Episode #57 Should You Use Video in Sales? ft. Melissa Gaglione

In today's episode of Revenue Reimagined, we're joined by Melissa Gaglione, Head of Sales at SendSpark.

Melissa discusses how her experience as an on-air news reporter and an SDR at LivePerson led her to excel in video selling, a technique she now advocates for in B2B sales. She emphasizes the importance of using video to engage prospects, the science behind effective video communication, and how she plans to apply her leadership experiences to her new role at SendSpark. The episode also touches on the power of video in sales, with Melissa encouraging founders to harness this medium to connect with their audience.

During today's show, Melissa shares her secrets on:

- the power of using video in sales prospecting

- taking video skills we already all use and tailoring it to sales

- how video in the sales funnel can convert WAY more than written text

Any founder, entrepreneur, or business leader can steal the lessons Melissa shares in this episode and use them for their own success.

Follow Melissa - https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissagaglione/

PS - huge shout out to Sendoso for sponsoring our show.

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Transcript

Adam Jay (00:00.99)
Welcome back to another episode of the Revenue Reimagined podcast. We get so many great guests on this show, but very rarely do we get someone that I truly admire, that I followed for a long time, and that has been instrumental in my, and our inbound, outbound, inbound to outbound motion here at Revenue Reimagined. So with us today, we have none other than the incredible Melissa Gaglione, who I knew

when I first saw her coming up and coming at deal on LinkedIn, she moved over and started her own thing, Melissa Gaglione. We could talk a little bit about what that looked like. And now she is the head of sales at the best video company out there, Senspark, which we'll talk about in a little bit as well. Melissa, welcome to the show. Thanks for being

Melissa Gaglione (00:50.843)
my gosh, I'm so happy to be here. And how weird is it to talk to you both virtually? Because I feel like we're always in person.

Dale Zwizinski (00:59.448)
That is true. This is like a flip, because usually, like the first time we met was in person down in Tampa. And so now we're just flipping the story. So the current position you have at SenseSpark was based off your original company that you started building on your own. So why did you build the company? What was the origin story of your company?

Melissa Gaglione (01:51.804)
Yeah, for sure. So I started Melissa Gaglione LLC. It's funny because I recently got married and I was like, my name must live on forever. So made it an LLC. So it's forever one. But it all started naturally, you know, not on purpose. I wanted to get some content creators together. I wanted to throw a community event.

And I wanted to bring the amazing people that I met on LinkedIn to one place where we weren't sitting, you know, listening to someone else speak, like we could really start to network and collaborate. And truthfully, there wasn't much intention behind it. And the whole purpose was just to bring people together, but it became so, so, so much more.

And that's why when, the event was being successful and you know, people were giving me money without an LLC, without any sort of business behind me, you know, I was almost joking with them. want to Venmo me or what? but getting all of these different, you know, large brands to buy into the, the idea of bringing people together for a community event, was what sparked for me to start my, official business

I help companies throw events now. And I also do individual coaching for whether that is video selling, which is something I'm very skilled at, social, brand building, even interview prep. So just trying to make myself available for the community that really shows up every day and is just trying to get better.

Dale Zwizinski (03:32.898)
Love that.

Adam Jay (03:34.368)
So you are probably the best at video selling that I've seen. I think that it is definitely a skill that takes people time to get comfortable with. It's not as simple as just pop up a camera and talk into a camera. And it's hard. When you originally started in sales, my guess is you probably weren't great at video selling. don't think you were in a, maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think you were in a deal and like day one, you're like, shit, I'm the best video seller out there. How did?

What prompted the use of video that ultimately, like we'll come back to the creator stuff, but what prompted you to say video's the way to go? Because I feel like a lot of founders we talk to and a lot of early sales teams we talk to are a little video resistant.

Melissa Gaglione (04:19.856)
Yeah, it was actually when I was an SDR at LivePerson. I don't know if you know Brandon Fluharty, but he personally hired me when I was an SDR. So that definitely set the pace of what greatness looks like. you know, while I was there in my first few months, I was such a loser. I was not booking meetings and I was using the same sequences in the same talk tracks as my peers. And I was like, you know what?

this isn't working for me. I kind of felt like a robot and I heard of people doing voice notes but I was like let me take it a step further and I'm gonna go ahead and send a video because I was previously an on -air news reporter so I'm pretty good on camera.

I felt comfortable with it. I know how to tell a story in 90 seconds. I know how to tell something that's compelling to keep people involved. And I'm not gonna lie, my first video was absolute garbage, but I booked a meeting with a C -suite executive from a big furniture company within 30 minutes of sending that video. And I said, this is it. I'm now sending videos. And that's how I was able to start.

getting into the largest accounts, enterprise accounts. So then I had all these top AEs like Brandon Wright wanting me to help them prospect into these accounts. And I was able to get an AE role that then led me quickly to enterprise AE because I was breaking into those accounts within one year. So that's how was able to climb that very, very quickly was leveraging video.

Dale Zwizinski (05:57.846)
And now, nowadays it's really difficult to get in people's inboxes. So talk to us a little bit about how video and blending into send spark a little bit, how that can like help people get from like not being her not getting in the inbox, not being read to actually being read. Like what are some of those tips and tricks you

Melissa Gaglione (06:19.026)
There's so many tips and tricks and there really is a science to it. So just like on how there's a science to writing an email and doing a cold call and doing social, there is a science to how do you make a compelling video that tells a story, that solves a problem, that is now trigger based because it can't just be, me show you my solution. It really has to be, what is the purpose that you're reaching out for? What have you identified? And what is the research that you have to prove that

when I'm reaching out to Adam, dude, I know you're looking for this. I know you have this pain. I know that whatever the trigger is, so that way it's kind of you put it in their face. But really what makes a video stand out and where I'm seeing it trend is, let me ask you a question, Dale. How do you take content in when you're, whether that's on Instagram.

or Facebook or LinkedIn, what's the easiest way for you to absorb information?

Dale Zwizinski (07:21.184)
It's definitely video. It's video, it's fast, but it's so quick now. Like that's the other part, even on the video piece. Like you can't do, you get like those first few seconds in the thumbnail, right? Those two things, super

Melissa Gaglione (07:34.684)
Yes. So you have to be quick with it. You have to be straight to the point. You still have to be engaging. You also have to be personable. Right. And then the other piece of it is when they do book that meeting, you know, think about your reps that are really good at demos that can really be compelling in a video call. Right. Those are the reps that should definitely be using video because they come off really well on camera. And I mean, we're on zoom calls every single day. We're practicing.

the questions that we need to ask, our negotiation tactics, all of those things. I remember in the beginning, people were getting or like hiring acting classes so that way they could learn how to like pitch on discos and demos and things like that. Video is that way too. So if you can do your discos over Zoom, you can send a video. It's the same skills that you're using

Dale Zwizinski (08:28.28)
That's a super good point. That's a super good point.

Adam Jay (08:32.838)
It's people don't think about that, right? Like this, the skills do translate. So Melissa, you were an SDR. You were an AE. Then you turned business owner. And now that has propelled you into a head of sales role. But not a lot of people get that experience, especially at relatively young ages to own businesses and use that to propel them into.

something else. Talk to me a little bit about the journey of, hey, I want to own a business because sitting on this side, that's a crazy decision. And then I'm going to use this to propel me to a head of sales role because of

Melissa Gaglione (09:17.99)
Yeah, well, I think that all sellers, we are our own business. You are running your own book of business. You're responsible for your own pipeline. You're responsible for your clothes. You're responsible for your customers. That's something that I've loved about sales is that I really feel like it is my book of business.

This is my little operation that I'm running. This is my little business that I'm running. You know, the company I'm working for is just supplying the product and like a few other things like things for the legal. But you know, it is my own book of business. I also come from a family of business owners, but small business owners. So my dad came over from Italy and he started his own landscaping business. So I've always been around it and you

Even though this business is the one that I started first, like it is so not going to be the last. have so many big dreams and great plans and all of those things for my future and what that's going to look like. But I needed to first take the first step of, know, one, how do I get incorporated? What does this look like? What does it even look like when taxes come around? all those little things like, yeah, like, why would I wait? Like, let me just try to take even baby steps.

Adam Jay (10:24.768)
Crazy, right?

Melissa Gaglione (10:31.72)
You know, cause if I have a long -term goal, you know, something that could happen in 10 years from now, why not start taking baby steps and gaining experience now? Why would I put it off in 10 years from now? Why not start getting customers or clients or building my brand or building out, you know, people that would suggest or use me or anything like that, or, you know, getting better at teaching and educating others or marketing or the books, all that. Why not start that now?

at a small scale so that way when I'm ready for the bigger things, I already have a little bit of knowledge to help

Dale Zwizinski (11:07.566)
100%. I love that. love that. So you're a new leader and you've worked for many other leaders. And so what have you learned in past leadership, not calling anybody out, but what have you learned in past leadership that you want to bring in? And what are some things from a leadership perspective that you don't want to bring into your team?

Melissa Gaglione (11:30.076)
Yeah. So I had the pleasure of working at Deal directly for Mike Gallardo, which I personally prospected when I was choosing where I wanted to work. was choosing not just the product, but who I wanted to work for. So when I saw that he was specifically hiring for a role that would be reporting to him, I wanted it. And I had two compelling offers with another company.

And I chose Mike because I literally said to him, like, I literally choose you. Like, I want to work for you. And it was the best decision because he was the greatest boss I've ever had. And he taught me so much because I didn't always have great bosses. And if you know, I've had a few other careers before sales. I was an elementary education school teacher and I, my principals were rough. was

Adam Jay (12:24.074)
Hmm.

Melissa Gaglione (12:25.104)
Not great, I'll tell you that. The system sucks. And I didn't have a good experience with those bosses. I was also an on -air news reporter for CBS. And I had a very timid boss where all the news reporters really ran the station, which is a problem when you got a bunch of girls fighting for airtime. So I also saw it was like to kind of be a bush over sort of thing.

And then I had a few bosses at live person and things like that, but I really Mike really showed me what it was like to be an empathetic leader But also listen so something that I really learned with him was that he would You know the way that he would solve problems was he would keep me involved in it So he would ask me like what what my opinion was for a problem that he was

and wanted suggestions from because I was the one, you know, doing the work and what I saw, I was also the one that was talking to so many different people. And it gave me a sense of, wow, I feel valued because he values what I have to say. So I think that just, just asking your people for suggestions or, I'm trying to go through this problem or what do you think about this? And letting us feel that we have a sense of,

you know, ability to make a change just by offering ideas instead of the changes just happening. That was a huge point. And so that's the type of leader that I'm going to be. I'm not going to push my problems on my reps. Absolutely not. There's a big difference between pushing problems and making them figure it out than it is to, Hey, this is a problem I've noticed. Like, like, how would you feel if we did something like this? Or do you have any other ideas about it or anything like that and hearing from them? So that's something that I'm definitely going to do.

And most definitely anything that I've learned from my other careers is to encourage and to give proper feedback and coaching, not to be tough in a sense of tearing people down at something that happens in news. So there's a different way of how to give feedback and encourage people for sure.

Adam Jay (14:37.974)
It's hard, right? Like being a leader is hard. Like I have no other way to say it. And I think, you you nailed some things that make a good leader when you talk about being encouraging and giving feedback and not pushing your problems. I think all of that is so important. And I think a lot of founders struggle with being leaders, right? Like some of them, you know, they were either great sellers or great CTOs or, you know, really technical product folks.

but haven't necessarily had to lead people before. And making that transition into leadership is difficult. As you are moving into leadership and building out, God willing, a massive team at SenseSpark and video selling becomes the most important thing. What are some of the things that you've experienced that you won't do and that founders and leaders shouldn't

And other than like, you know, praise and stuff, like really tactical, what are a couple of really great things that are critical for a great

Melissa Gaglione (15:44.71)
Yeah, we all know the ivory tower, right? We need to avoid just the I don't believe that. But you know what I mean? Like you have your ivory tower. I've seen so many leaders just not be with it. Like they're just not even aware of, you know, not even just the problems that they have, but the tools, the solution.

Adam Jay (15:49.674)
Dale sits in it.

Adam Jay (16:11.2)
Mm -hmm.

Melissa Gaglione (16:12.422)
the other ways to go about it. Like you gotta be with it and even know things that are going, not just your own business, but what is the market doing? How is it evolving? How are other teams getting other results? Like what are the other tools that companies are using? Cause you have to stay competitive. And so often I see leaders just throwing bodies at the problem and it's such a mess.

Like you don't need to just throw a body here and throw a body there and scale up here and scale up there. Like take a look at what all of your options are. Can you just enable them with other tools? Is it coaching? Is it really just helping your managers be able to coach rather than just be, you know, reactive in the feedback there? Can you be proactive? Can you schedule actual coaching sessions with

So there's so many different things. It's like being aware of like one, the tools, what's out there in the market, how others are getting ahead, you know, how to make it easier for your sales reps and not throwing bodies at the problem. And then the other piece is making sure that you as a manager or as a leader, like your job is to make your team better. It's not to drill them with the numbers. It's not to hold them with all, it's literally your job is to make them better.

And so many are just not even coaching. They're not even setting up time to say, Hey, this is a skill we're going to work on at the beginning of the week. And then during that week, I want to see it in your demos. And then, you know, show me what that looks like in your demos. Like which call did you practice is on let's watch it or send it to me. And then we're going to be, you know, coaching the next week after. don't understand why that's not done so much. Everything is so reactive instead of proactive.

And that's something that I really want to make sure that I do I want to make the people that join sense park just

Adam Jay (18:08.116)
I love that.

Dale Zwizinski (18:08.398)
100 % Yeah, that's great. I want to go back to the video piece for a second because where I saw you do a lot of great videos on Instagram as you were kind of like going through the process and going back to that, you know, eight second, 10 second kind of clips where you're providing enough value. Would you recommend that people that are trying to do this video content for LinkedIn emails, that kind of stuff, start with something like Instagram and try out reels? I'm curious your perspective

why you went down that

Melissa Gaglione (18:40.082)
Dude, I guarantee you, if you ask a rep, you know, hey, have you used Snapchat? Hey, have you ever made a reel? Hey, have you ever made a TikTok? Hey, like have you ever used Marco Polo, which is an app that you, you know, send to your friends and they watch videos of each other? They're gonna say yes, like they've already done

They're already doing, they've been doing it for years. So they have already been making videos of themselves, whether it's to show their friends something really funny, know, check this out, like whatever, maybe they've been doing it. Everyone knows, you know, they've been in this for so long now. It's been, video has been in the space for like 10 years. We've all been making videos to communicate, but it's been socially.

Why are we not doing it in B2B? And we all know things start at the social level, how people communicate and then make their way to B2B. It's like we're the last ones to figure it out. But they're already doing it. So if they wanna start talking about things and show their expertise, then they can go ahead and start making those little recordings.

I'm going to be honest, I'm not, I'm not trying to grow my TikTok. It's not like my major focus. My major focus is LinkedIn because that's where my ICP is. That's what my focus is. But will TikTok be great for me when I want to do more one -to -one clients about teaching them how to do sales? Absolutely. So I'm going to keep adding to that channel, but you know, I'm still being mindful of where I'm putting my time and everything like that.

But reps are already doing it. They've been making videos for a long time. They've just been sending it to their friends. So why not just send it or post it to your network, to your buyers?

Dale Zwizinski (20:20.056)
Yep.

Adam Jay (20:28.918)
So I don't use Snapchat. I don't use TikTok. I don't use TikTok. I don't know what you're gonna find if you search Adam J. Dances, but it won't be me. I do use Instagram, not video. I honestly, and I'm embarrassed to say it, Melissa, like I just really started using video within probably the past six months. Part of which,

Dale Zwizinski (20:32.802)
He does dance on pick -tock though. Check out Adam Bade dances. .J. dances his

Adam Jay (20:58.826)
based on yourself, part of which based on a couple of other people who we don't need to mention because this is the Melissa show. But I think it's so powerful if done right. So my question, other than sales, like sales is important, right? But other than sales, where should founders be harnessing video? Like where should founders be harnessing getting their face on that damn screen and standing out from the noise?

Melissa Gaglione (21:26.856)
Oh, 100%. So I've been posting videos on LinkedIn for like a year and a half now. And it was always my least liked lowest engagement up until like three months ago where LinkedIn finally is on my side and it's finally promoting LinkedIn shorts. I was so excited when LinkedIn came out with that new feature.

Adam Jay (21:52.8)
Yep.

Melissa Gaglione (21:56.828)
And it was the, you know, the video feature where you can scroll like TikTok. And I was pumped because I'm like, finally my time is here. Like I knew that making videos was the lowest, the lowest, you know, engagement and likes, but it was also creating a damn good and really great audience that was interacting with me. And it helped people get to know me.

And there are so many people, so many leaders that just make the text posts or even post a picture. Like you really don't get to know them through that. But when you make a video, people get to know you. They hear your voice. They see your little isms. Like they get to see if you're like quirky or you know, those little, those little things about you that make you human. They now get to see that from you. So, you know, founders.

This is your time to one, beat the algorithm, get people to love you and get to know you and connect with you. And then they're going to check out your profile and see what you're selling. And they're going to go, wow, that guy is so cool. Like now I want to know more about his product or wow, he has that dog too. Like I feel connected to him or wow, he also loves golf. Like I'm a golf nerd

Patagonia is my favorite clothing store too. Like they start to connect with you with these little things that you have when you're showing them in video and you start building that deeper connection with your, you know, either your buyers or your end users or people just hype you up because they're just excited that somebody is sharing something and they're learning from

Dale Zwizinski (23:40.364)
Love that. So as we, as we go forward, we're going to fire off a little bit of rapid fire on, on it and see, see what you, what you would do outside of some tech stuff and just what some of your favorite things are for it. Yeah. Awesome. So if you weren't in tech, what other industry or process, like where would you be if you weren't in tech? What else would you

Melissa Gaglione (23:55.44)
Okay, yeah, let's do

Melissa Gaglione (24:06.721)
I just would have my own business. I don't know what I'd be selling. coffee, who knows? But I would definitely probably be a small business owner. Probably some sort of franchise.

Dale Zwizinski (24:16.598)
Event planning? You just did the wedding, maybe event planning?

Melissa Gaglione (24:20.87)
You know what? Event planning, you know what? Even though I do it for corporate, I don't want to give up my weekends like that. It would be something that's turnkey. So that way I just keep building out more truthfully.

Dale Zwizinski (24:28.546)
Yeah.

Adam Jay (24:28.842)
Yeah.

Adam Jay (24:36.734)
I love it. Early bird or night owl, Melissa?

Melissa Gaglione (24:39.208)
Early bird. I go to bed at 9 p .m.

Adam Jay (24:42.367)
I'm with

Dale Zwizinski (24:43.106)
What's the first app you check when you wake up in the morning?

Melissa Gaglione (24:46.446)
You know it. It's always LinkedIn.

Dale Zwizinski (24:49.961)
Always LinkedIn.

Adam Jay (24:51.282)
Always LinkedIn. What is one word to describe your startup journey so

Melissa Gaglione (24:51.399)
Yes.

Melissa Gaglione (24:59.474)
Surprising.

Adam Jay (25:01.106)
Ooh, I like that one. I like that one a lot.

Dale Zwizinski (25:03.17)
Let's double click it a little bit. Why surprising?

Melissa Gaglione (25:06.534)
I mean, who knew? It's so, everything is so surprising. also, do, when I challenge myself, I do enjoy surprising myself. Like, huh, that worked out better than I thought it would. But exactly that, it was very surprising to have so many people come to the event. It was very surprising to see the community get hype. It was very surprising to get, you know, some of the top brands to fund it. It was very surprising to get a job out of

You know, like there is no shortage of surprises there.

Dale Zwizinski (25:39.342)
There's surprises at every turn for sure. Okay, last one, let's wrap it up. What's your favorite destination place you'd wanna go?

Melissa Gaglione (25:49.372)
I haven't been there yet. I just would really like to go to Greece because I just love Mediterranean food.

Dale Zwizinski (25:56.504)
That's awesome. We get a lot of grease. It's a lot of people.

Adam Jay (25:57.436)
It is. We do get a lot of Greece. Dale doesn't know this yet, but I'm going to Greece in October. He's going to be thrilled. Dale loves it when I take vacation. That's one of his

Melissa Gaglione (26:09.078)
him in ivory tower,

Dale Zwizinski (26:11.209)
Hahaha.

Adam Jay (26:11.222)
Right? Not allowed to take vacation. Fucking crazy. Melissa, as you look at your career, what's the long -term vision? That's where I'd like to end. So you're head of sales at SendSpark now. Obviously you want to grow it, you want to see it excel, but where's Melissa going to be in 10 years?

Melissa Gaglione (26:16.735)
Ha ha.

Melissa Gaglione (26:34.16)
Right? It's really, I'm not sure exactly where it's gonna be, because I definitely wouldn't have predicted this. I also never thought I'd be in sales. I'll say this, because even my CEO knows this too. I really wanna be like a founder, founder.

And I've said it before, we'll see what happens with it. I try not to put too much pressure on it in a sense. But if it doesn't go that route, then I'll be my regular founder of coaching and helping and things like that. So it's almost like these two paths, but they both end with the title CEO. It just depends on what it is that that's going to look

Dale Zwizinski (27:24.344)
That's awesome.

Adam Jay (27:24.406)
I love it. I am so glad we got to hang out and geek out and talk all things video where where can people learn more and where can people go sign up for sense park? Because that's what y 'all should be doing. Like you should be signing up for sense park and I'm saying that without even a damn affiliate code to be

Melissa Gaglione (27:36.38)
Yes.

Melissa Gaglione (27:43.629)
Yeah, because if you didn't know, SensePark, what we do, shameless plug here, is instead of sending one video at a time, which sucks, brutal, it's why people don't use video, you can make one video, we're gonna clone your voice.

Adam Jay (27:51.282)
brutal.

Melissa Gaglione (27:59.184)
change your prospect's name and send it to thousands. That way you don't have to stop your sequence and record things. Anyway, you can find out about it if you either go to sensefork .com or check out my LinkedIn and I'll show you some tips and how to use it best. videos of the future, whether it's to book meetings or progress your deals.

Adam Jay (28:17.526)
Y 'all, I just sent out 120 videos yesterday and I've already had four people reply. So let's be real. And I did not record 120 videos. Melissa, thanks for joining. We appreciate

Dale Zwizinski (28:28.066)
Thank you, Melissa.

Melissa Gaglione (28:29.584)
Bye.