“FIVE YEARS FROM NOW EVERY BUSINESS OWNER WILL LOOK

BACK AND WISH THEY HAD STARTED USING VIDEO

TESTIMONIALS ON THEIR WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA

EARLIER.” – KEN NEWHOUSE

What’s Included In My Video Testimonial System:

1) Why Video Testimonials Work - Social Proof

2) Why YouTube Rocks Over Other Video Sites - Google Loves to Self-Promote

3) Selling More to Existing Customers Vs. Getting New High-Quality Customers Online

4) Learn How to Ask Customers for a Video Testimonial Without Sounding Self-Serving - WIIFM

5) Learn How to Ask Customers the Right Questions So You Get the Outcome Based Answers You

Desire – You Need to Lead Your Cows To the Trough

6) How To Get A Reverse Testimonial For Highest Impact

7) Equipment Needed – Where To Do Videos – Why Video Equipment Needs To Be Ready To Go –

Lighting – Camera Angles, Etc…

8) Where To Distribute the Videos Online and How Videos Can Impact Your SMO (Social Media

Optimization) and SEO Efforts.

9) Employee Motivation: How to Get Your Team to Embrace Change and Become Your Social

Media Army

BONUS: You will also receive a free video with real video clips illustrating the top mistakes businesses

make when doing videos so you can easily train staff and identify problems. These samples videos are

from dental offices since I worked as a pharmaceutical sales person in the dental industry for 15 years.

These principles apply to ALL businesses, not just to dental/medical practices.

Why Video Testimonials Work – Social Proof

I have studied human behavior extensively, and social proof is a psychological term I think many people

are familiar with. We lead busy lives and social proof is one way our brains have been programmed to

make quick decisions about people, products, and services based on little information.

Imagine you hear about a new restaurant in your area and you are considering trying it out. Then one

Friday night you and your spouse drive by at 7pm to have dinner, and the parking lot is practically

empty. It looks like a ghost town. Do you surmise the restaurant is awesome so you try it? Or do you and

your spouse decide maybe this is not the best night to try something new? I’m betting you don’t try it.

Now imagine a similar scenario. You drive by that restaurant on a Friday night at 7pm, and the parking

lot is so packed you have to park down the street. As you drive by you notice the wait is probably long

since there are a dozen people outside waiting to be seated! Now what do you think of the experience

and food at this restaurant? Think it is worth the wait? I’ll bet you can’t wait to try it out!

This is social proof at work. Your business can use the same psychology. Many of my dentist clients

would schedule new patients on a day when they thought they won’t be too busy – so they could spend

more time with the patient. I always advised them this is a big mistake! I told them they should

schedule new patients when their office is packed so the patient’s perception is, “WOW, this office is super busy and must be the most popular dental office in town for a reason”. Perception is reality.

Statistics show 80% of people will “Google” you before coming in to your business. Therefore the 1st

(and most pivotal) impression they will have of your business is what they see online. Google refers to

this online experience as “Winning the Zero Moment of Truth – ZMOT”. (I highly recommend you read

the book by the same name if you desire. My husband wrote a blog post on Dental Town about ZMOT

titled “Growth Hacking Your Dental Practice Using the Four Moments of Truth”. Go to

http://www.dentaltown.com/Dentaltown/Blogs.aspx?action=VIEWPOST&b=215&bp=910&v=1 to read

it.) It’s the new place where people make important buying decisions! This graphic is a quick reference

comparing the old vs. the new buying cycle that has been created by the internet:

Therefore being active on G+, YouTube and other social media networks is pivotal. So let’s move on…

Why YouTube Rocks Over Other Video Sites - Google Loves to Self-Promote

YouTube will give you more SEO juice than other video sites simply because Google loves to self-

promote. Google+ will benefit you in the long run more than other social sites for the same reason, and

YouTube and Google+ are connected so your videos will automatically transfer over to be readily seen

on your Google+ page. (If you have read some of our blogs on the subject of Google+ on GHC’s website as well as Dentistry IQ’s website, then you know my thoughts on Google+’s benefits and how it is destined to grow more and more.)

We live in a visual world. Proof is seen in how huge Instagram, Vine, Snapchat and other photo only sites

have become. Plus if you look at the statistics on FB – a huge percentage of posts on FB are visually

oriented. YouTube takes the visual world to the next level. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then

video is worth a trillion! Read on to explore YouTube’s benefits more in depth…

People are using YouTube as a

search engine and bypassing

Google all together. (This

phenomenon has led to

YouTube becoming the 2nd

largest search engine.

Between Google being the #1

search engine and YouTube as

#2 – Google pretty much owns

85% of the searches on the

internet.)

18-35 year olds are a

completely visual generation,

but even 36-70 year olds are

becoming amazingly tech

savvy. Every age group is using

Google and YouTube to find

out information and to shop.

Baby Boomers and Seniors

might still be the most

profitable group of

prospective customers for you

(given they are the wealthiest

group), but if you have 20+

years till you retire, you

cannot solely rely on Baby

Boomers and Seniors for your

bread and butter. You must

do something to appeal to the

younger generation so you

can keep reeling in new

customers to replace your

older customers as they die

off.

Selling More to Existing Customers Vs. Getting New

High-Quality Customers Online

You might be wondering how videos on

YouTube and other sites might sell more

products and services to existing customers.

Good question. There are two ways. Say an

existing customer sees a commercial on T.V.

from Clear Choice about dental implants.

According to ZMOT statistics they will go online

to research dental implants if they are

considering cosmetic dentistry of this nature.

Let’s say they have a general dentist they visit twice yearly for hygiene appointments. Most

likely if they consider that dentist to be “their current dentist” - when a prospect like this goes

online to research dental implants they might go

to YouTube to see if that particular dentist has

any videos on the subject. They might also go

that dentist’s website to read more information

on the subject. If you were that dentist, don’t you agree it would benefit you to have YouTube

videos on dental implants at this juncture?

Wouldn’t it benefit you to have educational and

interesting information on your website

pertaining to the subject as well? (Remember

this is just an example from dental – these

principles apply to all businesses.)

In this scenario, wouldn’t this dentist benefit

from having video testimonials embedded onto

his/her website on the dental implant page so

existing or new patients could watch happy

patients tell about their wonderful experiences

with the doctor and how dental implants have

positively impacted their lives?

The prospect sees the doctor has a wealth of

information on the subject, other patients rave

about their dental implant experiences, and in

the minds of prospects who are considering

some dental work, this doctor becomes the clear

and best choice should the patient decide to move forward. The dentist might have proposed dental

implants to that very patient on many occasions during their visits, but in this scenario it didn’t really hit home for that patient till now. When the patient is ready, it is important for them to see you as the

expert via this experience doing research online. If you don’t show yourself to be the clear choice – then

someone else will. This is ZMOT at work.

Now let’s say this dentist doesn’t have video testimonials, other online educational materials and

whatnot. This same (current) patient will

go on their doctor’s website and be

thinking, “Wow. Dr.---- has no information

on dental implants except a little

paragraph on a page telling me what I

already know. That’s odd.” There is probably a huge disconnect in their mind

at this point.

Then the patient will most likely go to

YouTube, and watch a bunch of other

dentists’ videos in the neighborhood talk

about dental implants and watch their

patients tell stories about their wonderful

dental implant experiences. You get my

point. Since the patient now sees some

other doctor as the clear and best choice

for dental implant work, they will

probably end up getting the work done by

a different doctor – not the one they have

been seeing for years. This would be a

high value lost opportunity for the dentist

who had originally been this patient’s “current dentist.”

Scenario #2: How does video affect a new

customer (not a current customer)? We

could use the same example or any other.

(These principles apply to all types of

businesses. I’m just pulling from my own personal experience in the dental

industry.) Say a potential new patient sees

the same Clear Choice commercial. Do

you want to be the guy they decide is the

“expert”? Of course you do. All the same

principles apply to ZMOT for new

customers as well as current customers.

What they see online will sway them to

either call you, come into your place of

business or not.

There is another way these video testimonials will help you sell more to existing customers. Right now

you probably have a T.V. in the waiting room of your business. What do you have playing on that TV?

Why not have videos of customers telling their stories about how much they love your products and

services and how your business has been integral to their success in life and in business? You could have

a loop of video testimonials playing in your waiting room to help sell more to your customers in a way

that is not cheesy or over-bearing. Plus, it will help the sales process go more smoothly for you. By the

time your prospects have watched a few videos they will be even more convinced you are the right guy

for the job.

The fact is people don’t read as much anymore. There are so many businesses that rely on brochures to

sell their services. This is really not the best way to go about it. How many times are customers given

brochures, but the brochures end up in the trash having never been read? I think it happens a lot. We

live in a video generation and you need to appeal to people on their level.

New Google stats show the average American adult spends 3 hours a day online.

Training Your Staff How to Ask Customers for a Video Without Sounding Self-

Serving or Like a Used Care Salesman – WIIFM

We always suggest your employees ask for videos with the WIIFM in mind. (What’s In It For Me.) In

psychology it’s called framing. If you frame the question properly, customers will have no problem

giving you a video. Customers are not going to give you a video if it isn’t framed properly, and your

employees sound too self-serving. Customers really only care about themselves, but they will go out of

their way to help people if you ask them properly.

Wrong way to frame it: “Gee Mary, we really want to get you on video saying how much you love our office so we can attract more new patients to the practice so Dr.---- can make more money.”

Ex.) Patients will give you videos to help other patients who are fearful become less fearful by watching

a video of them telling about their experiences at your dental office. They will give you videos if you

propose it to them that you want to improve the experience in the office for them, and all your other

patients, and their feedback would certainly help in this endeavor.

Right way to frame it: “Mary you have been a patient for a long time, and we would love to get some feedback from you on video after your appointment today. We really want to improve our services here

for you and for all our patients. Your feedback will help us improve. It will only take a few minutes. You’ll tell us the things you think we do well, and the things we can improve upon. Would you be willing to

help us? It will only take a few minutes.”

Right way to frame it: “Mary I was hoping after your appointment today you would be willing to give us your feedback on video about your experiences here. You see, many patients are scared to come to the

dentist, and we have found that when they watch some videos of other patients telling about their

positive experiences here, it helps get them over the hump in terms of scheduling that appointment

they desperately need. Would you be willing to help some fearful patients? It will only take 2-3

minutes.”

You need to consider how to properly frame the question to your customers. These are just examples

from my career in dentistry. Always take into consideration the WIIFM and you will do fine. How is this

going to benefit your customer? How will it benefit other customers? Customers mostly care about

themselves, but they usually are willing to help other people when asked. Take a few minutes to

consider the WIIFM for your clients. Maybe even get a few employees together to have a brain storming

session.

Training Your Employees How to Ask Customers the Right Questions So You Get

the Outcome Based Answers You Desire

In the dental/medical industry, there are quite a few online companies whose service is to help doctors

obtain written and video testimonials. They seem to easily get written testimonials this way, but have a

hard time getting the quantity and quality videos their clients desire from patients via the patients’ personal computers once they go home. Successfully getting written reviews is okay, but we have

discussed how much more powerful video is when compared to written testimonials. Why do these

companies have such a low success rate when it comes to obtaining videos?

Customers go home and are busy. Life gets in the way. They have the best intentions in

terms of doing a video for you, but they forget or are just too busy.

Customers don’t innately know how to do a video. They are not sure what information you want. They are kind of embarrassed. So they decide not to do the video.

You will get TONS of videos by doing them at your place of business vs. just sending customers how to

do them on their own. You need to strike while the iron is hot. Get them while they are happy, and it is

fresh in their mind. Get them before their busy lives get in the way. Plus by doing the video in your

office, you will be able to lead your horses to the trough. (i.e. Since customers don’t know exactly what you want, you will be able to lead them to where you want to go by the questions you ask. More on this

subject to follow.)

Google and YouTube will reward your SEO efforts when you start producing video, but you have to keep

producing to see results. Those other services that offer a way for your patients to give you video

testimonials “at home” will therefore not offer you the quantity or the quality you desire. Quality is

most important, but there is something to be said for quantity when you are talking about SEO benefits.

Attempting to get customers to give you a video from their home will result in neither quality nor

quantity.

Quality-wise, your employees need to be trained on how to lead the video by the questions they ask.

Outcome based videos are ones where the customer tells you the outcome of using your service or

product and the benefits they have seen from it. My go-to examples are generally Clear Choice Dental

Implant commercials or Proactive Acne Treatment commercials on TV since most people have seen

them. They show before and after photos, and have the patient/customer tell their story about how it

changed their life for the better. (Outcome based.) You see the acne, then you see the clear skin. Pretty

self-explanatory, but when the customer talks about how he/she had no dates until he/she got rid of

their acne, or how his/her self-confidence skyrocketed when their skin cleared up. These are the

stories that convince other prospective customers to BUY and BUY NOW.

Remember you are trying to get the customer’s story. People love stories. Think of the rich history all cultures have with storytelling – before TV/radio/internet there were bards who learned all their

people’s stories (and put them to music many times) and traveled around their country telling these

stories to the people. It was the ultimate word of mouth culture.

One Clear Choice commercial says something to the effect, “One of the hardest things for me was

having my son say, ‘Mommy you look like you have mustard on your teeth.’ I love my kids and I wanted

them to be proud of me as their Mom - not embarrassed. I smile all the time now, and I have beautiful

teeth. My son was like, ‘Wow Mom. Your teeth look amazing!’” How powerful is that? Seeing the smile

on her face tells half the story. Therefore written testimonials are great, but not enough to drive SEO or

to really engage prospects online.

You should designate 1-3 employees to be your pro video interviewers. (But keep in mind all staff

members should be assisting in terms of getting customers in the video room for a video.) This program

includes the scripted questions your interviewers need to ask, so they can lead your customers in the

direction you want. In my dental office example, you don’t want customers to merely say, “Dr.---- has a

nice office. His staff is friendly.” Do you see how there is no outcome there? There is no story. These

same principles apply to all types of businesses. You need to get the client’s story, and there needs to be

the “before and after” picture painted during the story so other prospects can envision themselves living

out the same great results.

Depending on your business, you might need to sponsor an event in order to get videos from your best

customers. You can have a golf event, or even a dinner at a nice restaurant. Give your best clients some

perk they won’t want to turn down. Make sure it is easy to get their video during the event. For example, don’t have a dinner at a loud restaurant where there is not a private, quiet room to do your videos. Don’t hold an event at a Cardinals game for the same reason. Keep in mind you need a quiet,

private place to take video. That is why a golf event can be a great idea. There is probably a room in the

clubhouse where you can send customers for their video.

You could host a contest for the same reason. Offering a nice prize for the best testimonial is a very

effective way to get the best videos possible. (Contests bring out the competitive side to your

customers. If they want to win then they will try to think of all the great ways your product or service

has impacted their lives.)

This is your chance to distinguish yourself from all the other similar businesses in your area or online.

Comments about a friendly staff or a nice waiting room are okay. They are positive – but not life

changing. You are a commodity if these are the best things you have to offer. A commodity is a product

or service that is interchangeable with many other products or services – to the point where no one

cares if they buy Product A or Product B. I used to point out to dentists that almost every dental office

has nice furniture and a friendly staff. You need the life changing stories from customers so viewers of

these videos see your business as the best and obvious choice for them. You need to be better than

other businesses who offer the same services and products.

**Eliciting the responses you desire from customers requires your employees

learn to ask the right questions – and lead the customers a bit.

PREP THE CUSTOMER ABOUT HOW THE VIDEO WILL PROCEED:

You will turn the camera on and tell the customer not to pay attention to the camera. They don’t even need to look at the camera. They will look at you and you can say, “Just pretend we are friends having coffee together at Starbucks. Ignore the camera and just look at me.” This will make them less nervous.

Then you need to explain to them how to do the video. I’m going to walk you through exactly what to say….

“Mary – we actually cut me out of the video so I need you to respond to my questions in full sentences.

So if I say, “What is your first name? You will say, “My name is Mary.” Not just, “Mary.”

Or if I say, “How long have you been a patient of Dr.----?” “You won’t just say, ‘10 years.’ ”

You will say, “I have been a patient of Dr.---- for ten years.”

Can you imagine a video where I’m cut out of the video and then it has you saying, “Mary. Ten years. Love it. Yes. Etc…” That wouldn’t make much sense would it? That is why we need you to answer my

questions in complete sentences.

Oh, and try to say the doctor’s name if possible. We want people to know you are our customer! Does

that make sense? (Of course this is an example for a dental office. Whatever your business is you still

want customers to be specific about the business’s name when filming the video so viewers know the video is real and the videos are not faked!)

Sometimes it helps to just re-state the question in the answer. For example if I say, “Would you refer friends and co-workers to Dr.----?” You can say, “I would refer friends and co-workers to Dr.----. I have

referred people before, and I definitely will again!” Or whatever you feel comfortable with. (When

leading customers in terms of answers they could give, you want to make sure the customer knows you

don’t want to put words in their mouth. Ethically it is fine to lead them a bit, but you want them to feel

comfortable in terms of expanding their answers and maybe giving you one that is 50 times better!)

Customers don’t necessarily have to re-state the question in their answer, but sometimes it helps to

make the video more understandable when all the editing is completed. Some of the best videos I’ve seen occurred when customers spoke in full sentences, but they didn’t necessarily re-state the question

in their answer. Play it by ear, and see how things go. If the customer is having a hard time, you can

always remind them that re-stating the question as part of the answer is an easy way to start each

sentence.

What you don’t want to happen is for you to ask a question and for the customer to answer you in a one

word sentence like, “Yes.” Or, “No.” Obviously these answers will have no impact when the interviewer’s questions are edited out of the video.

Why customers need to be led a bit. Customers want to give you the big thumbs up, but 90%

of the time they don’t know how to do it. One in every 25 customers will hit it out of the park. They will

sing your praises, tell their story, and you will feel it is the easiest thing in the world to get great videos.

Just realize this is rare!

To get the quality video you desire, you need to lead the customer down a road of your choosing. You

are not asking them to lie. We never want to be disingenuous. You are just encouraging them in the

right direction so you get their story – the life changing story about how their life was enhanced, how

awesome their business is running now, how confident they feel now, how much energy they have now,

how they look forward to coming to work each day, how they don’t stress about paying the bills anymore, etc… You might need to tailor some questions specifically for customers who have used

specific products or services so the questions make sense for your individual business. Many of my

examples are for dentists, but you will need to think about what kinds of stories you are trying to elicit

from your customers. Some products or services are more profitable than others. If a customer brings

up a very profitable product, keep asking specific follow up questions about that particular product or

service.

Not to beat a dead horse here, but these types of outcome based videos will transform you from a

commodity (just any old business), to the customers’ vendor of choice – the one they will pay more for,

will drive out of their way to visit, the one they can’t live without. For example, when a patient is willing

to drive 1 hour to see a specific dentist when there are dozens closer to where that patient lives or

works, then you know the patient does not view their dentist as interchangeable with any other dental

office. Your goal, no matter what business you are in, is to be seen as the expert - the product or service

the customer wouldn’t think of dropping for another similar product or service.

Can you now see why asking a customer to do a video from their

home computer does not work? You need to do videos in your office

for the best results in terms of quality and quantity.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS TO ASK CUSTOMERS:

1) Tell me your first name? First name only please. We don’t need any stalking situations cropping

up. Please don’t scare your customers by disclosing this thought. I don’t know of any cases of psychos on the internet watching testimonial videos then stalking. That being said, no one wants

it to happen for the first time! Just ask the customer for their first name only. Many customers

run their first and last name together in such a way it is hard to edit the audio. So it is much

better if they just say their first name only. For example, imagine my name is Maria Alvarez.

When you have been saying this name your whole life you tend to run the “a” at the end of Maria together with the “A” at the beginning of Alvarez. Does this make sense?

2) How long have you been a customer of The Back Store? Or insert your business name or the

owner’s name - whichever you prefer. For example, if you are the business owner or have

provided the service then you would say, “How long have you worked with Jim McKnight?

3) How did you end up becoming a customer? Were you referred by another customer?

Remember you are actively shaping their view of you as you go through this process. Therefore,

you can subconsciously place it in the customer’s brain that you get lots of referrals which will

inspire them to refer to you as well. This is also a great way to elicit more information about

how they found you. Many customers are referred and then Google you and check out your

website before becoming a client. The only way you will find out the myriad of ways the

customer might have heard of you is by diving in deeper to find out the roadmap that led them

to you.

4) What keeps you coming back to us? (Obviously don’t ask this if they are new.) Depending on

your business you might not want to ask a new client for a video until they have been your client

for a year or two. Why? Well, there is often no tangible outcome immediately. Remember your

goal is to get meaningful, outcome based testimonials.

Take Proactive Acne Treatment as an example. If someone just used ProActive once or twice, would

they have seen results yet? Probably not. It might take a few months to see the life changing results

that really sway new prospects to buy. Therefore you have to assess your business and decide when

the best time to ask for a video would be. Obviously you want to ask for a video when they have

seen some tangible and positive changes in their lives or business due to using your products and

services, but you also want to make sure you ask for a video soon enough for them to still be on a

high from realizing these positive results! The best time to get a video is when the customer is super

excited.

5) What product or service have you used here? If you don’t know the client’s history well enough to know, then it is best to ask. How else will you know how to lead the customer in the direction

you desire? For example in dental you might ask, “Have you had a crown or a root canal? Maybe

some composite fillings or a dental implant? Did you have Invisalign/Traditional Orthodontics or

a dental sleep appliance made?” The best thing is to have targeted the customer and know what

line of questions to ask. But when in doubt, ask…

6) What do you like about ----business or service?

7) Ask more questions about the specific product or service they have used. You are trying to get

their story. People love stories, and these videos will be much more powerful if you get a

customer’s story. So in my example, if a patient had dental implants, you will ask more

questions about that procedure before moving on…

“What was the final straw? What was the last thing that happened that threw you over the edge in terms of taking action?”

“Tell me about any fears you had prior to the procedure.” “Tell me about the actual procedure. Did you have sedation? Did you experience any

pain?”

“Now tell me about after the procedure. Did you have a lot of post-op pain? How long

was it before you had your final restoration placed? Do your implants feel like your real

teeth when you bite into a piece of steak or an apple?” “Do you love the way your implants look from an aesthetic point of view?”

“If you had a friend who was trying to decide between a new bridge or implants, would

you recommend implants?”

Do you feel it was money well spent?

8) For Invisalign/Traditional Orthodontics you might take the questions in a different direction.

“Tell me about your smile before Invisalign/Orthodontics and why you finally decided to

do it?”

“Tell me about during the process of straightening your teeth. Was it painful, did it take a long time, did it take less time than you expected, things like that…”

“Tell me about the results. How do you feel about your smile now that your teeth are

straight?”

“If you had a friend or co-worker with crooked teeth or spaces between teeth would you

recommend Invisalign/Orthodontics to them?” 9) Don’t forget to ask how the product or service has affected other people in your customer’s

life. I’ve heard many patients who got a dental sleep appliance say their wife sleeps better too, their family loves how they have more energy each night after work, etc…

10) Did you experience any pain during your procedures or were they pain-free? People will avoid

pain at all costs. You need to decide if your service takes away pain or causes pleasure.

Avoiding pain and seeking pleasure are the two most powerful reasons a customer will seek

out your service or product.

11) Did you have sedation during your procedure?

12) Do you like the way your smile looks now that you have had the work done?

13) Did you ever have any terrible dental experiences in the past that made you fearful of the

dentist?

14) Did coming to Dr.---- help ease any of your dental fears? (If they said no to #13, please don’t ask this question!)

15) How would you say our office stacks up compared to other dental offices you have been to in

the past?

16) Would you refer friends and co-workers to Dr.----? Notice I say friends and co-workers? People

often refer family. You want to get them to refer other people – to extend the referral culture

to co-workers and friends. Which group is bigger and more profitable? Families are always

good to get, but most of the time customers have more friends and co-workers than they do

family.

17) If you had a co-worker who told you he was scared of the dentist and needed to see someone,

but wasn’t sure who to see – Take 15 seconds and tell him why you feel he should come see

Dr.----.

18) What do you think we can improve upon here? (Remember to keep it real. If you want to

improve then you need to ask this question. This part of the video can be cut out. No one needs

to see it except you for training purposes. You might be surprised when you hear some of your

customer’s responses! Most likely they won’t have anything to say since you are going to ask your best customers for videos not every customer. Why would you want to ask a customer you

dread working with?! You know the ones who you see on your schedule and you cringe because

they are always in a bad mood, they always complain, and nothing is ever good enough for

them. Don’t even bother asking them! Ask your awesome customers who are the kind you want

to attract more of – the ones who are happy, pay on time, show up on time, are appreciative,

etc...)

If a customer struggles with how to answer the question in a full sentence or re-state the question in

their answer - help them out. “Mary just say, ‘I have referred friends and co-workers to Dr.---- many

times, and I would again, or whatever you want to say.’ ” Or “Mary just say, ‘If I knew someone who was looking for a dentist I would tell them Dr.----’s office is a great choice because…” You are just helping

them with correct way of phrasing the sentence. You are not telling them what to say. It is perfectly

acceptable to help them with the phrasing as long as you make it clear you want them to say it in their

own words.

If you have to interrupt the customer to gently remind them to answer the questions in a full sentence

or to re-state the question in the answer, then do so! You only have one chance to get a great video.

You will not be able to ask them again for a very long time if you mess up your opportunity. Just say, “Oh Mary can we start that one again? I need you to answer in a full sentence or re-state the question in the

answer so it makes sense when we cut me out of the video.” Customers will do it over, and then if they

forget again, do the same thing. They will start to remember if you remind them a few times. (It usually

only takes one reminder.)

Remember not to speak over the customer or let the customer start their answer over you while you

are talking. Editing sound is VERY difficult and time consuming. Do you want to pay your editing people

five times more than you need to? Probably not. To make the most of your marketing budget you need

to try to pause before jumping in. And if a customer starts to answer the question before you are even

done with the question, and you know she has talked over you, then you need to stop her and say, “Oh Mary I think we were talking at the same time. I forgot to tell you, it’s hard to separate sound so we can’t both be talking at the same time during the video. My bad. Can we start again?”

How To Get A Reverse Testimonial For Highest Impact

What is a Reverse Testimonial? A reverse testimonial is very believable since it starts with whatever

objection the customer has, then overcomes that objection as part of the testimonial. So you can start

by deciding and making a list of what your customer’s biggest objections are. Is it fear of pain? Fear of the cost? Too time consuming?

Maybe a customer says, “I was skeptical about the whole sleep appliance thing. I used to use the CPAP machine and I hated it. I’ve seen tons of different doctors, and none of them were able to find a

solution I could live with. So coming to Dr.—- was hard for me to wrap my head around. I’m so glad I overcame my skepticism though. Within 1 week I noticed significant improvements in my sleep. I felt

less tired during the day as a result. After about a month of awesome sleep I feel like a new person. I

feel like I have my life back. My wife is also sleeping better, so she is as thrilled as I am.”

Do you see how this video might have been a little over the top if the customer had not qualified it with

his initial statement about having seen a bunch of doctors who were not able to help and how he was

skeptical about his dentist helping him? Not only does the reverse testimonial make his statements

more believable, but it makes his statement much more powerful. Tons of customers might have had

the same experience. Maybe they are skeptical too? You can help them overcome their biggest fear or

objection with these types of reverse testimonials.

Think of it as bringing the 800lb elephant in their mind to the forefront. If your potential customer’s biggest objection is overcome in the video, you are much more apt to have them schedule an

appointment.

Can you also see how a reverse testimonial is similar to an outcome based testimonial? You are

simultaneously having the patient tell their story (people love stories remember) while they share the

outcome of what happened from the treatment. (ie. “I love my smile now.” “I have so much self-

confidence now.” “I look so great now, I met the man of my dreams.” Etc…) But the kicker is the patient in the video is overcoming the viewer’s biggest objection at the same time. (Ex. “I thought veneers would be too expensive, but the doctor worked with me, and in hindsight they were worth

every penny. My smile looks awesome.”)

Equipment Needed/Where To Take Video/Why Video Equipment Needs To Be

Ready to Go/Lighting/Etc…

We suggest a small amount of equipment like a Flip Ultra HD Camera by Cisco, and a tripod. Flip cameras

are cheap, and the sound and video quality is great. You are welcome to buy a nicer more expensive

video camera, but if the sound quality is not good, you will have to buy a separate sound recording

device. And that just takes more time to start a video if you have to do a separate sound device. Time is

of the essence, and you want to make it as quick and painless for your customers as possible so they

don’t leave regretting they took the time to help you out.

No one likes to watch a shaky video! A tripod is the key to stability. Businesses who try to hand-hold

their cameras end up with shaky, hard to watch videos. Don’t give prospective customers a reason to

watch someone else’s videos!

Do the video in a private room where you can preferably shut the door. Background noise is very

distracting to viewers who might decide not to watch your video if it is too noisy and distracting. I have

worked with customers who did not have a private room, and they had to make do with what they had,

but trust me the background noise can be distracting and really take away from the professional image

of your business.

Have your video equipment ready to go in a private room. Customers get very nervous in front of a

video camera. If they have a crowd watching them, they will be twice as nervous. It will help them relax

if you have a private room (where there is no audience) designated for your videos. This same tenet

holds true for employee videos. Do them privately so there is no audience. Your employees will be

nervous as it is, so don’t make it worse by letting others sit in on the videos. (Don’t have the boss/owner

conduct your employee videos either. Have one designated employee conduct the videos. Employees

will be more nervous in front of their boss/owner so it’s best to not include the owner in the video

process.)

Have everything set up ahead of time so all you have to do is push the record button and start the

video. Customers are willing to help, but they don’t have all day to wait for you to set everything up! People are busy, so make sure everything is ready to go so it takes the least amount of their precious

time as possible. It takes a few minutes for you to explain to the customer about speaking in full

sentences and whatnot. So even if you have everything ready to go the video might take 5-8 minutes.

Can you see how if you spend 5 minutes setting everything up, then the customer might start to regret

they said they would do a video? Not what you want. You want it to be fun and short and painless.

Videos in a private room (with a door) reduce the noise from other employees and customers that

might prove to be distracting. If there are other people talking or you can hear a dental drill drilling

someone’s teeth, these are all going to reduce the quality of the videos. Remember these videos are

easy to edit, but the sound is hard to separate.

Consider what is behind the customer in the video. Is there an ugly light switch? Do you have some

weird paraphernalia that you might not want everyone on Earth to see in these videos in your office

where you plan to take video? Your office should look tidy. If there is a nice painting in the background,

that is okay. But reduce any distracting or unprofessional clutter.

Consider the lighting. If you place a customer with his/her back to a window with natural light streaming

in onto their back, their face will be dark and shadowed in the video. Place the patient in a room where

the light is directed onto their face, not coming from behind them.

Camera angle should be at a slight downward angle. What I mean is the customer’s face should be slightly lower than the video camera. Set up your tripod so the video camera is slightly higher than

where the customer’s head will be when you are filming. (Have an employee sit in the chair you will be

using. This way you will have the camera angle and direction almost perfectly adjusted before you start

having customers come in for the videos. All you have to do is turn it on in this case scenario. If a

customer is very short or very tall, you might need to adjust the camera. I’ve also had staff bump into the camera or tripod by accident and then miss a good video because it wasn’t lined up properly.)

When cameras look slightly down toward the

customer’s face, the customer appears thinner. If

you have the camera coming from below the

customer’s face (angled upwards), then the

customer will look fatter, and it will look like they

have a double chin even if they are thin. You want

to present your customer in the best way

possible. Don’t give your customers any reason to

say, “I want you to take that video off YouTube. I look terrible.”

Your team should do the videos, not the

owner/manager. Taking from my experience in

dental, patients get nervous talking to the doctor

a lot of times. They might even have concerns or

questions they don’t ask the doctor, then when

the doctor leaves the room, they ask the assistant

what they were too nervous to ask the doctor. It

will be better for your staff to do the videos in

this regard. Plus your time as the owner or

manager is too valuable to be doing videos.

Perception is reality, and do you really want

customers thinking you have time to do videos?

You might ask the client for the video, but then

you should pass the video off to a team member

who has been trained to ask the right questions.

Editing Videos – Can You Do It

Yourself or Should You Hire Someone?

You need to ask yourself if your staff’s time and

effort is better spent editing videos or working

with customers. It is your call. Hiring someone will

be expensive.

If you want your videos to turn out awesome then

you should invest in Camtasia Studio. This

software allows you to edit sound and video. It is

quite easy to learn, but will cost you a few

hundred dollars.

You can also use Windows Movie Maker to edit

your videos. This is normally already on most

windows based computers. It is not as

good as Camtasia Studio but it will be

acceptable for a business who is on a

very strict budget.

YouTube actually allows you to edit

videos directly on YouTube with their

software. I do not know if the edited

video can be downloaded onto your

computer so you can use the edited

videos on other social media sites

though. If not, it might be better to use

WMM or Camtasia Studio to edit, save,

then upload onto YouTube and other

sites.

Where to Distribute the

Videos: Video and Social Media

Sites

Again do you have time to do it all

yourself? You need to invest in a CRM

like Hootsuite or SproutSocial or Buffer

to help you automate the distribution of

videos and other posts to video sites and

social media sites like YouTube,

Google+, Twitter, and FB. Other sites like

StumbleUpon, Dailymotion, Vimeo,

Videobash, Digg, Photobucket, Pinterest,

Linkedin, Tumblr, and more can help you

reach more people and positively affect

your SEO and online reputation.

These types of technology distribute

your videos and other posts to specific

sites during the peak hours for

interaction. Social signals matter when it

comes to SEO, so if you want the most

Comments, Shares, Likes, Retweets,

Repins, and +1’s then your videos and

other posts need to be posted at peak hours for engagement.

Let’s go back over why social signals matter to your SMO (Social Media Optimization) and why SEO is entwined with SMO in such an intimate way you cannot ignore social media if you want your SEO to

rock. Google wants to provide the best information to their users who are searching for stuff. They are

business people. If their user experience sucks because they allow subpar content to show up on the

first page of Google SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), then what do you think will happen? Users will

switch to Bing and Yahoo. This is exactly what Google does not want to happen. Google is in the

business of providing the best content possible, and the best user experience possible, so users never

switch. This is how they keep raking in the $$$ each year.

If you want your blogs, videos, website, and posts to be highly ranked in Google SERPs, you need to

provide the highest quality stuff you can. Everything you do must be educational, well written,

humorous if possible, and high quality. (Yes you want to use relevant keywords, but the days of keyword

stuffing are over. It is much more important to provide epic content than to try to game the system by

stuffing your content with keywords with no regard to readability.) The better stuff you put on your

website and social media networks, the more people will naturally give you kudos by +1’ing, Liking, Commenting on, Sharing, Retweeting, etc… Google knows that if lots of people love your website, posts, blogs, videos, etc… then chances are other users will want to see your stuff as well. If Google views you not just as an authority in your field, but as a publisher of high quality, entertaining content, then you

will have a great chance of showing up on the first page of Google SERPs.

There are definitive statistics available about the best ways to engage existing customers and new

customers on social media and video sites. I’m not going to go into a lot of detail since I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but I will just say that video is a huge way to boost your SEO efforts as well as your

SMO

effort

s.

Staff Motivation: How to Get Your Team to Embrace Change and Become Your

Social Media Marketing Army

I highly suggest you monetarily compensate your team for their participation in this area. A bonus will

inspire any employee to embrace change, and these videos will be well worth it in terms of ROI.

What are some examples of bonuses? Well you could make it clear to your team before embarking on

this video journey that their positive attitude towards the program and assistance helping it to be a

success will directly affect their performance reviews, and their ability to qualify for a raise going

forward.

Maybe you implement a group goal to increase team work and inspire all staff members to participate?

Maybe the staff members who are designated to be video interviewers are given individual bonuses for

5 Star videos. These would be videos that have all the key elements of a great video. 1) Outcome based,

2) Reverse Testimonial overcoming an objection, 3) Customer tells an engaging story, 4) Customer says

the name of the business or owner’s name at least once in the video, 5) Customer gives you a video

specifically about a high value product or service. You can designate any requirements you want. And

you can pay them any amount you deem to be appropriate.

Your staff will get these 5 Star videos regularly if they learn everything they need to learn, and put some

effort into it. They will most likely not get many videos that fit the bill if they are not given the proper

incentive. Your staff might decide the extra money is not a good enough incentive to put all that effort in

to their job. Maybe they are just the type who wants to pick up their paycheck but not learn anything

new. My personal opinion is that an employee of this nature might need to be replaced.

This is why you need to make it clear that their performance reviews and their yearly raises will be

dependent on their ability to be positive, embrace change, and do something new.

Transforming your staff into your social media army is pivotal for your growth. All of your staff members

are probably very active on social media networks. Give them incentive to post your videos on their

social media sites so all their followers and friends are exposed to your business in a positive way. Don’t assume because they work for you they are your biggest business advocates outside of work. They

might never refer anyone to your business unless you give them incentives to do so. They might even

complain about you or other staff members on their social media sites. Your staff is either helping you or

killing you slowly. You need to monitor what is being said about you online.

Staff members who do not want to participate in the social media army side of your business – this will

reveal a lot about that staff member in terms of letting you know if they are an active advocate for your

practice or not.

Give staff a longer lunch or some other time during the day to post for you on their social media sites.

You cannot expect them to use their own free time to do this work. For example, let them know that

they have 30 minutes for lunch and then 30 minutes for social media 2 times per week, and then the

rest of the week they have the standard 30 minute lunch. Or whatever schedule you decide upon.

You have to decide who is going to do the videos, where, and all the logistics. Tracking is also important

so you can keep stats. Without stats you are marketing in the dark, and that is not smart. What practices

do you have in place to monitor and track where your new customers are coming from? Remember,

many times customers are referred to you by a friend but then Google you before they schedule an

appointment. You might (statistically speaking) track this kind of customer as an internet customer, not

a referral. Why? What they saw on the internet before scheduling that appointment probably more

heavily factored into their decision to become a customer than the referral did. If the referral had

factored more heavily into their decision then they would have scheduled an appointment without

checking you out online first. Or you can track them as both. You have to decide how you will track your

new customers so you can make sense of the ROI you are getting from your efforts.

If you make video part of your well-oiled machine, then the staff will participate. A small percentage of

dental offices have the staff rebel and say no we are not doing it. (Approximately 18%) If you incentivize

them by giving them a bonus for performance, then they will be more interested. This is just my

experience. Other businesses might have no resistance to implementing new tasks like video.

REMEMBER to tell staff their performance in this area will be part of their annual review, and will weigh

heavily on whether they receive a raise or not next year. You must hold them accountable, and not sway

from your path. If these employees can learn to wear a mask and gloves (example from dental), or

schedule appointments on a computer (as opposed to an old school written schedule book), then they

can learn to do videos. Just because it was not on their job description when they started, does not

mean it is not going to be one of their duties today.

The businesses who fail in their customer video testimonial endeavor,

let their staff run the show. You need to be clear about one thing with

your staff – your success or failure in business is the key to them either

making more money and having job security, or making less money

and not having job security.

The bottom line is if your business fails, then you will have to let some people go, and won’t be able to afford regular raises for those who stay. If your business thrives, then you will be able to hire more

employees, expand, promote team leaders, offer those team leaders more money, etc… Plus if your

business shrinks in size, then why should you give staff pay raises? You won’t be making more money. Raises should be for outstanding performance, not just for doing time. If you start to make your staff

think this way, then they might understand better. (Many employees expect a raise just for being there

another year, but that does not incentivize employees to do better.) In a system where employees are

rewarded with bonuses for added duties like videos, they will be given incentive to learn new skills or

stagnate in terms of pay. Employees need to have the security of never making less money (that’s why you don’t pay them 100% commission), but they also will not have the ability to make more money

unless your business thrives or unless they embrace the changes you deem appropriate for success.

There is a lot riding on success, and it’s not just for you! If they see the potential for their own gain, then

they will have stars in their eyes. WIIFM works for all types – not just customers.