The greater part of my sales career has been inside sales (for the uninitiated - telesales), which is because of predefined job scopes AND my personal belief that what can be resolved through a telephone conversation should be resolved through a telephone conversation rather than me whizzing off to the other side of town for something that could have been handled in a 10 minute phone call. Anyway, because the voice is all you hear when you speak over the phone, you have to be acute enough to pick up the body language through what you hear. It's like how if you were blind, you learn to develop the other sensory mechanisms to compensate.
The point I'm getting at is this; most women don't listen.
90% of the women I speak to my chosen industry, be it in middle management or upper management, do not listen. Period. The 10% of the women who I feel listen, don't have the time or patience to, and so I never get to test my theory with them on whether some women listen or not. Which at any rate, would that mean that women just don't listen at all?
In comparison to men, 80% of them will listen to what I have to say, and a greater proportion of the men I talk to are at the senior level management. They may say no to me, they may say what I'm telling them is irrelevant, but they do listen first, then speak after.
To be fair, I'm only referencing this opinion to a small and specific population - the market I am in, the industry I work in and mid to upper management level of women in the corporate world. And this means that there are a lot of factors that needs to be accounted for that explains the shaping of my opinion. To be clearer in my point of view - the inability to listen by women in this chosen industry does not equate to inability to perform and excel in their set tasks. Different skill sets are tantamount to different job objectives.
I shared this thought to my ex-flatmates and both of them (women) reacted in surprise to it. Most do actually, and my male ex-colleague was shocked at what he called reverse-sexism.
One of my ex-flatmate interjected very quickly before I explained why I formed such a thought and pointed a finger accusingly at me, "Maybe it's YOU who don't listen."
I gave her a look but held my tongue. Case in point.
I will say that I know an amazing amount of female figures in the corporate world in Malaysia who blows me away. One of them I had the privilege of calling my mentor though I only wished that we had more time for me to learn more from her, another who was my sales trainer, and another I have the privilege of calling my mother. Although it's worth mentioning that my direct superior is an amazing manager. She has restored my faith somewhat.
I was very relieved when I had a review with my manager yesterday and we were talking about having rapport with the sales guys from the team. One of them tends to be impatient and once told her that he had the least tolerance for people who don't listen. So the fact that I had the best rapport with him among the rest, my manager felt that it related first and foremost to my ability to listen. However, if you still want, feel free to call me Ms Pot or Ms Kettle, I'll still call back aye. There is always a need to have constant improvement.
I am however, very much eager to be proved wrong.
Labels: Work tales