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NEWS You can Use...
1. Setting Goals --And Sticking To Them - Will Help You Achieve Financial Independence
2.The Disadvantages that Women Salespeople Face
3. Boomer Women Face Dire Retirement Situation
Setting Goals --And
Sticking To Them
Don’t take my word for it. That’s the headline from an AP article than ran in hundreds of newspapers across the nation last week.
"This is definitely the time of year to get things started," was how Barry Armstrong, a Boston financial planner with Woodbury Financial Services put it. "For some people, it's a bitter message. There are things that you don't like doing. But they have to be done.
" Former waitress Pamela Newman went from hand-to-mouth living to owning two condominiums in the San Diego area. What did it take? Resolve. Resolve to make 2006 the year you kick it up a notch.
"2007 Is The Year I'm Finally Going to ___________"
Dear Entrepreneur,
How would YOU fill in that blank? Go ahead, take a minute and give it your best shot...I'll wait right here... Imagine it's next December 31st - New Years Eve 2006. You're lounging by the fireplace, jotting down a few notes in your journal:
"I've got a lot to be thankful for this year...
- I paid off my ______ and ________ credit card bills in full.
- Retirement is looking so much better. I've got a nice little nest egg of $_______ in the Solo 401k and it's growing every day.
- We finally took that world-class overseas trip to _________.
- I've got nearly enough socked away for a nice down payment on our vacation home in _________."
So, what did YOU write down?
What are your aspirations for the coming year? Perhaps something like "Visa", "American Express", "$250,000", "China" and "Colorado”?
Well, this doesn't have to be just a fun little exercise. It can be something much better... Decide precisely what you will accomplish. Write it down. And promise yourself that you will make it happen.
If you intend to enjoy a phenomenal year of health and wealth, don't just limp into it. Come out of the gate charging. You won't believe what you can accomplish in just a few weeks. And those immediate results will create momentum for the year to come.
2.The Disadvantages that Women Salespeople Face.
Do women have a disadvantage in sales?
Actually women have powerful advantages in sales. Here are some of the most common challenges--and how to conquer them.
Being Taken Seriously by Male Customers
Women salespeople sometimes face male customers who are more comfortable dealing with male salespeople than women salespeople--especially when the product or service is highly technical.
The wise, well-trained salesperson, however, has done her homework and identifies the personality type of her prospective customer. She has mastered adjusting her presentation style to match her customers.
Men, more often than women, demonstrate determined personalities (cool, impersonal, controlling, bottom-line oriented). The best way to connect with such a personality type is to be very direct, bottom-lined, result-focused, and whatever you do--avoid chitchat!
Years ago, after a short meeting with a very successful male CEO which resulted in my company gaining his sales training business, he volunteered that I was one of only two women salespeople he could tolerate doing business with.
This, he explained, was because I didn't babble about other non-business related issues and got right to the point.
I had been able to determine his personality due to his office surroundings, handshake and clothing.
There are many ways to be taken more seriously by prospects and colleagues. Creating a strong presence with conservative, dark colored suits, contrasted with white blouses will help. So will a strong handshake. Each potential customer you meet has an extensive memory bank of handshakes and impressions against which your handshake will be compared and assessed. Having a strong, full handshake and establishing eye contact will help you increase the comfort level of your male OR female prospect.
An advanced level of technical knowledge is a necessity for women. Understanding when to WOW your customer with extensive detail as well as boiling it down to a strong benefit statement is another important skill.
The Ability to Get Appointments
The ability to get appointments is a critical element for being successful in most sales positions. It is often said that women possess a natural gift of gab and find it easier than men to initiate a conversation.
When you are new in sales or don't have enough customers, devoting up to 75% of your day to prospecting is a wise time investment. The percentage of time you spend prospecting will decline as your customer base grows, but should never drop below 15%.
By attending relevant meetings and setting a goal of exchanging (not giving out) 10 business cards per day, any salesperson will be well on her way to filling her schedule with quality prospects. Women are often willing to ask for help.
This lack of inhibition will help women get valuable information from employees within a targeted company, including receptionists. Simply by politely introducing yourself and asking for help, you will often be able to determine your decision maker's name and the best time and way to reach him/her, including their direct extension numbers.
Presentation Skills
Because women are comfortable expressing feelings, they can maximize customer interest and involvement, giving them a distinct competitive advantage. The wise female salesperson, however, resists the urge to use an unsystematic presentation, and instead delivers a sequential, concise, compelling and competitive presentation. Well-trained salespeople understand the need to quantify and qualify benefit statements for their customers. Instead of saying that your company has lots of satisfied customers, quantify that number, your speed of delivery, satisfaction rates...
Your credibility and overall impression will increase when you quantify those statements with exact numbers and other statistics.
Closing Skills
Women can be weak closers. Many of us were raised to be sweet, kind and certainly not aggressive. Some people believe that to be effective at closing a sale, or asking for the business, one must be aggressive. This is simply not true. Taking on the mental role of a physician, and giving your professional advice in a structured and expert manner will help positively persuade prospects without pushing.
Customers know many ways to say 'no'; great salespeople understand and have mastered the ability to overcome their most common challenging objections. Listing your most common objections and offering at least five different ways to overcome each of them will help your business soar. Great salespeople know that when customers state an objection, they are often just looking to be convinced.
By implementing these strategies, female salespeople can go from being weak closers to effective closers, gain enormous business and market share. The challenges women salespeople face are real. There are however, no disadvantages for the focused, determined well-trained female salesperson--even in this economy.
3. Boomer Women Face Dire Retirement Situation
"Baby Boomer Women: Secure Futures or Not," go to www.genpolicy.com/pressrelease.
May 24, 2006.
Boomer women face a situation worse than women in prior years, as they spend more, acquire more debt, and are less likely to have traditional pensions, spousal benefits, or retiree health coverage according to the report.
The savings of boomer women are smaller than men's, but women usually have a longer life span. The report suggests that more boomer women will face retirement divorced or never married and the social security system rewards old-fashioned families with the bread-winner husband and homemaker wife the best. Also, many boomer women have gaps in their careers from caring for children or ailing family members and social security and pensions work best for those with stable career employment.
If differences in poverty rates by sex, marital status and race continue, overall poverty rates among aging boomer women will considerably increase among future boomer retirees, the report suggests.
Compared with male retirees, boomer women will have lower wealth and incomes, higher poverty rates, and a larger number whose incomes are below 45% of the average national wage. According to the report, from 2020 to 2030, when older boomer women will be 64 to 74, they are projected to face an income shortfall of at least $400 billion dollars.
Realizing their plight, boomer women plan on a working-retirement.
However, the report said about 50% of all women are and will be working in low-paying jobs without pensions or an employer-sponsored retirement savings plan of any kind. Earnings for full-time working women is still about 76% of what men earn.
Older Women Workers, ages 55 and over Population and Labor Force
There were 34.9 million women aged 55 and over in the U.S. in 2004. This represented 55 percent of persons in this age group. Of those 34.9 million women, 10.7 million were in the labor force (working or looking for work).
Labor force participation rates for women over 55 years of age continue to increase. Their labor force participation rate was 24.0 percent in 1994, 25.6 percent in 1999, as compared with 30.5 percent in 2004. Women aged 55 and over accounted for 15.6 percent of the total female labor force and in 2004. They also made up 46 percent of the total 55 and over labor force (men and women).
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment and Earnings, January 2005.
Employment .
There were 10.3 million employed women aged 55 and over in the U.S. in 2004. These women were most frequently employed in management, professional and related occupations (3.9 million) and sales and office occupations (3.8 million). The remainder were employed in service occupations (1.8 million); production, transportation, and material moving occupations (674,000); and natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations (78,000).
The 10 leading occupations for women aged 55 and over in 2004 were secretaries and administrative assistants (720,000); elementary and middle school teachers (371,000); registered nurses (353,000); bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks (339,000); nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides (251,000); cashiers (240,000); maids and housekeeping cleaners (230,000); first-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers (228,000); managers, all other (207,000); and first-line supervisors/managers of office and administrative support workers (204,000).
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment and Earnings, January 2005.
Retirement, Pensions, and Income
The estimated age at retirement for women, 2000-2005 was 61.4 years of age. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Monthly Labor Review, October 2001: “Retirement age declines again in 1990s.” Of the 60 million wage and salaried women working in June 2002, just 47 percent participated in a retirement plan. Remember, even small amounts can earn interest and add up over time. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration, http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/Publications/women.html
On average a female retiring at age 55 can expect to live another 27½ years. Savings can increase a woman's chances of having enough money to last during her retirement. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration, http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/Publications/women.html
Fewer women than men receive pensions when they retire with only 28.5 percent of all women today age 65 and older receiving pension income. Source: American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) report citing to the Bureau of the Census, March 24, 2005.
Women are more likely to work in part-time jobs that don't quality for a retirement plan. And working women are more likely than men to interrupt their careers to take care of family members; they work fewer years and contribute less toward their retirement. If you work and if you qualify, join a retirement plan now. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration, http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/Publications/women.html
By and large, women invest more conservatively than men and receive lower rates of return from their investments over time. Choose carefully where you put your money and learn how to make your investments grow. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration, http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/Publications/women.html
In 2004, the median income for women age 55 to 64 was $20,810; for women age 65 and over, it was $12,080. The corresponding figures for men in these age groups are nearly twice as high--$39,212 and $21,102, respectively. Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032005/perinc/new01_010.htm
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