Salesmen learn how to talk to women
Women flat-out decide,
or in some way, influence most of the car and truck purchases in the
United States - more than 80 percent, according to some estimates.
But
talk to women candidly about their auto-buying experience, and you'll
find that many aren't thrilled with the experience in showrooms.
Women
still report being asked, "When are you going to bring your husband in?
When are you going to bring your dad in?" and similar disrespectful
questions, said Fara Warner, author of the 2005 book Power of the Purse.
So what's a male-dominated industry like the car business to do?
Enter AskPatty.com, started by a couple of entrepreneurs who thought they could make some money straightening out the problem.
Data from J.D. Power and Associates show that the situation isn't as bad as some anecdotes suggest.
Men
pay a little more for their new vehicles than women, and women are a
little less satisfied than men with the maintenance and repair process
at dealerships.
Many dealerships have already
installed child-friendly areas, with toys and child videos, and
dealerships report doing their best to attract female salespeople and
to treat all customers with respect.
But
AskPatty.com, a New York-based Web site, aims to go a step further and
help improve the communications between female customers and auto
sellers.
The site educates women about all
things automotive, with a staff of female automotive experts who write
articles and answer questions on repair, maintenance and car buying.
AskPatty.com
also provides a unique service: certifying dealerships as
female-friendly after they've passed a course on how to communicate
with women, which continues to pose a challenge to many salesmen.
Forty-nine
percent of the nation's dealerships don't have any female saleswomen,
according to a 2006 survey by the National Auto Dealers Association.
The number of women selling cars and trucks in showrooms declined this
year - to about 8 percent of the 231,400 auto salesmen nationwide.
"I'm
not a screaming feminist waving my finger at auto dealers," said Jody
DeVere, president of AskPatty.com. "I'm a businessperson, and I saw an
opportunity."
To be certified, members of a
dealership's sales team must read a book on how to communicate with
women, titled How to Get Rich Selling Cars and Trucks to Women, and
take a training course. Then they must pass a 134-question test, which
takes about an hour to complete.
"We're
teaching them how to attract, sell and increase loyalty with women,"
said DeVere, who also has two male partners in the AskPatty.com
enterprise.
AskPatty.com gets about 20,000 visitors each month. About 50 dealerships have signed on for certification services.
Dealerships pay $225 per person for 12 months of training and $795 a month for the dealership certification.
Steve
Rajnert, 32, the Internet sales leader at Dorian Ford in Clinton
Township, Mich., took the initiative to get his dealership certified
after finding the Web site earlier this year.
"They've
actually given us a lot of information on selling to women," he said.
"Women are doing a lot of the purchasing on their own. ... Sometimes
the women don't feel comfortable. This trains us on how to communicate
a lot better."
Rajnert confesses that he has
changed the way he sells to women, and it also has improved his
personal relationships, as a result.
"I give them a lot more attention than I would before," he said.