If you have ever watched a TV show of video bloopers, been on Reddit, have friends or relatives that include you in the address bar of every funny viral email they send, or have surfed YouTube for blooper videos, then you probably have seen Bill Dance.

Bill was going to be a third generation doctor, that is until he came upon a rather grisly traffic accident. With that experience he was no longer interested in a career in medicine. So what would he do? Well, he liked to fish. Bill started joining, and winning, lots of fishing tournaments. This led to endorsements, and name recognition, and ultimately his popular fishing show and product empire.

Bill is certainly not the most polished public speaker. He does not have a commanding film presence. Bill is likable, though, very likable. His sincere and simple nature connects with viewers to make him one of the very best at what he does. Most likely though, you know Bill because of the times that things have gone wrong.

So what does this have to do with automotive digital marketing or car sales? One of the hardest things to convince business development and car sales professionals to do is to make a short video for a customer. You would have more success asking them to go to hell to retrieve the devil's nose ring while he sleeps! Almost all of the time it comes down to an absolute fear of the vulnerability inherent in being captured on video.

We all have seen that sales colleague who is not the best dresser, is as smooth as a cob in his/her presentations, and whose speech makes Homer Simpson look like the president of Toastmasters and yet who still has success selling! We all know why. For all that he or she lacks in appearance or eloquence, they connect with people. Here's a little secret: If someone on your staff is even somewhat successful setting appointments or selling cars -- they, too, can obviously connect with people!

When your staff takes a moment to record a short video to answer their customers' questions, they begin the process of building rapport. That is the most compelling reason that the video should feature THEM! Don't worry about brief moments of being tongue tied, awkward camera angles, a bad hair day, or that pimple that just showed up. Does that keep them from approaching showroom visitors?

Customers will appreciate that they went the extra mile to record a personalized video for them. Now the prospect will also get to see that the person that is helping them is real -- and has imperfections -- just like them!

Here is an example of a simple customer video I did when I discovered that one of my BDC reps was off sick and had an interested prospect with questions about a VW we had online:

As you can see, the technique is not hard, it requires no special equipment beyond your smart phone and a YouTube login, and takes hardly any time to execute. The biggest challenge is getting your staff to stop being afraid of being themselves!

I am not supermodel material. I actually really hate the sound of my voice when recorded. I was not dressed well that day as I had planned to stay cloistered in my office. In fact, did you notice I was even wearing the logo of a competitor? None of that mattered as much as letting this customer know that we valued his interest, we work as a team, and that we were happy answer his questions.

Everyone recognizes Bill Dance for one simple reason: he was not afraid to put himself out there -- even to the point of sharing a laugh, or hours of laughs, at his expense. Your customers are going to meet your staff eventually anyway. Invite them to control that inevitable first impression somewhat by packaging it within a simple, and very real "WOW!" moment for their prospect. It won't take them long to begin feeling, and cashing, the results!

Sources:

Bill Dance Outdoors Website

YouTube Fishing Bloopers Search

https://youtu.be/VSazi4GwRqI

https://youtu.be/OC7LcjnbzCY

Engagement Consulting LLC

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeanU6VHbYsoj32NVdjBlbg