Why She Buys (36 page)

Good style and design sensibility on materials and packaging

Images of people featured in materials, not just products

Messages focused on practical, helpful benefits

Third-party credibility/testimonials included where possible

Socially responsible or cause marketing messaging included

Customer service/warranty messaging prominently displayed

While it’s unrealistic for all of these attributes to be reflected in one specific piece of marketing or sales material, the list is a good reminder of what’s important. When in doubt, test with your female target.

S
TEP
3: C
ONDUCT A
C
USTOMER
S
ERVICE
A
UDIT

This is the step in which you determine how well the company’s customer service lives up to your brand. First, find out if your company tracks customer service inquiries by gender. If it does, look for any significant differences in customer feedback. If your company doesn’t track inquiries by gender, work with the customer care team to see if it might be possible to do so. Then collaborate with colleagues or an outside firm to “mystery-shop” your own company. Call the 800 number; send inquiries through e-mail to see how they’re handled; visit websites to read customer opinions; reexamine corporate return policies; go to the website
GetHuman.com
to see how your company is portrayed. (Get Human is a popular site that lists techniques for bypassing hundreds of corporate automated-voice-response
units in order to reach a human being.) View these interactions through the lens of a busy female customer.

S
TEP
4: A
UDIT
Y
OUR
T
OP
T
HERE
C
OMPETITORS

Conduct the same marketing communications and customer service audits of your top three competitors, and then create a master report comparing them with your own firm. Cascade this information wide and deep, at headquarters and in the field. In a perfect world, you’d be able to present the information at an event in which executives’ spouses are present—like an annual meeting. This dynamic often creates great energy in the room and underscores the points about gender differences in what ends up being a lighthearted and undeniable way. When focusing on areas ripe for change, point out both the low-hanging fruit and the eight-hundred-pound gorillas.

S
TEP
5: P
RODUCT
D
EVELOPMENT
A
ND
R&D E
VALUATION

Convert the product development team to your side. Talk to them to gain a fresh understanding of how well female factors are incorporated into the product development process. What are the current methods for gathering consumer insights? How much research is undertaken in the lab versus in the field, closer to where consumers will actually use the product? How many women are on the product development team?

S
TEP
6: S
ALES
T
RAINING

If your company has a consumer-facing sales team, find out whether gender is addressed from a training standpoint. Chances are it’s not—and that’s an area of opportunity.
The sales directors may need some convincing. To demonstrate how effective such training could be, work with a female team (either internal or external) to “mystery-shop” the sales force to determine their effectiveness with women buyers. After such an exercise, I’ve found that the areas for improvement are easy to identify. Armed with the results of the mystery-shopping exercise, encourage the sales team to include gender education in the training program as a tool for competitive advantage.

S
TEP
7: T
HE
F
IVE
G
LOBAL
T
RENDS:
W
HAT
O
PPORTUNITIES
D
O
T
HEY
B
RING?

The global trends outlined in
Chapter 3
(and the summary immediately below) can help you determine where to target your efforts and resources for the next several years. How can you leverage these trends in your long-range planning?

More women in the workforce

Delayed marriages, increased numbers of young singles

Smaller families

Divorce as a fact of life