Running a family business naturally has its challenges.
But for women, stepping up to the helm of the family ship can come with an entirely different set of challenges.
As the Founder of an International association for professional businesswomen, JoAnn Hines knows this first-hand.
Women In Packaging promotes and encourages the growth and success of women within the packaging industry, an industry that has historically been dominated by men.
In addition to providing a forum for networking and career development, Women In Packaging has focused a great deal of time and energy on eliminating misconceptions, stereotypes, and discrimination against women in the profession.
JoAnnīs association has representation from every facet of the industry.
Member companies run the gamut from fast food to the military to lawyers, from small family owned and operated businesses to giant national companies like Nabisco and Hewlett Packard.
After all, packaging is the 3rd largest industry in the United States. It contributes over a trillion dollars to the economy and employs over one million people. 10% of every dollar spent on retail purchases is attributed to packaging a fact the average consumer probably doesnīt know.
Historically, when itīs time for a family business to transition to the next generation, it has been the sons who have stepped forward.
But for nearly two decades, that pattern has changed, and each year, more and more daughters are stepping into leadership roles. Unfortunately, many are finding that they have to work twice as hard as their brothers to gain experience, respect, and the confidence of the company.
This is particularly true in the case in industries like packaging.
Packaging Horizons, the quarterly magazine of Women In Packaging, featured an article by Jamie Heckelman which dealt with some of the unique issues and situations facing women striving for success and leadership in the packaging industry.
This article found that women in leadership positions often had to start at a lower position than their male counterparts, and took longer to climb through the ranks. Patience and persistence was necessary when breaking down established misconceptions.
For example, many women in the industry found that when men called the company, they automatically assumed that any women they spoke with were in support or secretarial roles.
And when they had technical questions, they nearly always asked to speak to a man. It will take time and effort to change these outdated perceptions.
Women also face additional challenges when it comes to motherhood. Women are still the primary caregivers in most families, and while family businesses can often provide a degree of flexibility that other companies canīt, it is still necessary for many women to make difficult choices between family and career, and how to prioritize the two.
The pressure is even higher for third-generation daughters. After all, only 10% of family businesses succeed to the third generation. A lack of or poor succession planning, tax issues, and family conflict take a devastating toll on the other 90%.
But JoAnn is enthusiastic about the growing future of women in non-traditional industries and in family businesses. And whatīs more, she firmly believes that the Internet will play a large part in leading the membership of Women In Packaging into the future.
"We canīt possibly provide all the resources and information that we do without using the Internet."
"Some of our members are more Internet-savvy than others, and weīre trying to bring them all up to a level of expertise because this is the way we communicate as an association. Because itīs a small organization with a large reach, we have no other choice than to do our business over the Internet."
JoAnn recently provided us with 12 insider tips to maximize E-mail for business opportunities. We thought they were valuable and want to pass them on our readers:
1. Spend as much time on the subject header as the message. The majority
of the battle is getting your message opened/read. Be succinct. Craft your
message several ways. Keep the words to a minimum and see which version
has the most verbal (open/read me) impact.
2. Choose your subject words carefully. Donīt over-hype with outrageous
verbiage. Many servers are now set up to automatically delete E-mail with
words like: save, free, win, etc. Also donīt use any works that have been associated with viruses, such as Hi... Your mail will automatically go into the delete file.
3. Donīt use attachments or files to be unzipped. Say everything you have to
say in the body of the E-mail message. Not only does it make the reader have
to do something to find out about you but if you inadvertently send them a
virus it puts you in their "not so fond of" list.
4. Donīt make your E-mail recipient do the work. If you want them to know
about you, tell them. But keep it short. Donīt send them to your website to
get the details on what you have to offer or send them vast amount of unrelated
information. You are only going to get a very limited attention span to
convince them why they should read the rest of the message.
5. Make sure your SIG File (signature) is at the end of all the E-mail
This is the way you tell people what you do without a hard sell. Make sure it includes a line about what you really do, not just a title. My SIG: "Chief People Packager" gets me a lot of response. Plus it humanizes me too.
6. Submit a question to "a gets posted send a notice to the originator of the E-mail and refer them to "ask the expert" website page. This works well after the fact with a note, Did you get your project/inquiry resolved? Sorry I couldnīt help you but here is a resource....
7. Write a testimonial how "Internet Strategies for Family Businesses" has
helped you professionally. Ask to add it to the list of testimonials. Use the
testimonial as a referral and promotional piece.
8. Always run spell check, its doesnīt catch everything but it saves you from
the more obvious errors. Illiterate or unprofessional E-mail is an immediate
turn off. Above all be courteous. If you get a return rude response, thank
them anyway for their time and move on to the next customer/client.
9. Always follow-up with a thank you for a service performed or a question
answered. My favorite combination is to print the E-mail note and include it
with a personal note. Always use a card, everyone opens cards.
10. Always follow-up, never assume the E-mail was received.
My favorite method is to forward the original message along with a note in
the forwarding E-mail. Just checking if you got this, Havenīt heard back
yet....
11. Always cc the message to yourself to ensure not only it was transmitted,
but also if there was any errors that were missed by spell check. You can
also verify that your formatting is coming through in a coherent message.
I recently had an occasion to "poop" something in the mail. We had a funny
exchange over that and established a bond for future business.
12. Never send solicitation E-mail on Mondays (just back) or Fridays (just
leaving) or pre-holidays. (Unless itīs a holiday offer.) Chances are it will go into
the delete file without being read.
Our generation understands the importance of carrying on the tradition of the family business into the 21st Century.
But this not only means integrating new technologies and blending long-held values with the new skills required in a dynamic and competitive environment-- it means having a willingness to look beyond traditional gender lines and acknowledging that our daughters are confident, capable, and ready to step into the spotlight
JoAnn Hines can be reached via http://www.womeninpackaging.org.
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