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FEATURESTORY
A Woman's Place
Can you land – and keep –today’s top saleswomen?
Success in sales came early and often for Mariann Judge at Xerox Corp, which was fortunate for her because the document management behemoth is renowned for fielding hard-charging sales teams and showing little patience for lesser performers. In her 22 years at the company, Judge has made President’s Club (the top 10 percent of all salespeople) 16 times and has exceeded her quota every year.
She is the sort of salesperson who can make it anywhere, yet when she left Xerox in 2000 for a sales position at a nationally recognized provider of human resources and office services, Judge lasted only two years. The company had an antiquated “old boys” environment that she was unwilling to adjust to. The sales team was dominated by men, sales retreats were filled with cigars and strip bars, and incentive trips revolved around numerous rounds of golf (followed by more cigars and strip bars).
“It was very uncomfortable. I was the only female carrying a quota. All of the other women were in support roles. The travel schedule also was horrendous, but had I felt more comfortable there, I may have bitten the bullet on that,” Judge says.
As it is, Xerox welcomed her back, placing her on its Global Services team where she develops new customers for the company’s high-end business services solutions and where, for the past two years, she has finished No. 1 in sales in the Northeast Region.
'Chins Up And Chests Out'
Ensuring that your company is a good fit for women may not have been a priority when you picked this magazine up, but that may change by the time you set it down. If not, you risk losing – or never landing – the next Mariann Judge.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics lumps 1.98 million adult workers into the category of non-retail sales representatives (services, wholesale and manufacturing). 571,000 of those (nearly 29 percent) are women. Factor in salespeople from the securities and financial services world (also about 29 percent female), and real estate agents (nearly 60 percent female), and you’ve got a significant amount of revenue produced by a lot of talented saleswomen.
Executives and frontline managers must assess whether their work environment is welcoming to women. The saleswomen we spoke with for this article range from frontline sales reps to C-level management at Fortune 500 companies. To a woman, each stressed that they are not looking for special treatment in the workplace. To the contrary, they appreciate companies that provide equal opportunity for men and women, respect each individual’s knowledge and skill set, are mindful of how women want to be treated and aware that what motivates them frequently differs from what motivates their male counterparts.
As one 37-year-old saleswoman for a Midwestern wholesaler of computer hardware and software systems states matter-of-factly, “Men should acknowledge that women are coming into the sales work force with their chins up and their chests out.”
What It Takes
Our focus on women in sales applauds those companies that understand how much more can be accomplished when the traditionally male-dominated world of business-to-business sales is restructured to include the other half of the work force.
We give voice to saleswomen who are beginning their careers, as well as C-level managers who have proven their ability in the field and now manage their own sales teams.
We examine obstacles in B-to-B sales that are unique to women and suggest how you can eliminate these at your company. We debunk myths and stereotypes while providing real-world examples of best practices. We share the insights of authors and trainers who specialize in women and the workplace.
Ultimately, our hope is that you emerge on the other side of this article determined to create an environment that encourages open communication and provides the tools necessary for all salespeople, regardless of gender, to exceed expectations. That’s a win-win proposition any way you look at it.
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