How to Sell to Anyone Using the Four Pillars of Sales

AIDA represents the four pillars of the sales process but because it dates back to 1925 many experts question its relevance in today's world. I actually think that many of these principles still apply to the world we live in today because people still buy for mostly the same reasons. The AIDA acronym stands for (Attention, Interest, Desire and Action) which simplify the different stages of selling in such a way that can be easily understood by anyone. The problem with a lot of sales training today is the often unnecessary "over analysis" of the buying process.

Attention

Grabbing a person's attention in a world of constant distractions that we live in today certainly isn't easy because there are a whole lot of other sales people trying to do the same thing. This initial opportunity to offer your product or service will be short and snappy so you need to be fast and you need to be prepared. Most sales people use the same or very similar techniques to grab the customer's attention which you can work this to your advantage by making a bit more of an extra effort in this area. If you can find out anything particular about the prospect beforehand this would also be an advantage because when people realise that something isn't aimed specifically at them, they often tend to switch off.

Interest

Once you've got someone's attention the next most important step is to hold onto it. This will come mainly in the form of relevant questioning to uncover "emotional hot buttons" and "motivators" It's also important here to link solutions and benefits to uncovered needs in order to keep the momentum going strongly. Most prospects will give away some clues when responding to questions and it's important to pick up on these and exploit them to the maximum.

Desire

In order to make a prospect desire your product or service you need to act on the information that you've gathered and tailor your presentation accordingly. It's also very important to involve the customer by making them feel that they are contributing to the final decision. You have to make that lamp go off in their head that says "Of course, why didn't I think of that before?" This is the direct opposite of what a lot of sales people do which is to dictate and attempt to plant ideas in the customer's head. Nobody wants their puppet strings to be pulled, even though it happens to them all the time in their sub-conscious mind. The secret is to never let them feel that they are being controlled.

Action

The moment of action is often the make or break of the sale. If the sales person times this badly then everything could be lost. It's crucial to have covered the previous stages properly before attempting to close. Prospects will often give signals that they are ready to make a decision and if they don't we need to "trial close" them in order to see where we stand. There are lots of different closing techniques and some work much better than others. I personally feel that closing should be very straightforward if the sales person has laid the foundations correctly. A lot of this comes down to being a CLEAR communicator. Everybody thinks they can communicate but in reality very few people are able to consistently communicate well to different personality types.

David Lynch is a Sales Training Designer & Accomplished Author. He has more than 20 years experience in a variety of industries including software, insurance & hospitality. If you would like to learn more sales skills from David you can download a Free Copy of his E-book "25 Mistakes To Avoid When Selling" at http://www.saleswillgrow.com/freesalestraining2.html