Women have been fighting for their rights for an extremely long time.
Just imagine that the first right to vote was granted only after two hundred years of battling and it still hasn’t been obtained in some countries. However, this is not a post about feministic movement, as it might have seemed at first.
Today, we are looking at the role of the woman in modern business, in sales in particular. Women’s approach to sales marketing is totally different than that of a man. That is why we need to pinpoint these differences.
What is the current position of women in marketing?
It is sad to admit this but the number of women in sales is rather low. The majority of sales currently belongs to men and they tend to occupy all leading positions in this type of business. My research of a popular recruiting service, found that only 39 per cent of job positions in the stated branch of business are occupied by women from all over the world.
I’m not talking about leading positions, of course, because then the number would be even lower. The quantity of females that occupy executive positions is only about ten per cent! Can you imagine that?
The most popular professions for women remain unchanged from data that is over 50 years old. Women take the positions of teachers, doctors, assignment help experts, more than the positions of politicians and lawyers.
We need to see how women can benefit the world of sales and how different their approach is.
Women sales representatives are better team workers
Working in team is more suitable for women as they are more communicative and expressive than males. Planning and discussing of the most important points seems more natural, while male sales reps are more individualistic and lone workers.
Men could be better leaders, but they tend to take everything under strict control and consider their opinion to be always right.
Women are tacticians while men are strategists
Women are better tacticians, while men are excellent strategists. What is the difference? Tactics is step-by-step planning, while strategy is a global longtime process that incorporates the usage of multiple interchanging tactics. So we can see that adding a woman’s touch would only benefit the whole business.
Women have excellent listening and communicative skills
Listening can be considered the most valuable skill for sales enablement. The sales rep that listens to the customer, understands better the needs and knows how to find a better approach.
It will be especially useful during a campaign development and offering services of various types.
Women are more empathic
Empathy is extremely important in the business of sales. The natural female instinct is being used in business in a rather effective way. Women feel the emotions of the people and understand better the atmosphere of the situation and comprehend more effectively the customer behaviour. It is very useful as women can work as excellent ‘corporate weather forecasters’ understanding the situation better than solid hearted men.
Women are more likely to have soft skills
Women are not as straightforward as men. They use their emotions and kindheartedness to win the attention of the customer and avoid being patronising. People start to feel sympathy and desire to cooperate with a woman faster than with a man.
We see that women have their own capabilities, which benefit the sales industry. That is why I believe that there should be equality between the two sexes in sales to synthesise a new more effective approach for sales techniques.
Successful female-led startups: Myths or reality?
It would be a great mistake to claim that women cannot reach the great heights. There are many examples when women were even more successful than men. They have a good nose for money and can earn solid income thanks to the promotion of their businesses.
The next stage is to go from the theory to practice and review some examples of famous and really successful start-ups that are women-run.
What about transforming your phone into a real digital shopping centre? Sounds unbelievable and great at the same time. Varshavskaya Wanelo made it come true. Her company has enjoyed success since 2011. The app includes more than 350,000 stores that can be found on your phone with the help of this company.
The matter of money is always relevant and most of us wish to earn more, but also to be able to save some money. With the help of Gillian Morris’ company and her smart application, such dreams become a pleasant reality.
Kegan Schouwenburg established this start-up and its main goal is the support of people who have problems with their legs and feet. It provides the ability to create 3D-printed, custom, orthopedic shoe insoles. Such technology helps to correct the posture and eliminate lots of inconveniences.
All of us adore some finer things in life. Fashion goods are always popular and important. With this thought, Julie Wainwright founded her company. The company has more than three million customers and its popularity continues to grow. The customers are grateful for the quality of the products that they can buy and the outstanding services.
Alexa von Tobel founded this partnership. This is a business about business. The company provides its customers with effective and dependable financial planning. It tries different strategies and customises them in accordance to various needs. Thus, it creates opportunities to meet any life goals.
The mentioned above examples were only a small number out of a great variety. There many successful women who use the brilliance of their mind to promote any business.
About the author
Petra Mainer, the novice solopreneur (founder of GradeScout), studies Information Management, and now she is eager to become a regular contributor for different digital and entertainment blogs.
You can follow her on Twitter @PetraMainer