Women need to be informed

For those who feel offended by the title… I’m going to swing it in a good way… no worries.  But what’s the number one reason men don’t like to shop together with women?  It’s because women can’t make up their mind, or so it seems.  In fact most times they already have a good picture of what they want in their head and are determined to find something that fits that description.  If they don’t find it, they won’t buy anything.

Women will spend a whole day, just looking for that item on her list.  They’ll go to every store in the known galaxy and ask a million questions to the sales rep.  They won’t make a problem of waiting in queue for hours or coming back two, three or four times if they want to be sure.  Men are different shoppers.  They bring it back to basics.  If they need new pants, that’s what they’re going to buy… pants.  Not pants that go with something they’ve bought half a year ago.  Nope, just pants.  They’re easy shoppers, they don’t need information and most times, the first shop they go to if they need something is also the last one they visit.

So what can we learn from this?
·  Information is key.  When women ask information, give them all the usefull information you can.  Remember, she probably went to some of your competitors and if she hasn’t, she’s probably going to. 
·  Know your competition.  If that isn’t already the case.  Even if you don’t have the best product or even the best price, you can convince women by giving better information than your competitor.  Imagine how she would feel about you compared to your competitor when you have all the answers? 
·  Don’t be needy.  Women have a pretty good description of what they want.  Because of it, it’s a waste of time trying to convince them, it’s just not what they’re looking for.  Don’t try to sell something they don’t need or want, when they come home they’ll regret the purchase for a long time and will always link it with you and the information you gave.  While men will blame it on their own stupidity, women will blame you.
·  Understand what she asks.  Especially men find it hard to read between the lines.  When a woman asks if a microwave is ’solid’, she doesn’t want a lengthy description of materials that were used.  She wants to know if her kids can destroy it when she’s in the other room for five seconds. 

Women have a higher level of empathy, one that men will probably never understand.  However it can be a great way to present the information you need to give and in a way create a relationship out of trust, rather than out of convenience.

I’m all for separate training.  Give sales reps training in how to handle women and how to handle men.  And maybe how to handle men accompanied by women

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Tagged as: gender difference, information marketing, knowledge marketing, marketing