Telesales – The Introduction – AIDA

When a sales person speaks to a prospect for the first time all they are doing is essentially trying to break the ice with someone that they have never spoken to before.

They then attempt to have a chat to find out if there is a chance that the product, service, item that they are trying to sell may be of use, benefit or be of assistance to the person they’re speaking to.

If there is an opportunity that what they have may be of use then the sales person will begin to sell the benefits of what they have.

If that process works, then they will ask the prospect if they want to buy it or not.

There are obviously an enormous amount of different processes, skills, procedures, lines and closes that must be incorporated into the sales process, but essentially what I have just explained is the sales process.

The first time that this process was explained to me it was delivered wrapped in the age old acronym A.I.D.A. which stands for;

Attention
Interest
Desire
Action

This is the basic frame work of all sales pitches. Let’s look at this process a little more closely.

Attention: you need to get a prospects attention before you can begin the sales process. If a prospect isn’t listening to you, you can’t sell to them- that’s just common sense.

Interest: Once you have their attention, then you have to keep it if you are going to sell to them. You have to tell them a little about what you do and what you have to offer. You need to pique their interest in what you have to sell by delivering a few key features of what you have and how they can benefit your prospect . What’s in it for them?

Desire: If you are going to install an element of desire in your prospects mind concerning whatever it is that you are selling, then you are going to need to know a little bit more about them. I think that most people have had experiences of a sales person that has rattled on endlessly about how fantastic their product is and then becomes frustrated or even annoyed that we are not interested in buying their product. Before you start asking someone to buy whatever it is that you are selling, it is imperative that you first of all begin some basic fact finding by asking a few open ended questions to ascertain how your product could benefit them. Once you have got to know your client and ascertained how your product can be of use to them, you can then begin to install desire in your clients mind by molding your product around their needs.

Action: If you have done the above correctly, then the only thing remaining is to take action. Essentially this means to close the deal. There are reams and reams of articles, books and courses on how to close a deal. But in its simplest form a close is you asking the prospect if they will buy the product you are selling.

That is the A.I.D.A. sales process. It has evolved over the years and expanded and different sales trainers have different ideas on how best it is to teach the process of sales. My own interpretation of this is called the O.R.D.E.R. process. Look out for it on this website and on mine.