Sales
Why
B2B Women
Sales Are the Future of
by Andris A. Zoltners, Prabhakant Sinha, Sally E. Lorimer, Tania Lennon, and
Emily Alexander
May 28, 2020
Nicholas Rigg/Getty Images
Summary. Although women currently make up just over half of the U.S. workforce,
they typically hold fewer than one-third of B2B sales positions. This is unfortunate,
because evidence shows women outperform men in B2B sales, and the changes
created by Covid-19 will... more
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Although women make up just over half of the college-educated
workforce, they hold less than one third of B2B sales jobs.
According to 2019 Bureau of Labor Statistics data, women are
underrepresented in B2B sales in most industries, including
wholesale and manufacturing (27%) and financial services (30%).
Yet research shows that women salespeople often outperform
men. A 2019 study by incentive solution provider Xactly reported
that 86% of women achieved quota, compared to 78% of men. The
B2B sales landscape has been shifting in ways that favor women
in sales roles. We think the Covid-19 pandemic will lead to a step
change in this trend.
The Changing Sales Environment Favors Women
Research by our consulting firm, ZS, shows women succeed in
sales by excelling at different capabilities than men. The research
looked at performance of 500+ salespeople across several
industries, including financial services, industrial services, and
health care. The assessment used a framework we developed that
identifies seven capabilities that differentiate high-performing
salespeople from average-performing salespeople.
7 Capabilities That Set High-Performing
Salespeople Apart
Analyzing: understanding cause and effect and seeing
big picture implications Connecting: building a network
...
Both high-performing women and high-performing men used all
seven capabilities to some extent. But high-performing women
were more likely to emphasize connecting, shaping solutions, and
collaborating, while high-performing men relied more on
improving and driving outcomes. For analyzing and influencing,
there was no measurable difference between the genders.
Today’s digitally savvy, self-sufficient, and more informed buyers
have new expectations of salespeople. Buyers expect salespeople
to add value beyond what digital tools provide. To do this,
salespeople need capabilities for collaborating with customers
and shaping solutions. These capabilities, focused on addressing
customer needs, have become more important for sales success
than persuasion capabilities, such as influencing customers and
driving outcomes. And this plays to women’s strengths.
Covid-19 has put the deep freeze on many industries. As we
emerge from the pandemic and commerce thrives again, the shift
to remote selling using video and digital channels will have
lasting impact on sales. This will boost the power of women, as
capabilities at which women excel align perfectly with the
morphing world of sales and the evolving needs of customers.
Consider the traditionally male-
FURTHER READING
Coronavirus:
Leadership
dominated industry of financial
Recovery and investment sales. Technology
Book makes customers (investors) less
$22.95 reliant on financial advisors for
many needs. “Robo-advisor”
View Details computer algorithms can
analyze investments and make
portfolio recommendations.
Investors can execute their own financial transactions online. Yet
even highly self-sufficient investors are likely to turn to advisors
for help with longer-term financial and estate planning needs.
Decisions about these issues are complex and emotional. Advisors
create value by listening, empathizing, and sharing perspective to
facilitate agreement among family members. The capabilities at
which women excel — connecting, shaping solutions, and
collaborating — have become increasingly important for success
in a financial advisor role.
The skills of women are also becoming more relevant in the fast-
growing, once male-dominated field of high-tech sales.
Increasing proportions of business technology sales are
subscription-based (such as SaaS products) or consumption-based
(such as cloud services), rather than one-time purchases. Most
value comes not with the initial sale, but rather over time as
customers benefit from the purchase and expand purchasing. The
trend has created growth in the number of customer success
managers (CSMs) — salespeople who encourage customer loyalty
and retention by helping customers realize ongoing value. CSMs
succeed by connecting, collaborating and shaping solutions; once
again, these are capabilities that are women’s strengths. Although
women hold only a quarter of high-tech sales jobs, career data
sources report that at least 50% and as high as 70% of CSMs are
women. And as of April 2020, women were leading global
customer success teams at some major tech companies, including
Oracle and Salesforce.
Accelerated by the Covid-19 crisis, salespeople are traveling less
and relying more on video and other digital communication
channels. The shift to less travel aligns with the needs of both
men and women who want to balance career and family needs.
Further, as more women take on business buying roles, female
salespeople can build stronger relationships with the changing
customer base.
Boosting the Number of Women in Sales
Future sales success for many companies in the rebounding
economy will hinge on attracting and retaining more women for
sales roles. In traditionally male-dominated industries, this can
require eliminating the perception of sales as an old boys’ club
and creating a more female-friendly culture. Several programs are
helping sales organizations attract and retain more women.
Programs like these have helped our consulting firm, ZS, attract
and retain more female professionals.
Diversity-focused recruiting. Many companies are making
gender diversity an explicit goal of sales recruiting, committing to
specific objectives for sourcing, selecting and attracting women.
Companies are reaching out to sources of female job applicants,
such as professional associations for women in sales. They are
making job descriptions more attractive to women by toning
down masculine language, for example, replacing words like
“aggressive” and “compete” with gender-neutral language such as
“customer-focused” and “succeed.” Job descriptions are also
emphasizing problem-solving over client entertainment
responsibilities. And by including more women sales leaders on
job candidate interview panels, companies are getting diverse
perspective about candidates’ qualifications while reinforcing a
female-friendly culture that attracts women applicants.
Female mentorship programs. A financial service firm fostered
community among women in its male-dominated sales
organization by matching each new female salesperson with a
female mentor in the sales organization. Mentors helped
salespeople get acclimated and answered questions about topics
females were reluctant to discuss with male colleagues (e.g.
traveling alone, having dinner with male clients, maternity leave).
The firm also hosted “lunch and learn” sessions where female
salespeople talked openly about challenges and solutions. Women
built relationships with others they looked up to and felt
comfortable confiding in.
Better coaching. Companies are taking steps to improve
coaching of female salespeople, especially by male mentors. This
requires breaking down stigmas for male-female mentorship
relationships and ensuring women get the same objective
feedback their male colleagues would.
More promotions for women. In the Xactly insights study,
female-led sales teams had roughly equal numbers of men and
women, while male-led teams were more than three-quarters
men. Promoting more women to sales management and
leadership roles is a clear path to attracting and retaining more
female salespeople. A good way to develop female leaders is to
champion women for stretch roles and responsibilities that test
and develop their managerial skills.
Gender diversity in sales is not just about social justice. In today’s
world, it is about increased performance. The solutions here are a
start, but there is more work to be done. One key challenge is
addressing the perception that sales requires comfort with risk,
such as rejection and income uncertainty, which discourages
some women from pursuing sales careers. As customer
expectations of salespeople continue to evolve, attracting and
retaining more women for sales roles will be a key to future sales
force success.
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AZ
Andris A. Zoltners is a professor emeritus at
Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of
Management. He is a cofounder of ZS
Associates, a global business consulting firm,
and a coauthor of a series of sales management
books, including The Power of Sales Analytics.
Prabhakant Sinha is a cofounder of ZS, a
global professional-services firm. He also
teaches sales executives at the Indian School of
Business.
Sally E. Lorimer is a principal at ZS, a global
professional-services firm.
TL
Tania Lennon leads a global expertise center
focused on talent and transformation for
business consulting firm ZS Associates. She
helps businesses apply the latest thinking to
harness the full power and potential of people.
EA
Emily Alexander is a manager at business
consulting firm ZS Associates. She leads work
transforming sales and service practices in
financial services by reshaping go-to-market
strategy and customer engagement. She is a
leader in ZS’s Women’s Leadership Initiative.
