How to get buy-in for video from your sales team and technicians

It’s no secret that the car dealership industry is saturated and if we’ve said it once, we’ll say it again, the only way to succeed is to embrace digital marketing and ensure your strategy does nothing but reflect this. And that means, adopting the use of video and seamlessly weaving it into the daily routine at your dealership. If you implement video into your strategy, you’re part the way there – the next challenge is getting buy-in from your sales team and technicians. After all, they will be the ones regularly shooting clips, so ideally, you want them to be the biggest ambassadors for using video at your dealership. Simply put, video is the tool, but once you’ve got your team to use it, it becomes a strategy.

That said, getting buy-in from your employees can often prove difficult, especially when it comes to the old-school members of staff, who struggle to see the benefits of modern marketing techniques. Using our experience in the industry, the team here at SnapCell is here to help. We’ve created our top tips on how you can get buy-in for video from your sales team and technicians.

Involve Your Staff From The Get-Go

There’s no denying it, staff like to feel involved and informed from the very start. This means that ultimately, failing to involve your sales team and technicians when introducing video to your dealership is likely to cause problems in the future. Like we’ve already said, they’re the ones who will be creating videos, it makes total sense to include them from the get-go. Empowering them from the start is key.

Create A Video Sub-Group

Depending on the capacity or size of your business, it might not be realistic for you, as the owner of the dealership, to keep every single one of your employees informed, so why not create a video sub-group? You would empower the group to act as dealership ambassadors for video, encouraging buy-in from colleagues, filtering relevant information, and being the point of call for staff who have any questions or need extra training.

Using a sub-group of staff to communicate and support staff, rather than all the information, often works better than when it comes from you, as dealership owner. It might be a good idea to include different levels of staff in the sub-group, to create a greater buy-in across the entire dealership, including those who are particularly resistant to change.

Better still, our User Engagement Team at SnapCell offers early-stage follow-up calls, to help iron out any issues that might arise during those first three months. We identify who the main point of contact will be from your dealership from the beginning – this person, for example, would ideally be the chair of the video sub-group – then we schedule regular follow-up calls with them to review progress and share advice. With this in mind, it makes even more sense to create a video sub-group at your dealership.

Make Videoing As Easy As Possible

Creating a video can seem scary and overwhelming. Even those who are savviest when it comes to technology will appreciate an easy-to-use tool that won’t impact hugely on their time. With that in mind, choose a user-friendly video tool, just like SnapCell. The SnapCell app has been designed especially with the automotive industry in mind, with staff being able to seamlessly stitch together videos at the simple click of a button.

Although videoing might seem straightforward to you, it might not come as easy to everyone else. Simply handing a phone to a member of staff and asking them to record a clip won’t always work and to be honest, comes with more risks than benefits. Ultimately, while you want the actual video-taking to be easy to do, you also want the final result to look professional, so investing in an app like SnapCell provides the perfect solution. After all, how can you expect your staff to create you a half-decent video, if you don’t give them the tools to do it?

Create An Easy-To-Follow Guide

OK, so you’ve invested in a video tool, now it’s time to create an easy-to-follow guide for your staff. Include details like the basics of videoing, any brand guidelines, who is allowed to video (if this is limited), and where the videos should be used.

This guide should be easily accessible by all staff and it should be filtered down across all teams that those planning on videoing, should follow the guidelines ahead of filming. What’s more, if your guide is digital (which it definitely should be) include how-to videos to make content creation seem as easy as possible.

At SnapCell, we know just how time consuming it can be to generate user guides. That’s why, we have made it easier than ever for our users to create a fantastic ‘how-to’ guide for their staff. Not only do we offer a whole host of features and tools to make videoing seamlessly simple but we also support dealerships in producing video guides too, thanks to our ‘Success Academy’. Get in touch with our team to find out more.

Training And Ongoing Support

It’s vital that you provide your sales team and technicians with the appropriate training, so they feel as confident as possible when videoing. If you do decide to work with a company like SnapCell, then we provide regular support and initial training for all of our customers. We’re proud to offer, as part of our package, as many 30-minute webinars with your sales and service departments, as it takes for them to feel entirely comfortable with our app.

Whether you like it or not, video marketing isn’t going anywhere. In fact, it’s only going to grow. For that reason, it’s essential that you continue to support your staff, as they develop their videography skills. And, while working with the experts at SnapCell means that the training provided will be efficient and relevant, you must continue to support your staff with video creation, even if you don’t use our app.

Plan The Video

Although it would be easy to simply pick up a smartphone and ask a member of staff to start filming, this tactic probably won’t get you the results you’re after. In fact, using this approach means you’re in danger of creating a chaotic, unorganized clip, which doesn’t comply with your dealership’s goals and values.

Instead, when possible, take time to plan your videos. This means creating a storyboard, establishing the end goals, deciding where the video will be used, and organizing the finer details, for example, lighting, location of filming, and angles. By showing that you understand the importance of investing the time in getting a video right, will filter down through your staff and encourage them to share this attitude too.

If you’re struggling with where to start, then get inspired by SnapCell. Our Success Academy is bursting full of detailed case studies on sales and service activities, with step-by-step video ideas for each process at your dealership.

Compliment And Praise

Look, capturing a good video is challenging – made even harder, if it doesn’t come as second nature to you. So, praise your staff when they create a good clip. Give them the pat on the back they deserve, to keep them engaged and motivated to make more videos. Plus, you can use their work as examples to get buy-in from other team members – not only will this help to build their confidence but will also inspire them to encourage their colleagues to have a go at videoing as well.

You might even want to adopt a rewards system as a perk, to encourage buy-in and prevent any employee pushback. Think short-term rewards initially and, if budget allows offer bonuses or gift cards for staff who create usable video content. Furthermore, you might consider creating goals or targets, in return for a reward – for example, sales gained from a video posted on social media.

Stats, Stats And More Stats

Don’t just let your staff take your word for it, show them just how much of an impact video can have on revenue.

We all know just how much of an impact using videos can have on your dealership but sometimes, staff needs to be shown the numbers to believe it. With stats like 64 percent of shoppers who watch online videos say that new features like 360 degree clips would convince them to buy a car without a test drive or 75 percent of customers admitting that online video has influenced their shopping habits, there is plenty of readily accessible data available for you to use as back up.

Publicize the value of video from an early stage by demonstrating the multiple benefits it will have for both your sales team and technicians. Not only will video creation generate sales, resulting in increased revenue, but it will help build relationships with shoppers, increase customer retention, and ultimately, has the potential to save staff time in the long run. Show your sales team and technicians just how much value there is in familiarizing themselves with video and using it regularly.

Above everything else, you need to have a professional team of experts by your side working with you to create video content. By working with SnapCell, you’re guaranteed to have the necessary ongoing support and advice needs to weave video into your strategy. Better still, we will assist you in successfully getting buy-in across your sales team and technicians by holding regular training sessions, being a point of call for your dealership, and showing staff how using video can benefit both them and the business. Get in touch with the team at SnapCell to find out more.