Do you know how much employee turnover is really costing you? The Society for Human Resource Management estimates that it costs over $3,500 to replace one $8/per hour employee. That number is staggering, but consider how much time and money you put into recruitment, interviews, hiring and training. It makes accounting sense to try to retain your current employees. But first consider this; poor training has been identified as the number one culprit of lack of performance from employees and the top reason why many new employees quit. In fact, only one of every two employees thinks their employer has adequately trained them to perform their jobs.

Do you feel that your work force is appropriately trained for their jobs? Since training is the first thing a new employee undergoes at your company, don't you want to make a good impression?

Creating a video training program can be cost effective for your business. By creating one or two videos that you can use again and again, you will be saving the time and money it would normally take to train a new employee. By using corporate training videos, employees will better understand their specific job role and how it fits into the larger company scale. This will increase both productivity and motivation from your new employee and reduce employee turnover. Also, training videos are 100% customizable and can easily fit into any established training program.

Have you considered using videos to help train your new employees? Corporate training videos come in all shapes and sizes and will suite any size or type of business. However, training videos may not be right for your company. Take time to examine your company's turnover rate, effectiveness and overall employee success before deciding what would work best.

Bright Street Media has the resources and experience to produce your next Corporate or Training video. We also have the expertise to help you decide what types of videos will benefit you. Please call us today at 800.270.0619.

Upcoming: Watch out for our upcoming blog series about the Use of Video in Social Media!

Do you have raving fans? Do you have apostles? My guess is you do. You know, that customer or client who absolutely loves or loved working with you. You solved their problem or need and did it is such a way they tell everyone about you. They may even offer “if you ever need me to tell someone about my experience with, have them call me”. This is the customer you wish you dealt with every day. And wouldn’t it be great to bring your apostle with you on every sales call, show up to your prospects to spread the good word on your behalf. You just want to hire this customer to campaign for you.

Well, it is more possible than you think because I have an easy solution to improve your closing rate and at the same time attract new customers that come to you already hearing how great you are. Now it’s not an easy solution because it will take some thought provoking changes in the way you view your marketing budget and require a slight shift in focus.

I am taking about capturing your raving fans praises on video and delivering it in a variety of places. Here is a quick example of a “life changing” problem that was solved. http://www.vimeo.com/3847967. You heard it straight from people who actually experienced results. This video has totally changed the way my client sells her services. Here is why it worked so well.

1. Most important we picked the raving fans who represent the best.

2. We ensured quality by capturing in the best definition of site and sound.

3. We created a list of questions that provoked problem solution that told a story.

4. We made it available everywhere (Web, DVD, Mobile)

I believe this marketing strategy is proven to shorten your sales cycle and remove some risk factors from your prospect. It provides true value and proves your price is worth it.  I have news for you… your prospective customers don’t care how much you brag about your company and service, they want to buy with little risk.

My last bit of advice is to above all, do it right! You see these dark videos with lousy audio on the web every day. Avoid the temptation to do it cheap. Remember this is your brand!

Feel free to ask any questions or post comments as I welcome your feedback.

Following our last post, we now drill down to the major components in selecting your “raving fans” and making sure they are prepared to go “soapbox” on your behalf. Keep in mind that people in general love to give advice and make suggestions when they had a great experience. Your customers will be no different, but selection is the key. Here are a few things to keep in mind when sending your customers to sell your company using video. Depending where you deliver will depend on length of the video. But technical details are for a later blog. For now here are the beginning steps.

The first step in creating a video customer testimony would be  selecting your biggest fans based this criteria.

• You are sure they will look good on camera and speak passionately about a problem and solution you (or your company) provided.
• They are more than happy to rave about you.
• They may be a client that resembles a few of your key prospects and or industry focus.

Secondly you want to organize  a minimum of two maximum three customers/clients to do the boasting, unless you plan to do a series of videos. We will talk about a series in the next blog, for now let’s stick with one video two to three testimonials. A few things to keep in mind when selecting.

• Decide whether or not you want diversity in your testimonials. I am referring  to the diversity of the problem and solution and revenue size of the client, not race etc., unless gender and race serve a specific need.
• If you need three clients ask six, if you need two ask four and so on. Don’t be upset if you are turned down. Most people hate themselves on camera… CEO’s love the camera FYI.
• That brings me to this point… be sure the raving fan has an intimate understanding of your company and the solution you provided.