Sell Like a Girl

Confessions of a Closet Feminist

Jeanne Worrick — Sun, 04 May 2008 16:07:16 GMT

Well, the floodgates have opened and I have the title for my next book. "Confessions of a Closet Feminist" will be all about my denial of Feminism in the business world and the public arena in general. As a nice girl who needed to be likable and compliant, I knew that I couldn't express my true feelings or I would be labeled "dyke," "bra burner" or "feminazi" as my husband likes to call them.

Now that "Sell Like A Girl" is out there, I finally feel that the time has come to express my frustrations with our man- centered world. I love men. I just don't think that they should be ruling the world. Stay tuned for more on this subject. Please email me or comment on my blog with any stories that relate to your own struggles with your inner feminist. I want to hear from you. Jeanne@selllikeagirl.com

Pitch Like A Girl by Ronna Lichtenberg

Jeanne Worrick — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 10:07:13 GMT

Please go out and purchase Pitch Like A Girl by Ronna Lichtenberg. It is the bible for every working women. As a matter of fact it is a great tool for men to understand the differences in the way men and women do business. It does not take sides, it simply elucidates the differences clearly and often with entertaining stories that will make you chuckle in recognition of our obvious differences. In fairness I am not quite half way through this 300 page book, but I have already learned enough to warrant the $16.95 price. I will write a real review when I am finished, but don't wait for that. GO OUT AND BUY THIS BOOK!

You can order a copy on her website, www.askronna.com

moreinfo@clearpeakcommunications.com / email

Sell Like A Girl; the book

Jeanne Worrick — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:26:02 GMT

Sell Like a Girl, the book is getting close to being printed. My goal is to have it published by mid-January. To pre-order a signed copy just send me an email at Jeanne@selllikeagirl.com with your name telephone number and email address and I will follow-up with you as soon as it is printed.

I am actively marketing it at the Ladies Who Launch Open House on Wednesday December 5,2007 at the Dizan Gallery, Water St., Worcester and will be displaying the cover art of Sell Like a Girl with order forms at the Women's Conference in Boston, on December 11, 2007.

The following are some excerpts from the book:

Chapter 1. How Women Sell...Tips from the Garden of Eden

"Women spend their lives selling their ideas to their husbands, lovers, bosses, and especially their children. How many of us have spent hours of our lives in the bathroom with our children waiting for that first tinkle on the potty chair so that we could dole out the first reward of applause....If you don't believe that is selling, then you have yet to discover the dynamic simplicity of sales."

Chapter 5. Keeping an Open Mind

"Women's priorities have always been relationships--family and friends first. Men have focused on career goals. Women can integrate their innate priority of forging relationships with their career goals. We can create a work environment that is like a supportive family engaged in succeeding as a team."

Womankind; a new kind of advertising company

Jeanne Worrick — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 14:08:27 GMT

The Wall Street Journal (Nov. 21, 2007) had another interesting article entitled "Ads Made for Women, by Women". That pretty much sums it up. Madison Avenue has finally woken up to the fact that women make most of the buying decisions and we all know that women are the commensurate shoppers already.

A man named Jerry Judge has started a new company "Womenkind" to harness the talent of women in advertising, of which there are very few in this male dominated profession. His idea is to use stay-at-home moms among others, as consultants on advertising geared towards women. Its not a bad idea, but why did it take a man to come up with it? Why aren't women thinking about their own niche marketing for themselves?

We are so busy competing with men and trying do everything the male way that we are not tapping into a huge marketing niche of women! We need to leverage our numbers to create businesses by us and for us. Please comment on this entry as I feel like I'm talking to myself. Does anyone else out there see what is happening?

Ladies Who Launch Incubator Program

Jeanne Worrick — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 20:37:21 GMT

Fasten your seatbelts and prepare for departure. This is a fabulous opportunity for women with an idea to bring it out for all to nurture and imagine. This is a program sponsored by the Ladies Who Launch group(?) and is a four week intensive 'incubator' of support, ideas and encouragement by other like-minded women and led by a trained facilitator. Our facilitator is Lynn Toomey, an artist and mother who has extensive marketing experience in the business world with start-up companies. We meet every Tuesday night for two hours at a cafe in Worcester and share our dreams with each other. There are five in our group including Lynn. We met last Tuesday for the first time and each shared our ideas and our history and our hopes for the future. We were sent home with homework that will help advance the ideas of our sisters in the group.

I have never been in a group of women before that thought so much like me. We were so much on the same wave length that I came home energized and completely immersed in the conviction that I will succeed, even if I am not exactly sure what it is that I will be pursuing.

Please take the time to visit www.ladieswholaunch.com and check it out. The book is a great read as well as an empowering tool for women who are thinking about striking out on their own. I will keep you updated on my progress in the incubator program.

Political Correctness is crumbling

Jeanne Worrick — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 10:24:56 GMT

After a decade of fear and loathing when is comes to assigning gender traits to how things are accomplished in the workplace, it seems the light is finally seeping through the cracks of the Great Wall of political correctness. In other words, there is a murmur rippling, as I speak that dares to say that women and men are different.

In this morning's Wall Street Journal, Oct 7, 2007, there is an article by Erin White entitled "Deloitte Tries a Different Sales Pitch for Women". Yes it's that Deloitte, of Deloitte & Touche USA, the renowned Accounting firm, has begun to teach it's male consultants to interact differently with women than with men.

For example; Deloitte is training its male consultants to sit across the table from the women, instead of next to them and bringing in subordinates because women value knowing the people who do the work. I am still not sure whose subordinates the article is referring to, but the point is that consultants are being trained to feed into the way women want to do business.

I have mixed feelings only because I don't want men to usurp women's natural proclivities and use them on her just to make a sale. If there is a shared understanding and respect for her approach, it will be validated. However, I think that one of the suggestions, such as returning her enthusiasm in an email with equal enthusiasm using exclamations points because she did, is a little shady. It's called 'mirroring' in sales, but that is done in person with dress and comportment, not sitting at a keyboard plotting grammatical battle.

You know that I am a great believer in the differences of the genders, I just don't want men to come up with another pat generalization on how to sell to women using some extrapolated theory that smacks of stereotype.

Anyway, I still think that women's intuitive abilities will trump and lay bare a poser of female sensibility.

Another Fabulous Female

Jeanne Worrick — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 19:18:16 GMT

Today I met with Kate Hyland Mercer, the dynamo behind Business Concepts, Inc. Her background is pure pedigree, but she confessed to me that she is a "serial entrepreneur". She has the chops to help small businesses grow and be successful, since she has her own 5 successful start-up companies on her resume.

I was referred to her by Peter Caputa of WhizSpark, and really had no expectations for the meeting. She listened to me go on about my new passion "Sell Like A Girl" and immediately asked me questions that I hadn't necessarily thought about. What she did was make me think about what I want to achieve and how to get it.

I was so pumped by our meeting that I came home and finished editing my book! Now, if I can let it go.....

Video blogs

Jeanne Worrick — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 19:03:36 GMT

I met with Catie Foertsch of Our Town Productions the other day and although I had seen her in passing at the Corridor Nine Chamber Breakfast meetings as she moved around the room videotaping the speakers, I had no idea what an interesting person she is. We hit it off immediately and it was as if we had known each other forever.
I was meeting with Catie to find out more about her new business of videotaping for the websites and blogs. We talked for almost two hours about all kinds of stuff and discovered we are both embarking on new career journeys and experiencing much of the same challenges.
Anyway, I am now contemplating adding a podcast to my blog so that people can see what I am all about and sample a bit of my "Sell Like a Girl" philosophy. If you have any video needs, please give her a call, you won't be disappointed. Her email is Catie@OurTownLLC.net or phone her at 508-439-4094.

Wine, Women and Work

Jeanne Worrick — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:24:40 GMT

Carole Donovan of Image Boosters in North Grafton, held a wildly successful networking event called "Wine, Women and Work" on Thursday, Sept. 20th in her offices. It was a diverse group of women including executives, lawyers, entreprenuers, artists, a chiropractor and a scientist. We all had a chance to tell about our ventures and it was amazing the depth of knowledge and experience represented by this group of 15 or so women.

We need to continue to come together, as men have done for centuries, and share our knowledge and experience so that we can all learn and grow from our sisters' life lessons. There is some talk of a winter retreat and everyone has responded favorably. I can't wait for more time with these interesting and enlightened women. Girl Power rules!

C9 Chamber Sale Seminar 9/18

Jeanne Worrick — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 08:02:24 GMT

On Tuesday I attended my first C9 sponsored seminar entitled "Leave Your Prospecting Woes at the Door". It was a great title, if not a bit misleading. Our speaker set us straight early on in the program by stating that behavior takes a long time to change, but perhaps we could get a nugget or two from the session.

He also made it clear, by mentioning on at least two occasions, that all he requested from us was our business card with a 'yes' or 'no' (with the 'no' circled) written on the back, based on our willingness to have him follow up after the seminar regarding his sales training program.

I know that he was trying to make the point that sales professionals need to know where they stand with a prospect. We cannot afford to waste time with disingenuous people who will never do business with us, but don't have the guts to just tell us that straight out. I understand that. I was just uncomfortable by the aggressive manner in which he made his point to the audience.

Having been in sales for 20 years, I have my own ideas about selling and attended just to see if there was anything new out there. I was also curious to see how one fills three hours with prospecting tips without giving away the store.

I took away some good information. Just not the kind of information that I had expected. We can learn from others mistakes as well as our own.

NAWBO Meeting

Jeanne Worrick — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 07:28:50 GMT

Last night I attended my first NAWBO meeting. NAWBO stands for National Association of Women Business Owners. It was an interesting group, but I was surprised to see two men there, one that I see at every Corridor Nine Chamber event. Maybe their wives own the business or someone invited them. I tried to ask one of them why he was there and he just went into a spiel about his company. I didn't want to sound rude (since it was my first time) but I thought it was a strange place for a man to show up.

The speaker was Diane Darling of Effective Networking and I had heard her speak at our Ambassador's meeting at the Chamber office about a month ago. She was excellent, considering that we were outside on the rooftop of the Doubletree Guest Suites Hotel in Cambridge and she was competing with the view and the wind without a microphone. I realized that her brief 15 minute talk must have taken her a lot of practice, since she was so natural and knew without any notes exactly what she wanted to say. She had some good stories and really engaged the audience. When I think about doing this myself, I realize I have a long way to go, but I am really looking forward to the journey!

Women mentoring women

Jeanne Worrick — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 19:28:21 GMT

This morning in the Wall Street Journal (8/28) there was another article for women entitled "Advice for Women on Developing a Leadership Style" written by Erin White. The thing that resonated with me was the paragraph that addressed the lack of female role models in the workplace and how its difficult for women to learn from men from the perspective that men can't really speak to the female stereotypes.

For example, the author speaks of the "double-bind" for young women in leadership positions:"If they assert themselves forcefully, people may perceive them as not acting feminine enough, triggering a backlash. But if they act in a stereotypically feminine way, they aren't seen as strong leaders."

Although a management position requires more navigating among staffers, than a sales position, it still holds true that women in sales need to approach situations differently from men, because clients have different expectations and or assumptions about women; stereotypical expections, if you will. Men will balk at this description, but as women, we know that this is still the case.

Don't Give Up

Jeanne Worrick — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 11:06:08 GMT

I Got a message on my cell phone last night from Barbara Cantwell of Edward Jones in Northboro. She was kind enough to let me know that she had read my blog and really liked it, but couldn't submit a comment and wanted to let me know. I called GoDaddy and they said there was a problem, but it would be fixed within 24 to 48 hours. Thanks to Barbara, I discovered a problem that I didn't even know existed.

I have been having ongoing problems with my blog and so would greatly appreciate an phone call or e-mail to let me know. My email is Jeanne@selllikeagirl.com. Thanks.

Let's Change the rules

Jeanne Worrick — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:59:22 GMT

When it comes to selling we have all been playing by the men's rules. It's not that they are bad or wrong, but I think we can do better for ourselves. I think it's time to look at how we accomplish our selling goals and see if there are things that we are doing that are uniquely our own and share them with our fellow saleswomen.

I think, for example, that humor is rarely mentioned in conjunction with sales unless it's some stale joke to supposedly break the ice. I personally like to use humor on myself and my own foibles to make the prospect more comfortable. I don't like sales people who constantly name drop to impress. It just makes me think he's a jerk who likes to pump himself up. For What? Hello, I am not here to discuss you, I want information that will help me.

Clarification on gender brain differences

Jeanne Worrick — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 11:09:46 GMT

Ok, so Rick Roberge thinks that I am being too absolute in my interpretation of the gender brain differences article. I did give the link so that I wouldn't be accused of misinterpretation, but that was not enough.
Let me clarify that the entire realm of gender is on a scale that ranges from extreme male at one end to extreme female at the other end with the middle being androgyny. So, yes we are not all one or the other, but gradations of that gender and there are some real differences.
If you are unwilling to make any assumptions based on gender, try sharing a bathroom with a man. Or with a woman, if you are a man. And selling is no different than all other aspects of life. You work with what you've got and make the most of it. But since you may approach life differently, it follows that you may approach sales differently also.

Our Brains really are different

Jeanne Worrick — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 09:26:21 GMT

I just subscribed to stumbleupon and have been been getting some fascinating info regarding all kinds of human interaction. But I just about fell out of my chair and I did actually scream when I read "Male-Female Brain Differences".

I will try to summarize. This is from Simon-Baron Cohen, director of the Autism Research Centre, Cambridge University in his new book Essential Difference: Men, Women and the Extreme Male Brain.

To read the article go to www.doctorhugo.org/brain4.html

Bottom line is that the differences in our brains are biological and not cultural.

Men are better at analysing systems better systemizers) and women are better at reading the emotions of other people (better empathizers).

This confirms what I have been saying: that women don't need to be taught how to read people, but men do. And that's part of the reason why I and other female sales professionals become frustrated by the sales training information that is out there. We can certainly learn more about selling, but not what men need to know. We are already there. We need to learn more of what men do so naturally and possibly fail to share, since to them it seems obvious.

Selective Powerdressing

Jeanne Worrick — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 08:57:34 GMT

After my chameleon post, I opened the Wall Street Journal this morning and discovered the Style Section has a half page article on the role of the stiletto in business. I couldn't believe it!

"Heelpolitik: The Power of the Stiletto" subtitled "Why Female Executives Keep A Pair for Clashes and Crises; Ferragamos to be fired in". Bottom line is keep those high heels handy when you need to be intimidating or make a power play. Three inches added to the average woman's height makes her on equal footing (no pun intended) with her male counterpart.

I have always saved my powerdressing for the close. I hate wearing suits mostly because I can never get them to fit right and they are so predictable, but I makes exceptions when I need to make a statement. Heels I wear very selectively because, not only are they a bitch to wear, I cannot walk in them very well. I get paroxysms just contemplating being flattened by one misstep. It blows the power image for sure!

Learning to be a Chameleon

Jeanne Worrick — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 13:59:41 GMT

Rick Roberge and I were having a conversation this afternoon and he wanted to know when I was going to get down to business and start sharing my thoughts on selling. Okay, I will start with a little nugget that I have always used called 'being a chameleon.' Rick calls it 'matching' and I thought it was too obvious to mention, so I left it out of my Sell Like A Girl manuscript.

Just as the chameleon protects itself by changing its colors to match its environment, so should the sales professional in a selling situation.

You are on the customer's/prospect's turf and you need to blend in. That way they see you as one of their own or at least someone who 'get's' them. Look too flashy and they peg your for a "sales type"-slick and smooth but not worthy of their trust. Dress down too much and they won't have respect for what you are trying to tell them. You may appear not to care about doing business at all.

The same goes for your personality. Don't divulge yourself until you listen to where the prospect is going and only expose what you find compatible to the customer's mindset.

The expression I used but deleted from my manuscript is "Your personality is like a house of 1,000 windows" open only those that reflect your customer's personality. Never do any of us open all our windows to any one person, except maybe our soulmates and even then it can be risky.

Mirror your customer's personality traits with the ones that you share and she will feel good about you, comfortable in your presence(the warm and fuzzies).

You will begin to mirror their language by listening and tuning in to their thought process. And I don't mean the kind of "mirroring" recommended by sales gurus who think that by crossing your legs when your customer does or watching their eye movement to determine whether to use "feel", "think" or "see" words, you'll score sales points.

That's it for now kids.

A gaggle of girls

Jeanne Worrick — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 16:02:35 GMT

Rick Roberge wanted to know what a "gaggle" of girls/women is as I mentioned in my last blog entry "Women's Weekend". It was actually coined by one of our gang this past weekend and I liked it so much I stole it. Just picture a group of middle-aged women sharing stories and having a good laugh. I think many would see us like a gaggle of geese 'honking'. We really are not concerned with how we look to others when we are having one hell of a good time! In the future, perhaps I will try to find a more eloquent description. Suggestions are welcome.

Life is Selling

Jeanne Worrick — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 06:52:04 GMT

Rick Roberge commented on my last entry "Women's Weekend" with "What does it have to do with sales?" Everything about life is related to sales. All interaction is a form of selling. We were all sold on the comfort factor of the accommodations and will probably not be so enticed by the rustic cabin for next year's woman's weekend.

I want my blog to be personal enough for women to read, even if they think they are not in sales. Bottom line is that my approach to sales will always be personal and so too should my blog .