Engaging customers and persuading them to buy requires skill and technique. Many sales experts have developed sales models over the years to describe the process of selling. The AIDA model is perhaps the most well-known.
The AIDA model identifies 4 sales process steps:
- Attention – getting your customer’s attention
- Interest – stimulating your customer’s interest
- Desire – creating in your customer a desire for the product
- Action – leading your customer to act and buy.
Attention
In the sales environment, sellers need to grab customer attention fast. Make sure you:
- appeal to your customer’s emotions
- pose a challenging question
- use humour
- use a message that relates to current events
- use powerful, action-orientated words
- personalise communication directly to your customer – use ‘you’ and ‘your’.
Interest
Today’s customers are well-informed and cynical, and their time is precious. Holding their attention is your greatest challenge. You should:
- pitch the features of your product that set it apart
- if you can, show your customers your product’s features and benefits
- when speaking to your customers in person, make good eye contact, smile, and focus solely on your customer
- start a conversation that helps you find ways to personalise your product and target it directly to your customer’s needs.
Desire
Your customer needs to make a personal or emotional connection with your product to buy it. It is a good idea to:
- make statements that appeal to your customer’s needs and wants
- use empathetic language that identifies with your customer and tells them you understand
- personalise your statements with direct language (e.g., ‘You will find this invaluable’, rather than ‘This is invaluable’)
- frame questions that appeal to your customer’s emotion.
- pitch your proposition as an ‘opportunity’ that will not return
- talk about the benefits, benefits, benefits.
Action
Turning your customer’s desire for your product into action is your final step to closing the sale. Ensure you:
- offer an incentive to close the sale
- affirm your customer’s decision to buy
- give your customer clear directions about what you want them to do such as visiting your website, filling in a form or making a phone call
- don’t rush your customer once they’ve made their purchase – show them you’re more interested in them than the sale
- give your customer a reason to return after you’ve closed the sale, such as wanting to buy another related product.