Everyone has heard of the acronym AIDA (attention, interest, desire, action). It’s been around since the the turn of the 20th century when E. St. Elmo Lewis first described it. Over the years, many ‘experts’ have felt the need to modify, rename, or add to the basic steps, but seriously, do we really need a submarine version, a basebal version or an inbound marketing version? If a salesperson understands and follows the basics, they can do quite well.

So, taking a lesson from Star Wars, why start at the beginning when you can start in the middle? Let’s start with Interest. I know that the acronym means that we need to create interest within our client, but my question is, “Can you teach a salesperson how to be create interest?” Several years ago, I attended a conference in Rhode Island. One of the speakers reflected on advice that his father had given him as he set out to make his fortune. His father said,

“Philip, be interested not interesting.”

Now, think about that.

When I was just starting out in sales, I was told that people would rather be involved in a conversation about themselves, than the ten most famous people who had ever lived.

Now, think about that.

How the heck can we get a self-absorbed, egotistical, goal-oriented salesperson to actually be interested, truly interested in somebody else? Can we actually get our salespeople to stop pitching how wonderful their product, service, company and they are? Can we get them to ask about their prospects dreams, goals, issues and obstacles and actually care about the answers, other than the feeling that the questions and their answers are a necessary evil to make a sale?

Now, think about that.

Here’s a question. Have you done it to them? Need Help?