledge is power, and you can leverage this to reach out to that lead with the right information at the right time.

4 Focus on the Presentation

Whether you’re making a pre-recorded video or you’re on a live-streaming video call, don’t just list the features of the vehicle; talk about the benefits of those features. Include a short introduction, smile and be enthusiastic. Today’s shopper is looking for a dealership and salesperson to “like and trust” as much as they are a vehicle to purchase.  Let your personality shine through.

5 Stop Looking at the Clock

Many salespeople believe videos must be short, so they make videos under two minutes long. This can shortchange consumers’ expectations. The video should be as long as it takes to answer all the customer’s questions and to effectively “sell” your dealership, yourself, and the car. I see videos that are four- to eight- minutes long that get watched all the way through because they’re informational, presented with emotion, and interesting to the viewer! Remember, these aren’t unsolicited entertainment videos that just happen to appear on the shoppers’ Facebook feed. This is video content that the shopper requested.

Once you start using video to connect with customers, you’ll never go back to using just phone calls and emails. Video will quickly become your go-to method because it gets the best results.