Better Sales With Property Management Tools: Using Video

With video so fully integrated into our lives, it is important to review whether your business development team is making the best use of video—and not falling into common video sales mistakes that will hurt your closing rates and frustrate your staff. 

When giving your property management sales pitch, you want to be sure to put your best foot forward and wow owners with the right property management tools—especially right now, when you might only get one chance. Here are some things to do and some things to watch out for during your presentation.

Review the Facts

A sales presentation that is targeted to meet the needs of the prospect is going to be far more effective than the same presentation given over and over.

• Look at your CRM and get to know your prospect before the call.
• Look at trends in the content they interact with.
• Look at your lead qualification questions.

Pull up your sales playbook and be prepared to speak to their pain points and how you can help.

Questions to help you prepare:

• What persona is your prospect?
• What is their primary pain point?
• Is this the first time your team has met with them?
• What content are they interested in?

Don't come unprepared. Be sure to have only your presentation materials and CRM open, and don't make your prospect wait for you to find the relevant file.

Turn Your Camera On

Few of us are naturally comfortable in front of a webcam, no matter how long you've been doing it. The "spotlight effect" generally leads us to believe that our flaws and mistakes are far more obvious to others than they actually are. Remember that the person on the other side of the camera probably feels the same.

As far as property management tools go, having video on is vital. The feeling of trust increases by over 80% when video is used over audio-only calls. Using video for you and your prospect humanizes the sales process. Share your screen as well, and use an updated pitch deck. Video is so popular as a sales tool because people have always been visually-driven. Using a pitch deck on a video call lets you appeal to most learning and attention types by offering visuals, text, and audio.

• Use a high-quality webcam—at this point, they're very inexpensive.
• Come prepared with visuals to supplement your pitch.
• Consider using a virtual background, backdrop, or another nice setting for your background.
• Have adequate lighting, and consider your appearance in this lighting in advance.
• Don't host a meeting in your pajamas (as tempting as this is), dress as you normally would for work.
• Don't host a meeting in a distracting location; your prospect should be able to focus on you—and not what is going on around you.

Record Everything

You won't have to worry about taking notes or remembering details from the call if you record your meetings! Just let your prospect know you want to be able to give them your full attention instead of paying attention to your notepad.

After the meeting, review and send a detailed follow-up email and impress your prospect with your attention to detail as well as your attention to them.

• Be attentive and focused.
• Remember to have opportunities for questions.
• Don't eat or drink during a sales call—those kettle chips are distracting.

Practice First

If you're new to video sales calls, take some time to practice.

• Opt for sessions with friends and family over calls and texting.
• Get on more video calls with your coworkers and get used to how you look and sound on video so you spend less time worrying and more time confidently helping your prospect.
• Even the most video-shy can eventually get used to selling over video—and even excel at it.

As with all sales skills, practice helps you refine your art.

Learn From Your Mistakes and Successes

• Take time after the call to jot down what went well, what pitfalls to look for next time, and what materials you would have liked to have on hand.
• Meet up with your marketing team and let them know how they can further support you in closing the deal or how to avoid sending leads like that to you in the future.
• If it is a good lead, send a follow-up email while your meeting is still fresh, and for best results, include a short video summary.

Do You Have the Tools to Succeed?

• Before you can be successful at video sales, you need the right property management tools.
• Review your video conferencing options, your CRM, and your on-hand marketing materials for the sales call.
• The best time to update your tools is now before you miss out on any more deals that could have been.

If you'd like to learn more about best practices for a remote sales environment (and which tools you need to succeed), download our free Business Development Handbook for Selling During Social Distancing. We'll cover tips we've learned here at Geekly Media through years of video selling that you can implement to close more leads!