Are women really a "niche" market? If women are a niche, then I guess men are, too, right? But you rarely hear that a financial advisory firm is targeting men. So, then, why women?

There's no question that working with women is an art — but perhaps not in the way you think. The successful targeting of women as a profitable segment of your business may first require that you drop some of your preconceptions.

For instance, you may think that women don't like sports (so the use of sports analogies would be a waste of time), that they love shopping, that they take longer to make decisions or that, when it comes to their money, they are interested only in security. Those are all assumptions and generalizations, not absolutes. If your goal is to work with more women, assumptions such as these may cause you to miss an opportunity to connect.