Why most videographers suck at sales. EP #191 - Shorty

G', day, guys. It's dan here on June 15th and we're here with episode 193 of the how to Scale Business podcast. So I'm, I'm hurting a bit today. I started my seven week Fusion fitness program yesterday, which is a kind of evolution of CrossFit up here on the Sunshine Coast. And yeah, everything aches, but that's a good sign, right? Because when there's no pain, there can be no gain and there's discomfort when we're growing. Which is why I wanted to talk about a really important topic today on this week's Shorty.

And that is why most videographers suck at sales. Now, let me be clear.

It's not just the sales that they suck at. It's the fact that most people give up too early in the sales process. We've been running some, some Facebook ads recently, a test into the UK for a new ebook we've got running. We spent $1,800 so far and got 260 different leads. And we've had a couple of calls, but they weren't a great fit. But it would be easy to assume that that campaign hasn't worked because we haven't sold anything. But in actual fact, you know, sales is a process. We just came off of a coaching call and some of the guys are saying, you know, they don't expect a sale to happen sometime in six months until six months has passed from initial contact. These are guys running very successful businesses. And so what you've got to remember is, you know, when, when you think about your own buying process, when buying anything, you rarely just decide, you know, let's that so spend the money without doing some research. You typically research. You look for articles, you look at blog posts, you look at videos, and you come to a point where you're ready to make a decision. And so when we look at our ebook funnel, it's designed to get people to raise their hand and say, hey, you know what, I am interested enough to download this ebook. But we can't expect someone to then want to jump on a call with us and talk about how we can help them coach them through their business growth. So our next phase will be to send some further emails out. Now if you're on that list, you expect to get an email from me, and that's going to be another move forward. And we were chatting on the call today and some of the guys on the call were saying, you know, they expect to have 10 points of contact with a prospect before they're ready to buy. But you have to keep following up. The fortune is in the follow up. And so that's the reason why most videographers suck at sales, because they just give up too early, you know, and it's a real problem and it, and, but it's also not your fault because when we're creating, you know, it's an evolutionary process where we kind of know how something feels and we kind of make a decision and we cut it and it looks great. Sales is a lot more.

And business development and getting, turning prospects into, into leads is a more systematic process. It's a process that needs you to be disciplined, it needs you to be consistent. And you know, we just come off this call literally 10 minutes ago. And you know, the guys are always telling me the reason these calls are so powerful is because every week we check in and we stop for 90 minutes and we look at our businesses. We ran hot seats again today and we talked about sales and one of our clients has just had a couple of projects disappear and he's looking for some support to get his live streaming business some more exposure. So we sat on the call and we discussed strategies for how to do that. And Andrew said one thing to Samy. It was like, these are the people you need to contact in this particular market. And the light bulb went off. And that is the power of a mastermind. That is the power of having other video business owners to listen to the challenges you're facing and to give you some support and advice on what to do next. But back to the topic of today's shorty. Why most videographers suck at sales. It's because they just haven't been shown how. And, and sometimes when we are constantly following up with people, it can feel like we're being a pest. But what you got to remember is if you're sending emails out to someone, only 1 in 5 emails is being really ready. And so people are busy, their inboxes are full. So, you know, it's like it's very easy to apply a creative mindset to the logic and consistency that business needs. And so I want you to think about your own sales process. And you might be thinking, what sales process then? And I get it because 10 years ago I didn't have one. Not even a hope of having a sales process. But as I've invested in coaching over the years, invested in masterminds, I've learned that to build a sustainable multiple six figure business without killing yourself, you have to have systems, you have to have processes, and you have to Be disciplined, to execute on an ongoing basis so that you build the resilience required to create consistency in your business. Because, you know, the biggest issue that face most video production companies is that not enough of their target market know they even exist and know that or even given any sort of indication that not only do they exist, but they're a great fit for the problem that that company might have. And that is because we fundamentally start life as camera operators and editors and we want to, you know, we simply want to, like, make content. But as a business owner, you have to generate sales, you have to generate opportunities for your business. You have to be consistently pushing new people through your funnel so that you can convert them to opportunities. And when I say convert them to opportunities, I mean someone who has a need for a problem that you solve, but they just haven't been convinced yet that you're the right solution. And that is why we have marketing process, why we have marketing funnels. We talk often about this in the group, the importance of having a marketing funnel, being able to track it, being able to see where it's falling down, where it's working. And that involves investment. And for some, that means some investment in themselves, and that means some investment in their marketing. But these are all tax deductible expenses. And the way I look at marketing expenses, I see my Facebook ad spends if I'm employing someone. And so we spent 18 or 19 hundred dollars in the last four weeks on this ad campaign.

That's Freddie Facebook. He's the gu. We spend money on having him test everything for us. And we've got a lot of data, but we're only a small way into that process. So, hey, if you downloaded one of our ebooks, you're going to get an email from me in the next couple of days. And you know, that is because we never give up. You know, we never give up on opportunities. We always want to be making sure that our prospects understand the opportunity that's in front of them. Maybe you've been listening to the podcast for a while. Listening to this podcast is a great start. You know, it's going to really help you to understand what's possible and what you. What steps you need to take. But there's a difference between listening to the podcast and actually implementing the steps. And you can certainly implement them on your own, but it's an awful lot easier when you implement them surrounded by a group of other business owners who understand the journey you're going through. And the call this morning, you know, Chris and Andrew were having a conversation and they were like, dudes, we're like in the same. Same pat pathway. They're identical businesses in the same city on the same journey. Just they've got different market sectors so they never compete. And that's the thing. Anyway, guys, that's it for me today. I will talk to you on Thursday. Ask yourself this has owning your own video business been everything you dreamed it would be when you first got started? It might be hard to admit, but think about whether you're genuinely achieving everything you set out to when you made that decision to grab the camera and go it alone. Are you really working less? Are you really earning more? And are you really in control? Chances are you're bloody good at what you do, but you're having to work like a dog, 70 plus hours a week. Whether it's filming, editing, marketing, or any of the other jobs that come with being the big boss of your own video company, when you're managing projects, constantly searching out for new clients and worrying about cash flow, it's easy to lose sight of the bigger picture or make real progress. Let's face it, that stress is the last thing you need when you're trying to run a profitable company that supports you and the people you care about. Truth is, a business that provides financial, professional and personal freedom really is achievable. But maybe you've got that nagging feeling that you're overworked, lacking stability, and struggling to get to where you really want to be right now. It could be that you just don't know how to make a positive change on your own. So I created the Video Business Accelerator coaching programs to really supercharge your video business. With these unique coaching programs, you'll learn all the tools you need to get complete confidence in the success of your video business. You can take the first step on your journey to a successful business that doesn't control your life. Let me show you how. Head over to denlani.com and click on Accelerator.