it comes to consuming content. Over 1 billion hours are watched on YouTube every day. So, how does that translate into B2B sales? According to a report published by


Forrester, including video in an email leads to a 200-300% increase in click- through rate. And, 90% of users say that seeing a video about a product is helpful in the decision process. Video fits perfectly into every stage of the sales process. Video allows you to cut through the noise by sending a quick intro. It’s eye- catching and you’re able to show the prospect there’s an actual human behind the email. With video, you are able to quickly clear any potential confusion around a specific question or terms with the proposal that might have been hard to communicate over an email.


Using video as part of your sales


process will help you stand out from your competition and create sales engagement with your prospects and customers. A video can be used in many different ways throughout the sales process: • Send a video greeting to increase the engagement when connect- ing with prospects.


• Use video when inviting for a meeting.


• Send a video and introduce the agenda for the meeting.


• Send a video to recap a meeting. • Add a personal video greeting when presenting proposals and sending out agreements.


2. How to use chatbots or live chat in your sales process to increase sales engagement


Chatbots and live chat are virtual customer services that give represen- tatives and salespeople the opportu- nity to communicate with people via instant messaging. But, how to use them in your sales process to increase sales engagement?


These types of sales engagement


features can be used throughout the sales process – from lead generation to building client relationships and


answering FAQs. Lead-qualifying chatbots and live chats have proven to be an asset to each stage of the sales process. • Awareness: At this stage, estab- lishing a relationship is crucial to moving the prospect through the sales funnel. Deployed either on your Website or through social media channels, a chatbot can ini- tiate a conversation – causing the visitor to engage with the brand.


• Interest: Your chatbot might sug- gest products or services based on previously visited pages and the customer’s needs. It can handle many of the preliminary ques- tions – at least the most frequently asked ones. If it’s familiar with the query, it will provide the answer. If not, it will connect the customer to a sales representative.


• Decision: At this stage, your chat- bot can send the lead additional advertisements and information based on past conversations. By collecting valuable data, you may pre-qualify leads and save the company time and resources.


• Action: After a sale is complete, your chatbot can schedule follow- ups based on the stored data. This information can then be used in retargeting the user – creating a loyal customer. There are different tools you can use for this, such as Intercom, Zendesk support suite, or Freshdesk.


3. How to increase sales engage- ment using your sales collateral Effective branding will differentiate


you from your competitors, and doing this will allow you to build a relation- ship with prospects and your custom- ers. We all know the sales process can’t happen without a document. Sales collateral is anything that helps sales teams close more deals, faster. Companies develop content with the aim of moving prospective buyers through the entire sales pro- cess. Content typically comes in dif- ferent types targeting every stage of the buyer’s journey, such as product


overviews, case studies, ebooks, white papers, FAQs, fact sheets, testimoni- als, how-to slide decks, proposals, ex- ecutive summaries, quotes, contracts, and implementation guides. What matters more than how you define it, however, is how it actually performs and gets your customer engaged. • Track performance: First things first: Stop sending your sales collateral as email attachments; instead, start tracking them with a document tracking solution that uses a link-based system for sharing. What gets measured gets improved.


• Use storytelling: Buyers like to read examples that demonstrate how someone has done what you’re talking about. They use this experience to gain the trust and confidence to try what you offer. For sales collateral, storytelling typically comes in two forms: case studies and testimonials.


• Make it visually appealing: Studies indicate that our brains process visual information 60,000 times faster than text. If you want your customers to engage with your sales collateral, you better make sure it has an appealing visual design, along with text that clearly communicates details.


• Cater to the Web: Sorry to say this, but sending a PDF is not a digital content strategy anymore. You have to make sure your sales collateral can be viewed anytime, anywhere, from any device. This sounds basic, but it’s extremely important for driving engagement.


• Personalize content: Last, but not least, stop sending those copy- paste proposals. Provide your sales reps with sales enablement platforms to enable more person- alized content.


Sara Cronsioe is inbound marketing spe- cialist at GetAccept, the go-to platform where B2B sellers can interact with buyers in a personal and engaging way, making business easier and faster.


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