OneMob Blog – Use Cases

Elevate Your Email Signature with OneMob Video

2023-09-22T01:31:55Z

In the fast-paced world of digital communication, first impressions matter more than ever before. Your email signature is one of the most overlooked opportunities to leave a lasting impression on your recipients. It’s more than just a block of text with your name, title, company, and contact information – it’s a chance to connect on a personal level. And what better way to do that than by adding a OneMob video to your email signature?

What is OneMob?

Before we dive into the steps, let’s briefly introduce OneMob. OneMob is a powerful platform that empowers you to create personalized video content and enhance your email communication. With OneMob, you can create engaging videos, add calls to action (CTA) buttons, and even build microsites to provide more information about yourself and your company. It’s a game-changer for anyone looking to stand out in their email correspondence.

Why Add a Video to Your Email Signature?

Your email signature is often the last thing your recipients see in your email. By adding a video, you can:

Make a Memorable Impression: A video adds a personal touch, helping you stand out and making you more memorable to your recipients.
Tell Your Story: Use the video to deliver your elevator pitch. Share who you are, what you do, and what your company offers in a concise and engaging manner.
Drive Action: With OneMob, you can include CTA buttons in your video. Encourage recipients to take action, such as scheduling a meeting, exploring your website, or signing up for a newsletter.
Enhance Your Professionalism: A well-crafted video in your email signature showcases your commitment to innovation and modern communication.

Now, let’s get started with the steps to add a OneMob video to your email signature:

1. Record Your OneMob Video

The first step is to create your video. You can sign up for a free OneMob account at https://onemob.com/. Use this video as your elevator pitch – a brief introduction that highlights your skills, expertise, and what your company can offer.

Here’s a script you can use when recording the video. Just use our teleprompter!

Hi, I’m [Your Name].

I work at [Your Company] and specialize in [mention your expertise].

I’m known for [mention your standout achievement or skill], and I’m here to help [mention your target audience] [mention the value you bring].

Below are [mention some resources you added to the microsite]. If I can be of service, click the button below to schedule time on my calendar.

Thank you, and I look forward to meeting you.

2. Create a OneMob Microsite

Once you’ve recorded your video, take advantage of OneMob’s microsite feature. Create a dedicated page with additional content about yourself and your company. This can include your bio, testimonials, case studies, and more. Don’t forget to add CTA buttons that guide your recipients to take action.

3. Copy the Microsite Link + Thumbnail

After customizing your microsite, copy the link to the microsite and a thumbnail image of your video. This thumbnail image will serve as a clickable element in your email signature.

4. Update Your Email Signature

Now, it’s time to update your email signature. Most email clients, such as Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail, allow you to edit your signature settings. Paste the microsite link and thumbnail image into your email signature editor.

Maintenance: Keep it Fresh

We recommend updating your email signature video every 3-6 months to ensure it stays current and aligned with your professional goals. As you evolve in your career and your company grows, your video should reflect these changes.

In conclusion, adding a OneMob video to your email signature is a simple yet effective way to make a lasting impression on your recipients. It personalizes your communication, drives action, and enhances your professionalism. With OneMob’s powerful features, you can create a dynamic and engaging email signature that sets you apart in the digital world. So, why wait? Elevate your email signature today and start making more meaningful connections with your recipients.

Sports, Video and Selling

2018-09-21T22:20:37Z

10% of all TV watched in the US is sports. You could argue it’s probably higher since a lot of news involves sports highlights too. That being said, it’s no wonder that video and sports go hand in hand. Sporting events are an experience. You go to make memories, be united with your common fans, and hope for the taste of victory. With something so visual, you’d expect the entire business to embrace video. Well, it’s definitely starting to…

When most people think of selling, they think of selling a product or service, not sports tickets. However, selling tickets, corporate sponsorships, premium seating, etc. is BIG business and every sports team and arena sells them. Personally, I think they have a leg up because they sell more than a ticket, they sell an experience to something fun, exciting and captivating. Many of their buyers are raised growing up watching their players, coaches, victories, and defeats…there’s a very strong connection out of the gate. But, how do you present that experience when selling? Email…Phone? Nope. Go with what they are already consuming…Video!

When we start working with teams like Sacramento Kings, SF 49ers, Oakland A’s, Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rapids, Miami Marlins, NY Jets, and more, we stumbled upon a great industry to bring something new, like video selling, to something engaging: sports! But with any big change, you need to take a step back and think about your approach to make sure you can see tangible success. Here are the 4 recommendations when leveraging video selling with sports.

1) Embrace change

Like any technology purchase, most of the effort is change management and enabling your organization to adopt new ways. Video is no different, and definitely requires a “lead by example” approach. This should start from the top with executives and management fully embracing the need to leverage video as a way to outreach to clients. I even recommend leaders use video to update and communicate to their team, especially if distributed. If reps see their leaders sending videos, reps will follow suit.

2) Leverage your brand

As mentioned before, sports is already a captivating past time. Leverage this in your videos. Seeing a video from a rep is one thing; seeing the same rep record a video but include the team logo, or the team arena, or maybe even include some of the team players/coaches, that’s takes your video game to a whole new level. Imagine receiving a video that included behind the scenes rooms/lounges in the arena, or included a player/coach asking you to attend an upcoming game, that will definitely elicit a response.

3) Start small

You may think video for reps is easy to rollout, because most of them are already recording videos today. They are sending videos to their family and friends using platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, WhatApps, etc. However, the moment you ask them to use video in a business setting, things change. That’s OK. Change is good, but it’s best overcome in small steps.

I recommend start small and pick a specific use case. Perhaps you have an upcoming event and you want to drive attendance, start with that. Rally the team around this one use case, discuss the video you’d like the reps to record, have a script prepared to help with recording, add content and call to actions on the page to accompany the video, and give your reps enough time and motivation to try this first campaign. We already know sending a video in an email increases click through rates by 96%, so now you’ll be able to see those benefits as well.

4) Measure and iterate

Finally, take the first use case you decided to start with and measure the results. Explore the analytics to understand what worked. Was the video too long? Did you elicit the response you expected? Was you supporting content engaged? All of these questions will help you create better videos, content and pages going forward. Remember, if make a phone call and no one picks up, that doesn’t mean you give up on phone calls. The same is true with video. Experiment, analyze and iterate to find the perfect use cases for your team. Happy video selling!

You can see a demo and numerous examples of how sports leverage video to help sell the experience here.

Video Games: The New Sales Contest

2016-02-19T16:00:21Z

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.

How to Record a Killer Personal Video (On Your First Try!)

2016-02-04T01:00:29Z

At OneMob, we know a thing or two about creating videos. We use them in all aspects of our business communication, and have had plenty of practice in front of the camera. But when it comes to making personal recordings, we know not everyone is privy to the selfie game. Here are our best practices for recording professional and flattering personal videos. Take it from us, the guys who know how to sell ourselves with video.

Preparation is Key

Know Your Audience: It’s important to know who you’re talking to, and what your message is. Whether it’s a cold video or a friendly follow up, adjust your tone accordingly. Keep in mind not only what you want to convey, but what you want action you want your recipient to take.
Practice Makes Perfect: Performing a practice run helps. Write a short script or make a list of talking points if you need help staying on track or a prone to rambling. OneMob’s script field in our web app recorder allows you to do just that, so you don’t have to look beyond your screen.
Dress for Success: Less is more. Stick to simple, sleek attire while avoiding logos and busy patterns.

*Insider Tip: “Avoid wearing the same colour as your surroundings, which are usually either black or white. For example, if you’re wearing a black shirt against a black backdrop, you run the risk of being a “floating head”. Stick to solid neutrals and blues. – Madeline, Marketing

Prepare Your Surroundings: Whether you’re in a studio or a cubicle, make sure your area is optimal for recording both from a lighting and sound standpoint. Reduce surrounding noise. Avoid backlighting, direct lighting or sunlight on the face, as that tends to wash/darket out the subject. For best results, have light diffuse from both sides of the subject, and not directly beating down

*Insider Tip: “Turn on “Do not Disturb” to disarm incoming notifications from distracting you while you’re recording.” – Sati, CEO

Action Time

Choose Your Equipment: The good news is that you no longer need professional equipment to produce great quality videos. With better resolutions and faster recording speeds, smartphone cameras are doing the job just fine. Set up a tripod, or take your recording on the go with a selfie stick. If you’re using your computer, choose a flat, stable surface.

*Insider Tip: “No tripod? No problem. Open your laptop, and stand your phone up on the keyboard, against the screen for a stable recording area. Tilt your computer screen to adjust the angle – and watch out for double chins! ” – Kyle, CSM Lead

Frame Your Shot: Next to lighting, framing is the most crucial step. When recording, 1) Set the camera about 16 inches in front of your face, directly at eye level, 2) Frame your shot medium to close-up, closing in on your head and shoulders and 3) Tap your phone screen to make sure you’re in focus.

Body Language: Even if it’s you’re just doing a head shot, body language is crucial. Sit or stand up straight and avoid any sudden hand movements. Speak clearly at a normal pace, enunciate your words and smile. Lastly, don’t forget to blink or breath!

Keep it Short : When it comes to a personal recording, keep it short and sweet. Nobody wants to look at a talking head for 10 minutes. The videos that get watched the longest are about 15-30 seconds long. Especially when viewers are watching their videos on mobile, brevity is key to keeping viewers attention.

Post Production

Edit the Length: If you’re recording on mobile, trim the beginning and end of your videos to cut out the awkward finger touches when pressing the recording button.
Choose a Thumbnail: Select a good frame for a compelling thumbnail image, which will be the first impression of your video.
Apply Special Effects: OneMob allows you to use Instagram-like filters with character and text overlay, so you can get creative and make your video as personal as you like.
Create a Custom Player Page: We know that it’s important to personalize beyond the video itself and into the viewing experience, which is why you can now customize the content of your video player pages in our web app.

*Insider Tip: “Hold a smile during the first few seconds and again the last few seconds of your recording. Then, when you go to select a thumbnail or title image for your video, you aren’t stuck with frames of blinking eyes or an open mouth.” – Nimesh, COO

As you can tell, there’s a lot of thought that goes into creating the perfect video. In addition, limited budgets, time and expertise have deterred marketing and sales professionals alike from producing more video content. However, the benefits that you reap; increased email opens, better quality replies, shorter sales cycles and stronger relationships, make the effort well worth your while, which is why 96% of B2B organizations are using video content (reelseo).

At OneMob, we’ve come up with a solution that takes the hassle out of producing videos, and helps you tie your effort to results by tracking activity back into Salesforce. We’ve had plenty of practice on both our laptops and our iOS and Android apps, which allow you to create, edit, send and track your videos, all from your mobile device. For ideas on how you can use personal videos in your outreach, check out our Ideas Gallery. To start creating your own videos, contact us today.

How to Record a Killer Personal Video (On Your First Try!)

2016-02-04T01:00:29Z

Preparation is Key

Know Your Audience: It’s important to know who you’re talking to, and what your message is. Whether it’s a cold video or a friendly follow up, adjust your tone accordingly. Keep in mind not only what you want to convey, but what you want action you want your recipient to take.
Practice Makes Perfect: Performing a practice run helps. Write a short script or make a list of talking points if you need help staying on track or a prone to rambling. OneMob’s script field in our web app recorder allows you to do just that, so you don’t have to look beyond your screen.
Dress for Success: Less is more. Stick to simple, sleek attire while avoiding logos and busy patterns.

Prepare Your Surroundings: Whether you’re in a studio or a cubicle, make sure your area is optimal for recording both from a lighting and sound standpoint. Reduce surrounding noise. Avoid backlighting, direct lighting or sunlight on the face, as that tends to wash/darket out the subject. For best results, have light diffuse from both sides of the subject, and not directly beating down

*Insider Tip: “Turn on “Do not Disturb” to disarm incoming notifications from distracting you while you’re recording.” – Sati, CEO

Action Time

Choose Your Equipment: The good news is that you no longer need professional equipment to produce great quality videos. With better resolutions and faster recording speeds, smartphone cameras are doing the job just fine. Set up a tripod, or take your recording on the go with a selfie stick. If you’re using your computer, choose a flat, stable surface.

Frame Your Shot: Next to lighting, framing is the most crucial step. When recording, 1) Set the camera about 16 inches in front of your face, directly at eye level, 2) Frame your shot medium to close-up, closing in on your head and shoulders and 3) Tap your phone screen to make sure you’re in focus.

Body Language: Even if it’s you’re just doing a head shot, body language is crucial. Sit or stand up straight and avoid any sudden hand movements. Speak clearly at a normal pace, enunciate your words and smile. Lastly, don’t forget to blink or breath!

Keep it Short : When it comes to a personal recording, keep it short and sweet. Nobody wants to look at a talking head for 10 minutes. The videos that get watched the longest are about 15-30 seconds long. Especially when viewers are watching their videos on mobile, brevity is key to keeping viewers attention.

Post Production

Edit the Length: If you’re recording on mobile, trim the beginning and end of your videos to cut out the awkward finger touches when pressing the recording button.
Choose a Thumbnail: Select a good frame for a compelling thumbnail image, which will be the first impression of your video.
Apply Special Effects: OneMob allows you to use Instagram-like filters with character and text overlay, so you can get creative and make your video as personal as you like.
Create a Custom Player Page: We know that it’s important to personalize beyond the video itself and into the viewing experience, which is why you can now customize the content of your video player pages in our web app.

Watch Me OneMob – Pt. 3, Email, Social & Beyond

2015-12-17T18:00:06Z

You know how OneMob helps you engage with prospects and keep up with customers. But did you know how video can enhance your everyday email communication, social media presence and more? Check out our tips below to easily make video a part of your everyday.

Over Email

Give your text-based emails a much needed facelift.

Signature line: Whether you include your own message or your company’s latest marketing video, a video thumbnail image below your name drives more engagement.
Auto reply: If you’re out of office, let your contacts know when you’ll be back and how to reach you. If you’re out for the holidays
Adding a new person to a thread: Eliminate any confusion by introducing new characters to the conversation.

Become the ultimate social seller.

Twitter: Whether it’s one to one or one to many, express yourself beyond 140 characters.
LinkedIn profile: Let your connections meet the real you with an intro to yourself and projects you’ve accomplished.
LinkedIn InMail: Not a contact in SFDC? No problem. Link a video in your message to make a warm introduction.
Facebook and Blog: Have your own blog or page? Stand out as your own thought leader by creating your own video and viewing experience.

Everywhere Else

When you realize how easy and fun it is, you’ll be looking for excuses to use it.

Invitations: Drive registration with personal invitations to your next summit or show.
On the floor: Capture the moment at trade shows and events.
Hiring: Connect with potential candidates.
Training: Reps can practice their sales pitch or customer request responses for managers to assess progress and provide training.
Internal messaging: Make announcements from leadership, send updates to teams, add to your monthly newsletter or
Marketing: This one’s a no brainer. Adding visual content to your campaigns increases opens, engagement and conversions.

For more examples of how you can use video, check out our Ideas Gallery below. Or, contact us to start using video with OneMob today.

Did You Know? Educate your Employees with Video

2015-12-09T20:13:34Z

You know that video is a powerful medium when it comes to connecting with prospects and customers. While you’re using it to think outside the box, consider using it inside the box – that box being your business. Thanks to video’s visual nature, it serves as an effective medium for communicating large amounts of information that is better absorbed and retained. This makes it a great training resource for any department- saving time, maximizing efficiency and eliminating the need for long drawn trainings. Here are a few examples of how you can keep continually educate and empower your employees with the help of video.

Employee On Boarding

Shorten on boarding time and quickly get new hires up to speed on policies, procedures and product. With OneMob’s video and voice messaging platform, new hires can quickly access a library of video assets that cover everything they need to know from corporate policies to benefit programs and more. Managers also can ensure that employees watch the videos and comply with on boarding procedures by tracking viewer statistics for each new team member.

Product Education

Upload your existing product update videos or tutorials. This type of content will educate and enable your reps to knowledgeably discuss your product and better communicate those benefits in sales or customer calls, meetings or on the trade show floor. For companies with wide spread teams or a growing product with changing offers, frequent and current video content will keep everyone on the same page. Keep them brief, easy to digest and varied in topics. When stored in the OneMob cloud, reps can quickly access videos for quick refreshers whenever they need, from the web app or their mobile devices.

Professional Development

Once employees are transitioned and trained, the improvement doesn’t stop there. Through video, managers can easily share knowledge with multiple people at once, and educate new and existing reps on current market trends, best practices and further professional development practices. When it comes to improving tactics, OneMob is a great tool for reps to practice with. Reps can record their practice pitches, mock conversations or sample voicemails and send to managers, who can then reply with feedback, all in one loop. This gives managers insight into how their reps are pitching to prospects or addressing customer needs and allows them to gauge performance, address problems and adjust trainings- with greater efficiently and impact.

The possibilities of getting creative with video training are endless. To get inspired by our video examples, see our support page. If you’re not already training your employees with video, get started with OneMob today.

Break Through the Noise with Video – Feat. Jacco Van Der Kooij [Video]

2015-12-04T10:24:01Z

What’s one of the biggest problems in sales outreach? According to Winning by Design’s founder Jacco Van Der Kooij and OneMob’s Devin Reed, it’s breaking through the noise.

Today’s buyers are overwhelmed with the spamming of meaningless information by unskilled “professionals” faking that they know you, faking that they care and faking that they can offer valuable insights. The result of this email onslaught is that your prospects have become accustomed to ignoring you. But not all hope is lost. In this video, Devin and Jacco show how you can incorporate insightful video into your outreach approach to stand out both professionally and personally, all the while having fun.

Watch Video

This video originally appeared in a post on LinkedIn by Dan Smith from Winning by Design. The article, which names video as the singular tool that reps wish they’d known about earlier to break through, also includes:

How to put the human element back in the relationship and start having real conversations
Tips on how to train your no. 1 asset, your sales team, to effectively reach out to prospects through video
Use cases for Sales Development Reps, Account Executives and Customer Success Managers
A live demo where Jacco and Devin show how record and send videos through OneMob

You can read the full article here to learn more sales strategies from Winning by Design, which helps design, build and scale sales teams for SaaS organizations. Together with OneMob’s video messaging platform, the two have made a powerful case with video to improve your outreach. Contact us to get started with video messaging today.

Watch Me OneMob – Pt. 2, Customer Success

2015-12-02T17:00:03Z

You learned how to engage and win over prospects in Part 1 of Watch Me OneMob, but don’t let the ball stop there. In the second part of our series, learn how video messaging can help you engage, educate and keep customers coming back for more; over and over again.

Guiding the Purchase Path

Kick off the trial period on a strong note.

Welcome new trial participants: Make the next phase of the experience just as sincere as the first by continuing the warmth and support.
Schedule activation and/or training: Get them excited by hyping up the kickoff and training dates.
Offer your support: Let them know you’re there for them to address any questions or concerns.
Gather feedback: Don’t just tell, but show that their opinion matters to you.

Making the Transition

Guide them through the early stages to ensure they’re successful.

Handoff from the Account Executive: Seamlessly introduce the next character in the relationship, the Customer Success Manager.
Outline upcoming support: Rather than sending over bulleted lists, quickly describe your support plan.
Answer support issues: Provide a clear explanation to any questions and show that you’re there for them every step of the way.
Provide training: Give them the guidance they need to get started and be successful.
Show new or underutilized features: Help customers make the most of your product to ensure they get maximum results.

Carrying the Relationship

Lead into the renewal period and reduce chances of churn.

Survey to assess NPS (Net Promoter Score): Ask customers what worked and what didn’t. They’ll be more likely to reply back when they can see that you really care.
Engage before the renewal: Make sure satisfaction is high and address any outstanding concerns.
Share success stories: Show them ways other customers use your product to solve similar issues.
Product training videos: Provide tutorials and how-to’s to keep customers educated and up to speed.

Watch Me OneMob – Pt. 1, Sales

2015-11-04T18:55:09Z

Welcome Watch Me OneMob, a three-part series bringing you all the best ways to use OneMob across the entire customer lifecycle. Check out the video below to learn how you can start selling with video.

Breaking In

Make that first impression count and get that first meeting.

Prospect cold outreach: Warm your prospect up to you with a video that shows you’re not an automated robot- no phone required
Welcome an inbound lead: Introduce yourself as a person and a resource for their needs and questions
Follow up to an unreturned call: Send a video reminder that they can watch on their own time.
Final outreach before “closing file:” Make your last shot your best show with a personalised approach
Revive dead leads: Get yourself back on the radar. Take it from these reps at LinkedIn
Introduction after referral: They know who referred you, now it’s time to know you

Building the Relationship

Now that you’ve got the ball in motion, keep the momentum going.

Introduction: Make a smooth handoff from the SDR to Account Exec
Confirm meeting with AE: You’re less likely to get stood up
Agenda set for an upcoming call: consider it a warm up
Summarize meeting: follow up with a quick recap and visual/verbal reminder
Trial status update: Save time by verbally summarizing reports and progress
Share best practices: Show them what works to increase activity and engagement
Stay top of mind: During long sales cycle, don’t let yourself be forgotten

Closing the Deal

The buck doesn’t stop when pen goes to paper.

Show a demo: Whether it’s a product or experience, showing goes farther than telling
Introduction: Make a smooth handoff from Sales to Customer Success or Account Manager
Trial summary: Reinforce the value that you deliver with statistics and improvements
Closing proposal: Be less pricey and more personal. Create a relationship and not just a transaction!
Thought leadership: Share meaningful content or messages from executives
Thank new customers: This is the perfect way show appreciation to customers as well as get referrals and introductions to new opportunities

Why Video Works For (All) Sales Reps

2015-11-03T17:32:34Z

OneMob Head of Sales, Randy Yabes, has been in the B2B sales game for 15 years. Here’s how video messaging helps him perfect his outreach and ultimately close more deals.

The B2B landscape is continually changing. Since the 2000s, we’ve seen the birth of social media, smart phones and SaaS. We’ve also seen the decline or end of the flip phones, rolodexes, fax machines and mostly everything dealing with paper. In order to succeed, you have to adapt. Call it survival of the fittest. Today, sales orgs are inundated with new tools for sales enablement on the daily. Seasoned reps stick to the tried and true since they know what works. But there are some unique ways out there to stand out from the noise. These ideas aren’t only applicable to progressive millennials, and shouldn’t be ignored. Every rep has their preferred methodology, and my new outreach method is video. Here are 5 ways that implementing video in my sales methodology has helped me adapt, break in, form lasting relationships and ultimately close deals.

1) Gives Cold Calling a Break

Cold calling is monotonous and energy draining. It’s awkward, impersonal and often inconvenient for the person on the other end of the line. Reaching out via video is a successfully proven alternative. In this on demand age, sellers need to understand that buyers want to buy on their own time, so why not present information in a way that they can receive whenever they want? Video allows you not only to pitch your product, but really yourself- as a professional, an adviser and as a personality.

2) Shows More Empathy

The tone in your speech affects people’s perception, instantly. Many times, sellers forget what the experience is like for the buyer. Reps are so concerned with delivering the pitch so perfectly that they forget to ask enough questions and really learn about the buyer and their needs. During the middle of a sales cycle, I use video to re-state the purpose of our partnership. Summarizing gets all parties on the same page. Can I do this via email? Probably. But there is no “empathy” font. There is no “insert joke” button (and no, emojis don’t count). Video allows me to deliver a message in a way that says I am here to help, but in a more personal way than text. Stop treating deals like transactions and more like relationships. Showing empathy affords you trust and credibility, which is key to maintaining relationships and ultimately closing more deals.

3) Affords Honest and Direct Feedback

Once I’ve established credibility with my contacts, communication becomes much more direct and efficient. You’re guaranteed to get more direct feedback from someone that knows and likes you – even if it is a “no”. I just want to avoid the two statuses that all salespersons dread – “maybe” and “gone dark”. It’s easier to blow off a response or beat around the bush with someone you don’t know on the other end of the line. Video provides that familiarity. Receiving direct feedback and quicker answers unsure that both of our our times aren’t being wasted.

4) Improves My Pitch

Every salesperson has their signature style and approach. After years of practice, it’s comfortable to get stuck in the same, “proven” routine. But remember, we have to adapt. Since the ways in which we buy, sell and communicate are continually advancing, can you truly step back and see if you are caught up with the times? Training to enhance your routine is best done through video. It’s a crystal clear mirror to see how you look and sound. Golfers record their swing to analyze that hitch. Singers record their voices to hear those flat notes. Why don’t sellers record their potentially stagnant presentations? Seeing my pitch forces me to listen to how I present, poking holes in my normal speech and highlighting possible bad habits and making improvements. It also gives me the opportunity to try something new, such as a new line or sign-off.

5) Keeps Me Optimistic

Selling is one of the toughest jobs because your success is instantly measurable, and success is dependent on buyers making decisions that are in your favor. It’s daunting. It’s tough. But remember this; you are the tip of the sword. You are the first impression that your company makes in a partnership. What inspires me about using a video is this statistic alone: that the average person receives 121 emails a day, a number that is still on the rise. Sending a video itself is already entirely fresh approach to initiating those new conversations and fostering communication. I’m confident and optimistic knowing that I’m delivering something unique from other sales reps because I’m reaching out in a way that’s sincere, unexpected and engaging. The positive feedback that I get from prospects affirms this.

About the Author: Since the early 2000s Randy Yabes has been tasked with building pipelines, growing sales teams and developing structures for companies like Staples, IDG, Extole, Experian Information Solutions, and now OneMob. Connect with him on LinkedIn to see how he’s adapted in the SaaS sales world at startup’s and the Fortune 500’s.

Sending a OneMob Video from Gmail

2015-05-22T22:33:05Z

When reaching out to prospects and customers, are your emails all starting to look the same? If you were on the receiving end, would YOU be enticed to open your email? If you’re like most sales and CSM reps, you’re probably sending some variation of the same email day-in and day-out. Let’s face it, it’s boring for you, and it’s boring for your reader… and “boring” won’t drive engagement.

I’m here to help you crawl out of your rut, be different and add a little personality to your emails. Different draws attention, and when you’re trying to book a meeting with a prospect, revive a dead lead or better engage with customers, you need to get their ATTENTION!

With Gmail making it so easy to add media content to emails, ever think about sending a personal company-branded video when doing your outreach? Seeing a video thumbnail with your friendly face and a company logo is way more enticing and WILL increase your CTRs and response rates.

OneMob and Gmail are a match made in heaven. In addition to recording a hi-def professionally branded video in under 60 seconds, you can easily drop that video into Gmail. Oh, and did I mention that all viewer activity gets tracked in Salesforce?

Ready to give it a whirl? Here’s how:

STEP 1: In your Activities or Saved Feed, find the message you want to send, then swipe to the left and tap the green Link icon.

STEP 2: Associate your link to a Lead or Contact in Salesforce, whoever you want to send the message to. This allows all of the recipient’s activity to be tracked on the Lead or Contact record in Salesforce.

STEP 3: Save the link. OneMob will send you an email with the link you requested.

STEP 4: In Gmail, compose a new message. Drag and drop the video thumbnail into your new email. Then copy the video link provided and use it to hyperlink the thumbnail. Now you have a clickable video thumbnail. Easy!

How to Send a OneMob Message from Outlook

2015-05-11T23:42:45Z

There have been a lot of questions about whether or not a OneMob message can be sent from an email created in Outlook. The answer is YES! OneMob allows you to create what is called a “Link” for any videomail or voicemail. Creating a Link allows you to embed a URL in another email client (e.g., Outlook) or any social media channel. The embedded URL will then link directly to your OneMob message. Here’s how to create a Link in OneMob:

1. In the Activities or Saved Feed, find the message you want to create a link for, then swipe the message to the left and choose the green Link icon. Another way is to tap into the message, then choose the Link icon.

2. Link to Salesforce (Pro-tip: this is optional, but highly recommended so you can track activity back to Salesforce)* – you can associate a Link to a single Lead or Contact in Salesforce. This allows all of the recipient’s activity around your message to be written to the Lead or Contact activity related list in Salesforce.

*Note: if you do not associate a Link to someone in Salesforce, we cannot write the activity to the respective Lead/Contact in Salesforce.

3. Give your Link a name. This is an internal reference name only.

4. Tap Save. The message you just created a Link for will appear in your Activities Feed. But don’t worry, your message has not been sent to anyone yet!

5. After creating a Link, you’ll receive an email from OneMob with the Link URL and video/voice thumbnail.

6. Copy & paste the thumbnail image into a newly composed email in Outlook, then use URL provided to hyperlink the thumbnail image.

Use the guide below to determine when it’s appropriate to associate a Link to someone in Salesforce, when to use the URL alone when embedding the Link in Outlook, and when to use the video thumbnail with hyperlink. Note: some email clients don’t display images by default, so it’s always recommended to include the Link URL and thumbnail, so the recipient has multiple options to play your message.

How Do You OneMob? Get Some Ideas Now!

2015-04-06T17:22:40Z

It’s the start of a new month or quarter (if you’re on the calendar year), so let’s take a moment to reflect on the last three months, and then focus on the biggest sales opportunities ahead.

It’s not uncommon knowledge that video is the most engaging type of media. It lets you connect with people in ways that plain text doesn’t allow. You can get expressive, evoke emotions and connect on a deeper level. So why not leverage such a powerful tool in your sales strategy, especially with these stats:

36% of what keeps customers loyal is a personal experience (Oracle)
53% of what drives the purchase is the sales experience (The Challenger Sales)

Video helps personalize the experience, and it’s exciting to think about all the places you can use it in the sales cycle. At the onset of OneMob, we saw video as a powerful tool for prospecting and breaking in. And sure enough, we are seeing amazing results. But our customers have taken this idea to new heights (thank you customers!), and the possibilities are endless.

Check out our new Ideas Gallery for use cases and examples of what to say.

OneMob Blog – Use Cases

Elevate Your Email Signature with OneMob Video

1. Record Your OneMob Video

2. Create a OneMob Microsite

3. Copy the Microsite Link + Thumbnail

4. Update Your Email Signature

Maintenance: Keep it Fresh

Sports, Video and Selling

1) Embrace change

2) Leverage your brand

3) Start small

4) Measure and iterate

Video Games: The New Sales Contest

Benefits of Gamification

Run a Successful Sales Contest with OneMob

How to Record a Killer Personal Video (On Your First Try!)

Preparation is Key

Action Time

Post Production

How to Record a Killer Personal Video (On Your First Try!)

Preparation is Key

Action Time

Post Production

Watch Me OneMob – Pt. 3, Email, Social & Beyond

Over Email

On Social Media

Everywhere Else

Did You Know? Educate your Employees with Video

Employee On Boarding

Product Education

Professional Development

Break Through the Noise with Video – Feat. Jacco Van Der Kooij [Video]

Watch Me OneMob – Pt. 2, Customer Success

Guiding the Purchase Path

Making the Transition

Carrying the Relationship

Watch Me OneMob – Pt. 1, Sales

Breaking In

Building the Relationship

Closing the Deal

Why Video Works For (All) Sales Reps

1) Gives Cold Calling a Break

2) Shows More Empathy

3) Affords Honest and Direct Feedback

4) Improves My Pitch

5) Keeps Me Optimistic

Sending a OneMob Video from Gmail

How to Send a OneMob Message from Outlook

How Do You OneMob? Get Some Ideas Now!