For years women were restricted to low-paying sales jobs in retail stores, while men had the sales jobs involving big tickets items and large commissions. Today, however, women are pouring into all areas of sales and doing well.
In the past, few companies hired women to go on the road and make those hard, cold sales. Even in real estate, where it might be assumed that women would be right at home, the profession was long dominated by men.
Women were told they could not sell. They were told they do best at detail work because they are patient.
Despite these barriers, women say they have a flair for sales. Networks for women in sales are among the fastest growing in the country.
The secret: Women have learned to sell themselves to get sales jobs. The results: Well, just take a look at the real estate industry, where women now predominate and flourish.
ELAYNE ADAMS
Director of leasing, Metropolitan Structures
”For women, sales are an extension of what we`ve already been doing,”
says Adams, a 20-year veteran in commercial leasing of offices. ”We use well the persuasive approach we have in other areas of our lives, with our children.
”It`s a skill women develop because we`re socialized to act in a cooperative rather than demanding way. It`s an important part of the negotiating process of sales.
”The other thing women do that helps in sales is we consider selling an ongoing educational process. When you`re totally familiar with your product and able to convey that information to your clients in a way that points out the advantages-the sale is easy.”
”Residential sales used to be all-male, and women were considered taboo in it,” says Adams, a founder of the Commercial Real Estate Organization, a local industry group. ”Today, selling homes is almost exclusively female-and they`re making good money.”
Ten years ago, there were ”fewer than 50 women in commercial sales in major firms in Chicago. Doors were slammed, not just shut. Women were not welcome in any arena where there was a lot of money to be made. Now there are more than 300 women in Chicago leasing office space,” says Adams, whose current project is leasing 2.25 million square feet of commercial office space at 10 & 30 S. Wacker Drive, a JMB Realty Corporation and Metropolitan Structures development.
Adams started out in property management, as most women do, she says, because ”it`s not where you make money.” Adams now earns in the six figures. ”Now that women have their foot in the door, we`ve proved we`re very good at selling.”
JACQUELINE DONAHUE
Age 36, president and chief executive officer, CARES Temporary Services, Inc.
”Women have a natural ability to sell and to articulate,” says Donahue, who opened her firm, Contemporary and Accountable Receptionists and Executive Secretaries, four years ago.
”There`s opportunity out there now and women are taking advantage of it. The fact we now live in a service society gives women more of a chance to sell, to be entrepreneurs, to be independent.”
Donahue has a staff of 5 and some 200 temporary workers. She sells her product through cold calls and mailings to large corporations-and is very successful at it. Another division of CARES is a phone answering and clerical service for small businesses.
”I believe in my products; that makes them easy to sell. There`s a need for them.”
Necessity leads many women into sales, she says. ”The first time I sold anything, my husband and I were separated and my four children were behind in their tuition for parochial school. I made some greeting cards, had them printed up. I knew they were good and I needed the money.”
She sold to ”friends, neighbors, strangers, schools, hospitals. Eventually, card stores sold them.”
Last September, Donahue`s book, ”How to Work Temporary Full-Time”
(Moore Publications, $7.95), was published. ”I`m so excited about the book my excitement rubs off on other people. The day my book came out, I drove past a bookstore, slammed on the brakes, ran in and asked if they would sell my book. They said sure. It`s been like that ever since.”
Donahue thinks women do better at selling temporary secretarial services. ”I`ve worked as a temporary. I know the difficulties of the assignment. Men do not.”
She believes women have an innate ability to sell, ”but we have to try harder-and that makes us better.”
TERI A. WITT
Age 26, ladies accessory buyer, Mark Shale, Burr Ridge
”Retail selling comes to me naturally,” says Witt. ”It`s in my blood.”
After graduating from the University of Denver with a degree in marketing and retailing in 1983, Witt went to work as a buyer for Mark Shale in 1983 She says the entry of women into sales is a ”natural state because women have an easier time communicating and are more sensitive to other people`s needs and desires.”
Witt was pointed towards sales by her father who is in advertising.
”When I was 16 years old, he told me he had the perfect career for me. That was 10 years ago, and there was beginning to be a demand for more women buyers in retail sales. He said what I should aim for was to be a buyer some day. He had a friend in the women`s clothing business and said I should talk to him.”
She did and at age 17 began working in retail sales at age 17 after school and during the summer. ”I started in the stock room and learned everything,” Witt says. ”I did everything but buying. I learned from the ground up.”
In college, she also worked part-time in a clothing store. ”I started at Mark Shale`s selling clothing,” says Witt. ”I loved selling, being on the floor and the customer contact, but I wanted to taste the action of buying.” She became an assistant buyer in 1985 and the same year moved up to her present post. Today she purchases for the hosiery, socks, jewelry, hats, neckware, belts, handbags, gloves and gifts for the store. ”Buying is second nature to me, but I learn more every season with every mistake and every success.”
Sales, she believes affords excellent opportunities for women. ”You have to be ambitious and aggressive to achieve your goals, but you can be as successful as any man in the field.”
”Make sure you have confidence in yourself: That`s what projects to the person you`re selling to.”
Send comments and ideas for future questions to Carol Kleiman, The Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611.
