Women business owners have reason to feel good. According to a survey, in the most recent 10-year period, the number of women-owned businesses in the U.S. grew by 44 percent (twice as fast as men-owned firms) and, women-owned firms added 500,000 new jobs.
Women are growing business twice as fast as men, they are employing thousands of people. It is crazy for men to neglect this market when they are hitting the networking circuit. It is not that men do not network with women, they just don’t do it well. Not that they really don’t want to and not that they don’t try, there are just little things that cause the connections to go south.
Here are 3 things that men can do to make their chances of connecting with women better.
When opening a conversation with a woman, don’t go straight to business. Ask them to tell you something about themselves. Women are looking for ways to connect, some common ground that will allow for a relational conversation.
Listen to the women that you meet at networking event. Yes women talk more than men, they have deeper conversations that men do, often sharing a great deal of information in a very storytelling way. Men can learn a great deal by asking questions and just listening.
Never underestimate how serious a woman takes her business. Just because she may be selling a product or a service that seems soft and fluff, like cosmetics, clothing, child care or any other personal service, does not mean she does not take her business as serious as any man may take his.
Women are creating business, they have a need for services, they know other women who need products and services but they are not going to share that information with someone whom they do not have a trusting relationship with. Building those relationships will take time and work, but if you are willing to invest both, men and women can connect and refer to one another very successfully.
Hazel Walker
Referral Institute, llc
BNI
hazel@bni.com
