Business Success Center

Marketing – Is “She” Getting Your Message?

Most women can relate to this experience: You want to buy a computer and the salesperson either inundates you with hours of irrelevant specifications or condescendingly points out that the color matches your nail polish. The problem – neither approach works on women.

Most retailers are familiar with the 80/20 principle: 80% of your sales are generated from just 20% of your customer base. However, what many businesses don’t realize is there is another 80/20 principle – as much as 80% of purchases are made by women and only 20% by men. In fact, according to Judy Hoyt Pettigrew, author of Women Mean Business: The Secret to Selling to Women, women are economic powerhouses.

With this in mind, how much of your current customer base consists of women? Are women directly or indirectly involved in your customers’ sales decisions? How many of your customers’ purchasing departments are run by women? Perhaps the means to achieving your business growth goals isn’t so much about attracting new customers as it is in better targeting your existing clients.

Marketing expert Martha Barletta, author of Marketing to Women, discusses that women have a very different set of priorities, preferences, and attitudes; their purchase decisions are radically different, and they respond differently to marketing media and messages. In short, men’s marketing doesn’t work for women.

As Barletta points out in her book, when a salesman tries pitching a woman, she will nod – not necessarily in agreement with the sales pitch but as a sign of respect to him that she is indeed “listening.” In contrast, men nod because they are in “agreement.” The same gesture but very stark differences in meaning. However, the larger issue is: “how effective can a salesperson be if he is not accurately interpreting ‘buying signals’ or sales obstacles?”

Barletta also points out that men and women have very distinct purchasing patterns. Men tend to take the “I think, I decide, I buy” approach where women go for the “I think, I decide, I think some more, I talk to friends, I think, I think some more, I talk a little more, OK, now I buy” route. Consequently, women have a strong reliance on other people’s opinions. And because of that, word-of-mouth marketing will have a much greater impact on a woman’s purchasing patterns than a man’s.

If you find your current marketing strategy needs to better target women, here are a few things that you may want to keep in mind:

A woman buys with both her head and heart. She wants to know detailed information about a product as it relates to her needs and also wants a positive or pleasurable buying experience. Looking back at the shopping experience of a woman trying to purchase a computer, the salesperson should have inquired about “how she uses a computer – for work, entertainment, during travel.” Then, explained how “specific features” support those needs.

Women like convenience. One of the biggest complaints women, especially working moms, have is that they don’t have enough time. They not only like products designed to make their lives easier like “pre-prepared meals” and online shopping, but they also like “one-stop” shopping and tend to have a great peripheral awareness. There is a reason why Starbucks has CDs on the counter.

Women care about who they buy from. It is estimated that women may pay up to 20% more for a company’s product or service if that company is actively involved in helping the community or a specific cause.

Women want to be courted. Women tend to see through sales pitches. They are initially much more interested in how much you care and not exactly how much you know. Women place a lot of value in relationships and excel at cultivating them.

Women are heavily invested in determining the best solution. Women tend to seek a lot more information about their potential purchase than men. Men are typically looking for “a good solution” instead of “perfection solution.”

The bottom line – make sure your marketing strategy is reaching your target. With women both directly and indirectly involved in so many sales decisions – make sure your strategy doesn’t underestimate the “power of the purse.”

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