The Evolution of Sales Tools
1. Product Demonstration
Product demos are great if your product is small, simple, and easily understood. Anything more and you might need a whiteboard or brochures which, well… more on those later. The world has evolved and products have evolved with it, often placing technology and complexity at their core. How will you demonstrate that on your next sales call? Or, gasp, what if you sell a service rather than a product? (Hint: The answer is not PowerPoint.)
2. Whiteboard
Dry erase boards and giant pads of paper still deserve a place in the modern workplace. In fact, at Pop Video we love to sketch out ideas as we find our footing on a new video production or animation. A sales call is not the time to find your footing. Unless you are playing Pictionary, quick scribbles and strange drawings could cause you to confuse the customer rather than close the deal.
3. Brochures
Beautiful. Expensive. Disposable. We might be too hard on this medium because printed materials can indeed do some heavy lifting when the time is right. Unfortunately, leaving them behind after a sales visit will likely just add to the growing stack of papers on your customer’s desk. Worse, if you pass these bad boys out at a trade show, you might spend more time digging them out of the recycling bin than you will fielding calls after the show.
4. Website
A company without a website is not a company. Okay, that is an exaggeration, but you get the point. These days leads like to do their own research and they often start on your website. With a plethora of web design agencies and DIY tools, dodging a quality website is the equivalent of dodging a customer’s trust. Now you have a website, but what type of content to you put on it?
5. Video Content
If you are still reading this - congratulations! You clearly know your way around a little humor to make a point and you also know there is room to evolve your sales tools. Obviously, all of these tools have their place in the sales process, but video content can take them even further. Product demonstrations are better when recorded ahead of time, feature a human touch, and showcase your state of the art facilities. A quick sketch is always upstaged by a planned, professional animation that explains the in’s, out’s, and benefits of your product or service clearly. And I think we can all agree that a reusable video with viewer analytics is better than a disposable brochure.
As you consider new ways to attract, educate, and acquire customers, remember that video is more than a single-serving novelty. Rather, it is a diverse capability and the most engaging means to deliver any message. To see the full infographic, click here!
