Deloitte’s New Strategy: What Women Want

The Wall Street Journal recently reported on Deloitte’s latest sales strategy - positive sexism. The new approach is based on the simple idea that women shop differently then men, not just at the shoe store, but when they’re in the market for professional services as well. For example, according to Cathy Benko, a partner at the company that runs the gender-sensitivity program, women shop for services and products through discovery whereas men zero in on what they want and don’t fuss about. Here are some other bits of wisdom from Deloitte’s workshop that the article points out:

- Don’t be frustrated if female clients reevaluate or modify their initial requests; because they discover as they shop, women may be very receptive to suggestions about other services.

- Women clients want to know and trust their consultants personally as well as professionally; sharing personal details can help build trust.

- Women often prefer business lunches to dinners, because they tend to have more responsibilities at home. And they may be more receptive to evening social invitations if asked with sufficient time to make arrangements at home.

- Body language differs by gender. Men tend to stare as they listen and nod to signify they understand. Women may nod when they don’t yet understand to encourage the speaker to keep talking. And while consultants often seat themselves beside a male client as their “right hand man,” women are more comfortable seated face to face.

Figuring out the best way to approach and appeal to professional females is growing increasingly important for professional services companies like Deloitte (WSJ reports that women occupy 37% of all management jobs and comprise 60% of the U.S.’s accountants and auditors). But while the intentions of these re-education programs may be good (or, at least strictly business-oriented), companies must proceed cautiously, the prickly repercussions of reductive stereotyping lurking just around the corner.

[via Wall Street Journal]