Let’s be honest, work has changed a lot over the past couple of years.
Even with the worst of the pandemic (hopefully!) behind us, many companies say they’ll stick with a remote or hybrid option.
This trend affects sales departments in a big way. In 2021, 57% of sales leaders said they plan to implement a hybrid sales model. A lot of reps prefer it, and it’s good for the bottom line, too.
This is all well and good…until you have to train your employees.
Traditional sales training techniques, like in-person seminars and shadowing top reps, don’t work very well in a remote work environment. This has led to an explosion of asynchronous training options for sales teams, many of which involve video.
Here’s how to create a library of self-serve sales training videos for your remote or hybrid team.
What’s the deal with video training?
Video training is an efficient and effective way to train your sales team. There are three distinct reasons for this: one, video is self-serve; two, video is highly engaging; and three, video is memorable.
A self-serve option for remote teams
One of the biggest benefits of video training is that it’s asynchronous, meaning it doesn’t happen in real-time. It goes without saying that this is a valuable choice for remote teams.
A library of training videos can be watched and re-watched at your team’s discretion. No need to log onto a Zoom seminar or race across town to catch an in-person training between sales calls.
The sales team can watch your training videos whenever and wherever they want, without rearranging their schedules or sacrificing valuable selling time.
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Engaging and memorable content
Bottom line, you need your sales team to actually connect with and remember your training content. A dozen sets of glazed-over eyes doesn’t do you or anyone else much good.
Video is one of the most engaging ways to deliver your information. Case in point: 60% of people would rather watch a video than read text. And our brains retain a full 95% of what we see on a video.
The same can’t be said of the written word. We remember just 10% of what we read, and only 37% of employees say they read internal messages in the first place. All those emails and Slacks you’ve been sending? They’re falling on deaf ears.
You can’t afford for your sales reps to ignore your training materials.
Training videos grab your reps’ attention, deliver information in a quick and memorable way, and help your reps act on the information you share with them.
Build your remote sales training library with these four videos
Every remote, hybrid, or distributed team should have a sales training video library. This gives your sales reps the opportunity to learn new skills in a consistent and convenient way.
Start your sales training library with these four kinds of video.
1. Onboarding videos
Onboarding videos help new reps get up to speed with your company culture, products, and sales processes.
While you could accomplish this through text documents, your results will likely be subpar. Text doesn’t engage people in the same way video does. As such, your reps are likely to skim the materials (if they read them at all) and will be ill prepared for their jobs.
When you build your sales training library, create a series of short videos that teach new reps essential information about your products, sales processes, and compensation structure.
2. Microlearning videos
Customer preferences change, which means the field of sales is constantly evolving. You need to prepare your reps for these changes with a steady stream of information. Microlearning videos are an ideal way to do this.
A microlearning video is exactly what it sounds like: a short video that helps the viewer learn one singular thing. They’re great for sales purposes because they’re easy to watch and actionable.
We suggest using microlearning videos to update your sales reps on things like market and customer changes and product enhancements. You can also use microlearning videos to deliver a series of best-practice tips or highlight a takeaway lesson from a specific sales call.
3. Training updates
We’re going to go out on a limb here and guess that your company’s sales processes have changed a lot over the past couple of years. When changes happen, update videos are needed.
You can use training update videos to teach reps about a change to a certain sales process, how to use new software, or how to implement a change to the sales playbook.
Pro tip: If you need to make a small change to an existing training video, no need to start from scratch. When you link directly to a Biteable Teams video, any changes you make will automatically update.
4. Core training videos
Core training videos deal with the most important aspects of your company’s sales processes.
For example, you could create a core training video to hash out a specific buyer persona. Or to share effective call scripts. Or to walk your reps through the creation of an email sequence.
Core training videos teach reps the essential skills they need to do their jobs. Because of this, they’re incredibly important. They’re also generally longer and more in-depth than the other video types we’ve mentioned.
How to deliver your training videos
Your remote sales training videos will only benefit your company if you share them with your reps. There are two good ways to do this: create your own video library or use a training platform. Each option has pros and cons.
Create your own video library
The first option is to create your own library of sales training videos. You can do this by hosting your videos on your company intranet, or on a shared folder like Dropbox.
Pro tip: For an even simpler option, create an easy-to-navigate page on your company intranet with direct links to the videos you create and house in your Biteable Teams account.
A key benefit to creating a video library (as opposed to using a training platform, which we’ll talk about in a minute) is that there aren’t any hoops to jump through. When you complete a new training video, you simply add it to your video library. When reps need to watch it, it’s just a click away.
Use a training platform
If you don’t want to create your own library, you can house your videos on a training platform that’s built for this specific purpose.
There’s one major benefit to using a training platform: data. A training platform allows you to track who views your lessons and when. You can use this information to create better, more engaging lessons in the future.
For example, if you notice that 50% of your reps only watched two out of the three videos you created on ‘Dynamic Sales Processes,” you can probably assume that your second video wasn’t very engaging. You can remake this video to increase viewer engagement.
Here are a few of the top options for training platforms:
Mindtickle
Mindtickle is a complete sales readiness platform. It includes a sales content management feature, which you can use to store your sales training videos.
The best part about Mindtickle is how easy it makes content discovery. Your reps won’t waste time searching for videos. They’ll just use filters to quickly find what they need.
SalesHood
SalesHood is a sales enablement platform that can be used to host a variety of sales-related content, including onboarding and sales training videos. The best part about SalesHood is that it allows sales enablement pros to gamify the learning process, which will help your reps engage with your training materials.
Lessonly
Lessonly is another training platform that you can use to store your remote sales training videos. It’s easy to use and can be accessed on any device. The best part about Lessonly is that you can use it to create lesson paths that include multiple videos, images, text documents, and other materials.
When not to make a training video
There are a lot of benefits to training videos. But that doesn’t mean all of your sales department’s training materials need to be put into video form.
Here’s what we recommend:
Use video for the essentials
We’re talking about information that can’t be missed — important product updates, key sales processes, and the like.
Use written materials for depth and context
Use the written word for contextual material and in-depth explanations. When you need to dive deep into a specific topic, create a detailed written document.
If you use video and text in tandem, you’ll be able to create a comprehensive training library that educates your remote sales team in a timely and effective way.
Make sales training videos in minutes with Biteable
Video lessons are a great way to train remote sales professionals.
Video is a form of asynchronous communication, which means reps can watch trainings at their convenience. Videos are also more engaging than plain text documents. As such, there’s a much better chance your sales reps will actually consume them.
The only question left to answer is, ”How do I create sales training videos?”
That’s easy — use Biteable.
Biteable is an intuitive and powerful video creation platform. With it, you can quickly make all kinds of sales enablement content, including training videos.
Simply select a professionally-designed template, adjust the text to suit your needs, add additional branded scenes and lively animations if you choose, and then publish them to your library or the training platform of your choice.
It’s that simple. With Biteable, you’ll make your first training video before your reps can say, “Show me the sales playbook!”