Selling To Women - Selling To Men - It Isn't the Same

Now let's not fall into the old style car salesman's trap of believing that men are interested in what goes on under the bonnet and women are only interested in what colours you can get and whether it has a vanity mirror.

Believe me, and I speak as an ex mechanical engineer, I couldn't give a toot what goes on under the bonnet. I'm much more interested in driving a car that matches the rest of my accessories. You know-silver car - silver watch - silver hair. Mind you, I draw the line at one of those little four-wheel drive jobs with the yellow wheels and pink upholstery. I've seen a lot of men driving these fluffy little things and don't tell me they all belong to the wife or girlfriend. "Four-wheel drive off roaders"-they probably couldn't pull you out of bed.

Anyway we all have male and female customers and clients and they do need different handling. If you want to be successful at selling or negotiating with someone of the opposite sex then please be aware of the differences. Firstly, be you male or female, you've got to look the part. Women will look you all over, men won't. Women will notice whether you have shiny shoes and clean fingernails, men won't notice if you have on one brown shoe and one black or if your fingernails are bitten up to the elbow.

I once interviewed a lady for a job and I didn't notice she had different shoes on. Turns out that, in her rush to get to the interview she slipped on two black but certainly different shoes. However my female colleague noticed right away and thought the whole thing quite amusing.

If you are a man negotiating with a woman, be very aware of what you say because women listen much better than men, they pick up on emotions. They will pick up much better on whether you really believe what you are saying. Also, make sure you keep talking, don't stop just because the woman starts examining the product or reading the literature. Women can multi-track, they'll be listening to you even although they're taking the product apart or writing something in their diary.

A warning to a woman selling or negotiating with a man, he can't multi-track. If the man starts doing something else, stop speaking until he's finished. If you don't believe any of this then just consider a time when you've watched TV with your partner. Men stare at the television giving their whole concentration to the programme while women read a book, paint their toenails and watch the programme. Men haven't the foggiest idea how women can do this.

It can be difficult for a woman negotiating with a man because men don't listen well. They listen like statues and it's difficult to tell whether you're getting through. They probably are listening; it's just that they don't show it. Women on the other hand tend to display their emotions so you have much more chance of understanding whether they are happy with what you're saying or not.

Salesmen need to be careful when describing something to a woman. Men are more able to visualise something in three dimensions. Women are more likely to visualise in two dimensions. Far better to show a woman the actual product rather than a drawing or a plan.

Women when they see the product are more likely to be influenced by its colour and its smell. The reason for this is simply because women can distinguish colours better; they also have a better sense of smell and taste than a man. Just watch a woman in a supermarket buying wash up liquid. She'll very likely take the top off the bottle and sniff it. Men see no reason to do that at all; lemon, pine or fruity, what's the difference when you're only washing dishes? With their better sense of taste women are much better at tasting wine and food than men.

Can I also suggest that the male sales person compliment their lady customers? And just before the ladies start getting irate, I mean a genuine compliment. As I mentioned earlier, women will pick up on your emotions much quicker, so no false compliments guys and don't patronise the ladies or you're dead. On the other hand, a woman can give all sorts of compliments to a man and he'll just love it. It doesn't matter whether you mean it or not 'cause he can't tell the difference.

Selling and negotiating to men and women isn't the same - ignore this at your peril.