When the Feminine is integrated into life, including business, we will be able to see this by the way people are treated and how their bodies are treated, so here’s a few things to check:
Let people know what your ethical principles are. Women really care about these issues. If you use re-cycled paper, or make a product which could be tested on animals, but you don’t test, let people know about this! This will increase sales. Marks and Spencer don’t test their cosmetics on animals but don’t tell people this! They must loose hundreds of thousands of pounds each year because of this.
Don’t keep the nasty person on because they are good at sales: they will also loose customers. Talk to them and say they have to be nice to people or else they will loose their job! If they need psychological help, encourage them to get it. No one has the right to make other people unhappy. Make sure that all staff know that the rules in your business are that you are kind to everyone and any other rules you have which are about how people and animals are treated. So often, even in exceptional practices, the personal wishes of the owner for kindness to be shown to all are not made explicit. Kindness is very powerful. In some cases the way people are treated on a feeling level is excellent, but the body is let down, with unclean loos, lousy coffee, etc. Both are important. Have loos which are clearly marked as loos and which are clean. You’re the boss; make sure people know what you want and that they are doing it!
If you are selling clothes or any physical thing, don’t keep moving stock around. If a supermarket did this, people would not come back. Contrary to belief, it doesn’t make people look round and maybe buy more, it makes them look somewhere else! When you do move things, tell people where they have gone to.
Have chairs for people to sit on that are not attached to buying anything, i.e. buying a coffee. Often women need to sit down for so many reasons, pregnancy, older, just tired. ‘I’ll sit down and think about a purchase’. This is just as true in the small office and it is also true for men. Big stores loose millions each year by not doing this! Have places to rest bags on while people search for their purse, bank cards etc. Even banks don’t have enough of these!
The big picture, re hospitals, can be applied to smaller businesses. I’m talking about kindness and accountability. It’s all about good relationship and good boundaries. If you make a mistake, admit it, and where appropriate, give a refund. People will know that you are fair and this will increase sales.
The art of the small: have some fresh flowers on the office desk where you interview people. It cheers up men and women and it will cheer you up! You don’t have to spend a fortune. A simple bunch of daffodils might tell me a lot about you as a business owner.
One of the biggest turn offs, please don’t do this when you are a household name, is putting Christmas things for sale earlier and earlier. If women were in power as women, they would insist on no earlier than mid November. It completely spoils Christmas and the year. There could be all year round Christmas web sites for people who need them!
When women look at a web site, two of the most important things are ‘contact us’ and ‘prices’ so make sure these are as clearly displayed as possible. If you don’t display prices, say this clearly and ask people to ring for a quote.
A phone call to me will make me want to buy, or not, if the person has a kind voice and uses words to mean what they actually do mean. i.e. The charities who ask me how I am when I would much prefer them to say ‘Hi, I’m phoning on behalf of the ………. and I wonder if you could increase your monthly gift to….’ Women are interested in caring for life and living creatures. They are either going to say yes or no. They also have to do a lot of different things. Come straight to the point with warmth and a good voice. If someone has a good speaking voice, let him or her do the calls. If someone has a really rough voice it puts me off listening and hearing what they have to say.
If you are making an appeal via an offer to win a prize, keep it simple. Women are busy. What annoys me is the appeal which requires that I find labels, attach the labels to something which I also have to find, then find more labels and attach and then find a page to check which prize I want. I’ve given up giving to charities which take this approach. Most women would appreciate, ‘Hi, just tick here, send money if you can, (see below), there is a prize, it’s this!’ Brilliant!
© Margi Ross March 2013 – For more information visit: www.consciousfeminine.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you are a business owner and would like impartial marketing advice, you are welcome to join The Marketing Compass.
Join us! Compass membership is FREE!
* Create a profile & promote yourself
* Hyperlink back to your website
* Connect with other members
* Post updates about your marketing
* Join knowledge groups & find answers
* Download our FREE ebook – 101 Customer Attraction Techniques
* Earn £48.50 for each new Navigator member you refer to us via our affiliate scheme