The Authority on Closing Sales Deals with Women (with 5 pages on how to close sales with men!)
The Authority on Closing Sales Deals with Women (with 5 pages on how to close sales with men!)
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Overview
The Authority on Closing Sales Deals with Women (with 5 pages on how to close sales with men!)
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781613397701 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Made For Success Publishing |
| Publication date: | 03/01/2016 |
| Edition description: | 2nd ed. |
| Pages: | 186 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d) |
About the Author
Connie is not your typical motivational keynote speaker. She motivates audiences DIFFERENTLY by fueling them with exciting new ideas, mindsets, attitudes and solutions that will empower them to tackle even the toughest challenges in today’s crazy 24/7 world!
Connie started doing comedy when she was 14 and never looked back. Her humor allows her to tackle even the toughest issues organizations face with substance and style. Connie’s contagious sense of humor enables your audience to dig deeper and learn so she can keep those “ah ha” moments coming fast and furious.
Read an Excerpt
MAKE A FORTUNE SELLING TO WOMEN
THE DEAL MAKERS and DEAL BREAKERS YOU MUST KNOW TO CLOSE THE DEAL EVERY TIME!
By CONNIE PODESTA
Greenleaf Book Group Press
Copyright © 2009
Connie Podesta
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-929774-90-6
Chapter One What Women Want
FIVE WAYS TO CLOSE MORE SALES WITH WOMEN
QUIZ
Be honest!
1. based on your experiences, make a quick list in your head of five words that you think describe the sales process a woman is looking for.
2. What percentage of sales would you guess are influenced by women?
3. a woman walks into your office or store wearing sweatpants and a torn t-shirt and has three kids in tow. What's your gut response?
4. true or false: With a woman, you've got a better chance of convincing her to buy if you emphasize the "soft" benefits of your product rather than the "hard" details of how your product compares to the competition.
5. What is it about your products or services that make them attractive to women? is your product so strong that women will buy it regardless of who is selling it?
6. Women like to talk during the sales process. So when you're selling to a woman, what types of things do you talk about to get her to feel comfortable? the weather? your kids? other customers? Personal information from your life? or just the product?
7. think about the last time you weren't able to close a sale with a female customer. What were the exact reasons the sale fell through?
When you've finished reading this chapter, think about these questions again and see whether your answers are different.
If you're a man, I bet you're thinking that this chapter alone could be worth the price of the book-and you might just be right. Figuring out what women (and men) want has been an interesting project of mine for decades (and will probably continue to keep me busy for years to come). The good news is that there are definitely specific keys to understanding both men and women that will help you be more successful during the sales process. If you're a woman, you probably know what women want in a personal relationship, but you may not have a clue as to what they want as buyers. Even though you have been a buyer yourself, it's doubtful you stepped back during a shopping experience and analyzed how and why you did what you did. It's also hard to separate your personal experiences into general rules without talking to lots of other women about what they look for when they're buying. But if you take all that information and boil it down to the bottom line, you come up with one of the most important differences between selling to men and selling to women:
With a man, you can concentrate on closing the sale. With a woman, you had better concentrate on committing yourself to the sale.
With her, it is critical that you commit to the entire sales process, rather than focusing on just the end result. In other words, the typical aggressive sales techniques that have been the core and mainstay of sales training for decades will probably turn her off, which will then turn her away from you!
So, are you ready to enter the fascinating, complex, and as much as I hate to admit it, sometimes confusing mind of a woman shopper? Then let's start with some great news.
I recognize how busy you are, so I'll begin this chapter by saving you one full hour of unnecessary time and reading.
Most books on selling to women spend at least the first chapter or two (1) convincing you of how important women are as customers because of their enormous buying power; (2) giving you case study after case study of companies that learned the hard way that they had to advertise, market, and sell differently to women; and (3) offering lots of statistics, charts, and graphs supporting right- and left-brain theories of communication, the history of gender differences, and the growth of women's purchasing power. And after an hour, you have yet to learn one single thing that you can use tomorrow to help you make more money and be more successful. Since I trust that you are smart and already know that women are critical to the success of your business or career, I thought you might like me to sum up all of that information in a few sentences so we can get right down to the business of helping you close and commit to more deals (and make more money-no apology for that being a major goal as well).
We can begin by eliminating at least twenty pages of statistics, numbers, data, and research. There is only one statistic you really need to know (and believe):
85 percent of all consumer buying decisions are made or influenced by women.
No other statistic can compare to this one. No other statistic is necessary in order for you to dramatically increase your "sales to women" percentage. Women are either buying for themselves, buying for someone else, or telling someone else what to buy 85 percent of the time something gets sold! Wow! Now you can begin to understand why this book is so vitally important to your future success in sales.
Now allow me to save you thirty more pages of charts, graphs, and useless case studies by giving you the bottom line when selling to women: It is a documented reality that, psychologically, women tend to think, act, communicate, negotiate, listen, socialize, make decisions, and shop differently than men. Therefore, it's a fact of life that those of us in sales need to adjust our styles of selling to accommodate those differences if we ever want to be successful selling to women.
Why is this important? Because it means there is big money, amazing potential, and outstanding long-term sales relationships in your future if you understand how to sell to women in a way that recognizes and speaks to their unique approach to buying.
Now let's get to work.
Remember, women are usually the experience buyers. They are mentally critiquing each stage of the process and constantly evaluating whether to stay in or get out. After interviewing and talking with hundreds of women of all ages, backgrounds, cultures, and socioeconomic groups, I quickly realized that women have a very specific set of criteria and expectations in mind when it comes to how they want their buying experience to feel. (And, by the way, you might as well get used to hearing the word feel, because you'll see it a lot in this book.) Emotions, feelings, and a sense of personal connection are some of the biggest differences between male and female buying styles-women develop feelings about every aspect of the process and those feelings drive their decision to buy from you-or not buy from you. So you have to be able to apply that knowledge when selling to women. If you are a "feelings" kind of person already, you are several steps ahead in the game. If you aren't, then selling to women will be more of a challenge, but don't worry-I'll teach you exactly what you will need to do to have that more "personal" touch without leaving your comfort zone.
If there is one question that men have asked more than any other-more than "How can I earn a million dollars?" or "How can I live longer?" or "How can I achieve wealth, fame, and success?" it is simply "What do women want?"
But that's a question for another book, and maybe you saleswomen out there aren't as interested. So for this book, let's amend the question to ask: What do women want to experience as a buyer in order to commit to the sale?
Throughout my research, women have told me good stories and bad about their shopping experiences. They told me what they wanted and what they didn't want, what they needed and didn't need, what they liked and didn't like, and what they expected and didn't get. Almost everything they described fell into one of the following five categories.
What Women Want:
They want the experience to be PERSONAL
They want the experience to be PROFESSIONAL
They want the experience to be PRODUCTIVE
They want to be PART OF THE PROCESS
They want the experience to be POSITIVE
These are the five key elements needed to create the most desirable buying experience for a woman. Let's look at each one up close to get a better idea of what women want from their shopping experiences.
She Wants the Experience to Be Personal
The first thing you need to know (and accept) when selling to a woman is the following:
It's not just business, it's personal.
Anyone who says that business isn't personal doesn't know women at all. For most women the decision to buy is based on many personal beliefs, perceptions, ideas, memories, and most of all-you guessed it-feelings.
Let's face it, no matter who you're selling to, sales requires personal encounters with discussions about what someone PERSONALLY wants or needs, and success is reinforced and sustained by continuing a long-term PERSONAL relationship with each customer whenever possible. It begins the moment those first personal questions are asked: What do you want? What do you need? How can I help you? How can I make you richer, happier, healthier, or more successful?
We salespeople ask both men (results buyers) and women (experience buyers) these same questions. The difference is that women are more aware of the PERSONAL side to sales and will make very quick decisions during this initial interview process about whether a salesperson seems sincere, acts courteously, and treats them appropriately, and whether they will feel comfortable doing business with that salesperson. They size the situation up in terms of how they want to buy, whereas men tend to focus on what they want to buy. The same holds true for communication. Women focus on how something is said and men focus on what is being said.
Women also tend to be very personally connected to their purchases. I honestly believe that a great many of the purchases women make are directly related to something that is worrying them, and the purchase is made to bring relief-the car is getting old and not safe so let's take it in, the roof might leak so let's fix it first, the kids need clothes, office supplies are low, this old computer might crash, or I want to make sure we can travel when we retire so let's invest. A good example is when my husband and I were exploring different options for a new will. He was not at all excited about the whole process: he can't drive it, eat it, play with it, or sleep on it. Plus, he said it was depressing to think about and not a fun way to spend money. Left to himself, I think making a will would have remained on his "to do when nothing else in the world is going on" list forever. Basically he was there to buy a service-not because he wanted it, but because I did. This is a perfect example of how women influence men to buy. I, on the other hand, felt we were personally (see, there's that word we women like to use) responsible for making sure that everyone was taken care of in the event of our deaths. I didn't think it was fun either, but I was eager to get it done so I could stop worrying about it.
When we met with our estate planner, I brought a huge load of emotion into the meeting-my family, my feelings of responsibility, memories, concerns about doing the right thing by everybody, fears about how I would live without my husband, thoughts about what would happen if I died first (would he remarry, how long would it take him to remarry ... I got a bit off track). I was also remembering what happened when the relative of a friend died without an up-to-date will: it caused much confusion, heartache, and jealousy among the remaining family members. I wanted to find a person to help me prepare my will who would understand all of those factors. My head was swimming as we walked in.
Are men and women different? You bet! I guarantee you none of those thoughts were going through my husband's mind! In fact, when I asked him what he was thinking he said, "I should have parked under a tree where it's shady if we're going to be in here very long so the car won't get hot."
As I walked into the office, I was concerned about much more than the bottom line-in fact, details and cost were not even in my thoughts at that point. I wanted to make certain that this particular estate planner was willing to listen and then integrate everything I wanted and needed, not just simply write up a will. I wanted him to have a thorough understanding of all my needs, concerns, worries, and goals so he could create the perfect scenario for us. I was PERSONALLY involved from the beginning of the meeting, even though we hadn't even decided whether or not to use his services. From the moment I was introduced I was aware of each nuance of the process. I immediately began to look for clues as to how I would be treated and whether this was someone I wanted to continue to do business with. Let there be no doubt-I was conducting an interview based on how he reacted to my PERSONAL needs and expectations.
My husband, on the other hand, was sitting quietly, waiting to see what was going to happen, and reserving judgment on the details until he had a chance to hear the facts and get a handle on the bottom line. He was focused on the end results and I was focused on the entire experience. I began "judging" the salesperson way before my husband did.
Like me, many women are looking to accomplish much more in their relationship with a salesperson than finding someone to take their orders. Therefore, you must be aware from the very first second how much weight a woman is placing on who she does business with. A woman wants to do business with someone she likes and trusts, someone she feels comfortable with, and someone who she believes she can count on. (Important note: Making the shopping experience PERSONAL for a woman does not mean being flirtatious, overly intimate, or in any way sexual-ever. That's a deal breaker that goes without saying.) While a man might put up with an unfriendly auto mechanic known for excellent work and great prices, a woman won't. She'll pay a little more and take her car to someone she likes and who treats her with respect-as long as she's still confident he or she can get the job done. If she's not satisfied with the second mechanic, she'll go to a third and a fourth until she finds someone she can be confident and comfortable doing business with. When you're doing business with women, you have to be better than the next guy!
A woman's need for a personal experience means that feelings, the connection between salesperson and buyer, and the possibility for a long-term relationship take precedence in the sales process and are much more important than you might expect.
I know a couple who moved into our neighborhood a few years ago from an area about thirty minutes away. She still drives the half hour to her hairdresser, dry cleaner, drugstore, and gym. We have all of these services within a block of our house, but it's worth the drive to her to continue to use people she feels "connected" to, people she has developed personal relationships with. Her husband, on the other hand, took no time at all discovering the closest places and switched his services immediately. He discovered he could get the results he needed right around the corner. But since she's focused on the experience instead of just the results, a female buyer is much more likely to stay loyal, even if it means being slightly inconvenienced.
Quick tip: If you want to sell to women, learning to invest in and manage the PERSONAL aspects of the process is critical to your success.
She Wants the Experience to Be Professional
Even though women usually want their sales experience to be PERSONAL, that does not mean they don't also expect it to be PROFESSIONAL. In fact, in order for her to accept and be comfortable with a PERSONAL shopping experience, it must also pass the test of being PROFESSIONAL. Most women are savvy shoppers and will ultimately be focused on making a good, intelligent, and price-conscious decision, regardless of their personal feelings-it's just that you will have to pass the PERSONAL test before she can move to the next step. Ideally, the two will go hand-in-hand, but don't think you can play on her emotions to get her to make a purchase that isn't in her best interests.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from MAKE A FORTUNE SELLING TO WOMEN by CONNIE PODESTA Copyright © 2009 by Connie Podesta. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents Introduction....................1What Women Want FIVE WAYS TO CLOSE MORE SALES WITH WOMEN....................13
Deal Breaker #1 SHE DOESN'T WANT TO PLAY THE GAME....................41
Deal Breaker #2 SHE DOESN'T THINK YOU VIEW HER AS A LEGITIMATE DECISION MAKER....................57
Deal Breaker #3 SHE DOESN'T LIKE YOU....................73
Deal Breaker #4 SHE DOESN'T TRUST YOU....................93
Deal Breaker #5 SHE DOESN'T THINK YOU'RE THE RIGHT PERSON FOR THE JOB....................113
Turn Those Deal Breakers into Deal Makers....................147