March is Women’s History Month, which is the perfect time to reflect on the important role women have played in VSA’s own history.
For starters, VSA wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for a woman. The business was founded in 2001 by Valerie Schlitt, a graduate of the Wharton School’s MBA program who had held multiple marketing management positions and consulting roles before deciding to start her own contact center and B2B lead generation firm.
Valerie’s very first employees were friends of hers, who just happened to be women. As the business grew, VSA continued to offer flexible work hours, which was especially appealing to young mothers and empty-nesters looking for part-time employment.
Today, VSA is one of the most sophisticated outbound and inbound contact center firms in the country, offering a broad range of customized programs that includes appointment-setting, customer service, incident reporting, market research, sales support, after-hours coverage, and more.
Throughout this incredible growth, women have remained at the forefront of VSA’s success. More than 75% of VSA’s employees are female, including most of the leadership team and all the current Program Managers. VSA’s two-longest tenured employees, Project Manager Lisa Dougherty and Senior Program Manager Lisa Doyle, are women.
VSA is also certified as a Women’s Business Enterprise by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, the largest third-party certifier of businesses owned, controlled, and operated by women in the United States.
Valerie acknowledges that hiring so many women was not part of her initial business plan; however, it played out that way as female job-seekers gravitated toward the company, and their success, satisfaction, and longevity attracted other women to seek employment at VSA.
But planned or not, there are strategic advantages for contact centers to employ an abundance of women. Here are three of them:
1. Women are effective cold callers
This is not to say that men can’t do the job; VSA has employed plenty of talented male Business Development Representatives through the years. And nationally, according to recent statistics compiled by Zippia, there are slightly more male BDRs than female (50.9% to 49.1%).
But various studies have shown that people find the female voice more trustworthy and less threatening than the male voice. And, at the risk of sounding sexist, male business executives might be more inclined to have a phone conversation with a woman stranger than a man, at least initially.
Veteran cold calling coach Jennifer Standish, speaking on a 2022 episode of the “Market Dominance Guys” podcast, said that, in her experience, middle-aged women without identifiable accents are phenomenal appointment-setters.
Standish believes cold callers should be “Professional, confident, friendly, and a little bit enthusiastic. And that’s where women excel. We can do the enthusiastic part very easily, and still remain professional.”
2. 150 years of Contact Center experience
VSA has significantly grown its inbound services over the past few years, creating a need for an expanded pool of Customer Service Representatives. According to Careerexplorer.com, 69% of all CSRs are female, so it’s only natural that VSA’s new hires for these roles would consist primarily of women.
Women’s experience engaging with customers on the telephone dates back nearly 150 years, when Alexander Graham Bell hired a pair of sisters as switchboard operators on the same day (Sept. 1, 1878) because the teenage boys initially tasked with the job were rude and gruff with callers. Emma Nutt, the world’s first female telephone operator, was described by the New England Historical Society as “patient and cultured, with a soothing voice.”
A century and a half later, the patience, empathy, and calming telephone presence that Emma Nutt displayed over 30+ years on the job remain essential qualities for any good Customer Service Representative. While those traits certainly aren’t exclusive to females, the job of telephone operator has traditionally been dominated by women, so it’s not surprising to see more females in the role today.
But it’s more than just experience that makes women a good fit for the job. According to Rethink Retail, women make 80% of all consumer purchases, so having reps they can relate to on the phone can be critical to creating a satisfying customer experience.
3. Different business perspectives
Despite the tremendous progress women entrepreneurs have made over the past 25 years, more than 60% of small businesses in the United States are still owned by men (according to the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship). Partnering with a woman-owned-and-operated company for your lead generation or call center needs exposes you to experiences, viewpoints, and solutions you might not have otherwise encountered.
Another advantage: women are arguably more passionate about their business than men, at least according to a 2023 study by Guidant, a company that specializes in financing small businesses. Asked their motivation for launching their business, women entrepreneurs were 20% more likely than men to say the decision was based on pursuing their passions.
We can’t speak for other contact centers and lead generations firms, but we can confidently state that Valerie, Senior VP of Operations Dawn Stolte, the Program Managers, and the rest of the VSA team are extremely passionate about the work we do on behalf of our clients.
In the words of a Clutch review from one of our clients: “It’s extraordinary that this is a woman-owned and predominantly woman-run business. VSA’s employees are super-happy, satisfied, and engaged. As a result of that, the happiness and employee satisfaction feeds into our engagement.”
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As we celebrate Women’s History Month, consider partnering with a Certified Women-Owned Business for your lead generation, customer service, or other contact center needs. Valerie, Dawn, and our entire team would love to learn about ways we can help you grow your business and achieve your goals for 2024.