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 Salesopedia.com features
Selling/Marketing Tools in LEADERSHIP AND THE SEXES.
LEADERSHIP
AND THE SEXES: USING GENDER SCIENCE TO CREATE SUCCESS IN BUSINESS - Michael
Gurian with Barbara Annis. Jossey-Bass, $27.95 (272p) ISBN
978-0-7879-9703-8. To learn more about the book click
here.
Communication
Differences in Sales
— Clayton
Shold - Salesopedia
Years ago a
colleague by the name of Clint
MacPhail was having great success with his sales team. Our
company sold wealth management services to high net worth individuals.
When I asked Clint what he was doing to achieve his results he replied
it was all about matching the needs of the client.
He hypothesized if he could “match” prospects with individuals who had
professional designations (accountants, lawyers, Chartered Financial
Analysts, Chartered Financial Planners, etc.) and were also female two
things happened. The prospect would get their needed technical
expertise along with someone with a nurturing mindset. Clint believed
these well off individuals (many of whom were not financially
sophisticated) wanted to deal with people who knew what they were
talking about and also would care for them and their money. It worked.
His team did exceptionally well. I should note his team had a mix of
male and female sales professionals as some individuals had a
preference to deal with men, his concept remained true – adjust to the
client needs.
Ever since, I’ve had an interest in male-female communication styles,
even though my wonderful wife often being reminds me I’m from Mars not
Venus.
This brings me to a new book entitled “LEADERSHIP AND THE SEXES: Using
Gender Science To Create Success in Business” by Michael Gurian.
Intrigued by the book I wanted to include a post here on my blog to
bring it to your attention. No, I’m not getting a commission! I
connected with his publicist asking permission to run an extract from
the book. She was most helpful and provided the following section on
how gender science can be used to help improve sales strategies, and
most importantly increase the effectiveness of your sales force. If it
peaks your interest buy the book!
Communication Differences in Sales
Training a sales force is a fundamental area of business leadership and
management. Sales is greatly impacted by the gender differences — after
all, sales is all about communication with men and women.
Whe n we think about the fundamental brain differences between men and
women, we can also see those differences manifested in their speech
patterns during sales. Men often communicate in sales situations by
being data-and-product-directed: they may interrupt, they use less
emotion, they stay more on topic and don’t get personal (of course
there are exceptions to this), and they tend to make declarative
statements about a product.
Women, on the other hand, tend to be more wired to cross-connect and
build relationships when they sell; therefore, their speech tends to be
geared toward being inclusive and more relational; they ask more
questions, they try to get to know the person on a personal level, and
they use tag endings (“It’s a nice day, isn’t it?”) that compel the
other person to communicate back.
Often managers will ask, “So, who is better in sales, men or women?”
Neither is better biologically— they are different!
Try
This -
Selling to Men
Aware that a lot of selling/marketing research about gender addresses
how to market and sell to women (see, for example, the books The Power
of the Purse and Selling to Women), speaker and trainer Karen Purves
(see Notes and Resources) completed a long-term research project to see
how brain-based gender differences affect sales to men. She then
developed a twelve-point program that combined this gender/brain
research with field research.
Karen shared three of her communication insights and tools with us.
First, I found that it is most effective to ask a man what he thinks
about something, or what he thinks is a good next step. This is as
opposed to “What do you want to do next?” When I’ve helped sales forces
apply this in the field, I often get back follow-up comments like,
“This really works: it takes pressure off the guy, increases his
comfort, and increases his likelihood to buy from me.”
Second, when men sometimes act impulsively in business buying
decisions, salespeople should use this to their advantage. Soft close
early if he’s ready. It saves time, effort and money. The idea here
isn’t that all men are impulsive—the success idea here is to check to
see if this man is ready to buy with very little information or time
invested.
Third, competition really works when selling to men (not all, but
many). Whether it is through quotas or competing bids, almost every
industry has or can include competitive elements. When you convey
information about competition, most men prefer you to state the
information in facts and figures, as opposed to stories.
If you as a leader are responsible for a sales force, here are a number
of communication differences you will want to look at closely as you
add brain-based gender differences to your assessment of the talents
you are managing. Use these to help your sales team alter their
techniques to fit the women or men they are selling to.
• Men tend to speak in louder voices than women do. They also tend to
use loudness to emphasize points. If you see it in the males in your
sales force, make sure it fits the product and customer.
• Given that men tend to interrupt more than women, they (and similar
women) often need help, especially if they are going to sell to women,
in listening better — and not interrupting too often.
• Women talk more about themselves, revealing more about their lives
than men do. Is this a good fit for your product? It might well be. But
it might not be, especially if the woman is going to sell to a man who
really doesn’t care a lot about the person he is buying from.
• Men more directly accuse— “You didn’t fill that order.” Women are more
likely to ask, “Why didn’t you fill that order?” Generally, both kinds
of communication can be useful in different situations. If you see
someone in your sales force overemphasizing either way of
communicating, you may need to mentor them toward a middle ground.
• Women tend to include more pleasant endings, such as “Have a nice
day.” They use lots of questions, and they use upward inflections,
making statements into questions through inflection. “It’s a nice day,
isn’t it?” Men tend to ask fewer questions to stimulate conversation
with customers than women do. Men tend to end sentences in more abrupt
ways, including their phone conversations. Men also tend to avoid
upward inflections. Be very clear on when and where and with whom each
of these strategies works.
Your sales force may need your men to “peer mentor” your women, and
vice versa. Given that selling takes place with both women and men, all
the skills are needed.
Ultimately, in general, if a man is selling to a woman, he may need to
stretch his emotional abilities to try to build a relationship, not
just get to the bottom line of the sale.
Similarly, in general, if a woman is selling to a man, she may need to
be cognizant that men often don’t like talking a lot about their
personal lives or beating around the bush. Often, they just want you to
get to the bottom line using as few words as possible.
Excerpted with permission of the publisher Jossey Bass from LEADERSHIP
AND THE SEXES. Copyright (c) 2008 by Michael Gurian with Barbara Annis.
This book is available at all bookstores, online booksellers and from
the Jossey Bass web site at www.josseybass.com.
Kudos go out to Karen Purves for her excellent insights. Reflecting on
the content I’m thinking my friend Clint was fifteen years ahead of his
time!
--------
Michael
Gurian and Barbara Annis are the authors of "Leadership
and the Sexes: Using Gender Science to Create Success in Business,"
published by Jossey-Bass/John Wiley, September 2008. For more
information, visit www.genderleadership.com.
This website features the
Leadership and Gender trainings offered by Michael Gurian and his
associates. We are proud to offer the finest state-of-the-art
training and keynotes in
how men and women think, work and lead. New York Times
bestselling author Michael Gurian is one of the world's foremost
authorities in leadership and gender diversity. Working
together as women and men is one of the greatest challenges we will
each
meet--personally and in corporate environments. If the Gurian
Institute can help your workplace meet the challenge, please contact
us. If you specifically want Michael Gurian to provide
consulting, training or a keynote, please let us know as well. Click
here to learn more.
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