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John Davids
If you want to make a lot more money in your business with one tiny change to how you sell, then you got to see this. And I usually don't drop this kind of stuff on my podcast or on YouTube, but guys, this is just too good. If you could literally spend an hour or two once to double your sales this year, wouldn't that be more than worth it for a purebred capitalist like me? Mm, mm, mm. It definitely is. There's nothing better. My name's John Davids. I'm the founder of Influicity. Companies like these pay us a lot of money to make them. A lot, a lot of money. And this video is totally free for you. Let's go. You're listening to Making it with John Davids. So today we're going to talk about something called a pre sales call video. Now if you've never heard of that before or it sounds wonky, that's okay. It's really, really simple. Now some of you may have heard of something called a video sales letter or a vs. This is a type of vsl, but it's not the one that most people think about. Usually when we talk about a video sales letter, you're thinking about a video that you put on your website or your landing page or on your funnel. And the purpose of that is to sell people on your product or service. So it's like the first thing they see and you're trying to make a sales pitch. So if I run a med spa or I'm a dog groomer or I sell piano lessons or cybersecurity services, or I have a law firm, then I'll put a VSL on my homepage to get you interested in my product or service. That's one thing. The pre sales call video is what you send somebody after they've booked that appointment or that sales meeting with you. So think about it like a sandwich. The bread on the bottom is when they schedule the sales meeting. So that's when you want to have your original vsl, your video sales letter. Then the bread on top is the actual sales meeting, the presentation that you have. And in the middle you got your bologna and that is your pre call sales video or your cream cheese or your hummus bread. For all my vegans out there, you get the idea. We're gonna deal with the middle of the sandwich and that is the pre sales call video. And if you're thinking right now, well, John, I don't have a pre call sales video. I've never made a pre call sales video. I've never even thought of a pre call sales video. That's okay. That's why you're watching this. We're gonna change all that today. You're gonna make more cash in your business. Because a pre video does three things. Number one, you deliver your sales pitch right. It lays the foundation for 80% of your sale. If you go into a sales meeting, I assume 80% of what you say is kind of the same no matter who you're talking to. And the other 20% is little customizations, little personalizations you'll make for that prospect. So that 80% is what you're gonna deliver in the pre call sales video before the meeting ever takes place. The second thing is that you get to optimize your sales p because you're delivering it as a video and everyone is seeing the same thing. And you can track how effective it is. You can actually look at the data of who's watching it. How long are they staying on for, where are they dropping off, where are they rewinding? Because if you're using good software like Wistia or Vitalytics or Vimeo, and I don't endorse any of those brands, those are just video software companies that you can use. If you're using advanced video software, you can track how people are watching your video and you can optimize your sales pitch to make it perfect and get that pitch just right so it works better and better every time. And the third reason is that it turns your sales meeting into a layup. If people watch your pre call sales video, they're coming into the sales meeting, basically pre sold. You've already given them the best version of your sales pitch. They've had the time to digest it. And now you're able to go and have a conversation about that last 20% and deal with any objections they might have. Get to the customization, get into the strategy and close that sale. Instead of starting from the beginning, you're starting from the end of the court. You just gotta lay that basket. Boom. The sale is yours to lose. This episode is brought to you by Influicity's new tool, the AI Ads Generator. Available now at johndavids.com ads Great ads aren't about luck, they're about leverage. The brands that win are the ones who can launch faster, test smarter, and outspend everyone else without wasting a dollar. That's exactly what the AI Ads generator gives you. Instant ad copy that speaks to every customer and feeds the algorithm high performing variations. Your competitors can't keep up with. It's like strapping a jet engine onto your marketing. And right now it's free. Yes, it's free. Go to johndavids.com ads. That's johndavids.com Ads. So I'm gonna tell you how to make your pre call sales video. But first, to make this really useful, I'm gonna play for you one of my pre call sales videos, one that we worked very hard on. This is a video that we use in one of our funnels at Influicity. We have a lot of different funnels running for different customers and segments that we serve, from software clients to e Commerce, Enterprise, B2B, National Brands, Local businesses and chains. This is one of the pre call sales videos use. I'll play it here for you. It's about four minutes and then I'll talk about it on the other side. And by the way, if you're listening to this on the podcast, that's cool, you can just listen to it. If you wanna watch the video, head over to YouTube. I'll drop the link in the podcast notes, but you gotta promise me, if you watch this on YouTube, you gotta hit that subscribe button. Here we go. You've got a strategy session coming up with Influicity soon. So let me tell you how we drive growth and sales for companies just like yours with our framework called the story funnel. And by the way, my name's John Davids. I'm the founder of influicity and for the last decade used this exact framework to help companies get more attention, turn that attention into qualified leads and convert them into paying customers. Just like we've done for Linda and Frank and Bishon. And I'll play their raw testimonials in just a few minutes so you can hear it for yourself. Now, I want to start with some bad news. Marketing is a total waste of money unless it does these three things. One, it must give you a clear ROI. Put a dollar in, get $2 out, or $3 or $4 or more every single time. Two, it's gotta be repeatable. You can't be guessing how you're gonna fill your sales pipeline from one month to the next. And three, it needs to be scalable. So it works whether you're doing 2 million in sales or 10 million or 30 million or more. We have clients across the board. These are the three growth essentials and they're exactly why we designed the story funnel. Here's how it works. Step one, we create story driven ads that speak directly to your customer. These Are not sales messages. Those don't actually work very well and they cost a fortune. You see, story driven ads attract the right people in a way that's not salesy. Step two, we give them something of value. It could be a checklist, a guide, a playbook. This builds trust and authority quickly. Plus we can qualify them at the same time. So if they're not the right fit for your business, they don't get into your funnel. Simple as that. As step three, we motivate them to book an appointment with you right away so they become a quick sales opportunity. And for everyone who isn't ready yet, we keep your brand in front of them until they are, whether that's next week, next month, or next year. Look, if you already have a great product and happy customers, you just need to add in a coin operated growth machine. That's actually how I think about it, where you can drop coins in and get growth out. And you don't need to start from scratch. Instead you can just use the same system that's already working for so many businesses just like yours. So while your competitors are playing catch up and constantly scrambling for leads, you've got a sales pipeline long into the future. And now here's what it looks like for you.
Client 1
The quality of the leads were really good. They live around here, they get a lot of services done. They didn't know we were here, so that's like perfect, right?
Client 2
We were considering doing direct mail and trade shows, but this seems a lot more efficient. It keeps feeding us leads.
Client 3
A lot of leads coming in. They're pretty cheap actually compared to the industry standard. So that improved quite a bit. Another lead come in.
John Davids
A lead came in as you were
Client 3
talking, so that means it's working.
Client 1
This lady's coming in today for 5,700. So it was good to see that it's working.
John Davids
The first one was worth how much?
Client 1
5,700. The second one was 3,200. And then there were a few in there for like a couple hundred.
John Davids
Let's just say you had never discovered this process that we're using right now. How do you think you'd be getting customers today?
Client 2
I would be on my knees praying to God that
John Davids
they complained.
Client 3
Since November until now March, like 150 leads. We got a close to half with high intent.
Client 1
This marketing side of this business is super important. Like I didn't realize how important it was, but it's everything.
John Davids
You don't know what to do with all these leads you're getting now.
Client 2
Yeah, exactly right. And I knew that was always going to be the case because you're so busy running the business and now you've got people knocking on your doors. So what do you do? That's going to be our next challenge.
John Davids
There you have it. Real results from real customers. You're all booked up for your strategy session. Make sure the invite is in your calendar and we look forward to speaking with you soon. So there it is, guys. That's the pre call sales video. It converts really, really well. Let me break it down and talk about each piece. So let's just play that first sentence. You've got a strategy session coming up with Influicity soon, so let me tell you how we drive growth and sales for companies just like yours with our framework called the story funnel. Let's stop right there. What I do at the very beginning is I just rem them that they have a meeting booked. And this might sound so simple and almost unnecessary, but that level of continuity, that level of reminding you that you have scheduled a meeting for a lot of people, this is why they just don't show up to your meeting. So if you're booking sales calls or sales presentations, you have people coming in for appointments and they don't show up, it's because a lot of the time they just don't even remember having booked it in the first place. So I like to say, hey, you booked a meeting. And if you want to go one step further on that page, on that landing page where you have the pre call sales video, put a reminder, actually write you have a sales call booked and pull the Data from your CRM HubSpot, Salesforce, go high level. Whatever you're using, pull that data to show them when that meeting is. So remind them right off the top that they have a meeting booked. Get that continuity in place. Let's keep going. Get more attention. Turn that attention into qualified leads and convert them into paying customers. Now notice what I did there. I laid out the three objectives. Get more attention. Turn that attention into qualified leads and convert that into sales opportunities. I know that this aligns with what this particular icp, this ideal customer wants in this particular situation. This is for B2B and high ticket lead generation. And I know very well that they want attention, they want qualified leads and they want to convert those leads into sales. So I'm going to lay out the beginning. Here are the three things we're going to accomplish. You're going to say, perfect, that's what I want. Boom, we're doing well. All right, now watch this Just like we've done for Linda and Frank and Bishon. And I'll play their raw testimonials in just a few minutes so you can hear it for yourself. You see what I said there? Just like we've done for client one, client two, client three. These are real clients. And if you're watching on the video, I have them playing at the side of the screen on silent. You can actually see the people talking. You can't hear what they're saying, but you can see the real people. I'm dropping in social proof. I'm showing you that we have real clients. This is real credibility. And I'm teasing it up front because I want to let you know that eventually in this video, you're gonna get to hear from my actual clients. I'm not gonna play that now because I don't wanna distract from my sales pitch, but I wanna let you know that you're gonna get real social validation coming to you in just a few minutes. Let's keep going. Watch this. Now I wanna start with some bad news. Marketing is a total waste of money. Un things. One, it must give you a clear ROI. Put a dollar in, get $2 out, or $3 or $4 or more every single time. Two, it's got to be repeatable. You can't be guessing how you're going to fill your sales pipeline from one month to the next. And three, it needs to be scalable so it works whether you're doing 2 million in sales or 10 million or 30 million or more. We have clients across the board. The marketing musts. So what am I doing? I'm highlighting what we're going to help you do. And I say I want to start with some bad news. Marketing is a total waste of money unless it does these three things. I'm outlining and reinforcing their skepticism because a lot of our prospects have been burned by agencies before. They've been burned by marketing before. That's why they come in and they say things like meta ads doesn't work. Social media doesn't work. Google Ads doesn't produce good leads. No, it's just that your last agency had no fricking idea what they were doing. So I want to match your skepticism. I want to say it's okay that you're skeptic. That's fine. And here's the reason you're skeptical. And here's the reason you've probably blown budget in the past. Mirror reinforce how they feel and make it okay. I'm aligning our strengths with Their objectives. Your marketing must have a clear roi. Your marketing must be repeatable. Your marketing must be scalable. I know these are three things they want out of their marketing. So I'm delivering it to them very simply. And notice also how I'm saying it quickly at the very beginning. And I'm using a grade three language level. I'm making it very simple. Doesn't matter how sophisticated your buyers are or how smart they are at their jobs. We sell to very smart people. People running businesses doing $50 million, $100 million a year. We're selling to cybersecurity executives, we're selling to AI researchers, people that are running AI companies, CEOs at that level. But you still need to speak very simply because they are not marketing experts. So they're very good at what they do. But the stuff that we do for them can be confusing, it can be funny, it can be strange. So we need to speak at a grade three level. So important. Let's keep going. Step one, we create story driven ads that speak directly to your customer. These are not sales messages because those don't actually work very well and they cost a fortune. You see, story driven ads attract the right people in a way that's not salesy. Step two, we give them something of value. It could be a checklist, a guide, a playbook. This builds trust and authority quickly. Plus we can qualify them at the same time so if they're not the right fit for your business, they don't get into your funnel. Simple as that. And step three, we motivate them to book an appointment with you right away so they become a quick sales opportunity. And for everyone who isn't ready yet, we keep your brand in front of them until they are, whether that's next week, next month, or next year. Notice how I lay out our process in a simple three step formula. You have to outline a process, you have to have a process and you have to be able to recite it in a simple 1, 2, 3 list. Now, I know what lots of you are probably thinking right now. You're thinking, well, John, I don't know what my potential client wants. What I sell is customized. Every solution is different. And guess what? So is mine. You think when we sell marketing packages for 10, $20,000 a month, they're all going to be the exact same? Of course not. Some people need our social media services, some people need SEO services or AI services. Some people want to use Google Ads or Meta ads or Instagram or they're running TikTok shops or they need landing pages and funnels built. There are any number of solutions and packages that we put together. But that's okay. We need to come in with a simple 1, 2, 3. If I try to sell you everything at once, I'm going to sell you nothing ever. So what I do is I say, okay, what do 90% of my potential clients have in common? Well, they all want to get something that sort of looks like this, even if I have to change it, even if it's not exactly what I'm going to sell them. At the end of the day, they don't know that yet. They just want a simple 1, 2, 3 process. I'm just laying it out for them in a clear step by step way. And when we get on the sales call, I can change it. After we sign the contract, we can decide to change it. That's okay. As long as we're delivering them great results. We're not married to the process. We're just going to lay it out so you understand that we know what we're doing. We have our shit together. So for us, it's one, we create story driven ads that speak directly to your customer. Two, we give them something of value, a special offer, a free gift, something. And step three, we motivate them to book an appointment with you right away. Okay. It's very, very simple and it's specific enough that it actually is the process, but it's generic enough that we can change it and mold it based on the client. Now watch what I do next. This is important. Look, if you already have a great product and happy customers, you just need to add in a coin operated growth machine. That's actually how I think about it, where you can drop coins in and get growth out. Notice how I give a very simple analogy and I make it really visual. I say your marketing should work like a coin operated growth machine. Coin operated. Everybody can picture that. You know what that means? It's a vending machine or a slot machine or one of those machines where the claw comes down and you try to pick up a toy, but it never quite works because the claw is missized for the toy and it always ends up falling out. And then you need to do it again and again and it just keeps taking your money. You know what I'm talking about? Everyone but you understand the term coin operated. You understand the concept of putting money in and getting something of value out. So by using that analogy, I'm making it crystal clear to everybody how simple this process is. And it might sound a little Silly or a little too dumbed down for you. Maybe it's beneath you. But these types of very simple visual analogies work wonders in any kind of video sales letter. You need to make it really simple for people to understand this is what it's like. Now you can also, if you want to make this super custom, depending on how closely you know your avatar, you want to make the analogy as customizable to them as possible. So if I'm speaking to people that are really into cars, if I'm selling to mechanics or race car drivers, I might use a car analogy. If I'm selling to moms with kids, I might use a kid analogy or a parenting analogy. So you can use an analogy that is specific to a certain segment, or you can use a broad societal analogy like a coin operated vending machine like I'm talking about, which most people are going to understand what that means. This episode is brought to you by my Playbook social media selling machine, available right now@johndavids.com playbook. Let's be real. You don't want likes. You want sales. You want to know that customers are going to show up every day from the content you're already posted. This Playbook shows you how that's done, how to turn social posts into cash flow, and how to scale in a way that's simple, repeatable, and on brand. Grab it free right now@johndavids.com playbook that's johndavids.com playbook. All right, now let's get to the best part of all.
Client 1
The quality of the leads were really good. They live around here. They get a lot of services done.
Client 2
We were considering doing direct mail and trade shows, but this seems a lot more efficient. It keeps feeding us leads.
Client 3
A lot of leads coming in. They're pretty cheap actually compared to the industry standard. So that improved quite a bit. And another lead come in.
John Davids
See what's happening here. We're doing a full stream of testimonials. I think we do like 90 seconds or maybe 2 minutes of testimonials and notice how they're chopped up to convey different types of stories, different angles, different types of objectives, different types of proof, different voices, male, female, different ages. So you want to make your testimonials quick, interesting, delivering the value, and make them different enough that they're not all saying the same things because your testimonials deliver social proof, but they also help sell the message. They help sell the product or the service or the outcome that your customer really wants. Now notice something else also. These Testimonials are very raw. They're intentionally designed to look like they came from a Zoom call or a Google Meet call, because they did. And they're not edited, they're not polished. I didn't say, hey, change your background or anything. I want them to look 100% real. I want it to look like these are just normal people giving their honest opinions. The minute you airbrush it and polish it up, it just looks fake. It just doesn't look like these are authentic people saying what they authentically said. So I'm using real footage and I'm trying to convey that this is 100% not set up. This is what people actually think based on using my service. Now let's cut to the end. There you have it. Real results from real customers. You're all booked up for your strategy session. Make sure the invite is in your calendar and we look forward to speaking with you soon. Okay. And finally, I end with a reminder. The reminder is you are booked. And you could even say something like make sure you've got that in your calendar. If you don't, go ahead and scroll down and you can rebook it over here. If you need to change your time, text us at this number. You can use whatever you want, but take this opportunity to remind them again that you would look forward to seeing them in the sales meeting. So that's what a pre call sales video looks like from start to finish. There's different versions of this. This is how I do it. You don't need to copy my format exactly. I'm just showing you what's worked for us. And we've made these for lots of clients as well. And this format tends to work really nicely. This pre call sales video is specifically designed for an in person sale. A sale where you have a salesperson speaking to the prospect. When I say in person, it could be over the phone, it could be over a Zoom call, or it could literally be person to person meeting up in real life. Now what if you sell something that's E commerce or retail or some kind of self serve purchase where people are going and putting something in their cart and checking it out. Would you need something like this? Well, the answer is yes, but you'd use it a little bit differently. So in the case where it's a self serve purchase, you could have a pre call sales video and use it as part of your abandonment process. So here's what I mean. So let's say you have a Shopify store, you sell custom water bottles, you make water bottles, you have branding on them, whatever, and people order them and then they put them in their cart and they can sign out and they can buy it themselves. So somebody puts it in their cart and then they abandon that cart, they leave. Well, there's usually some kind of process if you have a system in place to get them back. That's where you could put your pre call sales video because that video would do the same thing. It would sort of sell them after they were already partially sold, but they didn't go over the finish line. So you can go ahead and put that video there and it serves the same purpose. This video that I showed you clearly was for more of a high ticket or B2B type in person sale. But it works across the board and if you use it right, it will make your actual sale, the actual meeting, so much easier. You will close so many more deals. They'll come in warm, they'll come in hot, they'll feel great and they will want to buy what you're selling. And make no mistake, you will have to modify this video over and over and over again. Watch those metrics, make sure you're optimizing it 1% better every single week. And by the end of the year you're going to have a killer pre call sales video. You can watch your sales go up. My name is John Davids. Get my best stuff to your inbox@johndavids.com. This episode is brought to you by my one minute marketing roadmap, available at johndavids.com roadmap in 60 seconds you'll get a custom report showing you how people are finding your brand, where you're losing them and how to fix it. We used a decade of data from Influicity and layered in AI to give you a real action plan. It's fast, it's free, and it might just change your business. Go to johndavids.com roadmap and get yours right now.
Making It with Jon Davids
Episode 256 – This "Sandwich Video" Can DOUBLE Your Sales. (steal it.)
Date: May 5, 2026
Host: Jon Davids
In this episode, Jon Davids dives deep into a powerful sales tactic that he claims can literally double your sales with just a few hours of work: the Pre-Sales Call Video. Unlike the standard video sales letter (VSL) people place on their landing pages, this video sits in the “middle of the sandwich”—delivered to prospects after they book a call but before you meet. Jon breaks down the concept, demonstrates its exact structure by playing his own high-converting example, and shares actionable steps and insights for implementing your own pre-call video, regardless of your industry.
Definitions & "Sandwich Video" Analogy:
Core Benefits:
"If people watch your pre-call sales video, they're coming into the sales meeting basically pre-sold. You've already given them the best version of your sales pitch."
— Jon Davids (05:32)
“If you use it right, it will make your actual sale, the actual meeting, so much easier. You will close so many more deals. They'll come in warm, they'll come in hot, they'll feel great and they will want to buy what you're selling.” – Jon Davids (30:22)
Jon Davids convincingly demonstrates that a pre-sales call video, positioned as the “filling” in your appointment scheduling-to-call sandwich, not only “pre-sells” your prospects, but creates more efficient, focused sales meetings, drives up close rates, and is adaptable to nearly any business model. If you want to double your sales with a simple, systematic solution, this episode provides a blueprint you can immediately deploy.