Win More Meetings with the New AIDA Technique

“Put that coffee down.  Coffee is for closers.” ~ Blake

In 1992, a movie came out titled Glengarry Glen Ross based on a play of the same name.  It is a classic sales movie – more for the cast than the ethics for sure.  You get to see Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin, Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey, Ed Harris, and Alan Arkin.

putthatcoffeedown

In one scene, Blake, played by a young Alec Baldwin, holds a meeting with the sales staff.  In that meeting, he introduces to the team the AIDA method of prospecting.  (If it weren’t so R rated, I would provide a youtube link to this scene.)

  • Attention – “Do I have your attention?”
  • Interest – “Are you interested?  I know you are ‘cuz it is…”
  • Decision – “Have you made your decision for Christ?”
  • Action – “And action.”

You can trace the first iterations of this method all the way to the 1900’s.  At the Massimo Group, we believe this method is outdated.  So we’ve come up with our own version.  Our version allows anyone in sales to secure more meetings through their prospecting.

AIDA the Massimo Way

  • Attention – In Glengarry Glen Ross, they used manipulation and trickery to gain the attention of their prospect.  You need to get the attention of your prospect by making the call (or letter or meeting) about them right away.  Too many brokers call and drone on about me, me, me.  I promise you that your prospect doesn’t care.  They care about them.  You need to make the call all about them.  They are asking the question to themselves – “So what?”  You need to be answering that question.  Get there attention by asking great questions – about them.  Demonstrate your insight and expertise in terms of them.
  • Involvement – Here is where our AIDA starts to differ from the movie’s.  You need to show your prospect how much better their business, situation, and/or lives will be with your involvement.  In the attention stage, you learned what their situation was.  Now you share with them how you can improve the situation through your involvement.  And again, always in terms of them.
  • Data – You are going to give them something for free.  As we’ve been teaching this method to our clients, this is the one some brokers start to choke on.  Times have changed.  You want to give them something for free for at least three reasons.
    1. You want to demonstrate your value up front.
    2. Giving them something of value initiates the beginning of the relationship you want to build with them.
    3. It uses the mental trigger of reciprocity.
  • Action – I’m going to try not to preach here.  Most brokers or salespeople are terrible at this.  You must ask for the business.  I’ve seen so many go in and give a great proposal presentation.  It is customized to the client.  It addresses their needs.  Then they walk out and hope to get a call.  You have to give the prospect a clear call to action.  Are you sending a letter?  The next action step is a phone call.  Are you on the phone?  Your call to action is to ask for the meeting.  Are you in the meeting?  Then ask for the business.  It isn’t rude.  It is crucial.

So now it is time for you to consider your own prospecting.  Do you gain the attention of your prospect by making it all about them?  Do you help them consider how much better their situation would be with your involvement?  Are you giving them something of value – up front – for free?  Are you asking for the business?  If not, you have a great opportunity for some improvement.

So here is my call to action.  If you found this information valuable, would you consider tweeting this post to your followers?  All you need to do is click on the box above this paragraph.  I would be grateful.

You can also download the AIDA the Massimo Way PDF by clicking the button below.

Download the free PDF!

And I do have a question.  I’m working on a post that describes different ways to give ‘data’ for free – up front. What are some ways that you do this?  I’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments section.

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Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.

  • I think closed deals is the most powerful information. Of course it depends on the client and if they permit information to be shared. I see brokers doing deals, but never using that data as a summary of information that would be of interest to people. It can be from any side of the deal. Product rep, tenant rep, management, leasing, etc.

    • I agree with you, Linda. Leveraging closed deals allows you to say, “I’ve done this before. I’m doing it for others right now. And I can do it again for you!”

  • Bo I have 3 suggestions for giving value first:

    1.) We have an analyst who generates a fantastic quarterly market report for my TMA. It drills down much better than what the big platforms spit out, and is very relevant and interesting to the office tenants in our area. I have never had someone turn down a copy, either delivered by hand, or snail mail (harder to delete/throw away….stay top of mind etc).

    2.) I have also implemented the Steve Sims (of Bluefish) approach of marketing ugly and this works also as demonstrating value up front. If I see an article, handout, or anything that might interest my suspect/prospect, I will print it or rip it out, jot a quick note on the margin, and stuff into a hand addressed envelope and send it to them. If they are into fitness (known via LinkedIn reasearch), I will send a neat workout, if they are into hunting, I’ll send a hunting trip review, etc. This warms up the call even hotter than a preliminary letter (though I still use those).

    3.) I will offer to do expense audits on existing leases for prospects as a way to close an intro meeting. I just finished one this morning and used it as a good way to explain an expense stop and difference between 95% and 100% gross up. The prospect’s gross up was 100% and they had no expense stop. Guess who is helping her renew/relocate after that discussion? I really like this as the exclusive tenant rep close comes naturally after highlighting all of the issues in a current lease, or finding significant overages in expenses billed.

    Hope this helps.