Selling to women has been a topic in dealership training for years. But this technique of differentiating women from men as decision makers, as unpopular as it may seem, is flawed. Gone are the days when a wife would make the introduction, choose her favorite vehicle, and the salesperson would then turn their focus on how to convince the husband that this vehicle was perfect for "him" too. There are a plethora articles, websites, and even companies focusing on "selling to women" as a different means to success. Some even go as far to state, regarding women consumers, "They’re going to make money, they’re going to make their own decisions, and they can be very loyal consumers.” The issue here, again unpopular, is that this is true for so many woman AND men, and not just women alone. It can actually harm your dealership in the long run if you focus on women being a separate entity rather than a Consumer in general.

There is a large discrepancy with the way dealerships sell to women. It is historically tied to an era in which there were factors that did indeed make it possible to succeed in this separation technique. Examples being a much lower divorce rate, less single parents, and a much less wealthy women workforce. Currently, about 51 percent, or $14 Trillion, of American personal .... The world of independent women has changed society, and the automotive industry is, in many cases, creating a discrimination by selling to women separately. To succeed in the dealership marketplace, there's changes that must be made. Should you be selling to women differently? Yes, differently than you have been. As you would with men, dealerships must sell and inform the "decision maker", no matter the gender.

When selling a car, the first step is obviously identifying what the consumers' needs are that you could provide, and identifying the path to provide this. The chief difference in the way that we treat women versus the way that we treat men is, with men, we do not make assumptions about what men need and/or what they need from us. There's an assumption that there's a diversity and complexities that aren't attributed to the female buyer. And this isn't a character problem, nor is it even a moral problem, it's rooted from a historical reality. However the problem is, this is no longer the case. The diversity that's represented in the male car buying population is represented almost entirely in the female car buying population.

The women consumer used to be have a singular list of needs, which in turn created a singular path to selling. Today, these needs have an almost identical representation as men. There may be sometrue\ range difference, but by no means is this singular any longer. No longer are there a few females dominating with wealth. The american archetype of the woman car shopper is no longer reflected in the car buying process. The argument is going to be, as always, "Women are different than Men." In many ways, this is true. However, in car buying today, it's no longer the case. Yes, the female car buyer has small differences in what they're looking for. However, the change that has happened has created an increase in the diversity of needs represented by the female buyer. This diversity has to be a factor that motivates how we sell to women; that being the same way as we would sell to men. Practically speaking, we no longer know what the female car buyer is looking for. We have to ask, and as with the male car buyer, we have to assume that they know better than we do about what their needs are. Do we need to sell to women differently? As stated above, YES. Differently than we have been.

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Comment by DealerELITE on July 24, 2016 at 9:27am
Thank you for sharing
Comment by steven chessin on July 22, 2016 at 2:11pm

Aubrey

When does "selling" begin ? I visited a dealership yesterday and there was nowhere to park. For me, it wasn't an issue, I parked in the mall across the street and then ran across 8 lanes to beat the traffic. In high heels that would not have been possible. Just getting into the store was not acceptable for women  - families - handicapped - or pampered hi-end customers. Literally the 1st step of the "sales" experience that women won't accept.  

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