How to Sell Your Service Daily With This 3 Minute Video
Learn How to Develop Your Own Unique Message to Show Your Ideal Prospects Why They Should Choose to Work With You.
In 2019 I started a new business in the highly saturated video production market. I started making videos that showed off my high quality. But despite doing everything I was told to do, I struggled to get paying customers.
Then I created this short 3-minute to sell my own services:
I put the video on a one-page website where people could book a call with me.
Now:
People get interested in my most expensive products before even getting on a call… and…
This same video is now helping my clients (consultants, coaches, information product sellers, book authors, trade businesses and other service providers) get new clients too.
Here’s what they say about the results:
Today I’ll show you how to make your own business story video and how to implement it in your sales process to drive sales.
Grab my 5D Video Story Template below to start creating your own:
Then read on to learn how to make your own 5D Story video and implement it in your sales process.
Here are some of the things you’ll learn.
Table of Contents
Who is this for?
While any business can get results from this video, this strategy was designed specifically for service based business who are experiencing one or all of these symptoms:
- You sell services that have a high initial ticket price (At least $1k and above). This requires you to build up a lot of trust with your prospects upfront, which in turn makes it difficult for you to acquire new customers.
- You’re in a saturated market where there are several competitors offering the same services as you do. So it’s hard to stand out. Eg: If you’re a real estate agent, maybe your claim is that you help the house owner find the best price for their property. But there are others in your industry also making the same claim.
- You’re already driving traffic to your website, but turning that traffic into leads is a challenge.
- The complexity of your service means that you waste a lot of time in your sales calls repeating and explaining what you do and how you can help.
What’s wrong with how videos are made today?
<p”>Here’s what most blogs and articles about video marketing are telling you to do. They tell you to keep making a lot of videos that give your audience value-based information (eg: “How to” videos). That way, when the time comes, your ideal customer will reciprocate and buy from you.
I’ve listed 77 of the most common videos that businesses are making right now.
This makes logical sense and even works to some extent. But it has three major problems.
Problem 1: Content over-saturation = information overload
In most cases, people can easily find the same information you’re giving from your competitors by doing a simple google or Youtube search.
To give you an idea, on average, 500 hours worth of video gets uploaded on Youtube every single minute. That’s another 5000 hours of video being added by the time you finish reading this article, if you do it in say 10 minutes. 5000 hours of more content competing for the same limited amount of attention.
This trend has accelerated even further since the global pandemic, in order to meet the increasing demand for engaging content from audiences. And to make up for the reduction in face-to-face communication between brands and customers.
As a result, these videos on their own don’t make your business stand out. Because they fail to show how your unique approach gives your clients better results.
This positions your brand as just another commodity. One that knows a lot of information, but can easily be replaced. Often by someone cheaper, regardless of how good the quality of your service is.
Problem 2: Too many pathways for interested prospects
Let’s say someone watches one of your videos and they land on your website/landing page/sales page. More often than not, there isn’t a compelling enough message that shows these new visitors why they should work with you instead of your competitors.
And even you do have all the right information on your website, it won’t necessarily be easily available to your visitors. Or in the right order. So they has to go looking for it.
For example, The picture below shows the difference between what a prospect looking to build their own house typically wants to know before hiring a house-builder and the type of information most construction/builder websites provide. I’ve seen this in most service-based industries.
Keep in mind, the average person spends only between 2 to 4 minutes on a new website. If they don’t find the right information in that time, they’ll leave.
Problem 3: Lack of trust
Even if they did find all the factual information they needed, there’s no trust built with the brand. No matter how amazing your website looks, there’s only so much emotion that can be conveyed with a huge wall of text or even with pictures. Even reviews no longer carry the same weight they used to because of the proliferation of fake ones.
And in the age of information overload that we live in today, people are seeking an emotional connection more than ever. The same rule applies to businesses too. People want to buy from brands they can trust. Especially when it’s a purchase they are emotionally connected with (ex: house purchase, investment, relationship counselling, etc). Or if the transaction fee is high.
How do most businesses try to overcome this?
They start making more content and more videos, hoping this will drive more traffic to their website. But this can become very time consuming and expensive.
Below is the typical workflow of making and promoting a single video effectively:
| Years of experience in the industry | Awards won |
| Quality of service | Specialist equipment/tech used |
| Client testimonials | Bestselling books written |
| Meaningless guarantees | Competitive pricing claims |
While there’s nothing wrong with making these type of claims, they fail to make the business stand out for 3 main reasons:
- They are easy for competitors to replicate.
- They talk more about the business than they do about the prospect.
- They are vague and unquantifiable for their prospects.
What’s the solution?
An authentic, 3 minute video that combines video and storytelling to set you apart from your competition, and guide your prospects to the next step in your sales process.
The result? More of your traffic converting into new business.
See below how our clients are using it on their website:
All you have to do is extract the key ingredients of your business story and present them to your audience in a way that simply educates them on why they should work with you.
Once you make this video, you’ll ensure that every time someone visits your website/landing page/sales page, your business has the best chance of converting them into a lead and/or a sale.
5 Dimensions of the 5D Brand Story video
So let’s get into the 5 dimensions that will turn your company video into a sales conversion machine. As you go through each step, write down what should go into each of these dimensions inside this template.
The 5 key dimensions are:
1. Hook
Studies show that if your video doesn’t engage the viewer within the first 5-10 seconds, they will stop watching. So make these seconds count.
Here’s how. Think of the main value or lesson you want your viewer to take away from watching your video. Ideally something they were not expecting. This will create curiosity. Then use the rest of your video to show your viewer how you came to that conclusion.
Below is the break up of a hook we used for one of our clients.
2. Story
This is probably the most powerful part of your video.
It’s important because it creates an emotional connection with your viewer, thereby building trust. Ultimately, your story needs to answer one fundamental question: Why does your business exist.
Go back to when you started. Identify what you found missing in the existing solutions available at the time. Why do you do things the way you do now?
This is your business’ all-important WHY.
3. Unique Value Proposition (UVP)
Show your audience what makes your service unique. Not getting this part right means your business will only have to compete on price. And not on the added value you bring to the table through your unique approach.
The key to success here is in showing how your uniqueness will benefit your clients. The viewer needs to understand how your unique feature will benefit them. This is a detail that a lot of business videos miss.
Below is an example of a UVP of one of our clients called Quantity Surveyor Support Services who provide site evaluation and assessment services to quantity surveyors across Australia. A type of solution that didn’t exist before.
4. Process
The process is what makes your UVP believable and tangible. Otherwise, it’s just another marketing buzzword or a claim that cannot be backed by proof. Through video, you have the added benefit of showing your audience what that process looks like. This sets you apart even further as most of your competitors won’t be doing it.
Below is a process example of one of our clients Alltech Coatings. They specialise in high rise paintings for commercial and residential properties.
5. Action/Offer
Everything we’ve covered so far has been a lead up to this. The conclusion of your story. It should tell your viewer who should get in touch, how they can do it, what will happen next and so on. Apart from removing any confusion from the viewer’s mind, it also removes any fear or anxiety they might have about being railroaded into a sale.
Below is an example from one of our clients called Future Directors Institute. They help purpose-driven leaders get into sought-after board roles.
How long should your video be?
For this type of video, we’ve found the ideal length to be anything between 2 and 3 minutes. Anything above that will require strong story elements and a high level of audiovisual engagement.
Both these require a lot of skill and experience which most business owners won’t have. So I would recommend not going beyond 3 minutes.
How to make the video do the selling for you
Place this video in all places people are already finding you. Significantly increasing your chances of turning them into leads and sales.
That way, you won’t have to make huge backend changes to start seeing results.
Below are just five simple yet powerful ways of implementing it practically for free.
1. Website/Landing Pages/Sales Pages
Well before you start distributing your video, make sure that it is prominently displayed in places where you are already driving traffic to. Like your website. Ideally have the video close to a decision making action (ex: appointment booking, email opt in, sale, etc) button because by the end of the video, your viewer will be ready to make that decision.
Below is an example of how we use it on our website and landing pages when we’re running paid promotions.
2. Email Signature
Embed it into the email signatures of all the members of your team. Especially your sales team if you have one.This will turn them into ninja ambassadors for your brand in all their communications.
If you have a mailing list, then again, do the same. Video on its own is known to increase email click-through rates by 65% while reducing unsubscribe rates by 26%. By inviting people to watch your story (not a sales pitch), you increase the chances of them clicking even more.
Below is an example of our own email signature that has single-handedly generated us leads from non-sales conversations.
3. All Social Media Company Pages
Pin the video to the top on all your social media company pages and groups you might be an admin on. This includes Facebook, Linkedin, Youtube, IGTV Twitter etc.
Now people new to your channel/page/group will fully understand what you stand for and what makes your business unique as soon as they land there.
4. Optimise Referrals/JV/Partnership Opportunities
Make it easier for your happy clients or your referral or joint venture partners to sell your services better. Use your video to streamline and automate the whole process.
Now you’ll no longer have to worry about them making the perfect pitch for you.
Below is an example of how one of our referral partners is promoting our services by simply embedding our video into their marketing material.
5. Social Media Platforms
Use the 5D story video to boost your personal or company profiles on social media. That way, when people see it, they’ll instantly know why they should connect with you and reach out.
Treat your profile like a funnel and guide the viewer to watch your video.
Place your video in a prominent section so potential prospects can find it without having to scroll down.
What you’ll find is once people understand the 5 key elements of your core message, they will want to reach out to you simply by watching your video.
Below are examples of responses I get from people who have just connected with me, either through me reaching out or the other way round:
But why just make one video?
Now you might be asking yourself, why spend so much time and energy on creating just one video when you could make so many more instead.
You might have been already doing that. But so would your competitors. And that’s where the problem lies. Gone are the days where simply making a video gave you a strategic advantage.
Videos made without a strategy will start gathering digital dust as soon as the buzz of launching a new video has worn off. You want to avoid that.
By having a powerful unifying message, your message stands out. So much so that it becomes practically impossible to compete with.
That’s how one video with a laser focus intent on achieving a business outcome will always outperform a whole bunch of videos made without a clear strategy.
Here’s one of our clients explaining it:
What if I'm nervous in front of the camera?
From interviewing business owners with different levels of communication, here’s what I’ve found. Even the most seasoned speakers feel the nerves when speaking in front of the camera.
The difference is they didn’t let that stop them from getting their message out.
What do you have to lose? If you have a bad take, do it again. If you say a lot of uhms and aahs, delete them in the post production. Or as we like to call it “movie magic”.
If all else fails, try this. Prepare a list of questions you want to be asked. Get a friend or colleague to interview you without judgement.
That’s what we do for our clients. by the time of filming, we’ll have already refined their message. So they know exactly how to answer all questions.
And if we don’t get the answer we’re looking for, we simply reframe the question and ask in a different way.
Here’s what some of our clients have to say about our filming and interviewing process>
Here are some other benefits of making this video:
- It will make all your downstream marketing operations much more efficient as you'll be dealing with pre-sold prospects.
- Through your story, people will see your brand as more trustworthy.
- You’ll spend less time explaining what you can do as the video already shows it.
- You won’t have to re-invent new systems to put this video to work. Simply plug it into your existing ones and start driving conversions.
- You make this video only once for your business. It keeps working forever.
- You’ll have a unifying message that both, your customers and your team can get behind.
Now it’s your turn
Every good business has a powerful story that can completely change the way people perceive their brand and buy from them.
Even if you think you don’t have one or if you think your business is boring, simply trust the process and follow the instructions in this article and you’ll be surprised with the results.
Here’s how one of our clients who went through the process explains it:
Want our team to help you speed up the process?
If on the other hand, you don’t have the time, expertise or patience to do this by yourself, then we can help you. Fill out our Discovery Form so we can learn about your business. If we know we’re going to be able to help, we’ll get back to arrange a free strategy session with you.
Here we’ll show you our video strategy that will be designed to meet your business goals.
If you like the strategy and want us to execute it, then we can also give you an accurate quote based on what is required. We only take on projects where we can give our clients an immediate return on their investment with us.