How to use AI video in sales training

We spoke to Juri Pietersen, Managing Director at . He told us how he and his team developed an innovative training format that mixes AI and real videos to simulate a virtual customer situation.

The challenge

Working with one of the largest Dutch fixed and mobile communications companies, Conceptsale's task was to create virtual customer stories for training.

Customer stories are typically videos in which customers share their experiences with a sales team during their buying journey, supported by a sales perspective. Such videos are used to educate salespeople and help them better understand their customers.

Juri and his team would approach video production in the following way:

1. They'd go out to find suitable actors for the content.
2. They'd to plan the logistics of the shoot (studio, film equipment, etc.)
3. They'd create scripts and brief actors.
4. They'd shoot the footage.

However, the conventional way of shooting videos comes with a number of limitations:

• No flexibility: It would be nearly impossible to update the videos once created, and it would require additional time and resources to recreate the videos.
• Costly: Video production isn't cheap. It requires investment in film equipment, a studio and much more.
• Lengthy productions: Creating videos takes a lot of time when you think about repetitions, choosing actors, etc.

This time, the Conceptsales team encountered a major hurdle in their journey. They had difficulty finding real customers who were willing to stand in front of the camera.

This delayed the entire project, so the team looked for better and more efficient solutions for creating customer stories.

Simply writing customer stories down just doesn’t make the impact we need. So if possible, we should use video, but without having to film real people. - Juri Piertersen, Managing Director

The solution

With Synthesia, Conceptsales and their client have found an interesting solution – creating videos that combine AI avatars and real salespeople.

This is the concept: During the customer case video, the customer (AI avatar) tells about his buyer journey. Then a sales representative (a real person) goes into it and explains a situation, a challenge or a problem.

Here's how they make it work:

1. They create customer scripts and upload them to Synthesia.
2. They select one of over 140+ Avatars and generate the video.
3. On the sales side, they film salespeople responding to information given by the customer.

The customer is actually an AI avatar, not a real person. Then we added a sales perspective in the upper right talking head bubble. - Juri Piertersen, Managing Director

What do Conceptsales and their customers appreciate most about Synthesia?

• Ease of use: The platform is easy to use and includes all the necessary video editing features to create high-quality training videos without the need for additional tools.
• AI Avatars & Voices: The 140+ diverse stock AI Avatars and 120+ AI voices provide an easy way to create engaging, relatable video content without having to hire actors or record voiceovers.
• Flexibility: once created, a video can be easily updated at any time, without having to start from the beginning.

With Synthesia, you can update learning materials very quickly. You just change the script, generate a new updated version and put it online. - Juri Piertersen, Managing Director

The results

Conceptsales conducted initial testing to see how the content would resonate with learners. They were impressed with the authenticity of avatars and pleasantly surprised by this new type of training.

Besides the good feedback, Conceptsales is now able to create high quality sales training videos at scale:

• Time Savings: The team saves 4-6x in video production compared to outsource it to an external video production provider.
• Cost Savings: The team is able to significantly cut costs per learning production, saving 5 - 15K €.

Juri and his team have made Synthesia’s AI video an integral part of their offerings.

When customers face a challenge in the sales cycle, the team can respond quickly and create bite-sized learning content specifically designed to solve the problem and drive more sales.