An open letter…
What would it take to get you into a new car today?
For your information:
“The study found that 42 million women in the United States (roughly 53% of the 79 million adult women in the United States who use the Internet) participate in social media at least weekly. As they spend more time with social media, women are spending correspondingly less time with traditional media: 39% less on newspapers, 36% less time reading magazines, and 30% less time watching TV.” - Small Business Trends
“Women purchase 65% of all new cars and 53% of used cars...” - Road and Travel Magazine
Why, then, was this said to me the last time I went to buy an automobile? “What will it take to get you into a car today?” Let’s see- how about a car with features that I want, at a price that I know is reasonable because I have done the research?
Or, even better, why on earth would two separate dealerships (one Chevrolet, one GMC) be condescending to a woman intending to make an auto purchase, one calling her a control freak because she wanted to make sure that the auto had enough power to tow her boat?
1964 Buick Rivera Commercial Sexist
It is not the sixties anymore, and the only place that the above scenario existed was in some ad exec’s mind anyway. A car isn’t something that a woman “can admire and enjoy to the fullest, but only a man can really understand.” Automobile companies claim to have in-depth training for their salespeople. Are the salespeople all not listening?
These are the facts. Women make up your largest client base, generally, in auto sales. Are women less knowledgeable about price and function of automobiles?
A study from 2007, which states that women are most likely to shop “with their heads” as being influenced by the heart also mentions: “No Condescending Salesmen Allowed Another sign of the changing times is that women are increasingly knowledgeable about cars. As a result, men and women indicate that they are equally satisfied with the automotive sales experience, at least according to the most recent J.D. Power Sales Satisfaction Index… (italics and bold mine).
Good enough. I don’t mind being classified as someone who is knowledgeable, and because of this knowledge looks for what she wants. Does that make me and my sisters control freaks? Yes- and I hope my brothers are as well. I want control over my decision-making when it comes to MY purchase that I will likely be paying for over at least 4 years. I will not give that power up to a salesperson who has known me for maybe 10 minutes and whose paycheck is derived from my purchase. Any salesperson who tries to wrest that control from me will see me vote with my feet.
Realize that we are heading into your dealership with our homework done. We know what we are looking for, and whether the largest factor is price, safety, reliability or environmental impact, we have done our homework. We are the people that you want as repeat customers. We will tell our friends if the experience was good, and we will blog about it if it is not.
Change your sales tactics.
For a post by the original “control freak” click here