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"How to Boost Your Sales in 4 Easy Steps!"
Robert Warlow
Small Business Success
To some people,
selling just comes easily; it happens naturally. They get out there and
within a few hours they have a full order book. How do they do it? The key
to successful selling is finding a formula or framework that works,
practicing it and sticking with it.
One such framework that has been around for many years and proven to work is
A.I.D.A. It’s a great 4 step way to boost your sales and is easy to put into
practice. What does it stand for?
Attention
Interest
Desire
Action
Whether you are selling face-to-face, by direct mail or web site, this
formula will increase your chances of converting prospects into customers.
In this article we’ll look at how following this formula can boost your
sales letter responses and increase your conversion rates on your web site.
Attention
When people receive sales letters or visit web sites, their first action is
to scan the page to see it applies to them. Before people will go into the
body of your sales letter or web site, they have to see something that grabs
their attention. There has to be a clear prompt that will make them sit up
and want to read in more depth. The way to get them past the scanning stage
and elicit attention is to come up with a bold opening statement or headline
that will really get them wanting to know more!
Your opening statement or headline has to include a benefit for your
prospect and be compelling enough for them to want to know more information.
Great attention-grabbing headlines can substantially boost your sales. Here
are some examples:
·
‘The Secrets of Doubling Your Profits In One Year’
·
‘How to Get More Sales and Increase Your Leisure Time’
·
‘Finally Revealed – The Steps to Being a Successful
Entrepreneur’
Get the idea? The headline should evoke a feeling of enthusiasm to get to
know more about what you are offering.
Interest
Having got past the first stage you have their attention, you now need to
further develop their interest. In this section of your letter, web site or
presentation you start by focusing in on what they will get out of buying
your product or service – the benefits which they will get. To get the most
out of this you have to be very clear who your target market is. It’s no
good trying to explain the benefits if the reader is in the wrong industry –
they will not be interested.
To keep them interested highlight the pain or pleasure they will avoid or
gain by dealing with you. You have to convincingly answer the ‘What’s in it
for me?’ question.
Desire
Now that you have got them really interested with all the benefits they will
get when they buy, you go for the jugular and hammer this feeling home by
stoking up their desire! Remember that people buy for emotional and not
logical reasons. If you sell items that can make people feel sexy, feel
better about themselves or possibly make them more attractive, then you can
create desire by describing how your products will help achieve their
dreams!
If you are not lucky enough to sell theses products or services, don’t
despair, there are other ways to create desire. Offer a range of bonuses,
which may cost you very little, but may be appealing to your potential
customers. Put a time-limited offer on the deal, for example 14 days in
which to respond to receive the bonuses.
Action
The last part of the 4 step process is Action. If you have done everything
else correctly but don’t directly ask the customer to buy then the chances
are you won’t make the sale. Make it easy for them to buy so you can
capitalise on all the emotion you have created.
First, ask them to buy! Include a ‘Buy Now’ or ‘Click Here to Order’ button
to make it very clear what you expect them to do next. If you are
face-to-face just come out with it and ask if they are ready to complete the
deal!
To remove all obstacles that can stand in your way make sure you have a
number of ways by which you can take payment. Acceptance of credit cards are
becoming almost totally necessary and are the best way to secure a sale
while the customer is in the mood, especially on the Internet. If you are
relying on them to get out their cheque book, write a cheque, write out an
envelope and then post it, I’m afraid you are likely to have lost a sale. So
make it as easy as possible.
Take another look at all your sales literature, your web site and your sales
pitch. Are you following the AIDA 4 step process? If not, revamp it all and
watch your sales and profits grow!
© Robert
Warlow
Small Business
Success
http://www.smallbusinesssuccess.biz
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