Since Rory mentioned some investors are trying the
Post# of 32626
Another investor in the beta program asked me if I wanted to give it a spin. I really try to stay out of what Verb does on the tech side as last thing they need is another arm chair QB expert like Sixth Man & 1000 liner. Unlike those clowns, I do it for a living. I envision many of the emails Verb get, they are thinking, 'we know', but it's always good to get feedback on your products and let people think they have a say so.
Last week I tested the Outlook integration on 3 Windows computers and a couple of iPads. One was a company owned PC so I was curious how that would work. I also tested it on my iPhone. If I am going to get involved, I'll give it the full QA and nothing less.
I figured at the very least I could tested on a bunch of different devices as I have a few dozen with various OS versions. I haven't tried my android devices yet. Been busy with taxes and taken down the board of liars. Did I mention keep and eye out for my next post on the other iHang board?
I went into this with zero knowledge of where they are at. Denise sent me the instructions to set it up, which took 20 seconds. Click, click, pasted done. She said once they go live, which feels like soon, you'll just load it through Microsoft app store. Easy Peasy.
The plugin is super simple to use. There is a menu that swings out from the right that you can see in the Verb video with 3 choices. Upload a video, shoot a video, or check out the analytics on one of your video which at the time was coming.
I think they nailed it as what ends up being friction is you have to hunt around for a link or button. If someone had to go through a dropdown menu that would be friction. This is designed for technophobes. You got 3 options, that part can't be any easier. It's verbLIVE for dummies which gets the world over the hump
I chose to upload a video. I just grabbed one sitting on my computer that came from my iPhone which was a 2 second clip of kayaking. I suppose it handles all the typical file formats and would have told me if it didn't.
It uploaded quick and I started playing around with the options. The default of the buttons being on are for the first 5 seconds but you can grab a blue slider and change it super simple. My first video was 2 seconds so it didn't matter. You have a options on the type of buttons, color, background, transparency and my favorite, the matrix ring thing.
There are other options but I can see they took the Apple approach. Design it for people that 'think' they are 'technology challenged'. I never met a person that really was. Just plenty that thought they were and that was what holds them back.
How do you know how things are going to turn out, unless you try?
OK, don't try that at home
My question that was answered is, could they make it simple enough for the masses
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I've been in this business for so long, if you don't, you narrowed your market considerably
Now here's the thing Nfuszed and I've been chatting within the last day
BTW, I like when 'real investors' like him, PrisonWallet, BB Player, Matz and others investors step up to the plate. There are 100's of other investors that cherish your stories and posts.
Verb now has a number or products. Which are for who? I get that Attribution is just being released now and the verb MarketPlace is still in the oven.
So as usually, 'us' investors are trying to jump the event horizon. Clarity will come
But who knows?
Not me
I never lost control
You're face to face
With the man who sold the world
'Look', If there is one Man that can bring online selling out of China and sell the world on it, it's Rory
It is really hard to change behavior as he said.
But hey, there are 100's of examples where that happened
It is really to bad Bambuser is virtually unknown in the US as that would help Verb tremendously. All ships in the harbor rise, but Verb has the best built ship with some unique patents as posted.
OK back to my review as I just need to tee up another redflix tune (old school marketing) because BWers love the tunes.
My next video was longer. I need to get rid of two cars for my brother so I did a walk around video and another one with the engine running. Hodgepodge as I didn't think much and was going to email one buyer. I ended up, uploading the video to YT and putting the link on the craigslist ad. Ad is gone so noone can track and trace. Had I thought about it or someone mentioned the best way to sell, I would have done it different/better faster stronger.
So the guy that came to buy one car, bought both. Had I was to do if all over again, I'd posted a video of me talking about the cars and doing the walk around using VL.
That leads to my ask, but hold that thought for a bit...
On Tuesday I had a meeting with Denise and Mitch was on there. Was thinking what am I going to say about the beta testing. What the heck value I could add beyond what they heard 1000 times before.
Was fumbling right before the meeting to get my camera going on my work laptop and 5-10 minutes in I had it on. It's a funny thing about video. When I meet with Europeans, they are always on video. In the US, there is some kind of hang up. Probably at beaches too, eh?
So Denise asked if I met Mitch before. I'm kind of surprise she remembered me as last time we spoke was in Vegas but great to see her again. I was thinking, didn't Sixth Man say Mitch was gone? Shocker, there he was.
Denise works her ass off for shareholders. She is on so many calls with customers, answers emails in minutes and does way more than anyone at any company does. I haven't met any of the other employees other than Rory and Jeff. Then there is Jimmy that also works his ass off for Verb. I hope the other directors are doing their share. I think they are.
So I shared some feedback and they share somethings. I then asked some questions.
What I shared:
I tested the app on a bunch of devices. Was important to me to see that the install worked and was easy as I know what happens when it's not.
I was surprised that I could use it on my work laptop as they block everything.
I then tested the functionality. What is defaulted, was is optional, are there too many choices, can the average technophobe actually create a video?
Yup, yup, yup, yup
My take is, if you can't create a video with VL, you probably aren't selling shit anyway because you haven't lifted a finger. Brutal I guess but that is reality.
I mentioned I tapped on everything and tested it all out. If you are like me that likes to explore the options you can. If you are a default dude, then it will work for you do.
One thing I noticed is the buttons default for the first 5 seconds of the video. I would consider changing that to either the whole video or the last half.
I know you are supposed to change it.
My thinking is, the buttons are most effective if the person mentions it in the video. Most effective if they appear AFTER the video starts and someone will go....
Maybe a guide for best practices?
In McKinley and JJ's video they give a ton of best practices. Maybe document them in a PDF with hotlinks
red, you said you wouldn't QB
well, they did ask for my feedback
I forget if we were on the call for the full 30 minutes
Then I was having flashback of what they said during the week
They said analytics was coming at the end of the week. BB Player already told you that it's there
They said they were now implementing authentication as up until now, the trial has been free
They did that as well as promised. Denise said they were doing it so they could start charging people. I like that part.
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I admitted my intention was to test the integration and give them feedback
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I am not in sales and said I am a solo consulting doing my thing so not trying to sell products or other things
I did say I was racking my brain on, is there other non sales ways to use VL
I thought back to the two cars I just sold for my bro and it would have helped
I thought back to the great ad I had on craiglist for my kayak that was very funny, but a video would have been icing on the cake
I'm not a master CL seller. A few times a year.
Been years since I sold stuff on ebay, but a video would work there.
I do rent out a vacation place and have tried tripadivisor, AirBnB and CL
I rent what I want, but trying to do multiple channels takes work. I'd rather do something on one and put a little effort up front.
I am thinking I do a 15 second intro and a walk around and then a wrap. I think it will be 10 times better than what I am doing including having my own rental site.
I already pay for a couple of domain names, google apps for web hosting so $10, $10 and $76. The price of Verb into the mix is a no brainer
So here is my ask that I will tee up in another post an people can reply to it with idea. How would you use VL or what do ideas do you have for others? We talked about 100's over the years. Would be very nice to have a list and I will start it off.
OK, back to the convo
I asked if a gif in the email was coming like you saw in this weeks Verb email. Yes!
Yup
I 'think' I asked if there was a limit to the number of people that can participate in a VL event and I 'think' Denise said no but I was firing off a lot of feedback and asking questions at the same time.
Image if there was no limit?
No regrets about participating
The road ahead is very bright
Imagine if you were 'that guy' at your company that would fire off a VL video
I'm thinking...
If 'investors' have questions ask away
Market place selling on multiple sites