I have been using video as a vital business tool for our online guests here at Kelly Nissan for a while now. I would like to share some of the things that have worked for us.

TOOLS: iPhone, YouTube account, Internet

When a customer inquires about a vehicle online, we like to shoot a quick walk-around video of the vehicle for them to view. This is not an uncommon practice these days with dealerships who are Internet savvy. However, what I think sets us apart is how quickly we can respond with a complete video and that we really play it up to the customer how unique we are by utilizing this service.

The best combination I have found is to use an iPhone 3GS (must be the S) since it has video and a YouTube account. The iPhone 3GS costs $199 and the YouTube account is free. This combo works well because the iPhone has a direct upload feature right to YouTube. This makes for a really fast upload time frame to get the final product to our customers. Once it's uploaded to YouTube, all you have to do is copy the link and send it off to your customer.

From the time we get off the phone with the customer, shoot the video, upload it, and email it off to them, it takes about only 15 minutes! From watching the video the customer gets to see the vehicle, see the sales consultant, and gain a slight feeling of obligation to to stop in to see us and reduce the amount of shopping they had planned.

In a later post, I will share some tips as to how to keep your customer watching your video to the end.