Winning Her Business: How to Transform the Customer Experience for the World’s Most Powerful Consumers

Brennan (Why She Buys), CEO of the consultancy firm Female Factor, issues an earnest, albeit insubstantial, primer on selling to female customers. She sets the stage by noting that women control the majority of global consumer spending. “Earning their business is the key to winning in the modern economy,” Brennan writes, but outdated stereotypes mean companies are too often unprepared to offer effective service; instead, female consumers are treated disrespectfully, objectified, or ignored in favor of male shopping partners, according to stories Brennan has heard from “countless women” in her role as a “researcher on women’s buying decisions.” So how can sales professionals reach this sought-after market segment? Brennan provides tips and ideas for how to take action, loosely organized under her “Four Motivators Framework”: ensuring that one’s organization connects with, inspires, instills confidence in, and shows appreciation for customers. Unfortunately, too many of Brennan’s tips prove simplistic and superficial, including the patronizing suggestion to understand the female brain by reading a book—any book at all—by a woman (Brennan recommends Tina Fey’s Bossypants). The result comes across more as an exercise in brand extension than as the transformative business guide the title promises. (Mar.)