February 5, 2007
Robert Rodriguez, The Fresno Bee, Calif.
FRESNO, Calif. -- Caren Myers still surprises a few people when they
find out she's the general manager of the Lexus dealership in Fresno.
They shouldn't be.
Myers
has been in the automotive business 42 years, rising from receptionist
at a Ford store in Santa Rosa to owning her own Saturn dealership in
Southern California a few years ago.
"Yes, even in this day
and age, some people still think that the general manager is a man,"
said Myers, who took over management of Fresno Lexus in October 2005.
While
Myers still may raise a few eyebrows, perceptions are changing in the
automobile industry. An increasing number of women in the United States
-- and especially Fresno -- are taking leadership roles in dealerships
or owning their own stores.
Industry analysts say it's a smart trend; women buy about half of all new cars and trucks sold in the United States.
Automakers
and their dealers are paying attention -- making sure that everything
from the look of the dealership to who's running it appeals to women.
Web sites devoted to car buying by women have popped up, too: AskPatty.com and Edmunds.com/women.
"Women
today have a much larger influence in the market than ever before,"
said Marcella Rojas, spokeswoman for the California Motor Car Dealers
Association in Sacramento.
"And there are many good women auto
dealers that have broken through the glass ceiling and have earned the
trust and loyalty of their franchisers, employees and customers."
Nationwide,
about 7 percent of new-car dealerships are owned by women, and car
makers are pushing for bigger numbers with efforts such as General
Motors' Women's Retail Initiative, a program that recruits and trains
women to become car dealers.
California lags behind with just 3 percent of the new-car dealerships owned by women.
Fresno's
female car dealers -- TheeAnna Stevens at Fresno Acura and Yrma Rico at
Weber BMW -- represent 10 percent of the local market.
Among general managers, Myers at Fresno Lexus is joined by Linda Gist at Bingham Toyota in Clovis.
"I
think Fresno is very unique to have that many women involved in the
industry," Myers said. "When I owned a Saturn store in Orange County, I
think I was the only woman dealer."
Myers is somewhat of a pioneer.
She began her career answering phones, working her way up at a time when opportunities for women in the car business were few.
She spent nearly two decades on the accounting side.
"I
didn't know I could sell cars until I was about 35 and someone told me
that I was wasting my talents. Everything changed after that."
Myers'
skills were honed at GM's women's retail initiative program in 2001,
and she took over a Saturn dealership in San Juan Capistrano.
She
owned and operated the store for about two years before selling it in
2004. She was later recruited by the Romero family of Southern
California to run its new Lexus store in Fresno, where she says nearly
half the buyers are women.
"I like to be very visible in the community and in our showroom, and I think that makes a difference," Myers said.
Automobile analysts agree that the female factor matters in the car business.
A
survey by CNW Marketing Research in Bandon, Ore., found that 39 percent
of women would rather deal with women in a showroom, compared with 10
percent of men who prefer to buy cars from other men.
"What we
have found is that women relate better with customers, and there is
also the trust factor," said Art Spinella, president of CNW Marketing.
"And
given that we have such a large percentage of women who are new-car
buyers, it makes sense to have more women on the sales floor and in the
organization. But you also have to create a career path for women."
Finding women to fill those jobs is not easy, said Stevens, owner of Fresno Acura.
Stevens has owned the Fresno dealership for more than 20 years, having grown up in her family's auto business in the Bay Area.
She
had the opportunity to learn the business from all aspects and said she
learned that selling a car doesn't require a lot of technical know-how.
"Some people think that if you don't know how to change the oil
or the tire that you shouldn't have anything to do with selling
vehicles," Stevens said.
"But what we have learned is that it
is important to understand how that car fits into a person's everyday
lifestyle. Those are the skills we need to apply."
Rico, owner
of Weber BMW, knew very little about running a dealership before
deciding to partner with her son-in-law Jerry Pajouh, an industry
veteran with more than 20 years experience with BMW.
Rico made
her fortune in television as one of the founders of Entravision
Communications Corp., a giant in the Spanish-language television
industry.
She said she recalls the time she met 20 other BMW dealers from around the country for a strategy session.
"In the beginning, it was a little difficult because they didn't know very much about me," she said.
"But
when I began talking about marketing and sales and how we use those
things in the television industry, their attitudes changed. Pretty soon
I was putting together presentations on how to target the Hispanic
market. I earned their respect."
The path to owning a dealership varies. But the industry is seeking out more who see it as an opportunity.
At
General Motors, still the world's largest automaker, officials said
they are pleased with their progress in creating new opportunities for
female car dealers.
Of the 7,000 GM dealerships, 3.7 percent
are owned by women, up from 2.6 percent in 2001 when the company
launched its women's retail initiative.
Joycyln Waters,
director of the initiative, said the training program attracts a wide
variety of women -- those with business degrees to those with extensive
experience in the automotive industry.
"This has been a man's world for a long time," Waters said.
"And
what we are trying to do is change the environment so that we can make
it more attractive to women to become owners and operators."
Source: Copyright (c) 2007, The Fresno Bee, Calif. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.