8 Reasons to Hire (More) Women at Your Dealership

Beyond increased purchasing power; the time for women to be visibly employed in a variety of positions has arrived, and could well be the next steps to success in competitive dealerships.

As a forward-thinking dealership that is already Certified Women-Drivers Friendly™, how many women do you have on your staff – especially in visible roles? Opportunities for women at the dealership are on the rise, and create win-win solutions for everyone. Not only does employing women show further evidence of commitment to equality and diversity, female staff naturally create a warmer and personable environment; prime for selling vehicles.

The books “Women Make the Best Salesmen” and “The Female Advantage” hi-light the common female characteristics of connection, inclusion, heightened awareness of family needs, responsibility and listening skills – all of which are required for building trust and relationships. Whether it’s as a salesperson, Internet Sales Manager, Service Manager, F & I Manager or General Manager; having competent women on staff can boost your dealership in many ways, resulting in repeat customers and a top-rated reputation.

Women naturally make other women more comfortable and less intimidated; creating more appeal for women buyers choosing between dealerships.
Enhanced status as a women-friendly dealer, and an image of being progressive and culturally diverse better serves a wide customer base.
Increased customers, with female staff drawing in their network of friends and family.
More relationship-based customer interaction, rather than pushy sales hype.
Women staff appeals to men – especially, once they realize she knows what she’s talking about, leading to newfound respect.
The ability to make a customer feel good about their purchase decision. Beyond price and other hard facts, how a customer feels is a proven influential component in purchasing or not.
Women in general are better listeners, and listening is a key factor in successful business and sales.
Female salespeople easily build a level of trust with customers, and combined with their knowledge and approachability will create sustained client relationships.

So why not join the trend and build your sales force up and staff with more women? The results will show in your bottom line.

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Comment by Sally Whitesell on March 7, 2012 at 7:47pm: A.J. Maida, you bring up a good point! I like to ask new advisors what reward would motivate them to work harder or make them consider writing service as a long term career. Nine times out of ten they tell me "More time off". I find that the advisors who are not working 50 plus hours a week stay in their positions longer and are more productive. Good or bad, the next generation or workers have a whole new set of priorities!

Comment by A. J. Maida on March 7, 2012 at 4:16pm: "Sally Whitesell

1 The hours are too long for a woman to manage a family life. (Women are still responsible for over 75% of all child rearing and household chores)

2. There are too many old stigmas about the job."

Sally it's interesting but these are the same points that apply to hiring Gen Y'rs. I am in a dealership that has one female sales consultant. We hired a Service Admin and I am encouraging her to learn everything because I think she could develop into a hell'uve service writer. A big problem is that management doesn't want to train newbies. You know how stars start? As newbies. I always had women on staff when I was a hiring Manager and they always made me look like a better manager!

Comment by Anne Fleming on February 28, 2012 at 10:29am: Sally - right on. I was with a top Toyota dealership last week and he said the very same thing. The model, is much like 'traditional retail' hours; it immediatly culls down the number of potential interested parties, as evening and saturday hours are not condusive with managing family life.

Comment by Sally Whitesell on February 28, 2012 at 10:19am: Most dealers tell me it is very hard to get women to apply for sales and service positions. After doing some research on this subject there were two reasons that stood out as to why.

1 The hours are too long for a woman to manage a family life. (Women are still responsible for over 75% of all child rearing and household chores)

2. There are too many old stigmas about the job.

These two issues must be addressed before we can hire a truly equal team.

Comment by Katie Colihan on August 29, 2011 at 7:20pm: My Power as a woman in the workplace has been difficult to establish, but now that I have, it's something I depend a lot on. Great post!

Comment by Craig Lockerd on August 26, 2011 at 6:06pm: Anne,we have about 15-20 Dealerships a week that we recruit,screen,interview and train inexperienced salespeople for...could you please call them and share this with them lol....Sales staff should be as diverse as the client base I would think

Comment by Anne Fleming on August 25, 2011 at 9:30pm: Get your point completely and the intention is not to further stereotypes, but rather to look at new ways to grow business and further long standing relationships. There are currently a projected 3-4% saleswomen in the auto industry. The opportunity for dealers is to hire good salespeople - (yes, men and women) who discern and deliver with these skills sets. The industry has lived since its inception with excellent salespeople - almost exclusively men. What if by intentionally pooling from a non-tapped group, they can add to that team? What difference would that make to a dealerships' bottom line and repeat buyers there?

Comment by Sam David on August 25, 2011 at 3:26pm: Whether your staff are women or men, judge them on results, not gender. To assume a women is a better istener or a man is a pushy salesperson is an effort to promulgate stereotypes that have no basis in fact.

Comment by Tony Provost on August 25, 2011 at 10:51am: Anne- Great post! You are right on with #7. Very interesting read. Have a great day.

Comment by Stephanie Young on August 25, 2011 at 10:00am: #5 is one of my best tools in my toolkit. It is a phenomenon to me, but being a female who can talk smart about cars has opened many a door that others found to be closed.