Introduction: Men do marketing, women do sales

An interesting phenomenon.

I've seen many companies' sales departments. If the department has both men and women, and women are as capable as men, the company is often thriving. If the department is all men, there tends to be more bickering, complaining, and a gloomy atmosphere.

On the other hand, looking at marketing departments, if there are more women than men, with leaders being high-heeled, English-speaking white-collar beauties, and the men exuding a strong artistic vibe, the company's marketing often tends to be flashy and self-serving.

Having worked in the industry for years, I've received many career consultations from young people: "I like challenging work. Do you think I'm suitable for sales?" "Should I do sales to train myself?"

As a marketing veteran who started at the grassroots level and went through many twists and turns, I have successfully persuaded over a dozen people to turn back, especially young men.

Although most salespeople we see are male, overall, sales work is not suitable for men, especially those with strong linear thinking.

Sales is a communication job, mostly face-to-face, sometimes online or by phone. Its core skill is sales negotiation.

Sales negotiation is not debate, and it doesn't require much eloquence; it's about influencing the other party's purchasing behavior, getting them to accept your product, price, and service, and making appropriate concessions. In short, sales is the art of influence and compromise.

Salespeople need two core personal qualities, and only two. Those aspiring to sales can consider whether they are suitable. These two core qualities are "empathy" and "self-motivation."

Empathy, or the ability to put yourself in others' shoes, is where women have an overwhelming advantage over men. Women are naturally more sensitive to people's emotions, tone, and body language, and responding appropriately emotionally is almost instinctive. In comparison, men are often like blocks of wood in this regard.

In my previous articles, I mentioned two important points:

1. In communication between people, 7% is through words, 38% through tone, and 55% through body language.

2. The human brain has a rational center (cerebral cortex), an emotional center (limbic system), and an instinctive center (amygdala). What determines behavior is the emotional and instinctive centers, not the developed cerebral cortex.

So, in sales, promising more support is less effective than making the other party feel dependent on you; calculating numbers for them is less effective than making them feel you are reliable.

Female salespeople have a natural advantage in sensing the other party's emotions and intentions. Male salespeople often think about "closing the deal," trying to convince or outsmart the other party, which often results in winning an argument but losing a sale, or succeeding in a trick but losing a client. Such foolish salespeople are everywhere.

The other is self-motivation, the ability to "pump yourself up." Sales is a high-frustration profession; rejection rates in most industries are over 90%, even 99%. Without the ability to pump yourself up, you'll collapse quickly.

And in "pumping yourself up," men with developed cerebral cortex but underdeveloped limbic systems are also far inferior to women.

On Women's Day, a picture circulated on social media saying: Before the liberation of Chongqing, 133 underground party members were arrested, and all traitors were male; none of the 20 women betrayed. So women are more loyal to their beliefs.

This is partly a joke. But in sales, female salespeople often have more confidence in their company and products than male salespeople.

It's often female employees who gather to gossip, while it's often male employees who gather to complain that their company's products are bad, prices are too high, or support is insufficient.

Sales requires more feminine thinking, which we see everywhere in life. Whether it's counter staff or sales guides, excellent women outnumber men by far. Occasionally, men who do well as sales guides are often "women's friends" who are good at empathy.

You might think it's because men look down on jobs like "sales guide" or "counter staff," but look at the many mom-and-pop shops around you—whether restaurants, supermarkets, clothing stores, or other services—usually the woman is outside attracting customers, communicating with them, and managing money and accounts, while the man is in the kitchen or procurement, managing goods and people.

Even for counter sales where customers come to the store, women are far better than men. Why do you think that men would be better than women at business that involves traveling with a backpack? Because they can drink and brag?

Sales work has its peculiarities, such as instability, frequent travel, and dealing with strangers. Women often have needs for stability and security, and influenced by traditional culture, the number of male salespeople will still be much higher than female, and this won't change in the short term.

"Men fear entering the wrong industry, women fear marrying the wrong man." Sales has a low entry barrier. Over the years, I've seen too many people unsuitable for sales, entering the field with enthusiasm and grand words, only to become "old slickers" with no skills and always making excuses. It's especially regrettable for those who studied marketing but ended up in sales, mistakenly thinking they were applying theory to practice.

In the past, companies commonly used a "human wave tactic" in sales. To drag more people in, many companies fabricated lies like "Real men do sales," "To be a boss, first do sales," "If you have ideals and ambitions, do sales," "Those in technology seek comfort, those in sales seek challenges," plus some successology fanning the flames, confusing many young people who lack social discernment.

In reality, sales has a low entry barrier, high elimination rate, and poor accumulation. Although there are opportunities for quick high returns, overall income is not high, and it has little to do with becoming a boss. Many people are naturally unsuitable for sales, and most who took sales positions back then became cannon fodder. It's truly a lack of basic understanding of oneself and the job.

In recent years, the human wave tactic has failed, or marketing system construction has succeeded, so fewer salespeople are needed. Companies "chant scriptures and then beat the monk," laying off people en masse, and the first to go are those they once praised as "idealistic and ambitious" salespeople.

For those brothers who are currently engaged in and love sales work, this cold water from me is to hope we can be more rational about our work, rather than being fooled by "To succeed, go crazy first; with a simple mind, charge forward."

When I say "feminine thinking is more suitable for sales," it's a vague group concept. Many men still have strong "empathy" and "self-motivation," and these abilities can be cultivated and practiced.

For more masculine thinkers, they are not suitable for sales but more suitable for marketing. I won't elaborate on the difference between sales and marketing here, but the difference is as great as between "finance" and "R&D," or "procurement" and "human resources," though their work overlaps significantly. Many companies manage sales and marketing departments together, which is a big mistake.

What core skills does marketing need? Kotler's earlier edition of "Marketing Management" had a subtitle, "Analysis, Planning, Implementation, Control," which well illustrates the nature of marketing work.

Identifying market opportunities, allocating corporate marketing resources, turning them into specific action plans, and organizing and promoting execution—this is what marketing people should do.

It requires insight, analytical planning, resource integration, and execution capabilities, all of which require strong "rationality." This is more suitable for men with developed rational centers and less developed emotional centers; even straight men can do marketing well. Compared to sales, marketing is more like a technical skill, with a much higher entry barrier.

In recent years, marketing trends have shifted "customers" from intermediate links to "end users," the role of channels and terminals is diminishing and changing, and sales departments are weakening. Companies pursue ten billion in sales with only a dozen salespeople, just by sorting out channels and improving channel efficiency.

Marketing's role is becoming more prominent. "Marketing = communication, 4Ps are all brands": we need to create more good content and place it in products and other communication chains; we need to leverage existing market perceptions to present ourselves; we need to discover channel dividends and traffic dividends; we need to design products and marketing links that bring their own traffic.

It is said that there are "80 million marketing personnel" in China, but in fact, the vast majority are salespeople wearing the "marketing" hat. Marketing people account for less than 10%, and those with a certain level of professionalism are even rarer. With millions of companies in China, on average, not even one in ten companies can have a professional marketer. The gap for professional marketing personnel is almost infinitely large. True marketing is just beginning to flourish in China.

Master Drucker not only said "Marketing is to make selling superfluous" but also said "The essence of a business has only two core functions: innovation and marketing." The value and sustainability of marketing work are being demonstrated. Although it is indeed difficult and not suitable for everyone, for those "who are committed to changing the world," those who once entered "sales" with ambitions, why not give it a try?

Source: Lao Miao Tears Marketing (ID: yiheyingxiao)

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