For too long, the financial services industry has largely neglected the female demographic. Financial services companies -- with a few rare exceptions -- have often turned a deaf ear toward the opportunity presented by the growing number of women who are in need of financial products and services.
But as that opportunity has grown, it has become harder to ignore. Women as a market continue to grow in power and influence. But as an agent, just how can you make connections to the women's market and succeed at serving it well? Here are five good places to start.
#1: Find the right company
If you are a woman, align yourself with a financial services company that has a track record of recruiting and supporting female agents. Companies that favor formal and informal training and mentoring programs, those that invest in their women agents, and those that work actively to help them succeed are the most desirable places to be.
#2: Use the right tools
Work for and with financial services companies that create tools designed specifically for prospecting and generating business in women's markets. For example, several yeas ago one company began creating a series of financial education seminars that are designed to explore financial issues of special concern to women. The series continues to be updated -- for example, most recently with a video-based, modular interactive seminar -- and is a cornerstone of many successful agents' prospecting efforts.
#3: Know your market
Know your market segments and the opportunity associated with each. Doing so will help you find prospects and better serve them as clients. For example:
o High-net-worth women account for 39 percent of the country's top wealth earners; 2.5 million of them have combined assets of $4.2 trillion.
o Women professionals and executives -- 1.3 million of them -- earn more than $100,000 annually; 43 percent of Americans with more than $500,000 in assets are female.
o Senior women are among the group of Americans aged 50 and older who control a household net worth of $19 trillion, own more than three-fourths of the nation's financial wealth, and own 70 percent of all money market accounts and certificates of deposit assets.
#4: Join the right groups
Join and support groups that promote the advancement of women in the financial services industry, such as Women in Insurance and Financial Services, and that further the understanding of women professionals and business owners, such as the Center for Women's Business Research.
#5: Learn the ropes
Learn how to sell to women. It's obvious but bears repeating -- women are different from men. It therefore goes to stand that you should sell to them in a different manner than you do with men. For example, women tend to consult with experts. They emphasize trust and relationship building. They take more time when making financial decisions. Women want solutions and a relationship. They want you to be an expert and a teammate. They want the right products and the right process.
In practice, that means you need to communicate differently. Let the woman lead the conversation. Actively listen to what she says, how she says it, and what she doesn't say. Be ready and willing to answer questions, and don't view them as objections to be overcome but more accurately as important issues for her to fully understand.
Most importantly, adjust your pace. Don't rush to the close. Why? Women are deliberate. They like to do their research, bounce ideas and solutions off friends and trusted advisors, and become comfortable with their plan of action. For you, that means the sales cycle might be slightly longer.
If so, it's well worth it. Because women are more likely to hire a financial services professional, your efforts are more likely to pay off in new business. Moreover, women's interests and agents' interests align; guidance from financial services professionals can help women attain some of their most important goals. Women, for instance, give priority to achieving retirement security, caring for spouses and family members, leaving a financial legacy, and being philanthropic, all of which a financial services professional can help them to accomplish.
And remember, women are good clients for more than one reason: They refer new business at twice the rate of men.
Susan W. Sweetser, JD, MBA, CFP, CLU, ChFC is second vice president of specialized markets (which include the women's markets division) for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, Springfield, MA. She can be reached at ssweetser@massmutual.com.
