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Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus.

Written by: Sue Barrett

Article Overview: There is an increasing body of research overseas showing that woman are often outperforming men in achieving sustainable results in sales and client relationships. And I promised you I would start to highlight, from my research, what successful sales women do especially well. So here is your first snippet

Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus.

There is an increasing body of research overseas showing that woman are often outperforming men in achieving sustainable results in sales and client relationships. And I promised you I would start to highlight, from my research, what successful sales women do especially well. So here is your first snippet.

Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus.

I asked 50 highly successful sales women across a wide variety of industries about the differences between male and female sales people.

There was a uniform feeling among all the women interviewed for my project that female sales people are better at establishing a long-term relationship with a customer, are better listeners and find it easier to identify emotions and respond with empathy. Here are a couple of quotes from some of the women in the research project.

"I strongly believe that female sales people start from a very different place to our male counterparts. We start with the relationship. Rather than darting in and offering quick fix solutions, we take a longer term and ultimately more strategic view of the potential value of each client to our company.

"We are willing to be more patient in bringing a client on board, if it will generate better results. I think it also fair to say that, from my observations, women do more of the detail/paper/leg work themselves (rather than delegating it to others), are much better time managers, and less caught up in ‘appearances' - less ego driven. If I were a client, I would rather have a female rep looking after my interests."

Another had this to say: "Big generalisation: women tend to be better listeners, and men are better at asking for the business. Women are more patient and men are more direct. Women like to build the relationship, when men like to ‘consummate' the relationship with the sale."

All of women interviewed responded in unison, believing saleswomen have certain advantages over men. This surprised me, given that up to date, still, a vast majority of salespeople are male, and sales as a profession is still considered a male profession.

The results of my research are consistent with other extensive studies done. Rosenbaum (1999) found that women have a real edge over men when it comes to complex selling, and in particular they surpass men with respect to the following competencies:

• Aligning customer/company strategic objectives.
• Listening beyond product needs.
• Orchestrating organisational resources.
• Consultative problem solving.
• Engaging in self-appraisal and continuous learning.

To help us come to grips with these and other competencies that make for good sales success, I will focus on a specific competency each week in my blog and this will give you the opportunity to explore how you use each competency in your work and sales careers - and how it affects your sales performance. Think about it like fitness training - bit by bit over time.

I welcome your feedback and findings.

Sell Like A Woman is purely about raising the level of consciousness of what qualities really make for great sales people (men and women alike) in the 21st century. So maybe we can begin to help managers clearly identify and articulate what they are looking for.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Related Articles
  Mars and Venus Part II. "Moving towards" or "Moving away from".
  Mars and Venus - Part III. How does Venus know they got it right?
  Mars and Venus Part I. Sales people are from Mars, Buyers are from Venus - Introduction
  Mars and Venus – Part IV. What makes sense to buyers?
  Addressing the gender in -balance in leadership

Article Tags: better time, business women, client relationships, ego, emotions, empathy, leg work, listeners, long term relationship, male counterparts, mars women, men are from mars, men are from mars women are from venus, quotes, successful sales, sustainable results, time managers, unison, women are from venus



Related Forum Posts
Re: Differences between men and women entrepreneurs - I appreciate what you've shared, Wendy. I understand what you mean about men needing a sounding board that they usually don't get from other men. I can't help but wonder if this is society that teaches them to hold their tongue and be brave to one another, while all along, they would conquer even greater enemies if they had that extra support from one another. No wonder executive coaching has given such great results in the business world. As far as the cave, I've been known to retreat to my own cave when I've gone into self protection mode. However, I would say I've experienced more "Venus" than "Mars". We may have some general gender differences, but each one of us is unique and special in our own way. This is why I feel that each one of us needs to focus on succeeding at being ourselves and not try to fit into anyone else's box. The reason I brought up this thread about what makes us women different is because some women find it a relief to hear that they are not the only women who struggle in the ways we've talked about.
Re: History of Women in Business in the United States - Yes. Women have increasingly made positive economic contributions to society and their position is being recognized more and more as seen on the Forbes List of Executive Women. In general, women can be a bit more practical in their approach as entrepreneurs too.
A ton of Great Women - You might want to profile Teresa Cascioli of LakePort Brewery. She has an amazing story! I met her at at the celebratory luncheon for the Profit/Chatelaine Top 100 Women Business Owners. The Top 100 list is also a great resource for inspirational stories of Women Entrepreneurs.
Re: Are entrepreneur women more organized than men? - Women are generally more organised than men. They have good instincts more than men. Women are generally aggressive when it come to business. You don't want to mess up with them.
Re: Are entrepreneur women more organized than men? - The issue of women being more organized than men is true, start from you home, just see how messy the boys are. Women are also very cautious, unlike men who take any risk, a woman will analyze the risk first. Women are also go getter when it comes to business, once they make their mind, then they go for it.


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