AIDA — Attention, Interest, Desire, Action — is a classic sales and advertising framework first described by advertising pioneer Elias St. Elmo Lewis in the late 1800s, and it still describes how most sales conversations unfold today. You first capture Attention (a greeting, a display, a scroll-stopping post), build Interest by connecting the product to something the customer cares about, grow Desire by showing specific benefits or proof (a demonstration, a testimonial, a comparison), and finally prompt Action with a clear, low-friction next step such as 'Would you like me to wrap this up for you?' Recognizing which stage a conversation is stuck at — for example, a customer who is interested but has not reached desire — tells a salesperson exactly what to do next instead of repeating the same pitch.