More women purchase and maintain their vehicles than ever before. Yet for many women, taking care of their cars can be a daunting task — especially if they don't trust their repair advisor or counterperson. According to Skip Merrick, automotive chairman at Alfred State College, women impact eight out of 10 vehicle sales and nearly half of tire sales. That in itself makes it imperative that automotive service professionals understand how to interact with women to reap the benefits of sales and repeat business with them.
Merrick has created an ethics training program to help participants understand the vulnerability and intimidation that many women experience when dealing with automotive maintenance. The program is part of a required service manager/consultant course where students learn how to effectively run an automotive business. Through role-playing scenarios and real-life experiences from female students and staff, students learn how women perceive the repair and maintenance process.
Some training highlights:
- Understand that a woman relies on her car in different ways than a man. For example, a woman faces a potentially vulnerable and dangerous situation when her vehicle stalls.
- Never use a condescending tone of voice, inappropriate language or refer to female customers by anything other than their first name.
- Maintain eye contact to communicate sincerity.
- Avoid using negative body language, such as folding arms, tapping a foot or checking a watch, that may communicate boredom or superiority.
Female purchasing characteristics also are covered. For instance, women will often drive up to 50 miles to give their business to a repair shop they trust.
"A woman looks for cleanliness, notices body language and seeks respect from whoever greets her," says Merrick.
Visit www.alfredstate.edu for more information.
