Go Girl

There’s no doubt about it. The times they are a changing. Case in point: Kristin Penta. Just out of college, she went knocking at the doors of New York cosmetics firms with dreams of creating a new brand of makeup. “I was in for a shock,” Penta, now 28, recalls. “There was virtually no manufacturing and development going on. The cosmetics companies outsourced everything and it was basically all the same stuff, only packaged differently,” says Penta who “had been making rose petal potions and eye creams to sell to my grandmother since I was a little kid.”

Undaunted, she contacted a New Jersey manufacturer of pens and pencils with the idea of creating a new line of eyebrow pencils. “Basically, they used the same technology to produce writing instruments as it takes to produce eyebrow pencils and, in the past, this company had been approached by larger cosmetics firms but no one had pursued it. So I came up with a marketing concept and sales plan and the CEO there let me run with it.” And did she ever. Today, with a projected revenue of $5 million, her publicly-owned firm, Fun Cosmetics, has tripled its business since separating from the parent company in 1998.

Hitting the Big Time…to a Point
Penta exemplifies what many women have only fantasized about doing in the past: chucking conventional sales routes and mores and going for the big win. According to the National Foundation for Women Business Owners (NFWBO), a Silver Spring, Maryland-based nonprofit organization that studies and disseminates information about women entrepreneurs, 9.1 million females own businesses in the U.S., employing 27.5 million people and generating more than $3.6 trillion in sales. “The last 12 years have seen a growth rate of 104 percent,” points out Dr. Sharon Hadary, NFWBO’S executive director. And, interestingly enough, expansion “has been in construction, wholesale trade, transportation and communications, agribusiness and manufacturing” along with the historically amenable arenas of technology and services.

But despite the fact that such megafirms as eBay and Hewlett-Packard are headed by women, in general the executive suite still maintains the same gender dominance as an NFL locker room. According to Across the Board magazine, there were only two women CEOs in Fortune 500 companies in 1987 and the same number 10 years later. And a review of Working Woman’s 50 Top Business Owners reveals that many came to the helm due to the death of a spouse or via inheriting a family business. But this hardly means that widows or daughters are underqualified: they often bring MBAs or extensive experience in the company to the table.

Also, women entrepreneurs who’ve been in business fewer than 10 years have a more potent blend of experience than their older counterparts. Along with being in the work force and in professional and managerial (as opposed to clerical) positions, they have background in marketing and sales rather than accounting and finance, states NFWBO research. Fifty-one percent of the newer generation has also started businesses related to their previous careers, compared to only 33 percent of those who’ve been in the field two decades or more.

Yet despite these advances the glass ceiling remains, forged in part by a lack of high-level networking and limited exposure to developmental opportunities, says Across the Board. Although more women are serving on boards of directors – by 1997, 81.2 percent of Fortune 500 companies had female representation, nearly double from the previous decade – very few are inside directors, which is generally the fast-track to CEO. It’s not so much what you know as who, and “the old-boy network still exists,” comments Tina Santi Flaherty of New York City, author of Talk Your Way to the Top (Berkley, 1999). This is particularly true in such areas as sports programming, beverages, heavy equipment such as piping and farm machinery, and such commodities as oil, paper and wood. “Women need to level the playing field,” she says.

The Trickle-Up Effect
Although companies can build a temporarily level playing field on a local basis just by taking clients from a male-dominated organization to a Broadway play, on a global field you can only make it level by truly listening to your customer. “Today’s market is full of people who come up with a wild idea that they think will make millions of dollars,” observes Anita Borg, president and founder of the Institute for Women and Technology, a nonprofit research organization based in Palo Alto, CA. “The opposing attitude is to pay attention to seeing who needs what. Who are you selling to? A group of young guys who buy stuff once because it’s different and cool?” Or 51 percent of the population “which consists of women with considerable spending power and brand loyalty?”

According to Phoenix-based Judith Tingley, Ph.D., author of Gendersell (Simon & Schuster, 1999) and The Power of Indirect Influences (Amacom, 2000), men are in denial about this newfound influence. “They find it easier to ignore the fact that we control money, along with having great thinking skills. Go to a conference about marketing anything to women and you’ll find very few males.”

Yet businesses can do themselves a great disservice by not allowing women and minorities in on key decision-making processes. For instance, “Although electronic calendars are great for keeping track of a person’s life, they only work for multiple individuals by following a time-consuming procedure,” points out Borg. Busy mothers who need to maintain their children’s schedule ” need something simple and quick.”

Companies that do make the effort can reap mammoth sales. For example, the popular Windstar van was designed by a group of women, notes Dr. Mary Mattis of Catalyst, a New York City organization that studies the female work force. “They addressed such issues as How do you manage kids while you’re in the car? How do you get into the driver’s seat while wearing a skirt? When salespeople hear gripes from their customers they need to pay attention and convey the feedback to the people in charge.”

Talk Like a Man…or Not
Experts agree: Men and women have distinct sales styles that can affect the overall bottom line. “Women listen more,” observes Flaherty. According to a study of staff conferences, “Men interrupted 27 times more than women. The person who is courteous and follows through – by returning phone calls promptly, for instance – makes it easier for the customer to buy.”

Riding roughshod over gatekeepers – people who have access to the decision maker – can also throw cold water on a sale. “I’m in the process of buying a fax machine and a vendor we’re considering happens to have a male sales rep,” Flaherty continues. “He speaks mainly to my assistant, who sounds young, and he comes across as a bit of a chauvinist. What he doesn’t know is that I delegate a lot of responsibility to her and she has a considerable amount of influence.”

Even the slightest bit of condescension can be off-putting, particularly to female customers. “They’re more likely to pick up on nuances and are therefore more easily offended,” remarks Tingley. Although female customers might require higher maintenance of the account, “women are also willing to pay more for good service and follow-up after the sale.”

According to NFWBO, women business owners are much more likely than their male counterparts to seek advice from associates; they also place more emphasis on quality and reputation. “They’ll make recommendations to friends, because it’s their nature to involve others,” adds Hadary.

Attention to specifics is another important factor. “In general, men are looking to close quickly and may come across as being pushy and aggressive,” Tingley says. “Women tend to give out lots of information to help customers make an informed choice.” Women also allow their clients more time to make purchasing decisions, which may be risky in some situations because it can give competitors a chance to move in. “Women need to work on the close, while men should hone their people skills.”

Additionally, “some women have a tendency to go into too much detail,” comments Flaherty. “I call this ‘rambling mouth disease.'” She suggests the “Dragnet” approach patented by Sergeant Joe Friday: “Just the facts, ma’am.” The traditionally male left-brained approach of utilizing numbers, statistics and sound bites can go a long way in building confidence. Try to stick to three main points and “Use the KISS technique – Keep It Simple, Stupid!” she laughs.

And women can get too personal, too quickly. “From childhood, we’re taught to be Mary Jane’s best friend by sharing secrets,” Flaherty points out. “Men bond through sports, politics and other interests. They can compartmentalize their emotions, while women have a more difficult time of this.” Avoiding such topics as relationship and health problems can help maintain a professional image. “Stay business friendly,” she says, especially in the initial stages.

Neutralizing the Gender Gap
Teamwork is especially important in today’s sales environment. “I call it co-opetition, where competitors work together,” explains Stacey Lawson, senior VP of marketing of Parametric Technology in Waltham, MA, another under-30 wonderwoman who’s earned millions. “Many companies are taking a collaborative approach, cooperating with customers and suppliers to create an entire package. Females tend to be more comfortable with this arrangement.”

Tingley agrees. “Women would much rather work in groups and provide mutual support than beat the hell out of each other.” This lack of one-ups-personship can be particularly useful in selling big-ticket items like jewelry or cars to a couple or family. “In the past, it was a macho thing to spend lots of money with limited data,” says Tingley. But even men feel more comfortable about their investment if they’ve developed a relationship with those who work on the front end of the deal, the negotiator and the service department for follow-up. If the seller is a woman, so much the better because, according to NFWBO’s Hadary, men are more at ease asking questions of the opposite sex than of their own.

Most important, however, is what the individual can offer. “Ignore the gender difference and do what you do best,” advises Nancy Maul, director of industry development for Autodesk, a San Rafael, CA, software manufacturer headed by CEO Carol Bartz that has over 4 million customers in 150 countries. “If you have natural management skills, you will go up the ranks. Taking the lead is part of being a good salesperson and manager.”

“When I choose my people I’m more concerned about attitude and skill set than gender or even age,” adds Sarah DeRocher, director of sales and business at pcOrder.com, an Austin, TX, software company also founded by a woman. “Where do they cross the line between being tenacious and too aggressive? The new sales environment is results oriented and based on the company’s culture.” So a woman or even what she calls a “rock-star salesperson” – a recent college graduate – can go far, particularly in a Web-based environment where decision makers may be older and not as familiar with advanced systems and the Internet. “A senior sales person with 15 years experience is not as impressive as someone who can communicate with all levels, from CEOs on down.”

Handan Pasquier, now a managing director of MetLife in New York City, found out the importance of this kind of communication when she made a sales call early in her career. “I had a meeting with a homemaker with two young children, one of whom had Down’s syndrome. I was worried about whether she would accept my recommendations because I was a woman. But once I got there,” Pasquier says, “I became involved with the situation and how the child would be taken care of if something were to happen to the mother and father. I forgot my concerns.” They’ve remained MetLife customers and even send her Christmas cards.

“Sales has evolved from bartering to simple transactions to consulting to an exchange of information,” Paquier concludes. No matter who you are “you’ve got to know your product and inspire a deep sense of trust in the client.”