Watch what you say, and do what you say.
“I want you to know it hasn’t gone unnoticed that there are no women on our sales team.” That comment came from the CEO of a fast-growing software company. Not only were there no women, but the sales team was all white men of a certain age. He wanted to hire saleswomen, he told me, but women rarely applied for the job.
I told him that most women aren’t waiting in line for his or any other sales jobs, and he’d have to go out and find them. The problem is that while women are a good fit for sales jobs, the culture in many sales organizations doesn’t seem like a good fit for them.
Many women are reticent to sell because they believe salesmen are aggressive, pushy, don’t listen, and push their products. (Think used-car salesman.) Even in B2B companies, many salespeople
