Video Prospecting, Public Sector Selling, and Avoiding Boring Demos

Question 1

What are your thoughts on video emails and do you have any best practices to follow when using it for prospecting, nurturing accounts and getting prospects to the finish line?

I believe video emails or over LinkedIn can be useful, if done the right way. Short 30 sec prospecting video clips via LinkedIn DMs can work well. I feel folks are more open to clicking on it vs receiving a video via an email.

Another use case can be a short video following a discovery call… or any call for that matter, as long as you’ve had prior communication. You can send this via email because they already know who you are. You could recap the call, thank them for their time and outline the next steps. Adds a nice touch.

In a nutshell, try short video prospecting clips via LinkedIn (and some email).

For nurturing deals (once you’ve had some communication) try sending short <1-min videos via email.

Question 2

I'm curious to get your take on selling into the Public Sector, how would some of your processes around Prospecting & Discovery change? If at all.

Public Sector accounts typically go through RFPs. So they’ll be looking for at least 3 vendors when considering solutions for their challenges.

When speaking to them, it’s important to understand:

• If there’s a problem they care about solving
• What they’ve done to this point to try to tackle the problem
• Have they talked to other vendor or partners
• Have they released an RFI, RFQ or RFP (request for information, request for quote, request for proposal)
• If they haven’t, do they plan to and/or what is their evaluation process look like when considering vendors
• Has there been any situations where they’ve had to avoid the RFP process

These are things to uncover in your discovery process with Public Sector accounts, but it certainly isn’t an exhaustive list.

Question 3

The demos I've run fall flat on engagement. My buyers are just price shopping and I feel like I can't resonate with them and get on their side of the table to help them make an informed decision. How can I combat this, and/or get through the perception I'm just there to sell them something?

Great demos come from great discovery. It’s not just about uncovering a problem. But it’s about understanding the use case tied to the problem. Know that and you’ll get them engaged in the demo.

That’s why one of my fav questions during discovery once you’ve uncovered a problem is:

“Linda, I’d like to put my feet in your shoes. Could you walk me through your most common use case - step by step - where you’re seeing this problem. I’d really like to understand it.”

Then shut up and listen.

Let the prospect walk you through their use case. Let them finish.

Document each step. Once they’re done, unpack it. Understand the gaps and impact on the business.

Ensure you reiterate the use case. Then when you kick off the demo, show how you can solve it.

*Pro tip* when kicking off the demo, don’t start by spending 3-min on the home screen walking through settings, notifications, etc…

Instead, get right into the juice. Recap the use case they articulated on discovery and get into the platform. Show them the capability that solves one of their biggest problems, will wow them off the bat and bonus points if it’s something your competition can’t do.

That’ll have your prospect engaged throughout.

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