Two numbers I can’t stop thinking about.
Women hold roughly 39% of sales roles globally, according to LinkedIn workforce data quoted in ZoomInfo’s look at women in B2B sales. But we hold fewer than one in four sales leadership roles.
So we get in. We just don’t get up at the same rate.
The small stuff adds up
When women in sales talk honestly about this, the stories are rarely dramatic. They’re small and constant.
Being called “great with relationships”, as if relationships weren’t the whole job. Ending up as the one taking notes in a meeting. Watching a confident, average pitch get more airtime than a careful, excellent one.
On their own, none of these is a big deal. Over ten years, small friction becomes a career gap.
What helps
People. Mostly people.
Lori Richardson, who runs Women Sales Pros, has spent years on her podcast Conversations with Women in Sales giving women practical advice and, just as important, examples. Clutch’s list of women in B2B sales is a good place to find more voices worth following.
Seeing women a few steps ahead doing the job you want makes it feel possible. That’s a big part of why I’m writing this blog at all.
What I’d tell a woman starting in tech sales
Learn the product properly, especially the technical bits. Nothing earns respect in a room of engineers like knowing the answer.
Keep your own numbers. Write your wins down, with figures, as they happen. You’ll need them at review time, and nobody else is keeping score for you.
Find two people: one a few years ahead of you, and one a few years behind. Learn from the first. Pull up the second.
And when someone calls you “great with relationships”, say thank you. Then show them the revenue that came from it.
Get in. Then get up.
