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A Sales Video That Excites But Doesn’t Anticipate Objections To The Sale
Filed Under (selling products) by marketing-master on 02-09-2010
Now that Hummers are no longer in production, at least for now, we can look retrospectively at a Hummer sales video, and consider its good points, and speculate as to what about it may have been consistent with the fate of the Hummer line.
Sales videos in general should have interesting visual material, to engage the viewer. They should provide a means by which the viewer can identify with the product and or the video presentation.They should kindle enthusiasm about buying the product, and if possible anticipate likely buyer objections and answer them within the video. While all these tasks should be included in a sales video, some videos will emphasize one or more of them more than others.
The Hummer sales video seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHFEwSD4ogk presents interesting viewing material and extensively presents the major quality which has excited people to buy the Hummer.
The content of the 11 minute video consists of scenes of an H1 Hummer driving through off road country. We watch the sturdy vehicle as it treks through, mud, snow, water, up embankments, over concrete and wood impediments on dirt paths and over large bumps. The video presents convincing evidence that the Hummer can do what people liked about it, make its own road.
The sales approach of the video is more than random happenstance. While live salesman can assess the customers interests in real time, a company producing a video has to ask itself ahead of time, what qualities of the product are most likely to excite viewers and make them want to acquire the item. With the Hummer, certainly its ability to drive in all types of terrain is its most famous appealing quality. This video does not merely include presentation of the quality, it makes it the central feature of the entire vehicle.
What about the ability to identify with the presentation? The video does not go out of its way to create identification. We hardly see a single shot of the driver. None one is particularly likely to think that the man driving the car is a person just like himiself. There is a certain amount of general identification in that Hummers were American military vehicles and so any military man, or American who admires the military might automatically identify with the vehicle.
A positive observation that can be made about this video is that the visual material is interesting and captivating. Viewers might squirm a bit as the Hummer trucks through water up to the radiator, and that’s not necessarily good. However, for the most part the smooth almost effortless way the Hummer makes a path through various off road conditions is good watching, which is attested to by the 100,000 plus views and the large number of You Tube Hummer videos, one or more of which has racked up 2,000,000 or more views.
In retrospect, we need to consider the videos one weakness. The sales presentation fails to present material which answers the major objections which are credited with bringing about the discontinuation of the line.
Wikipedia lists four major criticisms of the Hummer vehicle line. The large size presents parking problems and is considered a danger for smaller vehicles. The vehicle has been considered ecologically irresponsible. The car is also cited for poor fuel economy. And is criticised for its poor safety record.The sales video made no effort to present material which would answer any of those four potential major objections.
In fact, just the opposite, the long exciting scenes of trekking through wilderness, wild grass and fields would, in retrospect convince us that the Hummer does tear up the wilderness. Also, several scenes in the video might warn viewers of the ease with which an irresponsible hummer driver can end up driving his car into water over the cars capacity, or over a tall ledge or cliff.
The bottom line of a sales video is that it must sell, and anticipating and answering objections to the sale is the back end of presenting material which will excite the viewer.Objections can often be answered very unobtrusively in a way that doesn’t detract from the positive message of the video.
So in retrospect, the take home lesson of this Hummer video is not to get carried away with one function of a sales video to the detriment of other important tasks of this genre.









