About this episode
[00:33] Please introduce you and your company. My name is John Simpson. I'm the director of sales at Covideo. We're an email, texting, video platform for salespeople. The company is based in Indianapolis. [01:14] Tell us a little bit about yourself. I'm from Holland, Michigan and went to Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, studying political science. After graduating, I worked at a deli for a while. Then, I decided to go to grad school but dropped out. I drove to Chicago, lived on my friend's couch for about a month, and then found a job with a logistics company. I didn't know what logistics was at first, but I stayed there for ten years before joining Covideo. [03:24] When and why did you join Covideo? I joined in January 2017. I miss logistics, but a good friend of mine started Covideo and he needed somebody to help with the sales team. [04:37] In this business, good leads are hard to come by. Leads aren't worth anything until you get the opportunity to talk to somebody. That's when they become precious. The most important thing in sales is that people buy from people they like. It's difficult to stand out, and you don't want to just stand out, you want favorable attention. [11:22] How does Covideo go about converting more leads into loads? Covideo was built for salespeople, not for the marketing department, CEO, etc. We send personality through email. The logistics provider can call a company and leave a voicemail saying that they will send a video of themselves via email. It helps you stand out from the crowd. [14:03] Is there a problem making a video by myself on my phone? You'll run into file size issues or end up in the spam folder. Our videos can also appear as an overlay on your website, guiding viewers to the next steps. You get to see analytics on all of this. [17:48] How long are these videos usually? Normally fifteen to forty-five seconds. The average person only reads the first sentence or two of an email, so we must follow the same rules and keep the video short. [18:06] How are these videos working for people in logistics? I heard from a sales rep that kept being ignored by a woman he was calling. Once he sent her a video, she let him quote three lanes that day. [19:24] We all need to up our game when it comes to sales, and part of it is using this kind of technology. For customers who are shipping one to ten loads per week, those are still great customers that you want. However, even they are getting pounded with phone calls. Covideo is a cost-effective way to show people you can be trusted. When you say something out loud and provide visuals, your message is getting across the way you intended. [23:48] Tell us a little bit more about Covideo. What are the next steps if somebody is interested? Visit out website or give us a call. We'll talk with you and see if we're a good fit. It takes time to get comfortable using videos, and it has to be part of your routine. Relationships are built over the phone, but introductions are made on video. [25:30] Is this hard to implement and expensive, or is it for everybody? If I can use it, anybody can use it. We've got customized packages for whatever your needs are. Learn More: Covideo: https://www.covideo.com/ John Simpson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-simpson-92727a24