Women in a world of men are invisible. And knowing this is a great advantage for improving your sales success. Sometimes selling to women is as simple as looking for them.
Selling to Women is Impossible if You Don’t See Them
One of my woman friends, a regional director at a major insurance company, was training a salesman to be an insurance agent. He wasn’t fresh out of school; in fact, this man was mature, confident and fairly seasoned in his profession. During his training, he accompanied her to a networking event– a meeting of the local chamber of commerce. At this meeting, she observed that although 25-30% of the attendees were women, he didn’t talk to any of them.
After the meeting, she said to him, “I was interested to note that you’re meeting and greeting– just not with any of the women.”
His response? “Oh, there were women there?”
She laughed and replied, “Sure, there were. There were 15 or 20 of them.”
Apparently, something in this salesperson’s internal software was registering the women in the room as “background noise.” Whatever the reason, the point is that even face-to-face with physical reality, 25-30% of this networking opportunity was invisible to him. The first step for selling to women is to literally look for women in the places and events you already use for networking.
This advice for selling to women may seem incredibly obvious, but it’s obviously necessary. Open your eyes to the invisible women prospects all around you!