7 Tips to Leverage Video Conferencing Platforms Effectively for Sales in 2023

In today's digital age, salespeople no longer have to travel from customer to customer like Willy Loman. Instead, video conferencing has become the norm for meeting prospects and customers online. 

But how can we leverage video conferencing platforms effectively? In this blog, we'll explore how to balance being customer-centric and managing efficiency. We’ll discuss, the key capabilities to look for in a video conferencing platform, and how to utilize them strategically. We will use our platform, 11Sight, in conjuction with HubSpot to illustrate key essential capabilities.

Here are some key takeaways to help you navigate this delicate balance and excel in your sales journey:

1. Qualify Prospects and Prioritize Your Time:

Ensure that each video call is worth your investment. Prioritize prospects who show genuine interest and have the potential for conversion. But make that prioritization in real time, not the day after someone has expressed their interest.

Here are multiple ways to qualify a prospect on your web site, most are quite straightforward

• The most basic way of qualifying a prospect is having them fill out a form. If you are having too many false inbound leads, it makes sense to add some friction to your sales process to filter out the ICP prospects. The benefit of the form is that the prospect knows the length of the form; do not make them go through multiple pages, you’ll lose them. 
• An alternative to a form is a chat-bot that essentially asks for the same information in a conversational format. Unlike a form the chat-bot can have branches based on the answers provided. A good practice is for the chat-bot to state upfront how many questions it is going to ask, to set expectations with the prospect. ChatGPT is fun to play with, but most people still prefer talking to humans.
• If the prospects are deep  in your web site, or in a high intent area of your web site then it is safe to assume they are qualified prospects. In these areas engage them quickly, with much fewer questions.

A good video conferencing platform will either provide or integrate with form builders or chat-bots for this qualification step so that you can engage the prospect without losing time while keeping the call context.

2. Engage Prospects When You Have Their Attention:

If the caller is qualified, don’t waste any time. Engage them immediately. Research shows that leads are most valuable (opinions vary between 9x to 21x) within the first 5 minutes (somehow everyone agrees on the 5 minute number.) In step 1, you made sure that this is a qualified lead, and you did that while the prospect was still focused on you (not the next day, not at the end of the day, not after you got a Slack message). Given that you know based on a form or chatbot conversation, this IS a qualified lead, offer them multiple ways of instant engagement. No point in letting them leave first only to try calling them back to see if they pick up the phone or answer your e-mail. 

A good video conferencing platform will allow you o start conversations in text/audio/or video and give you the ability to change the conversation mode in the meeting. Your best bet is instant video for maximum impact (remember we are dealing with a qualified lead!) still the choice belongs to the prospect, maybe they want a meeting… 

The right video conferencing platform will allow you to pass all collected information into the meeting you are about to start. 

‍3. Leverage Prospect Information and Prepare Adequately:

A reliable video conferencing platform will obviate the need for multiple tabs, windows, and extensive typing. It will provide instant access to all the information you need about your prospect or customer. It integrates with your tech stack and CRM, fetching relevant prospect details effortlessly. Take advantage of this integration to review information right before or during the meeting, to nail that first meeting. 

11Sight provides what we call "Call Cards" each of which can integrate with different Sales/Mar-Tech tools.

4. Know your "meeting gets" and follow a script/agenda:

The prospect may have initiated the call from various parts of your web site, from a specific campaign, or even from an external site like LinkedIn or G1. 

The right video conferencing platform will capture this context and ensure you are well-prepared for each meeting by knowing your objectives, questions, and key talking points in advance based on where the call was initiated from. 

Any CRM worth its salt will allow you to create custom attributes. Make sure to make your qualification questions are part of the Company or Contact. On 11Sight the Information Card gives you the call context and call script.

5. Capture and integrate relevant information into your CRM:

While transcription tools like Gong or Chorus can summarize the meeting, you already know most of the questions and answers. 

Choose a platform that seamlessly supports capturing and integrating information into your CRM. 

If you have the salient questions in the Contact/Company definitions in the CRM, if the video call platform allows you to set those attribute values and take relevant notes in the meeting, you do not need to work hard after the call, listen to transcripts, or rely on external tools. They may provide a safety net, but most of the time you can be letting the CRM kick off workflows while you are still in the meeting.

On 11Sight the HubSpot call card enables you to edit the Contact directly in the meeting. If the qualification questions and answers are in a custom pick-list attribute, you may not even need to type.  Take simple notes for any additional details.

‍6. Keep your meeting gets in mind, if need be schedule the next meeting:

Working in a team means you may not have all the answers. Depending on your sales cycle, closing a deal may require multiple meetings. Strive to make progress during each interaction and always aim to secure the next meeting. The right video call platform for inbound sales will identify the appropriate team members to join the meeting, enabling efficient collaboration. It should allow you to simply ring them to join the call. Additionally, the platform can provide a calendaring interface within the meeting for scheduling future interactions.

7. Document the outcome and ensure seamless integration with company dashboards:

At the end of the call, most of your notes should already be in the CRM, and a quick 30 seconds can be used to capture any remaining details. Take a minute to reflect on the call's accomplishments.

Again, the right video call platform should allow you to review your notes and even document the meeting outcome. The platform should present the meeting objectives at the beginning and allow you to document the results at the end. 

As an SDR or AE, with the right platform, you may be in meetings, never touch the CRM and all of the information will flow into the CRM all the way to company dashboards. If you are in RevOps, or the VP you no longer need to chastise people that they are not updating the CRM. 

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In summary, in the pandemic we all used Zoom/Teams/Google/Webex because they were the only choice. Sure there are plug-ins now that make them bearable for sales management - yet they only add overhead and complexity to your overburdened tech-stack. 

Look for video conferencing platforms out there focused on inbound sales that work for you with your CRM - and yes we at 11Sight have made that our mission.

With the right platform, you can get onto live calls and be more prepared than others in scheduled meetings; you save yourself pre-call and post-call prep/documentation overhead; most importantly, you increase the conversions of qualified inbound leads, your efficiency, and your revenues. 

If you have questions or comments about this blog, or want to talk to us, give us a call at https://11Sight.com/sales. We will answer, and make sure we bring the right team members to the conversation.