Gender imbalance in sales
18th September 2024 | Journal Of Sales Transformation
To improve female representation in the salesforce in 2024 and beyond, chief sales offers should address gender-based differences at three different career stages, according to Gartner:
- Starting in sales: Better work-life balance, comprehensive benefits, and more valuable professional development opportunities are the top factors women said would lead them to accept a new job. To make their organization more attractive to diverse talent, CSOs should assess both healthcare coverage and advancement opportunities.
- Climbing the ladder: The motherhood penalty often inhibits womens’ career growth. Instead of disqualifying women for a gap in their employment history, CSOs should reconsider how they hire for mid-level sales roles and seek to counteract this gap.
- Succeeding at the top: With the striking drop-off of women at senior levels, sales leaders should empower underrepresented talent through growth-focused networks that will build performance, development and advancement in sales.
Despite making up nearly half of the global workforce, women represent only 40% of mid-level B2B sales employees, dropping to 31% at the senior level, Gartner has found. In 2023, the consultancy conducted a labour market survey that included 2,183 respondents who identified as having a B2B sales role. The survey revealed that nearly a quarter of the 864 women surveyed in B2B sales said they were actively job searching in 2023.