Why She Buys (37 page)

More older women in the world

S
TEP
8: M
AKE
Y
OUR
C
ASE

Leverage the case studies and information in this book, along with your own research, to make the case for a stronger focus on understanding the culture of your female customers. Demonstrate how other industry leaders are mastering gender differences for greater profit. In my experience, this is one of the most persuasive ways to prove the opportunity.

Lobby for approval to conduct a proprietary research
project with women consumers. No matter how small the project, it’s a good place to begin.

S
TEP
9: G
ET
A
Q
UICK
W
IN
U
NDER
Y
OUR
B
ELT

Embark on a simple, tangible project to show a quick win, to demonstrate both action and traction. This could mean anything from redrafting the look and feel of specific marketing materials to conducting a customer service training session on gender culture, or adding a women’s component to current sales training efforts.

S
TEP
10: B
ENCHMARK
Y
OUR
R
ESULTS

Using your company’s current databases, establish a benchmark that can be used to measure progress over the next several years. The benchmark could consist of information such as:

Percentage of customers that are women

Percentage of high-revenue customers that are women

Customer loyalty rates by gender

Customer service inquiries/resolutions by gender

Include gender as a consistent focus of presentations at company meetings, and continue the evangelization process until you’re preaching to the converted. The future is female, and the companies that recognize and embrace this fact are the ones poised to dominate their markets. It’s as simple as this:
understand women and win
.

NOTES

I
NTRODUCTION

1.
Courtney Caldwell, editor in chief,
Road & Travel
magazine, 2009.

2.
2008 Catalyst Census of Women Corporate Officers and Top Earners of the Fortune 500.

3.
Brand week data 2008 and Spencer Stuart data 2009.

4.
Author’s research of top one hundred U.S. ad agencies.

5.
The idea of gender as cross-cultural communication was pioneered by Deborah Tannen, and Marti Barletta introduced the concept of female gender culture to the marketing world.

6.
Media Metrix Worldwide Data cited in the study “Women on the Web: How Women Are Shaping the Internet,” copyright ComScore, June 2010.

1: W
OMEN
A
RE THE
M
OTHER
L
ODE

1.
Michael Kimmel,
The Gendered Society
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2000).

2.
Ibid.

3.
From
imdb.com
, review written by Claudio Carvalho.

4.
Fortune 1000 data verified by
Fortune
magazine, 2008, and Catalyst Data, 2007.

5.
Spencer Stuart research, 2009.

6.
Established by author phone calls to top 100 U.S. ad agencies in 2009.

7.
Catalyst Data, 2009.

8.
European Parliament Committee of Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, 2008, by Eva-Britt Svensson.

9.
Jean Chatzky, “Earn More Than Your Man?”
Today/
MSNBC, October 1, 2007.

10.
Marianne J. Legato,
Why Men Never Remember and Women Never Forget
(Emmaus, PA.: Rodale Press, 2005).

11.
Pew Research Center Publications, “Women Call the Shots at Home; Public Mixed on Gender Roles in Jobs,” by Rich Morin and D’Vera Cohn, September 25, 2008.

12.
Cotton Incorporated, 2009.

13.
Courtney Caldwell, editor in chief,
Road & Travel
magazine, 2009.

14.
Consumer Electronics Association press release, April 24, 2008, also: “The Truth About Women and Consumer Electronics,” 2007.

15.
U.S. Department of Labor, General Facts on Women and Job-based Health, 2008.

16.
ForbesLife Executive Woman
, “The 25 Most Influential Women in Travel,” by Melissa Biggs Bradley, June 30, 2008.

17.
Prudential Financial, “Study on Financial Experience and Behaviors Among Women,” 2004–5, and 2008–9.

18.
National Association of Realtors Field Guide to Women Homebuyers, and National Association of Home Builders.

19.
Adams Wine Handbook
, 2008.

20.
Electronic Software Association, “Women Comprise 40 Percent of U.S. Gamers,” July 16, 2008.

2
:
G
ETTING TO
K
NOW THE
L
OCALS

1.
Daniel G. Amen,
Sex on the Brain
(New York: Three Rivers Press, 2007).

2.
Marianne J. Legato,
Why Men Never Remember and Women Never Forget
(Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press, 2005), 8.

3.
Amen,
Sex on the Brain
, 79.

4.
Louann Brizendine,
The Female Brain
(New York: Morgan Road Books, 2006), 5.

5.
Legato,
Why Men Never Remember
, 62, 72.

6.
Amen,
Sex on the Brain
, 75.

7.
Brizendine,
The Female Brain
, 39.

8.
Legato,
Why Men Never Remember
, xvi.

9.
Ibid.

10.
Ibid., 13.

11.
Ibid.

12.
Brizendine,
The Female Brain
.

13.
Deborah Tannen,
You Just Don’t Understand
(New York: Quill, 1991).

14.
Deborah Tannen,
Talking from 9–5
(New York: HarperCollins, 1994).

15.
Tannen,
You Just Don’t Understand
.

16.
Ibid.

17.
Study conducted in 2007 by Wharton’s Jay H. Baker Retail Initiative and the Verde Group, a Toronto consulting firm.

18.
Brizendine,
The Female Brain
, 37.

19.
Tannen,
You Just Don’t Understand
.

20.
Legato,
Why Men Never Remember
, 108.

21.
Ibid.

22.
Ibid., 164.

23.
Brizendine,
The Female Brain
, 130.

24.
Ibid.

25.
Diana Price, “Sexy or Sadistic? Sexist, Actually,” National Organization for Women, March 19, 2007.

26.
State of the American Mom Report, 2008. Marketing to Moms Coalition.

3: T
HE
F
IVE
G
LOBAL
T
RENDS
D
RIVING
F
EMALE
C
ONSUMERS