Should You Use Video in Sales? ft. Melissa Gaglione | Revenue Reimagined Ep. 057

Melissa Gaglione, Head of Sales at SendSpark, shares her unconventional journey from on-air news reporter and teacher to top-performing enterprise seller and business owner. She emphasizes that mastering video prospecting was the turning point in her sales career, allowing her to break into massive enterprise accounts and rapidly climb the ranks within a year. Beyond just pressing record, Melissa breaks down the science of video selling. She highlights the necessity of making videos trigger-based, concise, and problem-centric, rather than just delivering a generic product pitch. She also advocates for founders and sellers to leverage short-form video on platforms like LinkedIn to build authentic, human connections with their ICP that cut through the noise of standard text posts. Transitioning into leadership, Melissa shares powerful lessons on building an empathetic, proactive sales culture. She stresses the importance of stepping out of the executive 'ivory tower,' asking reps for input on problem-solving, and committing to proactive coaching rather than reactively drilling numbers.

Discussed in this episode

• Melissa details how her background as a news reporter helped her craft compelling, 90-second video stories that successfully booked C-suite executives.
• The origin story of Melissa Gaglione LLC reveals how a simple desire to host a community event transformed into a profitable side business.
• Top performers view their territory as their own small business, managing their pipeline, close rates, and customers with an ownership mindset.
• Effective video selling requires a trigger-based approach that focuses on solving an identified pain point rather than just showing off a product.
• Sales leaders must avoid the 'ivory tower' mentality by staying up-to-date with market trends, new tools, and the daily challenges of their reps.
• Empathetic leadership involves asking reps for their input and ideas on solving problems, which makes them feel valued and invested.
• Founders are encouraged to post video content on LinkedIn to showcase their human side, build trust, and beat the platform's algorithm.
• SendSpark enables sellers to scale their video outreach by cloning their voice and personalizing prospects' names without recording individual videos.

Episode highlights

1. 1:00 — Introduction and career background
2. 3:00 — Origin of Melissa's LLC
3. 5:30 — Power of video as an SDR
4. 8:45 — Science of video selling
5. 11:15 — The franchise seller mindset
6. 14:00 — Empathy in sales leadership
7. 17:30 — Avoiding the ivory tower
8. 20:00 — Proactive sales coaching
9. 22:30 — Why founders need social video
10. 25:00 — Scaling with SendSpark

Key takeaways

• Treat your sales territory like you run your own small business.
• Use trigger-based video outreach to prove you understand prospect pain.
• Great leaders proactively coach skills instead of reactively drilling numbers.
• Founders must use video on social media to build authentic connections.
• Apply the video skills you already use socially to B2B prospecting.

Transcript

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. Welcome back to another episode of the Revenue Reimagine podcast. We get so many great guests on this show.

Um, but very rarely do we get someone that I truly admire, that I've followed for a long time, and that has been instrumental in my and our inbound, outbound, inbound to outbound motion here at Revenue Reimagine. 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 here. Oh my gosh, I'm 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. Right. 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, um, so the current position you have at SenSpark 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?

Yeah, for sure. So, I started Melissa Gaglione LLC and it's 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. Um, 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 to one place where we weren't sitting, um, 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. Um, and the whole purpose was just to bring people together, but it became so, so, so much more.

And that's why when 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. You want to Venmo me or what? Uh, but getting all of these different, you know, large brands to buy into the the idea of bringing people together for a community event, um, was what sparked for me to start my my official business where I help companies throw events now. Um, and I also do individual coaching for whether that is, um, you know, 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 every day and is just trying to get better. Love that. So you are probably the best at video selling that I've seen.

Um, 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. Um, and and it's hard. When you originally started in sales, my guess is you probably weren't great at video selling.

I 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 like the use of video that ultimately, like, we'll come back to the creator stuff, but what prompted you to say video is 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. Yeah.

It was actually when I was an SDR at Live Person. Um, I don't know if you know Brandon Fluharty, but he personally mentored me when I was an SDR, so that definitely set the pace of what greatness looks like. And, um, 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 and 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 going to go ahead and send a video. Because I was previously an on-air news reporter.

So, I'm pretty good on camera. Um, 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 going to 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, right, wanting me to help them prospect into these accounts. And I was able to get a AE role that then led me quickly to enterprise AE because I was breaking into those accounts within one year. Um, so that's how I was able to climb that very, very quickly was was leveraging video.

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 SenSpark a little bit. How that can like help people get from like not being heard, not getting in the inbox, not being read, to actually being read. What are some of those tips and tricks you have?

There's 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, you know, 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 let 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. Um, 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 how do you take content in when you're when you're whether that's on Instagram or Facebook or LinkedIn?

What's the easiest way for you to absorb information? 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 and the thumbnail, right? Those two things super important. 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 there. That's a that's a super good point.

That's a super good point. It's uh, people don't think about that, right? Like this the skills do translate. So, Melissa, you were an SDR.

Yeah. You were an AE. Then you turn business owner. Mhm.

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. Um, and then I'm going to use this to propel me to a head of sales role because of why?

Yeah. Um, well, I think that all sellers, we we are our own business. You know, 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. Like, 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 the company I'm working for is just supplying the product and like a few other things like thanks for the legal. But, you know, it is my own book of business. Um, I also come from a family of business owners, but small business owners.

So, my dad came over from Italy, um, and he started his own landscaping business. So, I've always been around it. And, you know, even though this business is the one that I started first, like, it is so not going to be the last. I 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, you know, one, how do I get incorporated? What does this look like? What does it even look like when taxes come around? Like all those Crazy, right?

Yeah, like why would I wait? Like, let me just try to take even baby steps. You know, cuz 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 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 of 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 me. 100%.

I love that. I love that. So, you're you're a new leader, um, and you've worked for many other leaders. Um, and so, what have you learned in past leadership, and 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?

Yeah. So, I had the pleasure of working at Deal directly for Mike Galardo, which I personally prospected when I was choosing where I wanted to work. I 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, um, I I 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. It was not not great. I'll tell you that.

The system sucks. Um, 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 air time. So, I also saw what it was like to kind of be a pushover sort of thing.

Um, and then I had a few bosses at LivePerson and things like that. But I 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 overseeing 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, hey, 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, um, 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, then 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 and hearing from them. So, that's something that I'm definitely going to do. And I'm most definitely anything that I've learned from my other careers is to encourage and to, you know, give proper feedback and coaching, not to be tough in a sense of tearing people down.

That's something that happens in news. So, there's a different way of how to like give feedback and encourage people for sure. It's hard, right? Like being a leader is hard.

Like I have no other no other way to say it and I think, you know, you you nailed some things that make a good leader when you talk about being encouraging and giving feedback and not pushing your your problems. I think all of that um is so important and I think a lot of founders struggle with being leaders, right? Like some of them, you know, they they were either great sellers or great CTOs or, you know, really technical product folks, um but haven't necessarily had to lead people before. And making that transition into leadership is difficult.

As you, you know, are moving into leadership and building out, you know, God willing a a massive team at SenSpark and, you know, video video selling becomes the most important thing. Like, what are some of the things that you've experienced that you won't do and that founders and leaders shouldn't do? And other than like, you know, praise and stuff, like really tactical. What are what are a couple of really great things that are critical for a great leader?

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We need to avoid the tower. Dale sits in it. Oh. 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 solutions, the other ways to go about it. Like you got to 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 because 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 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, um, helping your managers be able to coach rather than just be, uh, you know, reactive in in the feedback they are. Can you be proactive? Can you schedule actual coaching sessions with them? 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 this on? Let's watch it or send it to me and then we're going to be, you know, coaching the next week after. I don't understand why that's not done so much. Everything is so reactive instead of proactive.

Um, and that's something that I really want to make sure that I do. I want to make the people that join SendSpark just better. I love that. 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 great video is 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 and try out reels? I'm I'm curious your perspective and why you went down that path.

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 make watch videos of each other? They're going to say yes, like they've already done it. They're already doing They've been doing it for years. Like So, they have already been making videos of themselves, whether it's to show their friend something really funny, you know, check this out, like whatever it may be.

They've been doing it. Um, everyone knows, you know, they they've been in this for so long now. It's 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. Um, but they're already doing it.

So, if they want to start talking about things and be 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. Um, but reps are already doing it. They're 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? So, I don't use Snapchat. Um, I don't use TikTok. He does dance on TikTok, though.

I don't use TikTok. I don't get on TikTok. Adam J Dances is his handle. I don't know what you're going to find if you search Adam J Dances, but it won't be me.

Um, I do use Instagram, not video. Um, I honestly and I'm I'm embarrassed to say, Melissa, like, I just really started using video within probably the past six months. Um, part of which based on yourself, um, part of which based on, you know, a couple of other people who we don't need to mention because this is the Melissa show. Um, 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? Oh, 100%.

So, um, 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. 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, um, the lowest, you know, engagement and likes, but it was also creating a damn good and really great, um, 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 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. Or Patagonia's 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 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 them. Love that. So, as we, um, as we go forward, we're going to fire off a a little bit of rapid fire on on it and see, uh, see what you, uh, what you would do outside of some tech stuff and just what some of your favorite things are for it. Yeah, let's do it.

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 do? I just would have my own business.

I don't know what I'd be selling. Just I don't coffee, who knows? But I would definitely probably be a small business owner. Um, I always sort of friend.

You just did the wedding, maybe event planning. 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. I love it. Early bird or night owl, Melissa?

Early bird. I go to bed at 9:00 p.m. I'm with you.

What's the first app you check when you wake up in the morning? You know it. It's always LinkedIn. Always LinkedIn.

Always LinkedIn. What uh, what is one word to describe your startup journey so far? Surprising. Ooh, I like that one.

I like that one. Let's let's double click on it a little bit. Why surprising? I mean, who knew?

It's so everything is so surprising. I also I do when I challenge myself, I I do enjoy surprising myself. I'm like, oh, I better than I thought it would. Um, but exactly that.

It was very surprising to have so many people come to the event. It was very surprising to see the the community get hyped. 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 it.

You know, like there was no short of surprises there. Yeah, there's surprises everywhere in for sure. Okay, last one. Let's wrap it up.

Uh, what's your what's your uh destination, favorite destination place you would want to go? I haven't been there yet. I just would really like to go to Greece because I just love Mediterranean food. That's awesome.

We get a lot of Greece. We we do get a lot of Greece. We do get a lot of Greece. Dale Dale doesn't know this yet, but I'm going to Greece in October.

He's going to be thrilled. Um, Dale loves it when I take vacation. It's one of his favorites. Oh, him and an ivory tower man.

Right? Not allowed to not allowed to take vacation. Fucking crazy. Yeah.

Um, Melissa, as you look at your career, what's the long-term vision? That's where I'd like to end. So, your head of sales at SenSpark now. Obviously, you want to grow it, you want to see it excel.

But where where where where's Melissa going to be in 10 years? Right? It's it's really I'm I'm not sure exactly where it's going to be because I definitely wouldn't have predicted this. I also never thought I'd be in sales.

Um, I I'll say this cuz even my my CEO knows this too. I really want to be like a founder, founder. I love it. And I've said it before, we'll see what happens with it.

I'm I try not to put too much pressure on it in a sense. Um, 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, um, they both end with the title CEO. It just depends on what it is that that's going to look like.

I love it. That's awesome. I love it. I am so glad we got to hang out and geek out and talk all things video.

Where uh, where can people learn more and where can people go sign up for SenSpark? Yes. Cuz that's what y'all should be doing. Like, you should be signing up for SenSpark and I'm saying that without even a damn affiliate code to be clear.

Yeah, cuz if you didn't know SenSpark what we do, shameless plug here, is instead of sending one video at a time, which sucks. Oh, brutal. Brutal. It's why people don't use video.

You can make one video. We're going to clone your voice, 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 SenSpark.

com or check out my LinkedIn and I'll show you some tips and how to use it best. But uh video is the future whether it's to book meetings or progress your deals. 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 it. Thank you, Melissa. Bye.