What Women
Want:
5 Easy Steps to Increase Your Sales
By Dr. Rhonda
Savage
From Mel Gibson’s starring role in “What Women Want” to Dr.
John Gray’s book “Men are From Mars, Women are from Venus,” the
messages have been out there for a long time. Communicating
effectively with women is an art, and it will do two things for your
business: First, she’ll follow your recommendations and buy from
you; and more importantly, she’ll be the best marketing tool you
could ever implement. Remember this phrase: “What women buy, they
sell!” Treat her exceptionally well and you’ll earn her loyalty and
referrals.
Connecting with your female customers may be more important
now than in the past. Economic hardship has changed the way
consumers are spending their dollars. Those businesses that have not
had to constantly worry about marketing or sales previously are
finding themselves in a new world.
Women control the majority of spending in their households;
they purchase the majority of new cars, computers and home
electronics! With $2 trillion dollars of earnings and a $3 trillion
dollars of spending, you need to consider your female client.
How is your female customer different in the decision-making
process than a male? Both are looking for a combination of knowledge
and trust, yet men and women develop trust in different ways. Men
make decisions based on few facts and tend to take action
independently. Women need more information up front and tend to be
slower to make a decision. She needs to process the information and
feel like she’s been listened to; she’ll want to ask her friends and
family about their opinions. Most importantly, if you want to
increase your sales to women, you need to sharpen your listening
skills. If you want to increase your sales among female buyers,
consider the following five things:
1)
Listening skills: Women are much more sensitive to your tone
of voice than a male customer. If you’re stressed and tense, your
words can unknowingly become clipped, curt and short. Your female
client will tune into your tone and judge your business negatively
because of the way you talk to your employees or other customers.
This is called “anti-marketing.”
Women are more sensitive to eye contact, body language and
gestures. Women need sustained eye contact more than men; usually
20-30 seconds at least to feel you’re listening to her.
Focus on her during your presentation. Listen with your eyes,
body language and tone of voice. Listen to her story. If you’re busy
looking paperwork, she will feel you’re not listening and will not
give you her trust. Direct your conversation toward her, but be sure
to ask her spouse or significant other about any concerns she or he
may have. As she tells you her story, she’ll be giving you clues to
her concerns, to her wants, her goals, and her desires.
Answer all her questions, no matter how trivial they seem.
When she’s all done asking questions, she may need to think things
over and call you back, or come back in to ask more questions. It’s
important she not sense you’re stressed for time.
When you present your information, don’t use a canned
presentation. Customize the sale to her needs and communicate with
her how she would like to be communicated with: If she needs a lot
of information, give it to her. If she wants very few facts, deliver
your answers to her questions and wait for more.
2) Image is
everything:
Women are detailed
oriented. From the very first phone call, she needs to connect and
for you to make her feel special. You cannot ever redo a bad first
impression. If you have a store location, the front office area
needs to be warm, inviting clean and neat. Your team needs to wear
professional clothing. Women notice details! Look at the women’s
restroom: It should be her restroom. The appearance should
be not only neat and clean, but up-to-date with the décor and
decorated with a woman in mind.
3) Don’t put down
the competition:
When communicating
with women, it’s important to remain neutral when discussing your
competitor. Never speak badly about another business. Instead, talk
about the benefits of your products and how they will best suit her
needs. Talk about your products with a positive focus on how they
will meet the needs of her family. Women often have two main
passions: her family and making the world a better place. How will
your product save her family money? Keep them safer? Protect the
environment?
In addition to remaining neutral and focusing on positive
attributes of your product, be certain to display your credentials.
Your female buyer will look at your diplomas, certificates, honors,
but she won’t want you to “tout” them. You can refer to a safety
award, but don’t brag on it!
4)
Emphasize the benefit to the buyer: Women look for the
perfect answer. It’s in her nature; she wants to be certain she’s
making the right decision. Help her make the right decision by
discussing why it’s best she move on this decision right now.
Respect her time; don’t keep her waiting. Remember the
phrase: “People count up the faults of those who keep them waiting.”
This is especially true for women. Women are multi-taskers. If you
keep a woman waiting, she’ll be thinking of all the other things she
needs to do and will be more stressed than the majority of your male
clients.
Another phrase to remember: “People shop up.” Most people
want the best treatment they can afford. Women especially like to
buy the best they can for their family’s needs. Provide her with her
options, but do tell her what you feel is the best for her
situation. Remember she may be slower to make her decision than your
male client, as she wants to gather information and make that right
decision. You might facilitate acceptance sooner with a
complimentary added-value service, such as a guarantee.
5) Expect to follow
up: Many
times, sales are lost with female customers because of a lack of
follow up. When men say, “I’ll think about it,” it usually means
they’re not interested. When women say, “I’ll think about it,” it
means she truly will think about it!
Ask permission to follow up within a week and answer any
questions she may have. From there, she will direct you to what she
wants. She’ll either need more time, more information, want to buy
from you, or have decided on another product. Demanding, insistent
salespeople will often lose the sale to the female client. She
doesn’t want “to be sold!”
If you focus
your business on the needs of the female customer, you will have her
loyalty, trust and referrals. Men have needs, but women need much
more. Remember these three things: If you don’t meet the needs of
your female customers, they will leave you. If you just meet their
needs, they’ll stay. If you exceed their needs, they will refer
their friends, family and colleagues.
Read other articles and learn more about
Dr. Rhonda Savage.
[This article is available at no-cost, on a non-exclusive basis.
Contact PR/PR at 407-299-6128 for details and
requirements.]
|
