Everyday Marketing Ideas

Business Women – Connecting Through Commonality

Unlike men who connect through competition, business women use commonality to engage and connect with others. When men connect with others, they often use competitive “games”; business women on the other hand have games of their own. A few examples of the games women play are:

The “Story” Game – Right in the middle of a serious business meeting, one woman might turn to another woman and say, “I love your suit. You’re always dressed so well.”

The second woman will not just say “Thank you.” and continue on with the meeting, she will say something like “I had this suit tailor made in Thailand when I was there backpacking with my girlfriend after college. There are a ton of little tailor shops in and around Bangkok. I actually had 4 suits made and a few dresses. They are so comfortable. I wish it was as affordable to get tailor made clothing here.”

Meanwhile, the men in the room are thinking “Goodness ladies. Can we get on with the meeting?” But for business women they are sharing details, which is the best part of the story. They are connecting.

The “Savior” Game – Whenever someone is in need of being rescued from embarrassment, women will tend to step in and “save” them. Once at a speaker’s conference, I was lost and could not find my way to the correct room.

Two women in the lobby noticed my confusion and one of them immediately asked if I was looking for the specific speaker’s room. I said I was and she replied with “We were just as confused about the room location as well.” She pointed me in the right direction and mentioned that her and her colleague had been helping a number of people orientate themselves to the correct room all morning.

Now if that had been a couple guys, would they have spoke up and offered their help after noticing my confused state? Probably not. They would have just continued on with their conversation. If they had known me, they may have playfully made fun of my confusion.

The “Ping Pong” Game – This game happens instantly when business women start talking about their own experiences. They reflect back to each other what they have in common. One woman will start with “I went to a conference in Las Vegas a couple weeks ago to learn about this new Internet marketing craze.” The second woman will jump in and say “Wow, I just went to a three day seminar to learn about building a website for my business.”

Or: “My cell phone battery never lasts long enough.” “Yeah, mine always seems to be dead when I need it most.”

These conversations don’t have a lot of depth but they are support systems for women connecting with each other.

Tracy Matthewman runs an online community for business women and helps female entrepreneurs to promote their business online through internet marketing strategies. Women Can Do Anything is an online magazine and resource for small business women.