AIDA and DIPADA

AIDA is the best-known overview of the sales process because it’s simple, easy to remember, and intuitively makes sense.

It was first described by E. St Elmo Lewis in 1898 to translate the stages of a direct sales process into print ads.

Attention: Are you talking to me?
If they don’t know about your magazine how can they buy an ad? The first step is to get your prospect’s attention.

Interest: Why are you talking to me?
What’s in it for me? Why should I listen to you? We’re inundated with information so how do you stand out from the other noise and generate interest in your proposition?

Desire: Good idea, but do I really need it?
You can’t sell something to someone that doesn’t want it so you must build desire for your proposition throughout the sales process.

Action: What will I have to do to get it?
Closing the deal, getting the order, the reason we do what we do…

The modern sales process is a dialogue – quite different from the one-way communication in a print advertisement – and AIDA has now become AIDCAS with 2 new stages that reflect this:

Commitment: Is this something I’m prepared to go ahead with?
Can I spend the money, have I got time to attend the exhibition, do we have available copy for the advertisement..? Establishing commitment is a great way to progress to action.

Satisfaction: Am I happy with what I bought?
Without satisfied clients you’ll only ever be hunting for new business. Good salespeople realise that happy customers mean repeat business and return to their clients after the deal is fulfilled to discuss what worked, and what can be improved next time.

DIPADA

DIPADA takes the AIDA concept further, keeping your prospect engaged throughout the process and checking for problems along the way.

Definition
If you are going to make a sale your product has to correspond to your prospect’s needs, and they also have to want to buy it. Find out what their needs and wants are first with open and closed questions and never base your success or your earning on guesswork.

Identification
Now you’ve uncovered your prospect’s business and marketing objectives it’s time to identify your media as a possible solution, which might go something like this:

“…as you’re looking to promote your new range of squeegees to window cleaners, if I can show you that Window Cleaner’s Monthly reaches more buyers of window cleaning products than any other media, would you consider booking a series of advertisements?”

It’s a big mistake to miss this stage out and launch straight into a presentation of why you think your magazine/website/exhibition is the best thing since sliced bread. A trial close here will flush any hidden objectives to the surface and ensure you’re speaking to the right person.

Miss out this stage and you’ll find that more of your prospects evaporate or reject your proposal without giving you a clear reason why.

Agreeing that advertising in your magazine/website/exhibition could solve their needs:

• raises any objections that are lurking in the background (for instance it’s actually someone else that signs the cheques!)
• focuses your prospect’s mind that this is a sales call and not just a friendly chat
• qualifies the potential of this sales opportunity so you can decide whether to continue on to your presentation

Proof

If you’ve got a yes at the identification stage (and solved any problems that were raised by handling objections) the only thing left is to prove that you can achieve their objectives and you’ve got the sale (well…nearly). A commonly used and easy to understand way of doing this is through features and benefits.

Acceptance

Gaining agreement on each proof point before moving into the next will make sure there are no hidden objections. This is often referred to as building an agreement staircase where each yes takes you both a step closer to a win/win outcome.

Desire

Each agreement will raise your prospect’s desire to buy, and you can also turn a need into a want through building rapport, active listening, and evocative language.

It’s one thing to say that your magazine has a readership of 80,000 and quite another to visualise Wembley stadium packed out with potential buyers so sell the sizzle as much as the sausage.

It’s a good idea to test how much desire you have created so far, perhaps with an alternative close – “would you prefer a half-page or full page ad” – this will also start to build up the pitch.

Action

If you’ve followed the steps above and gained agreement at each stage it’s time to ask for the order. Have a look at our tips for closing, but if you have built up a solid pitch with an understanding of their needs it may be enough to ask your prospect, “where would you like to go from here?”.