Birth of a saleswoman
In the words of legendary R&B singer, James Brown, “This is a man’s world.”
“We are definitely seeing more women in the summer sales industry,” said Luke Toone, a regional manager for Pinnacle Security. “Women are beginning to realize that they can do this job just as well as men can.”
When he began working with Pinnacle, a security sales business based out of Orem, Utah, Toone said the female employees within the company typically held secretarial and customer service positions. Now, eight years later, women are leaving the desks to hit the doors.
“The number one thing is being able to connect with the customer, and I think that is where girls have the advantage,” Toone said.
Like Toone, Lauren Gould, a senior in public relations, said women can often have the upper hand in the sales industry.
“Many of the top salespeople are girls because women are home alone while their husbands are off working,” said Gould, who spent her summer knocking doors for AMP Security in Charlotte, North Carolina. “Women are more likely to let other women into their homes.”
Because of her success with wives and mothers who were home alone, Gould was among the five best sales representatives in the group by the end of her summer sojourn in West Virginia. Despite her personal achievement, however, the other women in her team did not apply themselves and went home early, Gould said.
Gould said he does not attribute a lack of skill to the small percentage of women in the summer sales industry, but rather a lack of desire.
“Girls are often just not as willing to put in the physical and mental hard work,” Gould said. “The industry is big among boys in Utah because there are so many returned missionaries that have previous experience going door-to-door and interacting with people. I think girls are scared to try it because it is something they are not as comfortable with and they are more concerned about getting married.”
While Gould views being a female sales representative as advantageous, others are skeptical.
Autumn Johnson, a sophomore majoring in biochemistry, was employed this summer as a supervisor for Devcon Security Systems. Among her duties from within the Devcon office, Johnson was responsible for corresponding with both the sales representatives and the technicians. She helped to set up accounts online, verify payment information, and conduct follow-up phone calls with recent customers.
“With women now becoming more involved in politics and everything else, I can see the potential of more girls selling door-to-door,” Johnson said. “There is potential, but right now I don’t see it being as much of a woman’s job as it is a man’s.”
Johnson said she admits many women possess beneficial attributes that could aid in selling door-to-door. However, she doubts the overall effectiveness of female sales representatives.
“Obviously men think women are hot, but I don’t think that is going to get a man to lock into a four-and-a-half year contract,” Johnson said. “I don’t think women will be able to catch up to men when it comes to selling.”
“I think in general, it’s just such a taboo for girls to go out and do sales,” said Kami Montgomery, a senior majoring in communicative disorders and deaf education. “There are usually just a handful of women in an entire sales company, let alone in an individual sales group. The guys who are in charge of recruitment usually don’t recruit girls very often.”
From May until July of this year, Montgomery was stationed in and around Jackson, Miss., working for Elite Security, a dealership of ADT Home Security systems. She and her mother both did sales at the recommendation of her brother-in-laws, who also sold during the summer.
Montgomery said while employment with Elite allowed her to work closely with her family, the experience was difficult.
“I know a lot of salespeople do it honestly, but a lot of people don’t tell the whole truth either,” Montgomery said. “I couldn’t do that. You have to push people to do something, whereas I am very much a people pleaser.”
According to Toone, Montgomery’s attitude reflects those of many women in the industry.
“Women are different in that they typically take rejection a lot harder,” Toone said. “Men can be more persistent and tend not to take no for an answer whereas women are more friendly and do not want to offend.”
While working with Pinnacle, Toone has also observed that women are oftentimes not taken as seriously.
Although Gould witnessed this firsthand while knocking doors, she developed a unique approach to combat it.
“People came to the door and told me that I was cute,” Gould said. “They didn’t take me seriously, so I started wearing a hat to look more boyish.”
Toone said the biggest issue with girls and summer sales is safety.
“When we plan out effective locations to plant our sales reps, many times we are in dangerous areas where the crime is high,” Toone said. “Safety can be a huge issue.”
When Julia Williams, a junior in marriage and family therapy decided to sell door-to-door this summer in California, her parents were concerned. Although Williams ultimately went, she encountered multiple situations that justified her mother’s worries.
“I definitely had some creepers that straight up just wanted me to stand on their porch,” Williams said. “They would act interested and eventually say no, telling me that I was really pretty and that I could come back whenever I wanted.”
Williams’ parents were not the only people who showed concern.
“I had a guy tell me that he was not comfortable with me knocking on people’s doors,” Williams said. “He told me that he would never let his daughter go door-to-door and that the neighborhood was unsafe.”
On another occasion, Williams’ phone was stolen by a man to whom she was s
elling. After taking her phone, the man hurriedly shut the door, Williams said.
“He poked his head out of the window and said, ‘If you want your phone, you have to come into my house and chase me,'” Williams said. “Then he opened the door and started running circles in his foyer. I knew at that point that if I went in, I was never coming out.”
In response to the man’s request, Williams said the first thing that came to mind.
“I told him that I was going to call the cops,” Williams said. “The funny part is that he fell for it and gave it back, because I obviously didn’t have my phone.”
– drew.vandyke@aggiemail.usu.edu