Week 79: Owning Your Statements – #AlphaFemaleFriday

Week 79: Owning Your Statements – #AlphaFemaleFriday

“ WEEK 79 / 133 – 133 WEEKS TO SUCCESS “

A group of us are sitting in a room, watching as one of our colleagues does her sales pitch when she is immediately stopped in the middle of her speech by the trainer. She is told that she is a young woman, and the way she delivers her pitch sounds exactly like that. I cock my head, wondering to myself if that is a backhanded statement. Was this really appropriate feedback? After all, there wasn’t much she can change about either of those things in that very instant.

The trainer, also a woman, began to explain the feedback, saying that women often pose sentences that should be statements and instead make them into questions. How often do women—guilty as charged—find themselves raising their voices at the end of their sentences? We do this to soften our perceived below of asking for something that we want, or to show that we aren’t being pushy. We’re not trying to be that woman at work.

We need to own our statements. We need to stand our ground. As I work in sales, I find myself negotiating anywhere between thousands of dollars to $4.95 (sadly, not exaggerating). Unless we have a completely original service or a legally patented product, that fact is that most of what each of us can offer is not that different from the next person down the block. What makes us original? Why should people choose to work with us over the next hot-to-trot business?

I can tell you what makes me NOT want to work with a business. Say there are two identical, equally wonderful restaurants across the street from each other. They both have great décor, delicious food, and a wonderful atmosphere. The reason I will go back to one time after time instead of the other will always boil down to service. Consistent and genuine service wins me over every time. In the same way that I love to dine at restaurants where the staff knows and loves the food and their team, the same way that I love to work with people who are confident in their product. When you know what you do and love what you do, everyone else can tell so, too.

Cheers,

Kelly

@AlphaFemSociety tweets by @KellyRGonzales

About:

Each week, I take a tip from Lois P. Frankel’s book, Nice Girls Still Don’t Get the Corner Office, and explore how each of these tips affect myself and other women in similar positions on the road to becoming the women we want to be. There are far and few between who are a few steps behind me, and many more who are far advanced. I found that Lois P. Frankel’s advice applied to novice, intermediates, and experts alike. It helped me see that I was already doing right, served as a reminder to keep on doing what I was doing and how to keep that momentum going. The book also showed me areas where I could improve, and gave realistic tips to jump on board. There are a total of 133 tips, and explore one tip per week in a program I call: 133 Weeks to Success.

Join the movement using the hashtag #133WeeksToSuccess with posts which are posted every #AlphaFemaleFriday.