Trying to Fly like a Bird..

Because women are as a whole more loyal and willing to pay for good service and quality, they make ideal customers for small businesses who often surpass their corporate competitors in these areas.

As consumers, women buy or influence at least 80 percent of all household spending. That includes 51 percent of consumer electronics and 75 percent of all over-the-counter drugs.

In the corporate arena, they are increasingly more visible as purchasing managers, an area long dominated by men. In fact, the number of female registrants at national purchasing shows has doubled over the past five years and is expected to double again by 2005.

A Huge Market

In the small business-to-small business venue, women also make up an important market segment. Estimates put the number of female owned business at 9.1 million generating $3.6 trillion in sales annually and employing 27.5 million people – more than all Fortune 500 companies combined—in America.

“Women represent a huge untapped market for most business owners, big and small,” explains Barbara G. Stanbridge, President of National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO). She argues that women, in particular, can make great customers for small businesses because they are very loyal and apt to let their friends know when they have found something worthwhile.

Hence the reason many experts think satisfied women customers can grow your small business and expand profits.

Many professional women believe small businesses need not focus on the differences in marketing to their gender. Others disagree, but all concur that marketing to women requires some specific tweaking of the message and delivery parameters to be truly successful.

When marketing to women there are some dos and don’ts that demand careful thought and consideration. As with most marketing, it always helps if you take the time to stop, think, research and then act.

Anticipate Her Needs

Women have many different responsibilities and time is usually a woman’s most precious commodity. Knowing this, consider how you can orient your business towards that need. Ask yourself, how can my product or service be more available to her and anticipate her needs in relationship to your offering.

An example is the small bookstore at the commuter train station used by Leslie Grossman, of MA, Inc., in New York. Grossman has over 20 years of experience in marketing and is the President of CMA, which specializes in helping businesses market to women.

“Every work day I go by the same bookstore as I am coming and going from work,” Grossman continues, “but they are never open at those times. So where do you think I end up buying my books? Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble because they are open when I need them to be. I would prefer to buy from the small bookseller, but if they are not open when it is convenient for me, it is hard for me to give them my business.”

Grossman echoes the sentiment of many female consumers. They would rather do business with a smaller, independent firm studies by the National Foundation of Women Business Owners indicate. Unfortunately, many smaller businesses miss out on women as potential customers, because they do not make themselves or their products convenient for women. The reason for this ranges from location to operating hours to poor service.

The Importance of Service Orientation

The next do is to make sure your business is service oriented. In research conducted by New York University, “responsive service” was the top criteria for women business travelers in selecting a hotel.

Even today, many women business travelers feel ignored or at best tolerated in hotels, restaurants and other public places. Because they still see this happening, nine out of 10 women indicated responsive service was the most important factor in their choice of lodgings.

In comparison, 65 percent of men ranked location as the most important factor followed by responsive service.

Women report that many companies give lip service to customer satisfaction. Indeed, “service” has become such a common mantra that the word has become a cliché. Many experts believe the key to customer service involves providing something that’s unexpected, preferably with a smile.

Others suggest focusing on paying attention to the individual, particularly if she is a woman. Attention, by the way, that includes respect and recognition of her self worth.

A business that really wants to serve their female customers should remember common courtesy can go a long way. Behind every sale, there is a real person who decided to buy your product over the competitors’. When you personally thank that person for choosing your company, you turn a customer into an evangelist. This is also more likely to occur from a woman customer than a male user.

Maintain a “Smart” Database

Another solution is to maintain a customer database, keeping track of their likes and dislikes. That way you can let them know if there is anything that would be of interest to them like sales, new products, special events, etc. However, when you do this, remember to make certain you get the gender correct. Nothing upsets a customer more than to be called a “Ms” or “Mr.” when the opposite is the case.

Sometimes, going the extra-mile means listening to women. Ask your female customers what they want. Some sample questions.

Do they want you to keep longer hours?
Do they want technical support available on weekends?
Do they want you to broaden your product line or services to they can get everything in one place?

When you communicate with her on a one-on-one basis you go a long ways toward building a relationship and earning her loyalty.

Sadly, many companies focus their service on two events: before the sale or when problems come up. Many businesses miss all sorts of opportunities to serve their customers during daily operations.

Nordstrom has a well-known customer service program that is simply part of its day-to-day operations. Salespeople are encouraged to call customers and let them know about special events or items of interest. Each salesperson in the company has a business card he or she can give to any customer, to encourage direct communications. During the first days of a large sale they open several hours earlier. Also, no matter how small the item, they will happily contact other stores for availability and have the item directly mailed to you. Now that’s service!

The last do is very straight-forward: get involved in your community. Women like to be involved in the world around them and like to do business with people who are involved as well. Getting involved with organizations, such as National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), or other local professional organizations, can be a great way to meet women business owners.

This leads, however, to the first don’t in marketing to women. “Whatever you do, please don’t just write a check!” admonishes Grossman. “One corporation was a very large sponsor of NAWBO and were offering something special to NAWBO members. So they put together a marketing packet and set it out. The packet had a long cover letter, which mentioned at the end that there was a special offer for members. They used the same marketing materials they use all the time and they did not target them to a female audience. The whole campaign was essentially a wash because they didn’t want to take the time to do it right.”

Lessons to learn from this Fortune 500: Take your time to make your partnership with the organization work for you, get to know their real needs and make sure you craft the piece specifically to address what is important to them. Remember that B2B is not the same as B2Women in all areas. Women are more apt to want to be educated about the offered product or service and are inclined to be patient when buying.

There are four things a woman purchaser is more apt to require during the sales process than her male counterpart:

More detailed information.
Specific pricing quotes, including tax and service contracts.
References (A woman is twice as likely as a man to check references.)
Return policies and guarantees.

Women Take More Chances

By the same token, a woman more often than a man will take a chance on a new product or service if it involves reduction in time or money with a specific payback period.

A recent survey by a large software company revealed that women by a 2-1 margin were more included to read the offering material in a new product than men. Their special marketing hotline had three women callers for every male respondent asking questions about this new product.

The potential business that women represent for anyis impressive. It is not every market that represents $3.6 trillion sales. Taking the time to carefully market to women is the first step to getting in on this enormous market.

Remember also that they are a niche market and should be sold to like any other sector, with care and understanding and respect.

MARKETING TO WOMEN

What could your company do with a customer base made up of 85 percent of all United States families? Probably increase your profit and expand your business, and then increase your profit some more. This is exactly what you could do if you focused your marketing strategies to target women. Statistically, women are the primary purchasing agent in 85 percent of U.S. households, holding in their hands more than two trillion dollars.

The National Foundation for Women Business Owners (NFWBO) agrees. NFWBO is dedicated to showing the world that women are a force to be reckoned with. According to the NFWBO, when purchasing such items as television and cable services, clothing, insurance policies and Internet service providers, business women are the primary decision-makers in their households fully two-thirds or more of the time.

Just take a look at the stats*:

Women are the primary consumer decision maker in 85% of all households.
Women are expected to acquire 94% of the growth in U.S. private wealth between now and 2010.
Women make 69% of all household health decision.
Women purchase 74% of all NBA and NFL apparel, and are contributing to a 10.3% increase in soccer equipment sales.
Women make 75% of the decisions about new homes.
Women make 81% of the decisions about groceries.
Women will make up 60% of the online population by 2005.
Women will account for 62% of all workers by 2005.

Some of the following information shows that companies also need to know how to market to women.

80% of women employees and 74% of women business owners combine different shopping tasks into one trip.

One-third of women say that the effect of a product on the environment is a major influence in purchasing decisions, and one in fiveagree that the social responsibility of a company is a major influence.

Women reflect that advertising is the primary source of information on products, while coupons do not influence purchase decisions.

So if you would like a large piece of the pie U.S. women might be willing to hand over, think about marketing to women. It could change your Profit margins forever.