Selling The Way Businesswomen Buy

Deloitte & Touche associates are approaching women clients differently than men based on lessons learned from observing women's shopping behavior. Their theory says that just as women consumers shop differently than men, businesswomen shop for professional services differently than businessmen.

TrendSight Group (an Illinois consulting firm) interviewed senior women execs and employees, finding the same discovery process women use when doing personal shopping also applies to purchasing business services. For instance, a woman might go to a store to buy a black pair of pants but then buy something else or change her mind. By contrast, men just focus on the black pants.

Other suggestions from the study:

• Don't get frustrated if spaces change
  Female clients may reevaluate or modify their initial requests because women discover as they shop. On the up-side -- women may be more likely to buy additional services and features they discover
  
• Share some personal details to build trust
  Women clients want to know and trust their consultants personally as well as professionally
  
• Business Lunches vs. Dinners
  Women often prefer business lunches to dinners because they tend to have more responsibilities at home. They'll be more receptive to evening events if given time to make arrangements
  
• Nodding doesn't equal understanding
  In terms of body language, men tend to stare as they listen and nod to signify they understand. Women may nod when they don't yet understand, simply to encourage the speaker to continue talking
  
• Face to face
  While consultants often purposely sit beside a male client as their "right hand man," women are more comfortable seated face to face

Deloitte's new approach comes as women are increasingly taking on more decision making roles at corporations, although the Wall Street Journal found most companies haven't systematically pitched women differently than men outside sponsored conferences and networking events.

The WSJ also points out that the method could easily backfire. Some women may welcome the greater sensitivity behind the approach, but others may find it patronizing.

Meryle Mahrer Kaplan, a vice president at Catalyst (a research and advisory group on women in business,) said "It's a great idea to pay attention to women as a people of influence, but if stereotypes seep in there, that's not helpful."