Women.. Quit Leaning In... Start Speaking Up!

If you follow me at all you know that I am an advocate of women in sales being presented with equal opportunities to build both their careers and their personal brand. I have been known to see a speaker lineup that looks like an advert for Hair Club for Men and promptly pick up the phone, call the organizers and ask them “Hey, where are the women in your lineup?” I am not shy about it and, for the most part, the organizers are more than willing to expand the scope of their rosters and get more inclusive.

But here is the problem….

They don’t know who to ask to speak. Yes there is the usual lineup of women who are happy to leap onto a main stage, myself included, but after the usual handful they hear crickets…. nothing… silence… no hands up and no screams of “pick me pick me”. There are far more VP Sales that are men than there are women. Same with tech CEOs. Soon this will change, but until then, we need those among us to step up.

The impetus for this post is based on the many, and I mean many, conversations I have had with Max Altschuler. Max runs amazing sales conferences: Sales Hacker, Sales Machine and the soon to be held Revenue Summit (you should check them out). Max is always looking for female practitioners who are getting their hands dirty at high growth organizations to speak at his events. He wants his stage and lineup to reflect who he hopes to attract in the audience - successful sellers. Women are most assuredly part of that equation!

I have provided Max with list upon list of fabulous women who are Sales Executives and who I think would kill it on stage. Max never fails to reach out to them. Then I go to the event and where are they? Well, where they are is someplace other than on the stage. Max figures that his ask and acceptance rate for men is 80% but for women it is a dramatically lower 20%. I’ve seen many of the responses, and can attest to this.

WTH? Net/net, we may be leaning in but we sure as hell are not Speaking Up and by Up I mean Up on the stage.

This is important people. Really important.

Here are just a few of the benefits I have realized from speaking:

●    The Challenge: I am not a natural born orator but I do like a good challenge. Speaking was a challenge I tackled even though I was terrified of it. My goal was to get up on stage and deliver meaningful content in way that engaged the audience. I did not want to speak at them I wanted to speak with them. Hopefully, mission accomplished. You tell me…

●    The Exposure: When you are part of the speaking circuit you get to meet a ton of relevant, new, and super interesting people. You get to meet authors, you get to meet other sales executives, you get to meet venture capitalists. If you are hiring, raising capital, or looking to land new customers, speaking at relevant conferences is a no-brainer.

●    The Brand: This is one I struggled with forever, right Jack Kosakowski? Building a personal brand felt ego centric to me. Then I did a ton of reading and talking to some of the big brains in social selling and I realized that my personal brand was my selling brand and my selling brand was very important to me. Speaking builds brand – hands down – one of the fastest ways to do so. In a long career, getting on stage can do wonders for your long and short term options.

●    The Impact on Others: There are more women in sales today than ever before, especially in tech. This is still a very new thing. Therefore, in the next 3-5 years, these women in Manager and Director roles will be VPs of the next hot companies. The ones in the SDR and AE roles, may take a little longer but they will get there. They need mentors and role models to look up to and connect with that went down their same career paths. You are in a position to be a beacon for them. Lead by example!

So, where am I going with all of this? I am putting out the challenge to you dear readers. If you are a woman sales leader or practitioner, or you know a woman sales leader who is ready to STEP UP… please reach out to me or Max, or even better, SIGN UP HERE. We are building a list of the next generation of women to take the stage and we want you on it.

This is your opportunity to help others on a much larger scale than you are now. Take it… you have earned it. And, speaking of having earned it, don’t be afraid to go to your boss and let them know this is part of your professional development trajectory. Ask for their support. They will give it to you, but you have to ask.

So, will we be hearing from you?