Marketing for the Sentricon^® System recently added a marketing-to-women focus due to the growing buying power of the female market.

Bill Haynes, CEO of Haynes Exterminating, Inc., in Buford, Georgia, agrees that a shift has taken place. “Our customers have really changed in the last decade. Women are more likely to be the decision-makers these days.”

Dow AgroSciences recently asked marketing-to-women expert Leslie Prevish to provide educational resources.

Prevish conducted a survey of more than 100 Certified Sentricon Specialists^® about their current marketing and their perceptions of and interest in selling to women. The top three takeaways were:

1. Nearly two-thirds said women made the purchase decision most of the time.
2. At an initial sales visit with women, more than half said they close that sale most of the time (60 percent).
3. More than half had completed the Sentricon Advanced Training online. In addition, Prevish discovered that 75 percent of Certified Sentricon Specialists had used Death to the Queen marketing materials produced to help them market and sell the Sentricon System to women.

Kevin Mills, vice president of sales and marketing at OPC Pest Control used the professionally produced Death to the Queen radio spot. “When we aired it, we got a great response! We know it had an impact. Women were calling and asking, ‘How do we get rid of the Queen?’”

In a taped presentation, Prevish presented strategies to successfully market and sell to women, and we’ve included some top takeaways below. A link to the presentation can be found here.

Marketing

1. Personas: Consider targeting GI Jane, whose military husband is deployed, leaving her at home with a couple of kids. How? Use an airplane or ship design on postcard with a message: “While your loved one is away defending our country, let [company name] protect your home.”
2. Digital: Post blogs and/or send seasonal and insect-specific emails at least quarterly, even monthly if you have enough content.
3. Partnerships: Work with a Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts troop on a bug badge or host a bug camp at a museum. Work with a local STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) program of a technology company, school or university.
4. Events: Sponsor a fun and interactive Queen Bee Race at a home and garden show, arts and crafts show, Kiwanis event or local Optimist Club.
5. Direct mail: Be targeted! Consider boomer-specific mailings and expand your reach through real estate avenues.

Selling

1. Introduction: Be professional and set expectations for the visit — how long it will take, what you’ll do — and emphasize education, not selling. Pay attention to children and pets —remember their names.
2. Selling: Listen, clarify and engage her in the process. Use videos and literature, emphasizing key points that address her specific “hot buttons” (that you identified through a discovery conversation).
3. Closing: Don’t ask for the sale until after ALL of her questions have been answered. If she needs more time to think about it, smile and let her know you’ll follow up in a few days. Leave the literature with her and highlight or circle the parts most relevant to her concerns.
4. Follow up: Partner with a local business to provide a special gift, such as home-baked cinnamon rolls, a local craft or jewelry piece. Initiate a cross-referral program and become their service provider.
5. Retention/referral: Have the original salesperson ask for the renewal in person or with a call. She trusted him or her enough to sign the original deal, right? You could also create a Retention Specialist Position to help with back-end work to organize the renewal reminders to ensure they’re timely and personalized.”

These are just a few of the takeaways. Have your staff review the presentations here. Discuss the marketing and selling ideas with staff to identify how to personalize this advice for your business. Consider role-playing and job-shadowing as well. These tips may seem like common sense, but are they common practice with all staff members?