After all, were we not taught segmentation as a very elementary marketing technique?

I mention this because, according to The Centre for Brand Analysis (TCBA), women are attracted by gender stereotypical brands such as cosmetics, fashion and household products.

As if this would be a surprise to anyone (other than so many men reading Good Housekeeping perhaps…)?

Apparently the most attractive brands to women are Braun, which achieved 24% more female than male votes in the Superbrands poll, Fisher-Price with 23% more votes and Bobbi Brown with 22% more.

Other female-oriented brands that show a high gender bias in the survey’s results are Good Housekeeping magazine (19% more female voters than male voters), pushchair manufacturer Silver Cross (18% more), crayon maker Crayola (17% more) and tissue brand Kleenex (16% more). Providers of luxury experiences, such as spa Champneys, resort chain Sandals and luxury products such as Royal Doulton, Swarovski and Whittard of Chelsea also demonstrate a clear female bias.

Marketing Week comments “Despite this, brands still have to work out how they can appeal to women and there is no single strategy for marketing to them.”

I’d suggest that’s because we are a more complex gender to market to because we go through more life cycle step changes than most. For example we are more likely to be shopping for children/older relatives or with their needs in mind, whatever our age.

And increasingly we are wealthier, more independent and more assertive when it comes to our shopping behaviour.

I’d be interested to know the research about motoring, for example. Certainly the UK motor industry is well overdue a female friendly business makeover although it’s a tough market to crack. Many businesses can’t even sign our straightforward FOXY Promise because they are being paid on a commission basis (so they can’t in all honesty promise they won’t sell customers services we don’t need…)

“I’d also add that imho women are the fussier shoppers so we can be harder to please! Businesses that are seen as female friendly are therefore going the extra mile for all shoppers, not just women. So to see a female friendly sign on the door is a good thing for men too.

FOXY Steph

Search for the good and female friendly UK garages near you.

Find out about a motoring association for women and enjoy female friendly services for a change.

For example, if you wanted to talk to the decision maker in a B2B set up you’d do your research about the likely business function to find the buyer in, you’d find out who heads it up and decide how to contact them with your offer.

Why should it be different when it comes to B2C and ways to find the right consumer to talk to about their family spend? And your research would tell you that in so many cases, it’s the woman who makes the household, family, fashion, leisure and travel decisions; the woman who decides where to buy; the woman who is doing her shopping homework and buying more and more online; and the woman who networks naturally and influences her peers, friends and family on the basis of a favourable or uncomfortable buying experience.

So why not set out to talk to her above all, in industries like the UK motor industry with a reputation as one of the last male bastions and where women drivers often feel like second class citizens, no matter their wealth…

It’s just good business sense, surely?

Not always as easy to do as it seems of course when women can be as different as chalk and cheese when it comes to the many different stages in their consumer lives.  Chalk and cheese in terms of their needs and expectations, from novice driver days through motoring and community Mum-dom, to female executive company car drivers and then despite having lots of time and money to spend,  so many ‘older’ female consumers feel they are ignored…

And the solution is rarely to ‘colour it pink’ as that suggests a distinct lack of original thinking…

What women want is to know they are dealing with a female friendly business that

• respects them
• understands and addresses their needs
• actively welcomes them
• is honorable and ethical
• can be trusted to put their female and family welfare to the fore
• offers value for money (not necessarily cheap…)
• is well organised
• is easy to do business with…
• is a business they are proud to endorse and recommend

In short female friendly businesses are the ones that go the extra mile to win the female purse in contrast to other businesses that think men and women are the same and genuinely don’t know how to please their female customers without patronising them…

Which flies in the face of elementary segmentation practice in modern day Marketing methods…

Think of it this way….

Why wouldn’t women choose a female friendly business that offers the above rather than one that, quite simply, can’t be bothered to put females on the pedestal they deserve despite knowing that many women feel ill at ease in a male dominated industry like the UK motor industry?

And why don’t UK businesses try harder for women? Because we have yet to vote with our purse.

Which we will do as soon as we know we have a choice… and then businesses that haven’t understood how to do it for females will soon queue up to learn the basic rules…

FOXY Steph

Find out about FOXY Choice’s female friendly garages that have promised never to ‘overcharge, patronise or sell women services they don’t need or want’ when it comes to servicing or repairing their cars…

Why bother making the industry more female friendly I can hear you ask? That’s the easy part! Because on a global scale women control about $20 trillion in annual consumer spending, and that figure could climb as high as $28 trillion in the next five years. And even more impressive – women represent a growth market bigger than China and India combined – more than twice as big to be precise. So you need to be there in her mind to get your share.

To be more female friendly, first and foremost, the retail motor industry MUST employ more females in all areas and levels of the business. At present some 20% of the retail industry are females and I read recently that c10% of females are in management jobs (which was higher than I had imagined…).

That’s pathetic of course but knowing that you must employ more women, how do you address the perceived chasm that the industry is not a female friendly employer alongside the self-perpetuating machismo that drives service levels and communications towards men. An example of this is where manufacturers focus on the performance of cars rather than their usefulness and when aftersales staff use unnecessary jargon and cause the female fog factor; in my experience this is common when it comes to car engines…

Yes, to employ a female she should be the best candidate for the job (as opposed to the only gender prepared to do it for so little?) so not anyone will do. If it is a business’s first female employee they may have to rethink their recruitment and employment policy too as well as staff amenities.

In many ways small garages are easier to make female friendly, especially when the often family owned business includes the wife, Mum, daughter or partner who gets involved on a daily basis. She makes it female friendly at customer level because she knows what women want and fear most.

The tricky cultural issue is more often in dealerships where the Dealer Principal is more likely to be a man and supported by male managers in the aftersales and car sales business units. Even if they wanted to employ females, few can work out how to do this or where to recruit them without falling foul of the equal opportunities lobby. Nor do many women read automotive job vacancies because they perceive this to be an unfriendly business to work in. So the male recruitment level is self-perpetuating and fulfilling…

There is a massive job to be done to encourage employers to recruit women and women to realise that their feminine talents can be used to add serious value to the balance sheet in future.

I have written the word ‘talents’ above and I can almost hear some males sniggering at this whilst they imagine the sort of feminine talents that are first to their mind ie we are not talking brains here. Having visited smart dealership and less smart garage workshops I know that both environments are equally as likely to have topless calendars and posters on show. I find them extremely demeaning and imagine I am not alone here.  If that is the business culture that is allowed in the workplace, no wonder female staff and customers alike would feel ill at ease and may well sense being patronised or treated as sex objects when they go to buy a car or garage services.

So what’s to be done, assuming the UK market finally gets its act together before we all go online and cut out the middle men.

Why not have a look at a new female friendly approved scheme including consultancy services, training and accreditation at femalefriendlyapproved.com.

And to find out about a unique range of female friendly marketing services for UK garages and dealerships, there’s always FOXY Choice providing you can meet the FOXY Promise© in real life.

FOXY Steph

According to car sales giant Motorpoint who decided to ask, 77% of those they sampled thought women needed their own shopping car parks in the UK (not sure if the respondents were all male , female or some of each…).

This survey was fuelled by tales of a stylish and female friendly car park reserved for women drivers in a shopping centre in Hebei in China. And apparently there have been similar female friendly marketing to women initiatives in Japan and Russia.

But it’s still rare in the UK and I sense a deep seated male resistance here to associate all this marketing to women as being sexist. On the other hand, many women (me included) object big time to being marketed to as being frilly or empty-headed a la ‘colour it pink’ marketing tactics we so often see.

Whatever the shopping occasion, women want to have all the information to hand, female feedback ideally, to make the right choice. Then it’s up to them. A good example of this is the female friendly FOXY Choice garage website where women drivers can do their buying homework in FOXY’s Good Garage Guide and then check out which local garages, fastfits and dealerships have agreed to ‘never overcharge, patronise or sell women services they don’t want.’

It’s full of information that isn’t online elsewhere and very soon it will include the female feedback women like – the sort of thing that savvy women want to read for their peace of mind, before getting their credit card out…

Of course if more male business owners knew as much about the workings of the female brain as they do about gadgets, computers and car mechanics (try The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine for some OMG eye-opening facts) more of them would understand how women think and react and (might) try harder to get it right for her in future.

If China is prepared to invest in getting it right for female consumers, why not the UK?

FOXY Steph

“Being a woman is a terribly difficult task, since it consists principally in dealing with men.”
Joseph Conrad

Despite the doom and gloom of 2010 there are new market opportunities just around the corner that many garages may not have considered yet.

For example, more motorists than ever are keeping cars longer and need trustworthy garages to keep them running sweetly; they may also need replacing soon. These motorists might have been used to selling their car before its third birthday and have little experience dealing with MOTs or car servicing that might previously have been covered by a 3 year dealership warranty.

Another big audience is that of women drivers who account for some 50% of garage customers but often dread the ultra-male garage experience come MOT, car servicing or repair times. More than 20 million Google searches were being made for female friendly businesses during 2009 and to see which local garages are promoting themselves as female friendly online you just enter ‘female friendly garage’ and your post town into Google.

New car dealerships need to attract garage service customers as well; this is an important way to retain customer contact, earn well into the process and then introduce the customer to the car showroom at the right time, knowing that every new and used car sale counts…

The following business tips are specifically designed to remind garages and dealerships how to maximise their business revenues during a downturn.

1.   Put existing customers first, ahead of new ones – they are cheaper to keep in touch with and they can influence others.

2.   Emphasise a ‘value for money’ message – no matter your brand, saving money is essential in a downturn.

3.   Encourage a topical ‘maintain and repair’ culture – running a well-maintained older car can be both cost effective and environmentally friendly (and it is the lifeblood of your garage business).

4. Explain why OE parts are better than cheaper alternatives – just in case motorists might be considering saving money here without understanding the consequences

5.   Consider including emissions checks to reduce fuel costs.

6.   Emphasise impressive mpg performance, low VED & insurance group ratings to help sell a used car quickly – low running costs are important in a downturn.

7.   Do you review your products and services regularly – can you add value for the same price or economise and charge less in future?

8.   Make sure that you are always seen to be on your customer’s side. Never patronise, overcharge or try to sell anything that isn’t wanted or needed.

9.  Test ‘exclusive’ offers and loyalty incentives – then measure the response. If at first this doesn’t work, try it again – it takes time for new things to take off and it might not be the right month for his or her MOT and/or next car service.

10.  Don’t forget the growth in online shopping and the need for search engine visibility here – as well as your website, is your business name getting noticed by future customers in news PR, are you ever mentioned in blogs, on social networking websites or as a Twitter tweet?

For more information about female friendly business marketing services for garages, fastfits and car dealerships by all means contact me at FOXY Choice via fcsales@foxychoice.com.

FOXY Steph

]]> http://www.foxyladydrivers.com/foxyblog/2009/12/22/how-garages-can-win-new-business-in-2010/feed/ 0 http://www.foxyladydrivers.com/foxyblog/2009/09/28/under-the-counter-underwear-traffic-in-iran/ http://www.foxyladydrivers.com/foxyblog/2009/09/28/under-the-counter-underwear-traffic-in-iran/#comments Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:09:02 +0000 foxysteph http://www.foxyladydrivers.com/foxyblog/?p=544 Continue reading →]]> How easy it is for me to complain about a lack of female friendly businesses in the UK and about ways that many market towards women.

Whilst many businesses do have failings here, such as in the UK motor industry, they’d have to go a long way to compare with shops in Iran where women wanting to buy underwear, for example, may have to go undercover and deal under the counter even to buy their next bra or pack of panties.

Women there have my sincere sympathies for as long as the President Ahmadinejad regime continues.

Last week Iranian police warned shop owners not to display female mannequins wearing underwear or showing off curves as part of a government campaign against Western influence.

In a letter published in the state-owned IRAN Daily, the authorities also stated that men should not sell women’s underwear and advised shopkeepers not to dress models with neckties or bow-ties because these are considered Western and therefore alien to Islamic culture.

Wednesday’s warning also repeated a previous yet unspecific threat not to display ‘immoral pictures’ which usually mean the likes of Western celebrities, music bands or even words written in English.

Thank goodness we live in a liberal society even if it isn’t as female friendly as I’d like it to be.

And whilst this might seem comical to many, how worrying it is to think that the word ‘warning’ may well mean much more than that for offenders.

Stupid question in my book but you have to ask, in case someone thinks differently and wishes to have their say (and are most welcome so to do…).

Of course women have different expectations and needs, subject to all the caveats you might expect when making sweeping generalisations; knowing that not all women or men are the same as each other.

However marketing research clearly pinpoints that women are more aware of aesthetics than men so any garage that wants to make the right impression on women needs to understand how this works for us.

No this doesn’t mean painting reception areas pink or buying frilly scatter cushions chaps although I for one would be thrilled to see less of the depressing black in future .

In real life, I find that I am much more aware of my surroundings than my husband.  For example, when I ask him if he liked a particular decor at a friends’ home, he can rarely remember colours, styles or new furniture.

And we’re different in the kitchen too – my husband is no domestic slouch I hasten to add…

When I tidy up in the kitchen at the end of the day I clear and wash all surfaces whereas my husband leaves the washing up liquid visible because it’s handy for the next time with the milk bottles ready to go outside (but that’s another job…) alongside any glass jars which he has thoughtfully washed up but isn’t sure what to do with them next…

I tidy up after him the next morning and I have no doubt that if I didn’t they’d still be sitting there, and more ‘ornaments’ would join them again and again.

Newspapers and magazines are another thing Paul would keep rather than recycle and there is always a quantity of very worthwhile jobs in progress, dotted around our home, waiting for things to be bought or the time to repair them and such like.

Whilst I’m at it, in pursuit of making my point of course, I also know that dusting isn’t on his radar either because when he has ‘done his bit’ in the house, the finger along the shelf test is never wrong.

Imagine this in a garage situation where there is no female to tidy up behind a typically 100% male team and where many of the jobs done are what we girls would call dirty. How easy it is to leave oil marks on shared washroom taps, on newspapers technicians have read in their lunch break, on car upholstery where this has not been covered properly and even customer paperwork. I could go on.

Even the smartest looking car dealerships and Dealer Principals are happy to see their workshop technicians photographed in grimy uniforms and don’t seem to see the disconnect between their brand values here.

And those dreadful wall posters of scantily clad models – no wonder so many women feel ill at ease in the company of men who think it’s normal to leer at women like this in their working environment. I could go on but I  won’t…

On a more positive note, businesses with women in their ranks are usually more female friendly and welcoming business environments.  Fact.  And being female, we can often find a way to encourage our men into more female friendly ways which they don’t always quite understand but are happy to do, simply to keep us happy. Bless!

The obvious conclusion is that garages need to employ more women and to ask them how to make their environment more female friendly – they may be surprised at how easy this is and the loyalty that this then produces.

It’s back to gender psychology of course.  Men and women can help each other do a better job by working together but with 80% of the UK retail motor industry workforce male, there’s still some way to go.

FOXY Steph

“What would men be without women? Scarce, sir, mighty scarce.”
Mark Twain

But in male oriented environments like garages, car showrooms, DIY stores and computer/gadget shops among many others perhaps there is a need for these businesses to appreciate what women want and how they might attract more female customers in future.

Googling on ‘female friendly UK businesses’ and using the UK pages filter I find stories about making Lara Croft more female friendly, a female friendly cycle show in Hertfordshire and female friendly iPod and iPhone accessories.

Are they talking about a cynical  ‘pink’ marketing makeover and surface level message to attract fickle females or is this a genuine attempt to understand our shopping needs and give us what we want (to then benefit from our business…).

My experience is in the motor industry and there is a long way to go here.  Very few businesses are doing it right and when I talk to many car dealerships the word ‘complacency’ is the feeling I get in too many cases. There are huge opportunities here.

I’d like to see UK garages, dealers and franchised dealerships selling a message of safety, environmental issues and an ethical way of doing business in their future communications to women.  These are the underlying and influencing factors that can distinguish one business from another [complacent] one to pecuniary advantage.

I think that these aspects are MUCH more impressive than ‘women welcome’ signs at the door.

There is a risk in any female friendly marketing message of course that the business becomes too female oriented that it alienates its male audience -  it’s always a question of balance.

And businesses mustn’t patronise their female audience either. This is more complex I’d say. For example,  I have a personal problem with the use of the word ‘Madam’ for example. It makes me feel as if I am about to be awkward and it really offends me…

And many women insist on the use of Ms whereas others expect us to know when they are Miss – it’s not easy I accept.

As always the hunt is on for he or she that does it better, offering more for less.

Not just for women either but for men too.

Yet if the performance benchmark is set to satisfy fussy women (and aiming to please professional ie fussy shoppers is where customer service aspirations should be pitched imho…) then men are likely to be delighted as a consequence.

But beware of unintended consequence. I understand that a significant number of Sheila’s Wheels customers are gays and I doubt that was part of the Bank of Scotland’s marketing strategy when they came up with their TV ads. Or their underwriting risk portfolio for that matter!

FOXY Steph

Find out about female friendly local garages, dealers and franchised dealerships here…

“Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.”
Oscar Wilde

My personal opinion, based on everday anecdotal evidence, is that very few UK garages and main dealerships know what women drivers want or how to talk to us in workshop and car showroom situations.

The forum feedback remains 100% male to date and some are clearly supporting the status quo which is not good enough for men or women. Whilst I know that others in the trade were trying to be helpful they had not done their homework about my business or me before dashing into print – this is another characteristic difference between the genders – men dash in to sort it out and claim the glory/trophy whereas women take time to do their homework first and then to make the ‘informed’ purchase.

I am also used to the many so called ‘experts’ in the UK motor industry who know I am not a trade person and imply that their findings are the Holy Grail for me (gee thank you guys…) without realising that I might know something more useful for them to find out, to benefit their business.

No surprises there as this is exactly what the male oriented motor industry does – it patronises women drivers, thinks it knows best and carries on as before!!

Rather than waste discussion time with a ‘marketing expert’  (who knows less about marketing to women than me) I’d prefer to move on, to make a real difference to service levels for women who could have a great career in the motor industry and for female customers who often dread visiting garages, dealers and showrooms.

Yes the US is ahead of us in terms of recognising and attempting to address the power of the female purse but their business models aren’t the only way to go as the increasingly popular  FOXY Choice and FOXY Lady Drivers Club websites demonstrate.

FOXY Steph

“Why should women have to apply to the head of state for the right to drive a car? Their husbands or brothers should decide.”
Colonel Gaddafi – June 2009 (like so many in the UK motor industry , not quite at the cutting edge of feminism yet…)

I hope you are doing well – many independent garages are I find, and perhaps that is because their aftersales prices are often (but not always) cheaper than dealers, combined with the fact that it has been cool to defer buying new cars for a while.  Pre-scrappage I agree but probably true during the rest of 2009, even if there might be a mini car sales bonanza come the summer.

Or are the independent garages marketing themselves more effectively than many dealers or franchised car dealerships?

FOXY certainly has more independent garages promoting themselves as female friendly than new car dealerships but there again new car dealerships have been more affected by the recession because of the down in new car sales. That and the fact that Ford, Peugeot and Mazda, at least, expect their  dealerships to subscribe to the Motor Industry Service and Repair Code even though these dealerships must surely exceed these minimum standards and may well face more complaints as a result in areas where cost conscious motorists have no independent garage choice to meet their needs.

Perhaps it is because most manufacturers are new car sales oriented and few seem to appreciate that the aftersales function is the backdoor into finding new customers that aren’t on their database yet? And maximising workshop income of course.

We find that many Dealer Principals have told Sales and Aftersales Managers to cut all costs including marketing. Others are definitely adopting a ‘let’s wait and see’ approach and of course it’s always easier to do nothing… but is that wise when others are beavering away behind the scenes…?

Fortunately some dealerships (and definitely internet car dealers) are taking a much more bullish stance and using any down time as a sales opportunity to position themselves in a different light, come the good times.

I also see companies quietly buying up struggling competitors and cherry-picking the best local employees that may have been laid off by their competitors – qualified technicians in particular.

These businesses know the good times will pay back this investment in spades and make up for the temporary cashflow shortfall.

They also know and are reacting to the knowledge that customers, including women drivers, are expecting and seeing deals wherever they go. This makes them more likely to shop around than ever, using the interweb, to sample other value-for-money products and services.

This makes a recession a fantastically fertile time to win new customers if you get out there with the right sales message. And if you are not there you send out the wrong message to customers…

I have just read an excellent article written by an American PR company saying things after my own heart in this context, recommending that businesses banish sayings like “but we’ve always done it this way” and replace them with “how can we do different things” and “how can we add more value to the customer experience”.

Gentlemen dealers, you are looking at a UK gift horse marketing solution in the heading of this blog.

You should be marketing to more women drivers. We are the ones that either buy or influence most of the big ticket purchases.  We want to know what makes you better than the rest and that you really do care about us in an industry that, quite frankly, is seen to fall woefully short in so many female customer service areas.

Whereas if you work with a female brand like FOXY you’ll learn to understand women drivers better AND your male customers won’t think that you have had a barand personality change or gone frilly overnight!

For example (shameless sales plug follows…) if you can sign the female friendly FOXY Promise we can start to market you as female friendly, online and in your local community. You get your own female friendly website presence (which you can measure) as well as a Female Friendly Marketing Pack and the opportunity to promote yourself to members of FOXY Lady Drivers Club.

With prices from £60 for a basic (not measurable) entry to £180 plus VAT for a 12 months unique and fully inclusive package what are you waiting for? What’s not to go for it!

FOXY Steph

“Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well”
Josh Billings

See which local garages, dealers and new car dealerships are listed as female friendly already…