The New Playing Field: Todays Womens Market

Salesperson Rick escorts prospective customer Sandra to the door and shakes her hand then turns back to his office.

Rick (to himself): That went great. I managed to hit every selling point and ask all the important questions. Im sure shes confident that Weve got what she wants. Shell go home, get permission from her husband and probably bring him back and sign the papers. If I dont hear from her by the end of the week, Ill follow up.

Sandra (to herself): What a waste of time, and like I have time to waste! I dont think he listened once to what I was saying, or maybe he was too preoccupied trying to get through his pitch. I hope I find someone soon who will be the right person to help me find the right car and the best deal. This is so frustrating.

Selling is a communication process. Communication means the transmission of ideas or information. With women, the communication process becomes a bit more complex than just making your pitch or gathering information. Its apparent through my many years of training salespeople that selling to women is harder than selling to men. Women take longer, need more input, expect more attentive service, require more follow-up, and more. Ive heard the same story over and over: Women are far tougher customers to do business with, and they demand more service than men.

So why bother? By now you already know the drill. For one thing, anyone who succeeds in selling and servicing women customers will tell you that the extra effort will pay you back in multiples. You could say that 1 + 1 = 3. That means, sell well to one woman and she will reward you with her business, her loyalty (more business) and probably a large number of referrals to other women (and the beat goes on).

For another, theres an even larger payoff as well: Once you can effectively sell, market to and retain women customers, youll have the tools to sell anything better to anyone. Men may not need the extra attentionbut will appreciate it. And almost any target market you can name demands attentive adjustments to their way of shopping, deciding and buying. Think minority markets. Think ethnic markets. Think Baby Boomers. Think seniors. Think about it: That means a lot of new business.

Now whether she likes the sales experience or not, eventually shes got to buy from someone. But when given a choice, a woman will go out of her way to do business with someone who provides the experience she prefers.

What does this mean to you? As a salesperson, you can create an advantage for your product by providing an experience that cant be found at your competitors.

Being the first one on your block to master the technique of selling to women is also more valuable than her business alone. Lets face it: women talk. They like to share stories and compare notes. They care about sparing their friends or family unpleasant experiences.

The New Woman Customer

Women today have the discretionary and disposable income to buy much more of whatever they want. They are the largest and best growth market out thereand they are never going back to the way things were.

The growing ranks of well-educated women are the ones who will go on to become the high earners in their professions. And in corporate America. Right now women hold the majority50.5%of management and professional jobs, according to Catalyst, even though they make up only 46.5% of the U.S. labor force.

That spells serious money to spend. Now that their lives have grown, women act even more decisively not only as buyers, but also as gatekeepers and deal-breakers. Clearly, we are well past the era of the dependent woman, whose access to financial wherewithal and purchasing decision-making was more passive and secondhand. The new breed of woman consumer today is educated, informed and more empowered than ever.

Tips for car dealers:

1. Get your business in order first. That means making sure your showrooms and your environment/individual offices are women friendly.

2. Create a business and marketing plan to increase your business among women. Dealers who made the effort to create a plan have increased their sales among women up to 50%.

3. Put your active listening skills into high gear. Women claim that they are often not heard or understood.

4. Be patient. Recognize that women take more time in the sales process. Use this time to learn more about her.

5. Build trust with your women clients. That means returning her calls the same day, calling her quarterly just to connect, create anywhere from 5 to 10 points of contact throughout the year which can include newsletters, emails, holiday cards, etc. The more valuable the client, the more points of contact!

6. Be religious about the seven-step process to selling to women so that you will exceed her expectations and build your business through loyalty and referrals!

Delia Passi is president of MedeliaCommunications and former Group Publisher of Working Woman and Working Mother magazines. She is a nationally recognized speaker, sales trainer and author of the Winning Strategies for Marketing and Selling to Women, audio book series. For more information visit http://www.deliapassi.com.

Delia Passi is the nations leading authority on Selling to Women. As President and CEO of MedeliaCommunications, Passi supports companies in their efforts to be the very best in their industry at closing the deal with the woman customer and retaining that customer forever. Passi is a prominent speaker and trains thousands of sales representatives each year on how to better sell to women and couples through a series of sales development training programs that she has created. Passi is also the author of Winning the Toughest Customer, The Essential Guide to Selling to Women (Kaplan, 2006)Anabal Blog57538
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