Sell Like A Woman: Female salespeople outperform men, but are still missing at the top

Today, people want more human-centred, respectful, productive, trustworthy, sustainable ways of selling and doing business.

Since the early 2000s, sales effectiveness research consistently shows women outperforming men in achieving sustainable sales results and mutually prosperous client relationships, especially in B2B sales, bringing specific qualities and capabilities that differ from traditional sales stereotypes.

It seems like a no-brainer that sales teams should be stacked with women; however, research shows a low adoption rate of women in sales and sales leadership roles. Why?

Persistent barriers and biases

Sales has been seen largely as a man’s career and rarely promoted as a career in which women could excel. This is in part due to the aggressive ‘always be closing’ sales stereotypes and hyper-competitive individualistic nature of sales careers positioning selling as a combat sport rather than the collaborative, partnership, team-based role it is.

The lack of recognition of what women bring to sales creates real obstacles for women with them receiving unsolicited advice to change fields, lower earning capacity, and far fewer promotions to sales leadership.

According to a 2021 USA study by Xactly, women make up only 29% of sales representatives and just 26% of sales managers even though they’re proven to outperform their male colleagues. This study found the lack of female representation is attributed to negative stereotypes, sexism, poor recruitment methods, and a gender wage gap, with women receiving lower salaries than their male counterparts.

The 2019 BCG Sales Leadership Gender Gap found globally, “There are fewer women leaders in sales than in any other business function, except Supply Chain and Logistics” even though women led sales teams are positively linked to:

1. Superior performance with customers and higher sales unit performance
2. Helping with work-related problems and effective organisational performance
3. Higher employee retention and better job satisfaction and job involvement

Interestingly, women and men start their careers with the same level of ambition, but at organisations where employees report less diversity and support, the drop-off in ambition is faster for women.

The moral case and business case for gender diversity in sales

Smart businesses know that if you want to excel in sales and business, it pays to sell like a woman.

More companies are making gender diversity an explicit goal of sales recruitment, committing to specific objectives for sourcing, selecting, and attracting women. Many businesses want more women in their sales teams, selling and leading, and they want training for women to empower them to reach their potential and sell more confidently, especially in male-dominated industries.

Why?

Organisations see greater sales and profits with more women in sales.

Women bring specific capabilities that differ from the traditional sales stereotypes. These capabilities are not exclusive to women, men can adopt them too, it’s that women make the most of them, consciously or not, and this makes a huge difference to sales and business success.

Capabilities such as collaboration, creating a shared vision for success, orchestrating internal resources, empathy, deep listening, problem solving, open-mindedness, stakeholder management, teamwork, understanding, and managing client emotions that facilitate relationship-building and create a loyal customer base and therefore, better sales results. According to Forbes, 74% of clients are more likely to buy if they feel heard and understood.

These capabilities help women increase diversity in client groups attracting more clients.

Smart organisations are acting to rectify the gender imbalance in sales and sales leadership so they can use these improvements to their advantage.

Women’s agency & ambition

Women’s ambition is not the problem: Women want the top jobs.

Selling careers are line roles that give high visibility to women and are excellent pathways to executive leadership. Mastering the skills of professional salespeople gives women agency, too. Learning the craft of selling is very empowering for women. It opens many doors. It can be their ticket to a better life, better careers, job prospects, choices, and financial security.

What can we do to capitalise on the power of women in sales and leadership?

1. Highlight and promote the work of women in sales giving them greater visibility, influence, and presence inside their organisations and across industries
2. Influence and drive positive change by placing more competent women in sales and sales leadership roles leading to greater participation and representation of women
3. Address unconscious biases impacting the development and progression of women in sales and business
4. Include all genders in creating respectful, supportive, productive sales cultures and work environments where everyone flourishes. This includes building peer-to-peer network support and allyship

Gender diversity in sales is not only about equality and social justice, it’s about better business performance, great reputations, loyal clients, healthier cultures, and more prosperous communities.

The sales profession has changed. It’s time to Sell Like A Woman.