Since time immemorial in which trade was established as a source of life and development, sales techniques have been created and developed based on new needs, contexts and products or services. But the goal, in the end, was always the same: to sell. The sales techniques Therefore, they could be defined as the behavior or actions that are carried out in order to persuade the potential customer to make the purchase of the product or service that we offer. What’s more, traditionally there was talk of 5 types of sales (direct sales, home sales, store sales, street sales and telesales). However, today we are experiencing a great change due to the arrival of ecommerces, online stores, or in general, Internet sales.
In this new context, traditional sales techniques are put on the table to ask if they continue to be effective, if they need to be discarded or if they just have to evolve to adapt to the online world. Next, we will talk about the most effective sales techniques and how to apply them today in the Internet environment.
Traditional sales techniques: AIDDA, SPIR and AICDC
Great scholars of psychology, sociology, neuromarketing, and sales in general, have spoken at length about sales techniques, the sales process, the product life cycle, and other important issues in this field. To begin, we are going to see some of the most mythical traditional sales techniques that you will find in all the books and courses on the subject.
The AIDDA sales technique
The acronym AIDDA refers to the concepts: Attention, Interest, Demonstration, Desire and Action. Being one of the most widely used sales techniques in recent times, it was developed at the end of the 19th century at the Alexander Hamilton Institute in the USA.
This technique refers to the sales process and divides it into 5 phases:
- Attention: Capturing the attention of our potential client will be the first challenge. Here time is money and we risk that the rest of the process develop optimally.
- Interest: Getting the potential client to show interest in the product/service is the next objective.
- Demonstration: show how the product or service works, with a demonstration of its operation, free trials or a freemium product.
- Desire: Get the user to want the product or service.
- Action: the ultimate challenge is getting the buying action.
The SPIR sales technique
Developed in 1990 by Rank Xerox, its initials SPIR refer to the concepts: Situation, Problem, Implication, Resolution. These elements are the phases into which this sales technique divides the sales process. We see below what each one consists of:
- Situation: carry out exhaustive research on the market looking for needs, unresolved problems…
- Problem: define the problem that we can satisfy with our products / services.
- Implication: Estimate the importance that the problem has for the potential client.
- Resolution: show the solution to the problem with a suitable product / service.
The AICDC sales technique
Percy H. Whitting published this sales technique in his book “The Five Great Rules of Selling” first published in 1962. The acronym AICDC refers to the concepts: Attention, Interest, Conviction, Desire and Closure. Once again, these concepts refer to the different phases in which the author determines that it is necessary to divide the sales process. Next, we see each of them in detail:
- Attention: At first, the important thing is to capture the customer’s attention.
- Interest: Get interest in the product or service by showing its qualities.
- Conviction: Show each of the details and advantages of the product or service to make it stand out from your competition.
- Desire: Emphasize the benefits of the product.
- Closing: get the sale through the reflection of the pros and cons of it.
The technique of satisfying needs
Undoubtedly, one of the oldest and most meaningful techniques in these times, with maximum competition and crowded markets, is the one developed by the psychologist EK Strong in 1925. His fundamental idea is to focus on satisfying the needs of the customer in order to achieve a long-term relationship and not just a one-time sale. The phases, in this case, are:
- Identify customers: both new customers and old or current customers with new needs, and therefore, business opportunity.
- Contact customers: identify where they are and how to contact them. Establish effective communication channels.
- Submit offer: Know the demand to present the right offer for each customer segment and apply the necessary business tools.
- Close the sale: In this phase, negotiation skills will be the most important thing, as well as the competitive value proposition.
New more effective sales techniques applied to the Internet
Now that we have the theory clear, it would be important to put our feet on the ground and realize how we can apply all this knowledge to the times that are running with the advent of electronic commerce. Therefore, here are some proposals for sales techniques on the Internet:
- Provide value beyond price: The Internet has become an international showcase where everyone exposes information about their products and services, including not only features but also price and associated services. It is clear that, depending on which sector we operate in, it will be necessary to bet on the price fight, but we are sorry to warn you that only big businesses will be able to play in that league. If you do not have a large investment at the level of Amazon, it is best that you bet on the added value to get the sale of your products without ruining yourself in the attempt. How to do it? Well, for example, content marketing can help you a lot to stand out from the competition.
- Know your customers thanks to the Internet: from doing a quick survey to seeing in Facebook Ads the different interests and profiles of users that exist, reading in forums and opinions of products from other websites what are the needs and improvements of products that potential customers expect to achieve. The Internet is full of information… don’t waste it!
- Build customer loyalty with email marketing: Emails to customers with a good content plan, as well as product news, offers and exclusive discounts, is another of the great advantages of the online world.
- Help your customers and potential customers: In some networks, such as Twitter, we can use active listening to detect customer needs, doubts, or complaints (even from the competition), crucial moments where we can score a good point thanks to a good customer service protocol. Listen to the market and manage to solve their problems, you’ll see how they’ll thank you.
- Build relationships: Without a doubt, the Internet has established itself as an ideal medium for building and maintaining personal and professional relationships… why not also use it to maintain a good relationship between your clients and the company? Give thanks for their purchases, photos on social networks… and get your customers to become prescribers.
- Do not focus your speech on the sale: If we become obsessed with the sale and only offer messages focused on it, our communication on the Internet will be reduced to advertising and direct messages that rarely attract the attention of users. You have to offer something different to capture attention, interest, and finally, the desire to buy. You have to do branding!
- Talk like your customers: Social networks allow us a face-to-face contact with the client. Therefore, it is essential that we blend in with him by communicating in a similar language depending on his sex, age, slang, etc. And it is not only to stop dealing with you (as it happened in the early days of the Internet) but to engage users with a peculiar and unique language of the brand.
We hope these ideas will help you to focus your sales strategy. Now, if you want to go deeper, stay tuned because at Academia de Consultores we will soon launch new sales-focused training. Don’t miss them!