Today I was a panelist at my friend Gerhard Gschwandtner’s Sales 2.0 conference. It’s a great conference; you should attend next time. Gerhard opened the show with a keynote about the power of video in sales enablement.
But Gerhard didn’t just deliver a regular opening keynote to set the theme. And he didn’t use a standard PowerPoint presentation. Instead, he told the story using video. And not just any video. Instead, he carefully selected some friends and partners to make short videos on the power of video in their business and let them make the case for him. Then he chose a few short, well-placed videos on hiring and training to demonstrate how video can–and will–be used in sales organizations. It was compelling.
Here’s why I believe Gerhard is right.
First, we take in a most information through our eyes. We can intuit things through sight that we can’t easily catch through hearing the spoken word alone. People’s body language often betrays–or reinforces–their words. We’re good at face-to-face, and video gets us a lot closer.
Second, video is now extraordinarily inexpensive and storage is essentially limitless. Even the smallest of firms with a decent camera and good lights can produce videos. And with the tools so readily available, there are no real barriers.
Finally, we have limited time to share our message, whether that message is for training and development purposes, for coaching sessions, for leadership’s weekly messaging, or for the regular conversations that are happening between employees or between employees and clients. Because video improves the outcomes of each of these interactions, shortens the time it takes to share those messages, and is easily archived for future use, I believe it’s going to be very quickly adopted by sales organizations.
What do you think?
Questions
Why do we prefer video over auditory? What content is better for each channel?
What’s the best use of video inside a sales organization?