I can vividly remember the first pitch I was invited to attend.
I knew what we had to offer was amazing. I knew that if they gave us the chance we could do amazing things for them. What I didn't know was how how to sell that idea to them because I had absolutely zero sales experience.
As I was crossing the harbour bridge on my way to the meeting my anxiety kicked in. What was I doing? Who was I trying to kid? I couldn’t do this?
But I didn't want to turn around and go back. If I did that I would be giving up and I'd invested too much.
So, I tried to focus on my breathing and calm the competing thoughts in my head.
When I arrived at the reception I was greeted by 3 lovely women and for a brief moment it looked like everything would be ok – but then I started to get the shakes. Now I don’t know if you’re anything like me but once I get the shakes I can't stop. I mean I literally can’t stand on my own two feet because they take over my whole body. I can't pick up a glass of water or I’ll spill it and so, I sat at the table trying to keep the weight off my feet in case it gave away how badly I was shaking.
Amazingly the three women I met that day did hear me out but not surprisingly I didn’t complete the sale.
It was not the only meeting I would ever have like that – but it was the worst!
Bit by bit, pitch by pitch I got better until I started to score some jobs. It was a very slow, uphill grind and each job required the same effort.
However, the moment we started to get real results all that changed. We quickly learned that we could make testimonial videos or what I like to call success story videos of our clients.
Each video showcased the story of a client.
• What did they want to achieve?
• What was holding them back?
• Why did they decide to go with our approach?
• How had we transformed their life?
After we made the videos (you can watch them on the home page of our website) I was able to send out a cold email to potential customers and embed the relevant success story video in the email.
When potential clients shared the values, I expressed in my email – they watched the video and then they asked to meet. It was the end of me ever having to sell what we did again. Because now, when I meet with a potential new client they already know what it is that we do. They already know what value it is that we offer AND we get straight to the part that I love most – which is what challenges are they facing and how can we help solve them.
From that day forwards I was able to take a step back and let my customers do all the selling for me. It was like a huge breath of fresh air. I felt the weight lift from me and suddenly everything in life was easier.
So, if you want to make it easier to attract more clients or get buy-in from your audience then you need to utilise the power of authentic, video storytelling to create video stories about your successes. There’s nothing more powerful than someone talking from the heart on camera about what they truly think and feel about how you transformed their life.
That's why marketing videos, particularly success story videos or testimonial videos are absolutely critical to scaling your business.