Case Studies

I've seen the man!

Just before Christmas I achieved one of my goals to attend a Tom Peters presentation.

Not only did I get to attend the meeting, but also I had a front row seat. I really got to feel the spit! And I had the chance to say "Hello," and have a chat with Tom in the coffee break.

Part of Tom's presentation was about women. And without wanting to be in any way sexist, I wanted to ask you for your opinion.

What Tom had to say was that women achieve better academic results than men, they are more successful in certain aspects of business than men and they are hugely influential in almost all buying decisions.

None of this came as too much of a surprise to me. I've been aware of the statistics for some time. In fact, in my own business is made up of 90% women.

What did surprise me was what Tom had to say about the attitude of sales people to lady customers. He gave a couple of examples of women being ignored by male sales people.

So my questions to you are these:-

• Just how serious is this problem?
• What are businesses doing (or not doing about it)? Seems like businesses may be missing a huge opportunity.
• Have you had any experience that you'd be happy to share?

Like I say, this is not an exercise in sexual equality. I'm just looking at it from the point of view of customer service and how it can be improved.