A.I.C.P. Awareness, Interest, Consideration and Purchase.
Flowing in the buyer’s purchase stages.
Although people have always made purchases through A.I.C.P. it has been undervalued, misunderstood and overlooked. All the sales training and value-added ideas in the world are minimized unless they all support the four letters of the buying cycle. Buyers rarely purchase immediately. In many cases there’s a procurement department involved. The key to a successful sale is building a sense of familiarity and top of mind with the buyer. Staying with the buyer through his or her cycle process is what places you in a prime position.
Stage One: Awareness.
Buyers are seeking solutions. It is your responsibility to first and foremost make potential buyers aware of your value-difference on a consistent basis. This is where you begin connecting and aligning your salespeople/solution with the buyer.
Stage Two: Interest.
You must empower your marketing messages with your true value difference and convey that magic in compelling ways in order to create congruity with the buyer’s special interest/need.
Stage Three: Consideration.
Through the first two stages, the buyer should have been caught in your “tractor beam.” You are in his flow of careful thought and he should be seeking your solution. Consideration is wonderfully close to purchase. The question is, has your company remained in the flow so far?
Stage Four: Purchase.
The transaction is now closed. The tractor beam pulled the buyer into your Mother Ship. The buyer’s just been mind-melded, and a relationship is launched. That’s pretty impressive stuff, don’t you think?
The A.I.C.P. Triangle is an uncommon strategy.
The less differentiated your marketing messages are, and the less they imprint on the buyer, you become invisible through his buying process, and sales opportunities are diminished.
Keep in mind that differentiation must be supported by consistent marketing. Staying with the prospective buyer through all the stages is critical. Most companies quit far too early. They invest a bit in the “A” or the “I” and fall off the prospect’s radar screen at the critical points. The A.I.C.P. process is powerful when in concert with continued messages that build top of mind and positive familiarity.