The ConsumHERist - Doing What Comes Naturally

Posted on | August 27, 2008 |

By Delia Passi

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I came across an article on Parenting.com about “what research really says about gender and babies,” by Anita Sethi, Ph.D. The author provides a summary of many different studies on how boys and girls differ in behavior early in life, demonstrating that gender stereotypes are mostly valid. Boys will be boys, and girls will be girls.

For me, the article supports my position that you can’t deny that women have fundamentally different needs in the sales experience. Trust me when I say that as obvious as it is that women and men are different, I frequently have to defend myself to those sales and marketing executives who think selling is the same regardless of gender.

The behaviors that little girls exhibit earlier than boys are many of the behaviors that I train sales people to pay attention to. Girls talk sooner and their language skills and vocabulary develop sooner, so let her tell you her story before you rush in with your sales pitch.

They like face time, and early on they demonstrate more skill at reading emotion in your expressions, so make sure you give her lots of eye contact when you talk to her.

Little girls are also shown to be better listeners. They seem to prefer the sound of human voices to other sounds, so you can expect that your women customers are listening to all you have to say very intently. But that doesn’t mean you should do all the talking. Remember that they like to talk too, so you have to know when to let her do so. I talked a while back about giving her four seconds to pause before you jump back in, and that is where I think that balance is.

Only a couple weeks ago I discussed how you can copy a woman’s movements and gestures (in moderation), and the early childhood research that Sethi reviewed showed that girls zoom ahead of boys in imitating behaviors.

Of course she has plenty to say about little boys too, and you might consider their differences when selling as well. Boys like motion and activity, so maybe you should keep them moving, around the showroom for example. Boys would rather look at a mobile than a single face, so maybe instead of seeking eye contact with him, you should have some moving object handy to keep him pacified while you talk to him. Maybe this explains why men enjoy doing business on the golf course.

Delia Passi, Founder of WomenCertified® and author of Winning the Toughest Customer: The Essential Guide to Selling to Women is a regular columnist on eBrandMarketing. Want my take? Email me and visit my sites www.medelia.com, www.womencertified.com

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