Women in Sales: Top 4 Traits for Success
Women in sales are crushing it. Although there are far fewer in the profession (40% – Gartner) compared to men, women are demonstrating outstanding sales performance for the companies they work for.
Xactly also showed that women in sales reach quotas in a higher proportion (86%) than men (76%). Female sales leaders also outperform their male counterparts by 3%. Additionally, Oxford Leadership mentioned that companies with more women on their boards saw a higher return on sales (a whopping 42%) and higher ROI (66%).
These stats are impressive so we took some time to survey women in sales to understand what skills and competences they believe make them great in sales and sales leadership. Check out the results below, plus a few tips from female sales leaders.
Top Sales Traits and Skills
Women in Sales Traits
Emotional Intelligence
46% of women reported emotional intelligence as their top trait contributing to their sales success. In the sales industry, it’s not just about convincing another person to buy your product – it’s about understanding what life is like in your prospect’s shoes. Understanding pain points, what a customer really means when they say something, the delicate balance of pushing and pulling back – all this gives anyone a really strong instinct for the deal. And this is something women in sales are amazing at. Studies show that women score higher than men in emotional quotient (EQ) or the ability of a human to combine emotions and cognitive intelligence to make decisions.
If you connect with your customers by understanding their frustrations and needs through emotional understanding, you’ll be better able to meet them where they are and lead them to the solution.
Empathy
31% of women report empathy as one of their top 4 traits contributing to sales success.
According to a Cambridge study, in 57 countries, women scored higher in cognitive empathy than men. In the other 21, men and women scored the same. Empathy is important in sales because it is how sellers can relate to customers.
Whilst this ties in closely with emotional intelligence, empathy plays a huge role in understanding what prospects and customers are feeling – making a smoother sales process and a more aligned solution to pain points. Those who are more adept at not just noticing but understanding the customers’ pain points will be able to better drill into them and really build a compelling buying reason.
Women in Sales Skills
Active Listening
28% of women listed active listening within their top 3 skills or traits contributing to sales success. Sounds simple – but this is a tricky skill to master. Especially when you have limited time with a prospect and a lot of things you’re trying to do at once in a sales meeting. But it can have a big impact as 74% of customers are more likely to purchase a product once they feel heard.
A study by Gong showed that men (58%) have longer listening times than women (54%). But what makes the difference is the quality of listening, as customers let women (160 seconds) speak more uninterrupted than men (116 seconds). This allows women (54%) to guide customers deeper into the sales funnel compared to men (49%). These numbers show why women in sales excel in their roles.
Relationship Building
26% of women list strong relationship-building skills as a top trait contributing to their sales success. Obviously, there is limited appeal in a transactional approach to relationships, so most sales professionals think of themselves as great relationship builders. But similar to active listening, long-term relationship building takes discipline, consistency, and effort over time. In enterprise selling in particular, where there are long sales cycles (sometimes over several years), the ability of women in sales to build genuine, authentic relationships plays a huge role in sales success.
Tips from Women Leaders in Tech Sales
Vanja Wilson
Vanja Wilson a VP of Sales from Partnerise is a member of the APAC women in Tech Sales Community and always generous in sharing her insights and time. She advises:
“Throughout my career whenever there were any extra projects I would almost always say yes. Taking on extra projects helps to make you stand out and is great way to learn new things and about yourself. I don’t think the path to developing is linear. I think it is more like a spider web to build up different foundations.
Sarah Jarmin
Sarah Jarmin, Sales Director at Darktrace, is another strong advocate from the APAC Women in Tech Sales Community. She states:
“I think anyone who says they don’t have imposter syndrome is lying but you just have to remember to flip it, they are there to listen to what you have to say and don’t let anyone feel like what you have to say isn’t important”.
Constance Kong
Constance Kong, Head of APAC Sales from Cloudflare states:
“Focus on what you can do or bring to the table to contribute without really expecting anything specific in return first. Eventually you will gain respect from co-workers and reach new heights. Always remember that every existing limit poses a challenge to oneself, try to overcome the limit and find ways to break through the boundaries.”
Adriana Karpovicz
Andriana Karpovicz, Sales Director at Stilingue, states:
“I’ve been in situations where I was interrupted when speaking… I kept going, even if I felt that I needed to go the extra mile to get respect from the team.”
Why We Need More Women in Sales
More and more companies are practicing strong DEI policies and initiatives. However, the effects are not just for show; McKinsey reported that 36% of top-quartile companies with this in play showed higher profitability compared to competitors.
The results are not just from reaching quotas but also from nurturing collaboration in their workplaces. Gartner reported that 76% of surveyed women help their workmates with heavy workloads. And that 83% are continuously working to perform better in their jobs. These efforts pay off, as Gong’s report showed women have an 11% higher customer win rate compared to men.
As you enter a new or your first year in business, make it your goal to empower both men and women in sales. Use their unique strengths to create effective sales strategies that drive results.
Interested in building a more gender balanced sales team? Salient (Founder of APAC Women in Tech Sales) specialise in delivering gender balanced teams for tech companies across APAC.
