Last week on The WORD: A Jolt of Sales 411 w/ Keenan, the show was Sell #LikeAGirl: Why Women Rock with guests Jill Konrath, (author of Snap Selling, Selling to Big Companies and Agile Selling), Teresa Taylor, former COO of Qwest and author of the Balance Myth and Lori Richardson, President of Women Sales Pros . What a great show and what a great group of awesome sales women. These ladies are so motivating and have a wealth of experience and knowledge in the sales world. It made me think about the women I know in sales and the recruiting process with them. Sales is an act of passion and determination. You have to have both of those to be successful. That’s why women make some of the best sales people! We just need to encourage more women to get into sales and stick with it. As a recruiter, I talk with lots of sales people every day about sales jobs I’m recruiting for. The number of women I talk with compared to men is very low, my estimation is I only talk to about 15% women. I’m not sure if women in sales are usually more content and not necessarily looking for new opportunities but I know they are outnumbered by men in the field. Personally, it’s exciting when I find a “Girl” candidate that is interested in one of the jobs I’m recruiting for because women are great sales people. Women who have gone into sales are confident, overachievers, passionate and better than the average guy. OK maybe I’m a bit biased towards helping women “girls”, but as Keenan mentioned in his show “there are a slew of biases to overcome as “girls”. I’ve even had a few of my clients mention when I had a “girl” candidate that they were excited about adding a “girl” to the team. Sales has changed and it’s not so much about the hard charging sales guy being the best sales person anymore. Today sales is more about understanding the client’s needs and their pain and how you might be able to help them with their business challenges. Women are more empathetic and typically listen better. They hear what the client is saying and look at how they can be consultative, not to say guys don’t do this. I think it just comes more naturally to “girls”. Women need to overcome the “fear” of hearing no and realize a no is not the last no until they say yes. Maybe it’s a gender thing, but men tend to not hear the no and just keep plugging away. Come on ladies, let’s get over our “fear” of hearing no and get out there and kill it in sales. #WomenRockSales all over the world — Tell us where & when you saw someone #SellLikeAGirl #SalesJolt #LikeAGirl