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It’s Only Common Sense: 12 Powerful Reasons Women are Changing Sales

There is an evolution in sales, especially with those who are doing the selling. It is no secret that many of our sales professionals are aging out: retiring or moving to that great golf course in the sky. As they exit the premises so do some age-old practices.

If you have a long history in sales like I do, you likely have seen the demise of the sales techniques we were exposed to—from the three martini lunches of the ‘60s, the so-called business golf outings of the ‘70s and ‘80s, to the elaborate and long dinners of the ‘90s, and beyond.

Also on their way out are the “gimmies” of those days. The same people who claimed their corporate policies would not allow them to accept a free lunch at a 99 Restaurant in New England were more than happy to accept the “Christmas card catalogs” that I used to hand deliver every year (and these were defense contractors). If you’re too young to know about these, I would drop off a catalog of goodies to my buyer. These catalogs had different levels of prizes, such as transistor radios, snow tires or color TVs. The buyer was given a code that also defined the level of gift he could choose from and that prize was delivered to his private home in a few weeks.

Now let’s talk about their successors, the new breed of sales professionals. First, we must stop using the pronoun “he” since there are now as many women in sales as there are men. In my opinion, women are better at sales because they are smart, dedicated, and passionate. With women as 60% of new college graduates, they are entering the workforce in all markets and businesses better equipped for success than their male counterparts.

I make a point of these statistics because they affect the way sales are being conducted. Knowing this makes a difference. I have now worked with several young women in our industry, and their approach to business, and sales in particular, are worth analyzing.

After watching them as either direct salespeople or independent sales representatives, here are some of the characteristics that make them more effective and successful salespeople of their generation, or even other older generations.

1. They have a plan. When I talk with them, I see they have a definite plan for growing their prospecting, lead generation, customer acquisition, and growth.
2. They have a process, and they stick to it. They have developed their own unique process for getting things done and they stick to it. They measure their progress.
3. They know their product cold. They know the company they are selling for, what they are good at, and the kind of customers they are best suited to work with.
4. They know their own capabilities. They talk the talk and walk the walk when it comes to being living and breathing experts about their own company, its products, and services.
5. They do their homework. They research the accounts even before they make that first phone call. They have all the information they need about the target customer, which includes knowing the needs of those target customers.
6. They are empathetic. They can walk in the customer’s shoes. They can understand the customer’s problems enough to help solve them. They are nourishers of the customer.
7. They are experts at all things social media. They know how to use LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to a high level, and they know how to brand themselves using these social media tools.
8. They don’t know everything. They have open minds, willing to listen and learn new things. They are open to suggestions if they feel they will benefit from them.
9. They are great at networking. Nobody can connect better than women. They work at helping one another succeed, and they are not too proud to help one another. They believe in the spirit of “a rising tide lifts all boats,” while we men believe in a zero-sum game.
10. They are adaptable. This could be the most important tool in their kit. They can adapt to changing situations. They welcome the future because they are the future, and they know it.
11. They have the hunger of the underdog. They know they must work harder, that there really is a glass ceiling, and they must be better at what they do to break that ceiling.
12. They are more creative, determined, pliable, flexible, and willful than we are. They say, as my mother often told me when I faced a problem, “Find a way. There is always a way to solve your problem.”

And that’s pretty good common sense.

Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group. He offers this disclaimer: My apologies in advance to my male counterparts whose egos might have been bruised by this column.