What’s gender got to do with it?

As a tradeshow lead generator, my job is to stop traffic at my client’s booth, show a quick magic trick that showcases their brand, and finally to introduce qualified prospects to my sales team.  It’s a number’s game.  I’m able to increase leads by 25% to 100%.  That’s quite a range. Why the difference?

Professional tradeshow lead builders calculate a stop ratio for each show. If I am asking attendees walking by our booth to stop for a moment so that I can show them something amazing (as I fan my cards), how many out of ten will actually stop and how many will ignore me?  My worst ratio ever: less than 1/10, and my best 9/10.  Again, that’s quite a range.  Why the difference?  Gender.

The lowest 1/10 stop ratio was for my client Vencom at a Yankee Dental Conference.  While there were hygienists and students attending, my job was to stop dentists.  At this show, most of the dentists were older men in conservative suits with dour faces.  The best ratio I experienced was at ASHRM where I had to stop hospital risk managers, most of whom were women with nursing backgrounds.

When Fidelity asked me to build leads for them at the AFP conference  they told me that the large majority of attendees were male.  I selected my female lead builder Clair Park, and her stop ratio was better than 9/10.

This experience is not unique to me.  My fellow trade-show lead builders concur: Gender matters. 

At least on the trade show floor, women will stop for men and men for women with far more frequency than the opposite scenario.  This has little to do with age, looks and approach and much to do with the opposite sex. 

Application:  If you work tradeshows, have a male to approach female attendees and have a female to approach male attendees.  A good stop ratio is vital because when attendees walk by your booth without hearing your message, you are burning your tradeshow dollars. 

Off the tradeshow floor: Do you think the same dynamic carries over to the networking arena?  Will a man have more success breaking into a conversation, when the conversationalists are women? How about vice-versa?  Weigh in with your thoughts here.

Amusing side note: To a lesser degree, stop ratio is also determined by industry.  For example marketing professionals are more likely to stop than are plastic surgeons.  Of the hundreds of professions I’ve targeted, dentists were the hardest visitors to stop, and they smiled least.  I remember one dentist who actually was smiling.  I stopped him and said, “look around at all the faces.  Not a smile to be seen.  Why are you smiling?” He smiled even more broadly and replied, “I’m retired”.

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Discover the secrets of persuasion: 2hr audio:

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Before you read further, watch the video above.

This simple experiment gives us basic insight into how people make decisions. If you selected the fifty-cent piece, you were attuned to visual and auditory signals. Watch the video again without the sound, and you will see various subtleties designed to call your attention to the half dollar. Play the video again, but don’t watch; just listen, and you will discover a multitude of verbal hints.

If you chose the dime, as stated in the video, you are likely very analytical. You are the kind of person that wants to figure out a trick or puzzle more than you desire to be entertained. You don’t just go for the ride, but you calculate while you are following direction. On a subconscious level, this calculation process causes you to avoid your general instinct to choose the greatest value. Your constant analysis also causes you to either miss or ignore the subtle gestures intended to lead you to the silver half.

Most visual learners will SEE heads rather than tails when they imagine any coin. Those who select tails usually think heads first; then switch to tails to create a challenge. Obviously this is not fool-proof. Thousands of variables are in-flux when making a decision. For example, people in the military will tend to naturally pick tails when thinking of a half-dollar. This may be due to the American Eagle on the back. Coin collectors are almost impossible to sway in any direction because their thinking is far more complex when it comes to coins.

It is noteworthy that highly visual people will almost always select the half, while auditory thinkers will mostly choose the half, and it’s simply random odds with those from the kinesthetic camp.

If you selected the quarter, as explained, you are likely analytical AND enjoy a challenge. You probably relish a good debate, and you have no problem sharing your opinion. There is no superlative that goes with the quarter. It isn’t the biggest or smallest, it’s neither first nor last, and it’s neither the most nor the least valuable. Whenever I KNOW someone wants to “catch” the presenter, I will do this effect, and they will almost always fall for the quarter. The beauty is that these people end up being the biggest fans of the power of persuasion, because they understand that there was nothing obvious in their selection.

As with all mental persuasion, it is a game of odds. The more you apply the principles, the greater are the odds that you will hit. However, the caveat is that this is not a science. There will always be the individual who hardly paid attention and just randomly grabbed a coin, or the person who always calls tails because she simply thinks it’s good luck. That’s what makes persuasion fun. The first magic trick was a visual persuasion, which should work for everyone, the second was a mental persuasion, which is far more challenging and rewarding for me.

This was published for your entertainment, but the laws of persuasion can be applied to real-world circumstances. Don’t you wonder why some people seem to get far more of their share of desired outcomes? They may be naturally gifted in the art of persuasion, or they may have learned it through study. You may call it charisma, leadership, confidence or just good luck. Any way you label it, I bet they are more persuasive than most.

What’s holding you back from applying these laws to get better outcomes for yourself? Take a 2hr audio journey that delves into the power of persuasion and how to use it to get results:

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Enjoy!!

Frank

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