Fraternity-Testvériség, 1949 (27. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1949-11-01 / 11. szám
TESTVÉRISÉG 7 hév íimmn UJ MtnZLQLK w v& SELLING TO WOMEN By Mary M. Baird Since the entrance of women into the business world, man has had to reckon with them and develop a new line of business thinking which has opened up before him. The importance of the economic value of women has at last dawned on men as they are credited, on this continent, of having the responsibility of spending the earnings of the wage earner. The Institute of Life Insurance reports that women spend 80% of all the money spent for food; 75% of all spent for clothing; 57% of spendings for consumer goods; own 40% of the American homes; 48% of the stock in U. S. railroads, and 70% of the nation’s wealth! Women are generally the financial geniuses of the family and administer the family income to the best advantage. In selling to husbands you often are selling to women. Very often the husband defers to his wife for advice. However, it is not from this point that the matter will be discussed (though this is important), but from two other angles, viz, approach and temperament of this energetic and dynamic creature. The salesman’s correct approach becomes a “must” in his study of his woman prospect. Women have been endowed by nature with that protective thing called intuition and back in the mind of every woman there is a sizing up of the salesman and his proposition which defies complete analysis. Mother Nature is a wise mother and she gives her daughters that small inner voice which enables them to sense many things if they will pay attention. Must Gain Their Confidence Women have to want insurance very definitely before they will buy from someone they do not trust. This is why the approach should be absolutely on the square, and without guile on the part of the salesman. He should know his proposition, but not make his knowledge too evident. Women do their own thinking in their own way. They may go all around Robin Hood's barn to arrive at a conclusion, but once they arrive, watch out! The slower a woman is in making up her mind, the more apt she is to become a permanent client. In the life of a woman there is the economic consideration that she may not always be earning her own living. Marriage is in the back of her head. She knows she may marry and transfer her financial responsibilities to stronger shoulders whose support she may have to depend on. Here is where the salesman may have to decide that there is another person concerned who may later have to be sold if he is to take up the responsibility of paying. This rib out of Adam’s side may be an independent thinker and may have a previous understanding with her lord and master that at the altar he has no reservations in his mind on this one important feature in the life of her whom he has promised to love and obey. At any rate, the sales appeal is absolutely different to the one used on a male client. Another feature to be considered in the woman prospect is her ability to save a nickel here and a nickel there, and make up her premiums in the miraculous manner which women have to gain their ends, whether it be for new parlor curtains or a new scales for the bathroom. Also, they know that there is a distinct impact of financial loss arising out of the death of a wife and mother. Avoid Technicalities The majority of women cannot be talked down on insurance or anything else if they are well sold in the first place. So the thing to do is to have your client satisfied that she has the best in whatever is offered, and from the best person in the business. She will not be interested in the technicalities of a mortality table or the rate of interest bonds are paying — but she will listen attentively when her sympathies are aroused and where her loved ones are concerned, to what her savings will do for her, and do for her future. Don’t boast what a blank of an insurance man you are or of the record of your company — don’t flatter past the point of pleasantry, pay attention to your appearance from head to foot, and be sure your hands are clean and your finger nails out of mourning. Another point, and I think it is an important one: tell the truth. Women have a long memory. Don't build too rosy a picture for her on any insurance plan, just tell her the truth. If you tell a woman a salesman’s he, you will have to reap the whirlwind of a salesman’s regrets. She probably will have nothing more to do with you and will go to the one on whom she feels she can depend for business advice. She will not buy from someone she does not trust, take my word for it. A consideration in selling to women is the fact that a large percentage of them will eventually be widows, according to authentic statistics. This circumstance should govern the type of insurance protection which should be offered to them. It should be an estate available to them during their lifetime, together with an estate that matures at death. Also, as prospective mothers, a twenty year endowment on the birth of a child is a common sense provision for the future. Need Tact Obtaining Age In the Life Insurance Index, I recently read what a million dollar woman producer of the Travelers Insurance Co., in Atlanta, said at a Sales Conference in Boston: “In filling out an application on a woman prospect, never ask her how old she is, but rather say, ‘in what year were you born?’ ” “They always give you the month and the day and the year, because 90% of women can’t figure and they think that you can’t either. But if you put down before her eyes — age over 30 — especially if she still is Miss Jones, you will nearly always lose a sale.” “Women just naturally love men, love to do business with them.” This should be of interest to you as salesmen. The salesman’s understanding of women and their natural inclination first to protect and care for those.
