Better Video Testimonials: 

Great Answers Are Born From Great Questions

How come most video testimonials suck?

Video is such a great medium to capture testimonials from your clients. 

They’ve just experienced your magic. Their face exudes excitement; their lips pressed with respect; their head tilted in favour of you. All subtle clues that they are going to say something good about YOU and your service…

and then it all melts away because you ask the wrong question. 

Use this simple template: “Tell me your name and what’s the ONE THING you thought when …[finished the call with me today] [when you listened to today’s speaker][used our product for the first time]” 

Everyone can speak their name and ‘the one thing I thought was…’ gets them up to speaking speed. 

This acts as an on-ramp to the speaking freeway.

Ask a good question and you’ll get a better answer

How good would it be to record your front and back cameras on your smartphone AT THE SAME TIME?  Well now you can Here’s a quick peek…

How would you use it? Got any ideas? 

Is perfectionism hurting your videos?

Have you ever heard of the pratfall effect? A pratfall is a comedic cinematic effect where the character falls flat on their bum and everyone starts laughing. It's a very much a slapstick technique. You see it in the old Buster Keaton movies.

Well, there's a psychological effect built around that. It's called the Pratfall Effect, and what it says, if you're a competent person and you make a blunder, then the counter-intuitive effect is that you become more likeable.

Now, there's a caveat on that. If you're a dickhead and you keep doing dickhead things, you're still a dickhead.

So how does this affect you and making your videos? Well, if you are a slave to perfectionism, if you won't let a video go out because it's just not perfect, counterintuitively, you might be turning away audiences seeking more authentic interactions on video.

Do you know what Feb 2009 was?

It was when the Samsung OMNIA first hit the shelves. The first-ever smartphone with a video camera.

It was also the start of not needing an instruction manual to make a video. It was the moment video was democratised. If you wanted, you didn’t have to defer to those with the tools and the knowledge to make videos.

In just ten short years two things have happened

First

the quality of smartphone video has skyrocketed

4K which is cinema quality is standard on smartphones
they are now shooting Hollywood features on smartphones
8K which is just about IMAX is on the latest smartphones

Second, while quality has gone up

the need for technical know-how has gone down

all the AI and computing power in this thing
means to get a pretty good looking video all you have to do is press RECORD

The problem is if you aren’t aware of just how good smartphone video has become

and you are wanting to start using video for your business
then you are likely to go...

Am I Not Pretty Enough for Video? Kasey Chambers posed the question in her 2001 song Not Pretty Enough. Having the right ‘look’ for video is becoming a thing of the past.

In 2020 the key to video presentation skills is authenticity. 

All your lumps and bumps and wrinkles give you credibility.

Own them.

This advice by Herman Munster in 1965 holds true for everyone in business worried about being on video.

We worry about how we look and sound on video.

We worry that we will forget what we need to say and look stupid. Fair call. I used to feel this way. I say feel this way because I knew, that although I was no oil painting to look at,

this was an emotional response, not a logical one.

I had witnessed the same reactions from people I videoed over the years. I would spend extra time using flattering lighting to make interviewees look great. In my eyes, they looked a million dollars, but for many, they couldn’t see past their perceived flaws. Nothing I did was...

In the first video on video storyboards for business, we discovered how easy it is to add a few extra lines to a childlike stick figure that turns it into literally ‘a business tool’.

Now, let us bring faces to life.

1. What’s the power of an emotive face?
2. How do we get eyes, nose, mouth in the right place?
3. What're 3 emotions that anyone can do?

Find out all about Simon Banks

and see how you can work with me to win more business with a smartphone and a smile

You might have seen one of these a storyboard? It’s a simple series of frames that show people what’s going to happen so they go… ok, I get it now. But I hated using them because I couldn’t draw and I was embarrassed about my stickmen.

Well that all changed when I went to one of Simon Banks whiteboard ninja workshops where he shows you how to become a better visual storyteller and therefor a better communicator, just by using some simple techniques.

This will improve the way you make your business videos

Plus Simon shows you a ‘forever skill’ you can use for family and fun.

In the next video see how you can add emotion to your business videos

Check out Simon Banks

And get video smart with me to win more business with a smartphone and a smile.

Want to but a video camera for your business? You already own a pocket-sized TV station. You realise that, don’t you?

The future of video lies in computing power. 

Taking the image out of cameras and applying computing power to create even more amazing results.

The smartphone you own right now probably has a lens more powerful than the Hubble Space telescope

Stop your search for equipment. Your wasting your precious time and your competition is getting ahead. 

Grab your smartphone and discover what it can do for you.

Ever been liberated? I have. 

I stuttered in my youth and teens and into my twenties. I hated it. I hated how the ideas in my head would not flow off the tip of my tongue as simple eloquent words.  It took me years but I don’t stutter anymore. I did it myself. I had all the purpose I needed. I simply didn’t want my life governed by something I never chose.

And you never chose to have to add video as yet another business skill you need to master. Leave it unchecked and it will start steering your decisions. You’ll be avoiding it and making excuses and watching opportunities slip by. That hurts. It doesn’t have to.

It’s why I’ve chosen to lead a business video rebellion against the out of date mindset that perpetuates the notion that video needs to be slow, expensive and outsourced to others to create. It’s simply not true. You now win more business with a smartphone and a smile.

Want to rise up? Grab your smartphone and discover a...

So let’s say you’re thinking about creating a video strategy for your business and you think you might use smartphone video recording and smartphone video production?

If you’re asking which smartphone has the best camera, you’re asking the wrong question? 

Pretty much all smartphone cameras will give you better results than you need.

• The iPhone has a lens better than the Hubble space telescope.
• We mostly watch videos on our smartphones and if we do watch it on our desktop at work it is almost always viewed in a small window on our screen
• and most importantly - and always keep this in mind - the sharper the camera lens the sharper your wrinkles are.

Please understand that overproduced videos are not where your ROI is going to come from. It’s going to come from authentic selfie type videos where you reach out and say here, I’ve got something I think will help you.

Three questions to ask when choosing your smartphone…

1. What are you...