How to Sell to Women - Address Her "Worst-Case" Fears

   

So what's the worst that can happen?

Chances are pretty good that it's a woman who can answer that question. There are two reasons for this:

1. Women tend to think more long-term about their purchases.  They want to know what will happen 3 months, 6 months, a year down the road.
2. Women are often focused on avoiding bad outcomes.  Motherhood especially can cause a woman to determine ahead of time what could be a bad situation and how to protect herself and her children against it.

Are you addressing these worst-case scenarios with her? 

Address her concerns

Some sales people don't want to bring up anything "negative."  By all means, stay focused on the positive. But if she has a concern, wouldn't you rather get it out of her so you can address it directly, rather than letting her go home and discuss it with everyone except you?

Be the hero by being there if something goes wrong

If the worst-case scenario does happen, what will you do about it?  Will you replace the product?  Refund her money?  Will your service technicians fix it? 

Here's an example.

In Why She Buys, author Bridget Brennan discusses her Lexus case study.   What's the worst-case scenario when she's in a car.  Yes, it could be that she's in an accident.  (On-Star is an excellent example of what we're talking about here).   But what happens if she breaks down on the side of the road?

There are few things women dread more than being broken down alone on the side of the road at night, or worse - being broken down with children.  "If a man breaks down it would be inconvenient, if a woman breaks down it could be life threatening," says Courtney Caldwell, editor in chief of Road & Travel magazine. 

So what does Lexus do to address this fear?  They provide 24/7 roadside assistance. It's the star attraction of the company's service offerings.  AAA backs up the program, though 65% of the calls are responded to by Lexus dealerships.

A dealer who responds to a call for roadside assistance typically sends out a truck with the dealership's name on the door, along with one of their own technicians.

And here's the best part:

The dealership effectively becomes a bit of a hero every time a customer sees its branded truck coming down the street to rescue them.

What are you doing to address her worst-case fears?

Have you identified what those fears are?  Are you addressing them in your sales process, or providing a safe place where she can express those concerns and fears?  And what will you do if the worst-case scenario happens? 

Will you be absent?  Or will you be her hero?  

The answer could determine whether she buys from you or not.