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Commercial Script - Setting Customer expectations
  • andyharrisandyharris

    Over the last week or so I've been doing some business development with local companies that might need some video for their websites etc.

    These are the sort of companies that more than likely would not have engaged a video production before, or just made their own simple youtube videos.

    The success rate in getting initial meetings is about 20:1, we're getting favourable comments regarding our corporate examples. However the main worry for these companies is controlling the cost and knowing what they are going to get for their budget.

    On some recent projects with a customer I know well I've used the script as a sort of 'contract' as to what they are going to get - if they want more or a change to the script after it has been shot they know that there will be a charge incurred.

    I've expanded the idea a bit more and made this page on our website:

         http://wbavproductions.co.uk/resources/script.html

    I'd be curious to learn if anyone here has any tips for engaging with companies that need video but haven't started yet.

    Thanks for thinking .... Andy

  • 4 Replies sorted by
  • Mark_the_HarpMark_the_Harp

    Have you seen Steven Washer's stuff at http://www.brainyvideo.com - aimed at people who are not technical gurus but who would benefit from a marketing head on them. What you have on your link is great but from that - and what you say in your post - I'm not sure it's coming from a customer perspective, more from a "what we do " angle, which might at worst frighten a customer away.

    Steven has a ton of experiences to share.

    My personal expertise is as a musician who understands music / education projects and I also happen to do video - and to me that's the correct hierarchy of skills. Whatever my area of expertise I'd want to discuss and help them refine those ideas (and often, robustly challenge them) before any shooting happens. Yes, you can invite / persuade them with your technical skills - but sometimes the value you bring is of someone who understands the impact of a message. It could be that (as on a recent piece of work I did where a client wanted video) you might even steer them towards something in another medium that's more effective.

    Not sure if that's what you wanted, just a personal perspective.

  • Mark_the_HarpMark_the_Harp

    PS it is relevant to cost control - because if clients flounder, it wastes your time and their money. Sometimes they need to see a rough treatment to see what the issues are - or they might have seen something elsewhere which they like, which can become a starting-point for discussion. So I do like your script idea - and I could see it would be successful where there's a clear message to convey. The issue I've always had is where businesses haven't got to that stage!

  • andyharrisandyharris

    @Mark_the_Harp

    I read through the brainyvideo stuff, your right! its on the button for the type of customers I'm coming across.

    Basically I'm going through all the local industrial/business park estates and contacting anyone who has a technical/process/fashion product or service. In my area I've come across everything from fancy dress to infra-red filters for aerospace.

    If the first worry is budget, the second is the effect on SEO, which looks like another subject to addressed!

  • Mark_the_HarpMark_the_Harp

    That's a genius idea to focus on a location where there are lots of different business together - they will be happy to recommend you to each other as they won't been competing in the same markets as each other.

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