Saturday, July 11, 2009

Review: The X and Y of Buy

In The X and Y of Buy, Elizabeth Pace makes the claim that because men and women think differently those of us who must try to sell products and services must take into account those differences if we hope to make the sale. Throughout the book, she notes differences, such as how women tend to buy from people within their network and men tend to buy from people within the same organization.

If the assertions Elizabeth Pace makes throughout the book are accurate, the book will help your company reach out to the half of the population that you are not currently reaching. She does provide references to back up many of her claims.

Frequently, she brings up the topic of primitive man and relates the hunter/gatherers of that time to modern man. It is unclear whether she is saying that modern man is the way we are because out ancestors were the way they were or if she is saying that the same traits that make man and woman different today are the same traits that produced the hunter/gatherer work divisions of that day.

At times, Pace relies heavily upon her own experiences and the experiences of her friends as proof that men act the way they do and women act the way they do. While this doesn’t necessarily invalidate her claims, the book would have been helped had there been a male co-author to provide a view from the other side.

Overall, the book brings up some interesting points that are worth considering as you try to market your products to both men and women.

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