This mental process is sometimes briefly described as AIDCA process. AIDCA indicates the various steps through which the mind of the customer passes with the help of a salesman or through advertising.
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This is a logical sequence of steps leading the human need into a purchase.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
i. Attracting attention (A)
ii. Awakening interest or creating interest (I)
iii. Arousing or creating desire (D)
iv. Securing conviction or confidence (C)
ADVERTISEMENTS:
v. Securing action (A)
(i) Attracting Attention (A)
It is the starting point in the sales process. The first step in the sales presentation is to draw the attention of the prospect towards the product meant for sale. The product or the service is considered as a means of satisfying the want or desire of the prospect. At this stage, the salesman informs the prospect about the existence of a product which can satisfy his need and want.
Attention of the prospects can be drawn towards the product by:
ADVERTISEMENTS:
a. Mentioning the name of the mutual friend
b. Presenting the product or its visual aid before the prospect
c. Allowing the prospect to touch, hold or actually use the product
d. Complimenting the prospect
e. Ask for a favour from the prospect such as advice, or source of other prospects
f. Demonstration of the working of the product
g. Offering interesting features of the product
h. Offering service and free gift
i. Naming earlier users of the product:
In addition, there are two popular devices which draw the attention of the consumers towards the product. They are advertisements and display. Advertisement is one of the most common and popular medium to draw the attention of the prospective buyers towards the products and the services. Advertisements are of two types: direct and indirect. Circulars, pamphlets, literatures, catalogues, booklets, etc. are the examples of direct advertisements. These advertisements target a particular group of consumers.
This kind of advertisement is adopted when the number of consumers is limited. Indirect advertisement, on the other hand, is targeted to the world at large and is not meant for any specific group.
Advertisements through newspapers, magazines, radio, television, cinema, posters, etc. are examples of indirect advertising. These forms of advertisements are not meant for any specific group; instead they are aimed at people at large.
Almost all the manufacturers use indirect method of advertising to draw the attention of the prospects towards products and services. Display of the product is another effective medium to draw the attention of the potential buyers. Usually, the showcases and the racks in the showrooms are arranged in an attractive way so that the customers are automatically attracted.
ii. Awakening or Creating Interest (I):
Once the attention of the prospect is drawn towards the product, his interest in that product should be developed for retaining attention. Therefore, the second step for the salesman is to create the interest of the prospect in the product meant for sale. Creating interest is highly essential because attention is usually short-lived.
Unless the buyer’s attention is maintained in the product, the deal for a sale cannot be made. To a large extent the job of arousing interest depends on the successful linkage of the buyer’s need with that of the product features, its benefits and utilities. Thus, the responsibility of the salesman is to develop such a link.
The salesman can create or arouse the interest of the prospect by telling him the interesting features of the product in an organised way. People always want to hear, see, and purchase something new and novel. Therefore, he should always try to present the sales talk in a novel way by highlighting the benefits and utilities of the product. He may take the help of graphs, charts and diagrams, etc. for creating interest.
While talking to the prospects, the salesman should try to know their buying motives. Hence, the prospects should be made to talk so that it becomes easier for the salesman to know about their buying motives. The sales talk should be lively and interesting. He should talk about the usefulness, utility, price, unique features of the product and the services offered along with the product.
In case the prospect asks some questions or raises any objections, it indicates his interest in the sales talk as well as the product. Unless interested in the product, the prospect rarely raises any questions. The salesman can even distribute samples of the products or let the prospect handle the product himself. While replying to customer’s objections and questions, the salesman should try to convince them in a logical manner instead of being argumentative
. Sometimes a product may not appeal to the prospects at all. In such cases, the salesman should try to talk about the interest, problems, family, achievements, etc. of the prospect. This is necessary to maintain the link between the salesman and the prospect which ultimately results in arousing the prospect’s interest towards the product.
iii. Arousing or Creating Desire (D):
The third step in the selling process is to arouse or create a desire in the mind of the prospect about the product. Creating desire about the product is one of the most difficult tasks. This is one of the important stages for the salesman after creating interest in the mind of the prospect.
Desire may be defined as ‘longing for the possession or enjoyment of anything’. It is the desire that warrants an action. The prospect may be interested in various things but he may not desire all those articles.
It is the responsibility of the salesman to convert the interest of the prospect into a desire. Since the interest of the prospect about a product does not end in a desire always, once the interest of the prospect is created, the next logical step of creating desire follows automatically. In other words, the interest of the prospects needs to be further intensified in order to arouse the desire to possess the product. To be more precise, the interest has to be converted into a desire in a systematic manner by stressing on the selling points, attractive presentation and demonstration.
iv. Securing Conviction or Confidence (C):
Securing confidence of the prospects is the next step in the process of selling. Once the desire is created in the minds of the prospects, steps should be taken to remove all possible doubts about the product from their minds. It is the responsibility of the salesman to remove all such doubts and convince the prospects that the product is really useful. All objections must be met adequately in order to win the confidence of the prospective buyers.
The strong points of the product must be adequately emphasised so that the prospect is made to feel that the article offered for sale is worth buying. The salesman, as a part of his duty, should help the prospective buyer in making wise decisions so that the confidence of the buyer is won. Demonstration also helps to secure the confidence of the prospects. The salesman can quote the satisfied customers and their testimonials to the prospects. This also helps to gain the confidence of the prospects.
v. Securing Action (A):
The final step in the process of selling is securing action. The prospect should be allowed to see, smell, touch, hear, and feel the article offered for sale. While the prospect remains busy examining the product, the selling points should again be emphasised because the more a point is explained, the deeper and lasting is its impact.
Once the prospect is convinced about its utility, price and services, it automatically invokes purchasing action. In order to achieve a positive action, re-emphasis and re-elaboration of selling points is needed.
In order to secure action, the salesman should discuss the different selling points, justify the price in comparison to other equivalents and overcome objections satisfactorily. The prospect should be given enough proof of evidence regarding quality, utility, durability of the product, and explain about the facilities like discount, credit, and other services. However, the salesman should be careful not to interfere directly in the decision-making of the prospect.
The prospective buyer should be made to feel that the salesman is only an instrument to carry out his wishes. He should never feel that the salesman is forcing a sale on him. In case of indecisiveness, the salesman should offer price discounts or differential payments to motivate the customer for the purchase.
A sale is generally closed by a cordial handshake between the buyer and the seller or exchange of smiles. The sale, once made, is ultimately closed but the relation is not closed forever. Rather, a relation is created forever. Therefore, post-sale contact is necessary to ensure customer satisfaction and to overcome any post-sale problems of the product.
A good salesman therefore always keeps contact with the customers. After sales services and repair services entice the customers to visit the seller regularly. This paves the way to have cordial buyer-seller relationship in future.
As can be seen, from the various stages of the selling process, a fair degree of psychology is involved in selling. Therefore, the salesman has to familiarise himself with certain principles of human psychology so that he can tackle the prospects properly, to bring about a sale.
As a matter of fact, a sale is a step-by-step process which is built brick- by-brick. Once the salesman is thoroughly aware of the various stages like attention, interest, desire, conviction and action, he can easily convert the dormant wants of the prospects into useful demands of the customers.