The women-in-the-workplace discussion has taken an unprecedented turn of late. As the number of accusers against Harvey Weinstein, Steve Jurvetson, Shervin Pishevar and others increases, it seems more important than ever before to promote the contributions of women in every profession, including sales.
Sales has traditionally been a male-dominated world. To this day, women are underrepresented. A 2014 study conducted by law firm Fenwick & West LLP found that women held only 11.7% of the senior sales executive roles among Silicon Valley's 150 largest companies.
Women are also at a disadvantage when it comes to pay. Female sales professionals earn 63 cents for every dollar paid to their male counterparts. Oracle Corporation is one of many companies that has been sued for allegedly paying male sales reps more than female reps.
Yet despite the underrepresentation and the pay caps, women achieve tops marks in sales. According to Xactly, a sales comp platform, 70% of women reach their sales quotas compared to 67% of men.
Based on my research and board-based experience in sales, I've come to realize that females possess distinct and unique qualities and predilections that result in them being equally, if not more, capable than male sales reps.
1. Listening Capabilities
Most people assume it’s the smooth talkers who make the best salespeople. This is a fallacy. In reality, it’s those who have mastered the art of listening who are most successful in sales. Too many sales professionals come to the table with their own agenda. They are laser focused on attaining quotas and optimizing commissions, and quickly lose sight of the customer. The best salespeople take the time to listen to their customers.
Listening is a fundamental skill in sales. 74% of customers are more likely to purchase an offering if they perceive that they are being listened to. Listening enables salespeople to more effectively understand customer concerns and pain points, and strategize about what aspects of their offering will best resonate. They’re able to more effectively build rapport with customer because they demonstrate that they have prospects' best interests at heart. Customers need to feel that they matter.
Women have a genetic predisposition for improved listening capabilities, in fact. Heschl’s gyrus, the portion of the brain that is associated with listening, is more voluminous in women, as compared to men.
2. Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence (EI) -- the ability to identify and manage one’s own emotions as well as the emotions of others -- is an essential sales skill. A study of more than 40 Fortune 500 companies revealed that salespeople with high EI outperformed those who exhibit moderate levels of EI by 50%.
There are two essential elements of EI. EI involves both an awareness of one’s self and an awareness of others. When it comes to sales, both skills are important.
Self-awareness allows sales reps to regulate their emotions and keep them in check. When involved in challenging situations, salespeople often buckle under the pressure and default to counter-productive behaviors (for example, regurgitating product specs, attacking the competition, and/or prematurely offering steep discounts). EI helps bridge the “knowing and doing” gap. It enables sales reps to regulate their emotions and avoid succumbing to counterproductive behaviors that inevitably impact the bottom line in a negative way.
In addition to self-awareness, an awareness of others is critical in sales. Top-performing sales reps don’t just listen to their customers, they interpret customers' non-verbal cues. It’s been claimed that only 7% of the meaning of a spoken message is conveyed verbally. Non-verbal cues are key.
With high EI, sales reps are better able to translate behavioral cues that express customers’ feelings. Picking up on revealing cues such as back-of-the-next scratches, lowered eyebrows, or clenched jaw muscles can enable sales reps to discern when conversations are going off track.
Research conducted by the Korn Ferry Hay Group speaks to gender differences in terms of EI. The Group found that women outperform men in 11 of 12 emotional intelligence competencies.
3. Collaboration
In the days of yore, salespeople were known for their Darwinian-like rivalry, with reps engaging in cutthroat competition to optimize commissions and meet/exceed quotas. Times have changed. The tale of the lone wolf is becoming extinct.
Today’s most effective sales reps default to collaboration - not competition. According to CSO Insights, sales team collaboration drives success. Collaboration encourages sales reps to share learnings from both their successes and failures so that the broader sales team can improve. It also encourages sales reps to work together to accomplish common goals (for example, to enhance customer experiences).
The benefits of collaboration transcend the sales department. The most effective reps also collaborate extensively with marketing. According to HubSpot, organizations that emphasize close collaboration between sales and marketing close 38% more deals and achieve more than double the revenue (208%) as compared to organizations with disconnected sales and marketing teams.
Finally, collaboration with customers is also enormously effective. When pitching to customers, effective sales reps adopt a joint problem-solving approach. They view collaboration with customers as an opportunity to craft the best solution for customers’ pain points. Collaboration results in compelling value propositions that reflect customers’ overall business objectives.
Multiple studies have found that women prefer to work in teams, while men prefer to work alone. What’s more, research has found that women opt for team-based compensation more frequently than men do. A strong bias towards collaboration primes women to garner success in sales.
There's no better time to recognize the contributions of women in sales. Women possess unique dispositions that are invaluable in sales. Funneling more women into sales roles at every level--and celebrating the value they bring to the table--simply makes good business sense
I'm CEO of the first people-based AI company, Node.io, and was the youngest employee at Google.
