We are often told that women drivers go into a garage expecting to be ripped off or patronised and that this then makes them aggressive and, occasionally, challenging to deal with.
Just imagine how off-putting this can be if you are a female friendly garage already, wanting to do the right thing for women drivers from the word go yet she is treating you with the same suspicion as she might an unscrupulous garage where this attitude might be totally justified.
So I was interested to read the latest US research that people behave less charitably in dirtier environments than in a clean work place which is what they found in a study called The Smell of Virtue, carried out at the Kellogg School of Management at North Western University. Not only do morality and cleanliness go hand in hand it would appear but simply making a room smell fresher is enough to cause a subconscious impulse towards fair play and honesty.
In this study, just a few sprays of a lemon-scented cleaner produced a noticeable improvement in ethical behaviour whereas those who worked in unfragranced areas were less likely to act charitably to others.
May I suggest that the UK motor industry come up with a suitably fragranced range of reception and workshop scents to be used in garages and dealerships? One that masks testosterone perhaps?
I believe in this theory because I know that smell sells all sorts of things; just the smell of freshly roasted coffee can sell the experience of living in the house that is one the market…
In this instance, I imagine that a female associates a clean (neat and tidy) organisation with one she wants to do business with, whereas one whose reception and waiting area are coloured black, and smell of fuel and oils, may well be seen as a dirty business in her mind. This scent association can then transfer to the brand and the garage experience in her head - suggesting that this is a business that will care about her family safety, or not as the case might be.
How interesting to imagine that the right garage scent could reassure suspicious women drivers and surly front of house garage staff to find some common ground with a view to a future business relationship!
I hope one of the leading air freshener companies might give this a whirl and suggest they call such a range ‘FOXY Scents’ for garages that want to make their businesses more female friendly in future 
. We’d be happy to introduce some female friendly FOXY Choice garage subscribers to act as guinea pigs here!!
FOXY Steph
Tags: female friendly, FOXY Choice, freshener, scent, The Smell of Virtue