Cynthia Barnes is the Founder and CEO of the National Association of Women Sales Professionals (NAWSP), as well as the author of 2 books. She is a woman-in-sales influencer who helps women who sell B2B services reach the top 1%. Cynthia advocates change, and change needs to happen if the industry wants to have more high-achieving women thrive in sales.
Cynthia shares how change must start from the top and how the very culture of sales must adapt to truly welcome diversity. She unveils the shocking levels of sexism and racism in the workplace still happening today and the need to call it out. Otherwise, the status quo will persist and companies will miss out on the massive contributions people from other walks of life and cultures can bring to the table.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Integrating more women in sales starts with sales leadership
- Change sales culture to be outcome-based and welcoming of diversity
- Confronting sexism and racism in the workplace
- Tweaks, not drastic change, go a long way in integrating diverse people
QUOTES
Sales leaders must examine their culture if they want to hire high-achieving women Cynthia: "If you're looking for a trucker, you go to trucker.com. If you're looking for diverse female sales candidates, then let's have a conversation. So number 1, you have to go where they are. Number 2, before you even do that, you've got to think about your culture. If you're having beer drop Fridays and cornhole competitions and ping-pong and local events at happy hour, you have to look and see. ‘Does the majority of my female sales staff enjoy doing those things?’"
Fear is the driver of workplace status quos among managers Cynthia: "I would love for sales managers to say, here is your goal. How you get there, as long as it's legal, moral, and ethical, I don't care how you get there. But most managers don't trust enough to let that happen. It is the fear thing."
Combat isolationism in the workplace with onboarding tweaks Cynthia: "Onboard in pairs or groups of 3 so you start to form their little ERG, if you will, so that they don't go through the onboarding process alone. But the moment you have an onboarding class, let's say it's 10, and you have one black and you have one woman, and they're the only one, yes you've hit your diversity metrics, but how are they feeling about being welcomed into the company where no one looks like them?"
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