Angie Vaux, CEO & Founder, Women in Tech forum
8 July 2020
Although the industry has made some progress in recent years, tech remains a male dominated industry with just 5% of women holding tech leadership positions in the UK.
Whilst diversity, inclusion and equality are all topics that are top of mind for any SaaS company, the statistics paint a very different picture.
In a recent poll of more than 215 UK and European SaaS companies conducted at SaaSGrowth 2020, the majority of companies stated that less than 10% of their sales workforce was female. This was consistent for both individual contributors, as well as for sales leaders. This is well below the global average of 25% and 12% respectively (full results available on request).
Furthermore, according to a survey conducted by TrustRadius 2020 “71% of women have worked in a tech company with a strong bro culture”.
This boys club culture is one of the many reasons affecting the industry’s ability to attract and retain female talent.
So what is the business case for a gender balanced workforce?
Aside from the metrics of diversity of thinking, inclusion and equality, research from the likes of McKinsey and Credit Suisse shows a direct link between gender diversity and corporate performance. In fact, diversity and inclusion is shown to be a major enabler of company growth, innovation and value creation:
1. Companies with the most gender diverse executive teams are 25% more likely to outperform on profitability.Shares of companies with more than 20% female management outperform those who have less than 15% female management.
2. The link between gender diversity and corporate performance is clear.
So how does having a gender balanced leadership team benefit you as a SaaS leader when your focus is on delivering the numbers and delighting customers?
Firstly, close to 50% of tech consumers are women. Diversity in your sales teams equips you with the cultural competency to understand, respect and connect with your target audience – all key to a successful sales engagement.
Secondly, the world of tech sales suddenly changed overnight. No longer are the assertive / hard sales tactics effective. Instead, the core qualities of empathy, emotional intelligence, and great listening skills are becoming much more important in the sales engagement – all qualities that naturally women bring to the table.
Finally, profitable tech sales is about building long standing relationships built on a foundation of mutual trust, understanding and loyalty, all traits commonly associated with women. These foundations become even more important at a time when the traditional bonding over dinner and other forms of corporate entertainment are no longer an option.
I would like to caveat at this point that when I’m referring to male and female qualities, it is not to the exclusion of the other sex, it is merely general trends that are backed by scientific research.
Having female sales people in your team can actually help you better understand and connect with your customers and prospects, and in doing so, boost sales performance.
So what can men do to support women in developing and accelerating their careers in tech?
As part of my preparations for writing this article, I spoke to a number of my female tech coaches (many of whom are in sales) my male mentors who have supported me throughout my career, as well as my own firsthand experiences during my 20-year tech career, and there are key areas that stood out:
- 1. Mentorship
- 2. Champion women
- 3. Be inclusive
- 4. Seek to first to understand
- 5. Participate in women’s networks
Let’s look at each of these individually and consider what simple strategies you can start using now to attract, retain and develop your female sales talent.
1. Be a Mentor
Mentor females in your organisation, perhaps even use this as an opportunity for some reverse mentoring which can be highly beneficial in managing a millennial sales team.
- – Help raise visibility of women
- – Help them navigate unwritten rules
- – Consciously develop female leaders
- – Showcase women’s accomplishments (women naturally expect people to notice their achievements, whereas men are more likely to talk about their successes).
2. Champion women
- – Give them a voice at the table
- – Sponsor them internally for key roles
- – Provide flexible working to help people balance their work life and home life.
3. Be inclusive in your language and in your social activities
- – Be aware of unconscious bias / hanging out / recruiting people like you
- – Remove the stigma of the boys club
4. Seek to first understand then to be understood.
- – Understand the person
- – Get to know them
- – Understand the issues women face / the individual is facing
- – Try not to ‘fix us’ – we don’t need fixing.
- – Build your emotional EQ
5. Participate in women’s networks
- – Be a part of the conversation.
- – Learn about what holds women back and help them move forward
- – Broaden your network of female talent
As leaders, you are in a formal leadership position that enables you to drive change, whether it’s in subtle every day activities or in driving wide-scale organisational change.
Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither can diversity in your tech sales team. What you can do is take conscious steps every day to reduce unconscious bias, support your female talent and in doing so boost your sales performance.
Angie Vaux, CEO & Founder, Women in Tech forum
8 July 2020