By Guest Author: Melanie Ward
Women are truly fascinating creatures!
I was sitting in the salon the other day enjoying an incredibly luxurious foot soak when I was struck by what I was overhearing. One of the hairdressers was telling her client the laundry list of things she was doing or was responsible for in a given day.
She explained how she had to get up early to get her kids ready and take them to daycare and school, drive through an hour of traffic to get to work, pick her kids up and take them to whatever activities or lessons they were doing (another hour plus in traffic), make dinner, clean up the house, pay attention to her husband (yes she actually used that exact phrase) and get everyone ready for bed. She sounded tired just talking about it.
I can relate to this kind of day - hey I've got 2 kids, a husband, and a million dollar company to run too - but what struck me was that after she gave the play by play of her day, nearly every other woman in the room chimed in with enumerations of her own.
In fact, it soon became clear a competition was about to unfold over who had the most stressful life. While I was tempted to share with them the concept that focusing on the stress actually makes it more powerful, I decided to simply sit back and observe.
And, I kept coming back to the same question in my head . . . what impact does all of this stress have on women's buying decisions? Probably a lot more than you think.
A woman's stress filter drives the way she behaves, decides and shops. It's true - and whether you like it or not, her stress is standing between you and your marketing success.
Just try placing your product and your ad messages in the middle of that hairdresser's day and see what happens. If you do it and you haven't connected with her on an emotional level by speaking to her stress and her desire to make her life easier, you might as well throw your money in the toilet.
So what do women want? They want . . .
- their lives to be made easier
- simple solutions
- you to acknowledge her stress but not rub her nose in it
- to be recognized and appreciated for everything she does
And, if you can do that (without ever insinuating that she's bringing on the stress herself), she'll happily pull out her wallet for you.
So, the next time you want to sell a product or service to women, think of the following questions:
· Does your product or service save her time and or make her life easier?
· Is it easy to use?
· Is your copy (your message) easy to understand and are you clear about the benefits she'll receive as a result of having whatever it is you're selling?
· Does it replace something she already has that's not working (or maybe never worked)
· Is it easy to find?
· Does it work? How much social proof can you give her to show her it does? (She doesn't have time to be your guinea pig)
· Is it fun or smart?
· Does it make her happy, relaxed, satisfied, excited?
This is true whether you're selling an herbal remedy, a coaching program or a weeklong seminar. Look at your product or service through her stressed out eyes and see if it holds up. If not, get out there and do some research to find out what they really want. I'm sure there are plenty of women out there who'd be happy to help you out!
This article may be reproduced in its entirety with the following inclusion; Melani Ward is a copywriting consultant who helps companies shorten their sales cycles, fill the pipeline with more and high quality leads and measurably increase ROI. To learn more visit http://leadgenerationcopy.typepad.com or email her at leadgencopy@gmail.com.
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