There are quite a few lessons in this video that I'm going to break down here.

This article is an example of the kind of content you’ll have access to in The 2020 Collective, my online coaching academy where I teach you how to use video as a business development tool.

Ask And Ye Shall Receive

As I stated in the video, I reached out to Logitech and asked them to send me a camera and they did.

When you see an opportunity to grow your business, you have to be comfortable with doing outreach to strangers and making the ask.

I did my outreach using a video where I explained to the leadership at Logitech that I could showcase their flagship camera in a way that would reach an audience that they weren't reaching.

So they gave me a shot.

This is a MASSIVE strategic partnership opportunity for me! 

Logitech is the market leader for computer-based video cameras. And I teach businesspeople how to communicate effectively via video. We each offer solutions to the same target audience and by working together, we can help more people and generate more business for ourselves and for each other.

This is a real world example of the winemaker and the cheese maker analogy that I always use to describe the benefits and simplicity of creating strategic partnerships.

Make Sure Your Ask Specifies A Clear Benefit To The Other Party

I can help Logitech sell more cameras by showing people how to use them more effectively. And that's exactly what I told them.

When you reach out to people, make sure there's as much benefit or more in it for them as there is for you. And spell it out clearly.

Nobody is interested in hearing about what they can do for you. But most people are willing to have a conversation about how you can work together with the result being them making progress towards their existing goals.

So understand what's important to the other party and make sure that delivering that outcome is a fundamental part of what you're proposing.

Otherwise, you shouldn't be reaching out to them. Go find another party to reach out to whose objectives align directly with yours so that the opportunity to benefit is mutual and either equal or greater for them than it is for you.

Those are the ingredients for giving your cold pitches the greatest opportunity for succeeding. That and making your cold pitch via video because nothing outperforms video as a tool for persuasion.

Why I Reached Out To Logitech

As the industry leader for videoconferencing equipment, working with Logitech can help me reach many more clients for my coaching business. I can also potentially land some corporate clients who need their sales teams to be more effective at using video as a sales tool.

One opportunity leads to another…if you make it happen for yourself.

I already have a free training video (see below) that can help get me in the door with any corporate training opportunities that working with Logitech creates for me.

When you stay ready, you don't have to get ready. Video helps you stay ready.

Logitech and I can both win big here. And help a lot of customers in the process.

Win/win/win!

Video is how you can open doors and create opportunity for yourself that you otherwise couldn't.

Principles of Influence

In his newly updated seminal classic on the psychology of persuasion, one of the influence techniques Robert Cialdini teaches is "authority" as in establishing yourself as an authority on a topic who is both knowledgeable and trustworthy.

In the context of sales, one way to do this is to point out the drawbacks or shortcomings in whatever you're selling.

No product or service is perfect and to present it as such leaves the person you're communicating with wondering "what's the catch?"

They may not ask you what's the catch, but because our brains are hardwired to be skeptical, their brain will at least subconsciously ask the question, which will prevent them from moving forward.

Deliver The "Bad" News Up Front

Point out the shortcomings in the beginning and then you have the rest of the time you're communicating to focus on the benefits so you can end on a high note.

That's why I began the video by talking about the price of the Rally camera. 

And then I had the rest of the video to talk about all the benefits that the camera delivers so I could leave the viewer thinking about how they could use the Rally camera to achieve the vision that they have in mind for themselves, rather than leaving them thinking solely about the price.

We all have a vision of a better version of ourselves that we're always pursuing. When you present your product or service within the context of that vision that your ideal client already has in mind for themselves, you don't have to sell anything.

All you have to do with your marketing is connect the dots so that people can see how your product or service will help them get where they were already trying to go. The right people will contact you looking to buy from you. You won't have to sell them anything.

When you're connecting those dots for folks, make sure you present the bad news up front because the bad news isn't so bad when you present it strategically. Context is everything.

Social Proof

Another influence principle on display in this video is social proof. 

You see a regular businessperson using the product and being successful with it to do things that the target audience for the video wants to do.

You can visit Deirdre's website and check out her video library to see lots of examples of how she uses video to create a better experience for herself as a business owner, as well as a better experience for her ideal client. 

Social proof is a very powerful marketing tool that you want to leverage as often as you can. Nothing persuades people like seeing someone like themselves being successful with your product or service.

There's actually two examples of social proof in the video. More on that later in the article...

Why These Influence Principles Are Important

Cialdini's book Influence is a very important read for you, both as a salesperson (if you're a human who needs the cooperation of others to accomplish things, you are a salesperson) and as a consumer because the principles of influence in that book are being used to sell you stuff all day every day.

You can't defend yourself against these techniques if you don't even know they exist. 

And as a salesperson, you will be a lot more efficient and effective (meaning you'll make more sales) if you understand the why and how behind people's decision to say yes.

Presentation Strategy

I brought people in with a case study on Logitech's most expensive camera and concluded the story by revealing that I recorded the video using a less expensive Logitech camera (more social proof) that's actually the premium option in a different class of their cameras.

But it looks like a bargain when compared to Logitech's top of the line camera. 

And the Logitech BRIO ($200) really is the right camera for most of the people in my target audience. But since there are $50 webcams available, many people who need the BRIO wouldn't buy it.

But when it's presented more effectively and in the proper context, it will be easier for people to make the right decision for their needs.

This is another win/win/win. When someone chooses the right camera for their needs, Logitech wins, I win, and the consumer wins.

Always present your most expensive option first and then work your way down your price scale.

It's much easier for people to buy the BRIO when it's presented after the Rally versus being presented after a $50 camera. And it's not some evil sales ploy because the $50 camera is not going to deliver the improved video quality that businesspeople are looking for when they decide to upgrade from their laptop webcam. 

Presenting the BRIO after presenting the Rally is an example of strategically presenting information in a way that helps your ideal client identify the right solution for themselves the first time!

People want to arrive at the right answer as quickly and easily as possible. The better you get at delivering that result, the more of a resource you are.

Focus On The Needs of Your Ideal Client

I know my ideal client and what they're trying to achieve and the BRIO is the least expensive, easiest to use camera that's going to deliver the results that most of them are looking for. 

For some, the Rally is the right answer. For others, the Logitech Mevo is the right answer (stay tuned for those videos).

I do the work to present these cameras in a way that makes it easy for my ideal client to make the right choice the first time.

If you really want to be a resource and a trusted advisor to your ideal client, helping them make the right choice the first time is a great way to do it. 

Don't be afraid to use influence techniques to do that. In fact, you should embrace that opportunity and responsibility because you're the expert and if you don't apply your expertise to help your ideal client make the right choice the first time, what good are you to them really?

Sell The Result

You don’t see me talking about a bunch of tech specs for either of the cameras I present in the video.

That’s because the people in my target audience don’t care about features. They just need to know which camera is the right camera for them to do what they’re trying to do.

In other words, they’re interested in seeing the results that a camera can produce. Can they use this camera to do the things that they want to do?

So that’s how I structured my presentation of the two cameras in that video. It’s about the results the cameras can produce, not an enumeration of features and tech specs. I just present the results that the cameras can produce, which is the bottom line that my ideal client cares about.

I paint a clear picture for my ideal client showing the outcome that they want to see themselves in, which makes it much easier for that person to move forward with their purchase decision.

Learning How To Sell Is Not A Bad Thing

There are a lot of people out here who use the principles of influence for evil. They're out here peddling junk and using great marketing to sell people dreams that will never come true.

If you really envision yourself as a trusted advisor to your ideal client, isn't it your responsibility to do what you're capable of doing to educate them and help them make good decisions?

That means learning how to sell.

This is why learning how to sell is not a bad thing. Learning how to sell is about learning how to communicate with your ideal client in a way that helps them make the best decision to put themselves into the situation that they want to be in.

By learning how to be more effective at selling and by using those skills to sell legitimate products and services with integrity, you're being a valuable resource to your ideal client by providing them with the information they need to achieve what they want to achieve and doing it without taking up a bunch of their time.

The Most Important Lesson

Get out here and create opportunities for yourself.

Closed mouths don't get fed and invisible people are easily overlooked. This opportunity with Logitech didn’t just fall into my lap. I went out and created it.

Whatever you want is out here for you, but you have to make yourself visible and go get it.

And it's very important to note that I created this opportunity for myself with video.

The most effective way for you to communicate your message to someone in a way that they will understand it is to have a face-to-face conversation.

Video is arguably just as effective because it allows you to make your in-person presentation to people who you would otherwise never be able to reach.

Slide decks and PDFs will never open the doors for you that a well-executed video will.