Speakers: Hilmon Sorey, Managing Director, ClozeLoop
Why are testimonial videos important to your business?
Hilmon Sorey: Video testimonials are key to our business in sales management and training. The question that prospects always have is "What have you done?" "Who have you done it for?" "Are they like me?" and, "What was their experience?" Bottom line. There's lots of options you can choose in our industry and we find that video testimonials are the greatest way to get the voice of our customer immediately in the hands of folks who are considering us or folks who are evaluating this industry to see what what types of things they might want to do to create a great scalable growth system for their company.
How are you using Vocal Video?
Hilmon Sorey: At ClozeLoop, there are really three ways in which we've been using Vocal Video to share our customer stories and to get out the word around what it is that we do and where our sweet spot is. On the sales management consulting side, we'll often get board members, CEOs, or startup founders to share their experience of what the challenge was that they were experiencing before they started working with us, what we did in the context of working with them to help them to create growth, and then what the output is on the other side. It's great because people actually get to hear the voice of the customer, which allows other folks that we might have a potential to work with to look and see, "Hey, does this CEO sound like they were experiencing the types of challenges that I was experiencing?" "Does the interaction with ClozeLoop look as though it's something that could work within my company?" and, "Is their outcome the result frame something that I'm trying to target?" That's one piece on the sales management consulting side. We've also written six or seven books. The 7th will be published soon and we get customer reviews all the time. They're great on Amazon, but there's nothing better than looking somebody in the eye and having them say, "Hey, I tried this framework", "Hey, I tried this methodology and it really helped me create growth that really helped me to shorten my sales cycle." Whatever it is, there's just a greater level of engagement where as human beings, we like to engage with human beings, and it adds a lot of credibility to our books. It also, again, helps the audience to find which book would be right for them. Finally, at ClozeLoop University, our online sales training platform - we use these all the time at the end of a course for people to say, "Hey, when I started the course, this is what I was hoping to get." "This is what happened in the course." "This is what I've got as a result." As a low-friction way, to help any of those folks who are evaluating us from an audience perspective as well as our existing customers to share their story is just a fantastic means of sharing these experiences and helping people make the right buying decision.
If you had to describe Vocal Video in a couple of sentences, what would you say?
Hilmon Sorey: If I had to describe Vocal Video in a couple sentences... How about four words instead. From from the ClozeLoop perspective, Vocal Video is low-friction high-impact. There you go. Bottom line. So what do I mean by that? Low-friction: Asking a customer for a testimonial or asking for a white paper or case study? Oh my God, The lift is heavy, right? Even people with the best of intentions who have had the best experience with your company are like "Sure, sure Hilmon, I'll get right on that. Absolutely I loved it." And they mean it. They want to. But you know what? It never comes. Then you get into chasing people going, "Hey!" "You know, just pinging you," "Letting you know," "Just wanted to touch base," "Circle back," "Follow up," "See if you got into that thing?" Who wants to do that with their customers, right? Here's the thing about Vocal Video: low-friction. I send a link. I send a link, and the link - they click on it. They come to the space. They're always holding their phone. I don't know about you, but I have my phone other than right now because I'm making this video. Usually my phone is in my hand. If it's in my hand, I click on the link, of course, I'm gonna click record right then. It's easy. We do this all day long. Very familiar. Right? It's a casual way to get an authentic response. The other piece from the standpoint of high-impact is, sure, you get a customer testimonial that your marketing team has been massaged or you've added quotes or even embellished with graphics, this, that, or the other. It's not candid, right? Even if it's accurate. I'm not suggesting that you change it or anything like that. But it's just not candid. Getting something like this - a video where someone is saying, "Hey, this is my experience." "This is what it was like." You get to evaluate the person by saying, "Hey, am I like this person?", "Is what they're talking about seem like something that's rational?", "Are they credible?" All of these things in our subconscious come through in a Vocal Video in a way that they wouldn't in any other means, and being able to circulate this so easily on the low- friction front and then have this high- impact means of my audience engaging with one of my customers: It's just fantastic. I can't think of anything, anything better, frankly. We're enjoying it.
Would you recommend others try Vocal Video? Why?
Hilmon Sorey: Would I recommend that you try Vocal Video? Absolutely - maybe for a reason that's a little bit different than you think. The idea of getting customer evidence and customer testimonials into the hands of an audience is key, right? And of course, this could be used for more than just customer evidence. This is our space, right? We use it for book reviews. We use it for folks reviewing our ClozeLoop University and for folks reviewing our sales management engagements. That's great. The impact of these to your audience of stakeholders is fantastic. Here's the hidden thing, though. When you get someone who's had a fantastic experience working with you and you say, "You know what? Your opinion is valuable. I think other people would like to hear about you and your experience." You actually create a greater connection to your customer or to your client because you're saying, "Hey, I'm validating you. I'm validating the work I've done with you. I've enjoyed working with you and I want you to share your experience with other people because I think your experience has value and your story is something that other people want to hear." What better way, other than serving your customer, all the ways that we do on a regular basis, and trying to overperform, and over deliver to get folks where they need to be to be successful? Other than all of those things, that is just the construct of your business - What better way to establish long term value lifetime relationships and to, you know it's a little quid pro quo because they get to talk about their company a little bit, which doesn't hurt for whatever your audience might be. I found that that's the hidden piece inside a Vocal Video. Asking someone to do this - they are flattered. They're like, "Wow! My opinion matters to you. Absolutely. I'll do that for you." "Sure, I'll take a couple minutes and record a video for you." It also gets them thinking about the engagement or thinking about the experience that they've had with you in such a way that it frames it in their head is having had value and having been beneficial. It's a win-win-win. You win because you get to share this with a new audience. The audience wins because they get to hear customer feedback directly from the customer's mouth. The customer wins because they get to share their experience and how wonderful the engagement was and all the things they benefited from. I can't think of a better tool in a low-friction way to be able to have that kind of an interaction. Check it out! You won't regret it.
