Auto Estrogen

Dealerships we’ve talked to love the idea of marketing more effectively to women, eg. as we see it “becoming more woman friendly”. Some even believe in these programs (yes, I’m quoting).

In a nutshell, dealerships know how important women consumers are to their bottom line and they do want your business, most of them anyway. They just don’t want to invest to get it.

Dealerships think it’s perfectly okay to work with someone, a consultant, broker or entity of sorts to generate leads — ummm. You see where I’m going? In many instances the broker is then paid off the said. In other words, when you buy they get paid.

Just for the record Car-Buy-Her is not a brokering company. We don’t recommend women to dealerships and then get paid off the sale. As a matter of fact, we’re not recommending dealerships unless they go through our evaluation program, a fee-based program in which we learn something about that dealership, how they operate and work with their customers, women in particular. There are just too many horror stories from women about purchasing cars to do things any other way.

In my opinion, dealers should welcome the opportunity for evaluation, to get trained and to learn how to do things better. An opportunity that allows them to see if they come even close to meeting the standards of our Woman-Friendly criteria.

Are auto dealers resistant to becoming women friendly or are they just resistent to anything that doesn’t line up with their male-defined traditional notion of what does and does not work when it comes to women in their dealership?

Auto repair is a chore, no matter how you look at it:
- It takes time out of your day
- It takes money out of your pocket and
- There’s nothing fun about it

It is a fact of life, however, if you happen to own a car. It’s an absolute, so the best thing to do is to prepare. The problem is, you never really know what’s going to go wrong. There are so many possibilities, some minor and only slightly burdensome, others major and total disruptions. Take the increasingly louder noise I heard the other day on my way to a conference. “Oh no, is that my car I thought?” After turning down the radio and listening intently, I discovered that oh yeah, it was me. My only desire at that moment was to make it to the parking lot without any problems. I did. And then . . . well, I went on my way, along with my day, almost completely forgetting the little noise that troubled me on the way to the conference.

Once I returned to my car, it hit me, an instant reminder. I had problems turning the steering wheel. So there I was — in car maintenance hell — what could be wrong? Is it a minor or a major?

I got on the phone, called my auto service and arranged for a tow. One thing I knew. I would not be left on the side of the road!

Fast forward three days later, yep, the auto shop was closed, it just happened to be a weekend and so my poor car had to sit by idle over the weekend before she (my car) could get some relief. The verdict —- a minor (that’s when your bill is under $500 ).

So here’s what I decided. As women we have to take better care of our cars. And we have to do it, not someone else. At our women’s auto clinic back in April, our female automotive mechanic told us something that was very enlightening. She said that we were the experts when it comes to car maintenance — not her. Wow! Talk about power. How revealing it was to find that out. Although we might not be the technical experts, we are indeed experts. Why? We’re the ones driving the car on a daily basis and we’re the ones that know when something feels funny, sounds funny, or runs funny. We just have to do a better job when it comes to descriptions (I’ll share more on this in another blog).

Being a Car-Buy-Her is not about being an automotive expert; it’s about becoming informed and empowered when it comes to your car, it’s care and it’s maintenance. We can do that by being better stewards of observation. By taking notes and listening to the heartbeat of the vehicle we’re in. And then by putting those that we entrust our beloved to, to meet the standards in which we’ve set.

The ladies packed the room, listened intently and hurled questioned such as: What do you think of auctions? What about auto dealers that remove the haggle from car buying? How do you get your credit score? How often should you get your transmission checked? How often should you service your vehicle? Is it true that car color raises your insurance? These very engaged ladies were participants of Car-Buy-Her’s 1st auto clinic for women What Men Don’t Want You to Know: Auto Buying and Maintenance Clinic for Women, held this month in conjunction with the Car Care Council’s National Car Care Month.

Ladies attending the clinic shared car stories and chocolate; laughter and camaraderie as a panel of female automotive experts provided information and insight on car buying, auto financing, auto insurance, and auto maintenance.

“I had loads of fun and was very enlightened by the knowledge of all of the speakers. I took away great information to share with my policyholders both present and future, says Sheri Robinson of Triple AAA Club South. “This was a great clinic. I have a page full of notes”, stated Pamela Coman.

The three-hour clinic was the first of its kind held by Car-Buy-Her and the first comprehensive clinic for women covering all-things automotive.

“This was our first automotive clinic and it was hugely successful and a confirmation of the need for this service. We are already in talks with women’s groups, Parks & Recreation departments, and credit unions about hosting additional clinics. Educating women is one of our primary goals,” states Sheronde Glover, Car-Buy-Her founder and the coordinator, organizer, and developer of the auto clinic.

All ladies attending the clinic received a certificate of achievement for their participation and recognition as an official, Car-Buy-Her, a woman that is informed, in control, and ready to buy.

For more information on how to request this clinic, attend this group or become a sponsor, visit our website at http://www.car-buy-her.com.

If you’re looking for a great selection and have a couple of hours to spare, you’re heading to the mall. Likewise, if you’re searching for a car and you want to see the best the manufacturers have to offer this year, then you definitely want to head to the auto show, in this case the AJC International Auto Show, being held this week in Atlanta. Walk into the GWCC (Georgia World Congress Center) showroom and you feel as if you’re in the Car Mall as you’re greeted with over 600 shiny, top of the line brand new cars from virtually every manufacturer.

So, what’s a woman to do? Shop, of course!

About a year ago a friend of mine told me she was interested in working in the automotive industry. She had been attending auto auctions with her husband and the two had decided they might have an interest in selling cars.

Later she shared an incident in which she applied for a sales position at a car dealership. The general manager reviewed her application and blatantly told her she wouldn’t be interested in working there. The reason: the sales guys wouldn’t work well with her, she’d be competing against them and it wouldn’t be a happy environment. Wow! I was shocked. Pam (my friend) had never worked in car sales before but she does have an extensive, results oriented sales background and could easily hold her own on a car lot.

Several months later a colleague relayed a similar story. She had worked at a dealership for a very short time. Her summary: It wasn’t a friendly environment.

Needless to say, when I was driving and saw the sign SALESMAN WANTED at a car dealership, it got my attention. Prior to hearing the two stories above, I would have thought very little of it, but today I have this question:

How well is the auto industry managing diversity in the showroom?

Walk into any dealership and you see one consistent theme. The bulk of the sales and management staff are male. You’d be hard-pressed to find one behind the receptionist desk though. Why is that? A 2002 study by CNW Marketing Research presented by AWARE (Advancing Women in Automotive Retail) showed that 60% of women working in car dealerships worked as office staff, while only 7.1% are general managers, 4.9% are owners, 4.2% work in new car sales, and 2.1% work in used car sales. Now there’s a discrepancy! Consider the fact that subtle stereotypical advertising like Salesmen Wanted vs. Salesperson Wanted still exists and you see the dilemma.

Car-Buy-Her maintains its position that in order to build woman-friendly environments within dealerships, the auto industry needs to establish better diversity and recruitment programs that make the dealership both attractive and friendly for women. In our report How to Build a Woman Friendly Dealership, we make this point: Until the industry employs a comprehensive recruitment program that includes balancing the employment work force, the industry will continue to lag behind.

When I first started Car-Buy-Her I knew advocacy was a part of the equation. I knew it, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to say it. After my personal experience, a lot of secondary research, and a number of conversations with women, I recognized that women had to take a stand. Women Standing Up was the title of a speech given by Mayor Shirley Franklin of Atlanta at a League of Women Voters meeting this month. For those of you who are not familiar with Mayor Franklin’s work, her accomplishments are too numerous to mention. Mayor Shirley Franklin has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune magazine, Ebony magazine, Black Enterprise and many other local and national publications and is certainly one to be admired. I listened intently at the issues at hand, the resounding message and completely understood the many variables that play into the everyday lives of women.

It’s hard for some to get it. Many don’t want to accept the fact that speaking to women, for women, with women, is not about separation, but more so about recognition, confidence building, self-awareness, relating, understanding, and support. Although the context for the meeting was a discussion of the local politics at hand the inferences were across the board.

Here are some of the Mayor’s sentiments and how they relate to women and car buying:

1. Women have a different perspective - Women’s viewpoints on car buying are different. Women tend to look for cars that are safe and reliable. Women look for showrooms that are clean and visually appealing. Women tend to like low-pressured sales tactics and want to be acknowledged, respected and told the truth.

2. Women shouldn’t try to emulate men - Absolutely! Whether in business, politics or car buying there is no need for women to go at it as if they are men. Women can be informed, empowered, and in control as their own feminine selves!

3. Reflect the experiences of women - One of the goals of the Car-Buy-Her site is to listen and share women’s stories and to provide useful information that can be used to make the car buying experience more enjoyable.

4. Gender Budgeting - I had never heard of this one, but in a nutshell there are cities that actually budget for women’s issues. Are you listening dealerships? It’s time to incorporate a Women’s Budget into your marketing plan. Car-Buy-Her has both training and marketing programs that can help dealerships work more effectively with the women they serve, but it’s up to the dealership to determine that it’s important enough to address and invest in. We know that many of you have, and for the others I suggest you give us a call when you’re ready.

Car-Buy-Her will continue to advocate for women as we fulfill our mission to 1. educate women 2. educate dealerships and 3. bridge the gap between the two.

Women are coming together more than ever to equalize the automotive playing field. Just ask Mishy Smith, the brains behind WOW Tuning, an automotive club for females. Women can network, learn about cars, discover different automotive interests and hone the skills, talent, and passion that they already have for automotives can be done in one spot.

Why WOW Tuning? According to Mishy . . .

The automotive industry is a heavily male dominated arena. Many women initially find it intimidating to break into such a scene. We have often found ourselves bombarded with imagery of show girls and machismo guys at car venues, almost exclusively male racers,
and the majority of spectators at such events being male. This can create a lack of appeal in an otherwise interested woman (we hear you Mishy, we understand and we agree).

WOW-T wants to change all that. It was created to be both a social group and a way for women to network with other fem-friendly automotive organizations. Our mission is to make women in automotives just as conventional and respected as the men. And we are not far off.

The Goals of the organization are:

- To be a nationwide resource for women already in or just breaking into the automotive scene

- To be a social network for local and national females with interests in cars

- To give women a comfortable place to learn about different automotive interests and activities without the “good-ol-boy” feel

- To show the automotive world the feminine side of cars and racing

- To mainstream women in the automotive industry, becoming more than the exception or the accessory

- To give women just starting out the same opportunities as the men

- To give women a different option for the car club scene than the largely male dominated clubs out there

Ready to join? Check out WOW at wowtuning.com

According to the latest study conducted by Auto Retailing Today there are no differences in the male and female buying experience and the myth of gender differences has been debunked. Women it seems, are more confident than ever going into auto dealerships. Although they continue to shop with male counterparts, the majority (39%) do so mainly because the male is a spouse or significant other. Another 15% of those women surveyed stated that they brought a male to the dealership because he had more knowledge, hmmm . . .

It just seems to me, and I could be wrong (I have been before) that a lack of knowledge in and of itself would certainly attribute to a difference in experiences. Wouldn’t that be like, Honey, I like this one, now you deal with the rest? I personally believe that the disparity in knowledge is a major key to the inbalance, automatically placing women on unequal ground which pretty much guarantees a different experience. Why? Because that means that he knows something that the woman doesn’t. And isn’t that really the overriding point anyway? Women haven’t had the same knowledge or interest in car buying and maintenance that men have had, propelling the myths and stereotypes: Auto industry =male = You know something I don’t, namely how the financing works, what the lingo means, and what the true retail, trade-in, and manufacturer’s values are.

I’m excited about this study because women are and have become more empowered when it comes to their automotive needs. But I’m not fooled, either. A happy, confident 932 women is hardly the same as the thousands that are buying cars today. It is not even close to the reality of the anomalies at hand. Regularly I answer questions from women that are unsure, not comfortable, intimidated, and still just wondering how to co-exist in the male dominated arena of car buying. Listen guys (auto industry) this is not a knock in the jaw. Really it isn’t. It’s just a genuine female assessment and perception of the situation at hand.

The survey also reported that although women tend to do research prior to coming into a dealership, only 21% research financing options. Numbers, numbers, numbers, in the long run that’s what it all boils down to and financing is one of the biggest areas in which women tend to feel less assured.

So to answer the question at hand, Do Gender Differences Exist in Auto Buying? I want to say that there are still some differences; I want to say that women shop differently and I want to say that women still have a deficit in automotive knowledge. But I also want to say that things are moving forward, for both women and the industry. Hooray for that!

Three years ago I didn’t know anything about car buying and maintenance. Forget the fact that my father worked at GM for years or that I grew up the only girl out of three children. Running with the boys (or better yet, wrestling with the boys, especially my older brother who is just 18 months older) doesn’t equate to auto knowledge, insight or enthusiasm. I was quite content assuming my position on the passenger’s side as a chauffeured observer. Now, here I am, some . . . well no need to get into numbers (smile), let’s just say some odd years later, the founder of an automotive education and marketing company. So what happened?!

Reality hit three years ago and I realized as an independent woman seeking to buy a car that I needed some auto knowledge to empower myself as a consumer. Go figure! Since then I’ve learned some things. I’m still learning things and I want to share that information with you.

So here’s what I’ve done ladies. I started this website for me and you. I figured we can learn together, what do you think? Together, we can all become Car-Buy-Her’s, informed and in control!

I’m challenging the auto dealerships and repair shops to rethink their strategies, marketing, and communications programs and update them to reflect the needs of women. Right now, I’m calling them but soon they’ll be calling me!

And now I’m coordinating our first auto buying and maintenance clinic for women, hosted by my company Car-Buy-Her so that we (the ladies) can come together and learn from each other and female experts.

Take a look at the press release below. I hope you’ll join us in April and I hope you’ll spread the word as well. Shhh! Don’t tell the men if you don’t want, but tell the ladies that we’re about to be enlightened.

SHHH! WOMEN’S AUTO CLINIC REVEALS MEN’S BEST KEPT SECRETS
What Men Don’t Want You to Know: Auto Buying and Maintenance
Clinic for Women Premieres in Atlanta

Atlanta, GA —What men have traditionally known about cars, how they work and how to buy, have eluded women for years, until now. Car-Buy-Her, an automotive resource for women, will host, What Men Don’t Want You to Know: Auto Buying and Maintenance Clinic for Women, a specially designed automotive clinic for women on Saturday, April 21, 2007, 1 p.m. - 4 p.m. at Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia.

The clinic is the first of it’s kind hosted by Car-Buy-Her, an automotive resource that educates women on car buying and maintenance and works with dealerships and auto repair companies to help them become more women-friendly.

“When I was searching for my car, there were no workshops or clinics to help me figure out what I was doing, there was just the Internet, which is why we established our website at car-buy-her.com specifically for women, but this clinic will give women the opportunity to meet face to face, talk one on one with female experts, and get all the information they need to make informed decisions as a consumer”, says Sheronde Glover, Founder of Car-Buy-Her.

The goal of the clinic is to provide women with simple tips and techniques to help them become more empowered when buying and maintaining a car and to offer insight and knowledge in a non-threatening environment that allows women to become more comfortable and confident as automotive consumers. An all female panel of automotive experts and professionals will offer insight and information on everything from how to buy, when to buy, what to buy and more. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased online at www.car-buy-her.com.

Additional information on the clinic and sponsorship opportunities can be found at www.car-buy-her.com or by calling 770-210-0726.

About Car-Buy-Her
Car-Buy-Her is an automotive resource that educates women on car buying and maintenance in addition to consulting with automotive companies and dealerships on marketing effectively to women. The company provides training, marketing, and copywriting services to dealerships and hosts a virtual resource for women at www.car-buy-her.com

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As the founder of Car-Buy-Her, I’m often challenged by men —- salesmen, managers and even dealership owners on the necessity of an automotive site specific to women. For those that agree that consumers do indeed need education; they rarely see the importance of focusing on auto buying from the female perspective. All consumers need to be educated they tell me. Even men outside of the industry let me know quickly, that they too are challenged when it comes to buying a car. Some just out and out disagree with me. Take Mr. Brakebill for instance, a car salesman out of Illinois who emailed me, asking for my professional opinion (which I was happy to share). I provided statistics, personal experiences, and stories shared with me from women that have led me to my passion for educating women and dealerships and my belief in the validity of the Car-Buy-Her concept and business model. Mr. Brakebill did not agree. What I received back was a somewhat close-minded, almost argumentative email of his strong conviction that there is no difference in selling to women and selling to men and competence and empathy in the profession is all that is needed. Point noted.

From time to time, I talk to a male that understands. Just yesterday I received a call from an Internet sales manager with a dealership out of DC who wants to develop a program that educates consumers, specifically women and was researching what works and what does not. Applause! Applause! He gets it. I get it, women get it, but as a whole I’m still wondering, are dealerships in denial when it comes to the needs of women?