The gender differences’ conversations continue to spike during many business seminars, interviews with business mentors, meetings with clients and social gatherings.
In the course of working with a number of sales teams (as a marketer) I’ve noticed that the perception of professional sales men and women has now metamorphosed. It occurred partially due to the modern change of sales tactics and rapidly developing business models from hard core sales to suggesting a-solution-for-a-better-living model. Our new age is definitely a better place for women as sales representatives. Why?
You could argue that sales person success depends on a number of personal traits rather than gender. However I suggest you forget about individuals for a second, and observe everyone just as male or female on the job.
Are women better listeners?
Based on my experience of dealing with a large number of mortgage brokers, retailers and fashion industry businesses, I figured that women are often better [on average] at listening to customers providing with a lot of personal understanding and compassion which enables them to collect more important data than men would be able to do in a similar situation. At the same time, women may often run off topics before returning to the tasks at hand because they’re born multi-taskers, according to Forbes. It might be a distraction for some and a great advantage for others.
While many of us imagine a well-dressed male when it comes to sales, women have earned a well-respected position in the sales industry. One of the common opinions is that females are simply better at communication and basic people’s skills. At the same time, Sheryl Sandberg believes that women are underestimating themselves at a very early stage in their careers, de-motivating and discouraging themselves from performing better and eventually filling top posts which often prevents them from being persuasive enough in sales. On other hand, with men in power over so many centuries, it is believed that women have developed many other skills which are of high value for a sales person including communication, persuasion and patience.
Who are naturally better at networking?
Ultimately, it is believed that women are naturally better at some of the top qualities that are often desired in a sales representative. Such qualities include analytical skills, ability to network successfully and beneficially, ability to start and maintain engaging conversation and offer empathy. Women are curious and success driven. Men, on other hand, appear to be genetically better at analytical and logical thinking, are often less impulsive, driven to succeed, ambitious and great at networking.
Do men close a sales quicker?
Interestingly, I’ve noticed in my practice that men can often develop and close a sale quicker than women. The reason is because men often focus on their sales as a target, an event or an opportunity which ultimately enables them to have a firmer victor. I am not implying that women often lose their focus; however they might take longer to reach the final destination. It is explained by the females’ desire to listen, learn and build relationships which sometimes prevents from closing a sale quicker. However it often causes reoccurring sales assisting in retaining clients. Women are relationship building masters while men are exceptional at short-cycle sales.
Interestingly, I’ve also noticed how women can often obtain the desired information easier and quicker than men. Why? Well, the answer isn’t that hard. Women are often perceived as less threatening partially due to their shorter presence on the sales stage. Many of us see a female sales person as a nurturing advisor rather than cold calling sales representative.
Another astonishing observation I made comes down to our basic instincts. I’ve seen women making a very quick sale because men felt like pleasing or even showing off. It is a different situation with a female customer.
Finally, if I had to make a choice between a male and a female sales person in my business I might be seriously considering a female one. Why? The business world is still primarily a male driven world. In order to be successful you have to be innovative and do something your competition is not doing yet. If hiring a woman as my sales representative will make my business more personal, less pushy and any different from other ventures I would definitely go for a female sales person.
So who wins this ‘battle’? Is a man or a woman the best one in sales?
My answer would be – a good combination. The business world is changing. The sales tactics are changing. We are no longer hard selling businesses but advisers, educators and helpers. Our services & products are the tools for our customers to make their lives more beautiful, easier or richer.
Women are amazing at communications and can provide the best customer care possible due to their natural ability to nurture. Men love to compete and incredibly results driven which enables businesses to reach sales targets quicker.
Women and men are simply different. A well balanced combination of both can create an ideal sales person for your business.