Top 10 Sales Video Mistakes

Audio Transcript Auto-generated

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  Hi there.

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  I'm Julie Hanson, and I'm so excited to talk to

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  you about the 10 mistakes that I see sales people

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  making on video today.

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  But more importantly, I want to talk about the 10

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  preventative measures you can take to avoid them and to

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  come across as credible impactful to your customers and create

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  meaningful conversations.

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  So I have worked as a presentation skills coach and

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  trainer for many years.

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  But in addition to that, I worked as a professional

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  actor, and it was there that I learned how to

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  communicate on camera and some of those skills and techniques

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  that are necessary to really connect with a virtual audience.

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  And so many of those are what I'm gonna share

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  with you today and from my selling on video masterclass.

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  So let's dive in, shall we?

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  Let's look at what it's really like to sell on

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  video and why we need to change our skills Well,

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  First of all, it's much like being in a performance

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  on stage.

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  When you're presenting live or you're having a live conversation,

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  you get feedback from your audience, you get energy, you

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  could see the reactions, and all of that is gone

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  when you are on video.

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  Oftentimes your customers and even on camera and when they

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  are, they often are very passive and un expressive, So

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  it's hard to tell what's going on.

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  It's much more like being on the set of a

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  film or television show where you've got a camera in

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  your face like these actors here, and you have to

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  bring that same type of energy you would if you

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  were in person, but you don't have anyone to feed

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  off of, and that creates a lot of mistakes.

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  In addition, Thio just a lot of things that we

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  haven't had to consider before, like how doe I frame

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  myself, which is the first mistake I wanna point out.

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  Many people are still struggling with getting just that right

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  frame. You could see this poor gentleman here has what

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  I call an extreme close up, which is not flattering

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  for anyone, and it creates a very intrusive sort of

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  presence, which could be a little off putting for customers.

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  So we don't want that.

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  You also don't want to be too far back so

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  that you become just this little dot that your customer

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  can sort of see the point of having video on

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  is to be able to connect it for them to

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  see your your eyes and your expression.

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  So what you need to think about is getting in

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  a medium close up, which is is what I'm in,

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  which is where you know, from your chest or shoulders

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  up. And then you've got about a fistful of space

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  between you and the top of your frame any less

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  than that.

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  And you can kind of look like a floating head

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  anymore. And you're just not using your your space very

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  well. Uh, the second mistake I see being made is

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  just not having decent lighting.

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  It's so important.

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  In fact, there's a saying in film that says no

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  amount of makeup can make up for poor lighting, and

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  that's absolutely the case.

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  You can see this woman here looks like she's in

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  a hostage video, and we don't want that.

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  Uh, so the fix to that is to put your

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  light in front of you.

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  Always make sure you have that front facing light.

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  Don't sit in front of a window and use natural

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  light if at all possible.

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  That's typically the best because it disperses more evenly.

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  You'll need to fill in, probably with artificial light, even

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  if you have a good natural light source.

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  Because the lighting changes throughout the day and season to

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  season, you'll probably need thio have some artificial light on

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  hand just to compensate.

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  A ring light is really great choice for lighting because

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  it does a nice job of really lighting up your

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  face. So the third mistake I see is using virtual

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  backgrounds, and it's not in this a mistake entirely.

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  If you have to use a virtual background, that's certainly

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  understandable. But my preference and my suggestion to you is

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  try to use a natural background and simply because those

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  virtual backgrounds just magnified this idea that we're in this

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  artificial environment and they're not actually sitting across from each

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  other having a cup of coffee.

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  They could be very distracting when you move.

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  You've probably seen people who have body parts disappearing when

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  they're using a green screen effect.

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  Um, and it can create a negative sense of curiosity

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  like, huh?

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  I wonder what that person is hiding, So use them

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  absolutely if they're necessary up for something simple on Dhe,

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  not too far out there.

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  Those things are there's a great fun backgrounds, and I

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  would save those for you.

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  No team calls or family calls, but think about your

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  brand when you're on camera with a customer.

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  The fourth mistake I see is what this gentleman is

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  doing, and you've probably seen somebody do that a lot

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  on video, right?

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  He's looking at the screen, and you know, I'm a

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  intellectually know that he's probably doing that.

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  He probably thinks he's looking at me, but internally, it

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  feels like he might be checking email, right?

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  He might be waiting for a text.

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  He might be looking at his notes.

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  He might be bored, and this is what our customer

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  is experiencing.

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  That I contact on camera is so important.

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  And the only way you can get that is by

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  looking at the camera.

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  I teach a technique that actors used to look at

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  that camera on.

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  I'll just give you some quick tips from that.

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  But first of all, you can arrange those images underneath

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  your cameras much as possible to make it a little

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  easier to make eye contact.

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  But likely they're not gonna match up just perfectly.

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  So what?

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  You can do.

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  This is a quick version of this technique is Get

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  that person's image in your mind very quickly and then

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  project that onto the camera and just talk to that

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  camera and try to imagine that that other person is

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  on the other end of that.

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  That's the only way that you can really create that

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  kind of dynamic conversation.

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  There's also a technique for reading body language while you're

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  doing that, which we don't have time to go into.

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  But there is, ah, way to keep this conversation dynamic

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  and to keep that connection going with your customer by

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  looking at the camera.

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  Now, when you look at the camera, you want to

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  try to finish your thoughts there.

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  But I don't want you to do, is to be

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  talking and then halfway through, kind of looked down and

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  it drifts off.

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  It just doesn't have the impact of saying something right

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  to the camera and putting a period on it.

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  All right, so we're at the fifth mistake I see,

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  and that is confusing, this idea of being natural, which

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  we all want to be natural on video, and that's

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  a good impulse.

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  We confuse that with being comfortable and well, this gentleman

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  certainly is taking it a bit far.

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  Um, when we strive for comfort, we often get a

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  little too relaxed, and that just does not read well

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  on camera.

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  So while I don't want you to be uncomfortable, there

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  is a certain amount of tension and energy we need

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  to bring to video to connect with our audience.

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  And we need to think about upping that energy because

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  we're already sitting down most of us, which brings our

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  energy down.

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  The camera takes off a certain percentage of that energy,

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  and then you may be sitting in your comfy chair,

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  which makes it even easier to relax a little too

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  much. So get energized.

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  And you want to think about sitting up straight and

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  then leaning forward ever so slightly.

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  So it looks like you're just on the edge of

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  your seat.

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  You can't wait to have a conversation with this person.

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  That's the type of energy.

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  That's the type of natural tension you want to bring

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  to a video call.

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  All right, number six not using your hands now.

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  I don't mean you have thio.

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  Suddenly you sign language or anything, but what I mean,

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  is a lot of times people have been told to

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  not use their hands on video, so they spend the

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  whole time all their energy trying not to use their

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  hands sitting on them.

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  And that is just bad advice.

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  And I understand the impulse because too much hand movement

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  can be very distracting.

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  But hands for a lot of people is how we

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  communicate, and it's where some of our energy comes from.

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  So what you want to do is think about being

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  very slow and purposeful with your movements, slowing them down

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  and being very precise.

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  And body movements of hand movements can use be used

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  for things like, you know, emphasizing key points or physical

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  izing. An idea like counting 123 you know how to

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  count or we're going to take your sales from here

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  to here, right?

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  So look at places that you can physical eyes, certain

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  ideas. They can also show excitement or emotion on dhe.

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  They're good for separating ideas like we're going to do

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  this and they're going to do that so it just

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  it adds to the context of what you're saying.

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  So don't try and not use your hands at all

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  because that often is disastrous.

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  All right, Number seven, something I call rbf or resting

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  business face, which this gentleman here certainly has.

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  You've seen this face on the other side of the

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  video screen, right?

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  Uh, it's a face that we often get up from

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  our customers, and it's a very common face that people

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  bring to a screen, and we can't control what our

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  customer does, but we can't control what our face says.

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  I would say if your face has nothing to say,

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  why are you on video?

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  Right. So you need to be aware of what your

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  face is doing on video because it's right in front

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  of your customer and it's taking up the real estate,

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  and that's what they're gonna be looking at getting their

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  cues from.

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  So you want to think about, um, do I have

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  something to smile about?

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  Look for places to smile.

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  A smile is so under used in business, and it

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  really can make such a difference.

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  So look for good news and make sure it's expressed

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  not just in your words but on your face.

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  Think about how you can use your expression to show

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  how you feel about something right?

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  Are you?

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  Are you surprised?

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  Are you excited?

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  And you could also use it in active listening skills.

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  Oftentimes, people listen with a very blank resting business face.

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  Uh, and when we're in person, we get some energy,

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  and we get some subtler accused from people that they're

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  really paying attention.

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  But we don't get that so much on a video

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  call. So you need to be sure if your customer

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  is saying something that's exciting or hard or challenging that

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  your face has some kind of expression to it to

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  make them feel heard.

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  Number eight.

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  And I think this is one that a lot of

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  people don't realize you wanna.

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  They're starting with slides on dhe.

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  I know that's very typical for presentations.

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  We've done it life for a long time, so we

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  don't think twice about it.

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  But what happens is I don't know if you can

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  see in the corner there of that screen.

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  There's a little tiny picture of a person, and that's

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  all your customer is going to see initially.

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  Is this tiny picture of you, and it's very hard

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  to connect with a tiny picture or see your eyes

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  or what's your face and you've got something on the

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  screen that's going to draw their attention.

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  So what you want to do is start full video.

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  Uh, there was initial few seconds.

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  Minutes with your customer are so important for establishing that

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  connection. So make sure you're in full video and then

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  go into your slides as needed and take opportunities to

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  go back to full video when you can.

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  And number nine.

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  This is one that I've seen happen a lot on

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  video, and that is salespeople speaking in monologues.

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  It's just one long run on sentence after the other.

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  Uh, not that that doesn't happen in life presentations, but

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  it really is common in video.

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  And that's because I think that people are not getting

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  the feedback from their audience.

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  They can't see the nonverbal feedback.

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  They can't hear the little or the nuances that used

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  to make them feel like.

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  Okay, you know, I'm gonna get some reactions here I

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  can play off of, and so it just becomes a

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  filibuster of, you know, trying that Teoh not to pause

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  because we're afraid that you know our audiences board because

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  they have that resting business space.

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  And so it's a race to the end.

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  And guess what.

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  If you talk like that the whole time you steamroll

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  through it, they are going to be bored and they

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  are going to be tuning out, so it becomes a

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  self fulfilling prophecy.

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  So what I suggest is that you speak with punctuation,

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  and that means when you have a sentence that it

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  comes to an end, use a period and stop when

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  you have a list of things and you're using a

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  comma pause between each one of those items.

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  Allow space for that customer because otherwise, um, it's just

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  gonna be very hard to watch.

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  And then you're gonna lose their attention quickly.

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  And number 10.

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  Don't take advice from someone who has never worked professionally

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  on camera.

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  There's a lot of strange ideas out there about what

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  to do, what not to do.

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  Use your hands.

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  Don't use your hands.

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  Look here, Look there.

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  Um, it's all going to be very confusing if you

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  don't talk to someone who actually knows what works on

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  camera and what the camera reads and what looks distracting

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  to people and what your audience feels like on the

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  other side on the receiving end of this conversation.

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  So check your resource is just make sure you're getting

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  it from a source that knows what they're talking about.

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  Okay, so I would love to hear your questions.

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  Your thoughts on video, please reach out.

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  I'd love to stay connected.

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  My email is Julie at acting for sales dot com.

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  Or you can connect with me on LinkedIn at Julie

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  Hansen Sales Training.

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  Um, if you want some more information and tips, you

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  can check out my selling on video master class at

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  selling on dash video dot com.

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  And at least make sure you are not committing these

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  10 missed aches, and you will be far above many

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  of your peers in that area, So good luck and

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  good video.