Is August too early for a New Year resolution to make 2012 a FEMALE FRIENDLY year in the UK motor industry?

I look at lots of motor industry websites, read lots of marketing blurb, see lots of job ads and industry news but it is still VERY rare to find a female focus despite the importance of the increasingly independent female pound.

So I’d like to suggest that the UK motor industry makes a start to a more female friendly agenda by making 2012 a FEMALE FRIENDLY year in the motor industry. There’s just about enough time to plan a campaign, given the willingness and a resource to do the job.

We all know the motor industry should be a more female friendly one already and there is a compelling business case to make it so; to boost sales by marketing to women-as-women (not men) intended to increase their loyalty and referrals through female-oriented communications and independent information about their best choices…

To do this would require an industry commitment from all key players to the following tactical activities and more…

• To iron out the 80:20 male:female workforce imbalance by recruiting more female staff, starting at the top of organisations
• To provide female friendly workplaces for women employees
• To market cars more creatively to women, using segmented female feedback as a tool
• To market independent advice (and why total independence matters to do with quality…) about garage standards to women
• To train male employees about the importance of the female purse and how they can gain her trust and business when it comes to shopping for new cars, garage services, motor insurance and car finance
• To understand what busy women look for when shopping online
• To remember that women are different when it comes to customer service levels and amenities.

Question   Isn’t this what the motor industry should be doing in any case? So why isn’t it?

Answer 1    Because some businesses think equality means providing women with services and standards designed by men for men.

Answer 2    Possibly because many men like the industry as it is.

Answer 3    Because many men at the top of organisations can’t see how to recruit women without  falling foul of equality legislation… coupled with the fact that new female recruits are less likely to have the motor industry experience that men do (thus perpetuating the imbalance of course…)

Answer 4     Or they haven’t spotted that female staff don’t fancy a job in what they perceive to be a male dominated motor industry… coupled with the fact they need to advertise outside the industry to reach women of course

Answer 5    Or that the few female stalwarts who have made it to the top of organisations have got there by thinking more ‘male’ than ‘female’ en route which other women may be less willing to, given more female friendly industry choices

Come on RMI, SMMT, SMTA and IMI. The business case for being FEMALE FRIENDLY in the UK motor industry is clear and whilst nothing short of a total cultural makeover is needed to do the job properly this has to start from somewhere and should surely start sooner rather than later…

And given a resource FOXY will happily play a key part in any FEMALE FRIENDLY business agenda in 2012.

What about a coordinated approach guys to all round mutual gain?

FOXY Steph

We still come across garages that don’t have their own garage services website.

Independents with a template page perhaps, hosted by a big directory name or simply a free classified listing.

Or several listings, for that matter, including expired links… leaving the searcher in limbo and unimpressed.

And the reason these listings often don’t work, is because they rarely do a good garage justice, when motorists are shopping online to compare car servicing and MOT choices.

Surprisingly, it’s only FOXY Choice‘s website that gives women the inside information they need about garage services, promoting the measurably best garages by virtue of quality credentials such as ATA, BSI Kitemark and OFT fully approved code logos. We do this because some businesses have invested in these superior quality schemes and deserve recognition for this commitment. And we also like the businesses that employ women, offer exemplary customer services and provide top notch facilities and amenities.

As FOXY sees it, these are all quality features that can help women make informed decisions about the garage services they buy and so that businesses that have gone that extra quality mile can stand out in a highly competitive crowd.

So the garages, fastfits and dealers who think they don’t need their own garage services website are leaving themselves open to foxy (as in shrewd, canny and astute) competitors bagging internet glory ahead of them. And in today’s tough business climate if you want to have a future, the internet is surely where it is, so you have to be in it to win it.

And not just any website will do…

Garages in a male dominated industry need a female friendly website to reassure wary women who worry about being overcharged and/or patronised. Especially now that more and more women are shopping online for garage services like car servicing, mechanical and bodywork accident repairs. Women are looking to compare service levels and whilst price is a vital consideration, they are also out to avoid the well publicised industry cowboys.

Which is why women are more likely than men to think twice about using a garage that isn’t visible online. And for that matter, given a choice, she is also likely to think twice about a business with a website that’s evidently been designed by and for men and where she might feel unwelcome.

So what makes a good garage website for women?

As always any business needs to see itself from its customers’ point of view. And bearing in mind that 50% of customers are female and they are often shopping for family cars as well as their own, it simply doesn’t make business sense to ignore our needs or to imagine that women are looking for the same service levels as men. They aren’t.

And the first question (after seeing that you offer what she’s looking for…) she’s looking to see answered is whether a business understands what she wants. In other words…

• Is this business talking to me (or is it the sort of male dominated place I’ll feel ill at ease in)?
• Why should I trust it?
• How much will it cost?
• Does it offer car collection/courtesy car services/child seats (and how do I check for availability and any terms and conditions)
• How else is it a female friendly garage…

Typically, a woman will take a matter of moments to make her mind up, after taking a visual snapshot of the website homepage. Much as we make judgements in minutes about new people we meet face to face, we also make a quick decision whether the garage in question will take the sort of care we expect them to when looking after our car (and our personal safety).

So a female friendly website homepage should include photos of real life women (staff and/or customers), reassure us with evidence of quality credentials and superior customer service, give us a price guideline and not major too heavily on off-putting jargon or talk about torque…

And when making it easy for customers to get a quote by email, foxy ladies really do expect a reply the same day. Not like the garage that told us recently in an automated reply – we will get back to you within six days because this email is hosted elsewhere…

In summary, if women see a website that is making an effort to communicate with them, using colour and video and catering for children too, they’ll be more likely to favour one that is evidently female friendly over one that thinks men and women should all be treated the same.

Vive la difference as always.

But the business cost of getting things wrong for women is a steep one, especially when others around you are getting it right. Whereas a happy female is more likely to visit a garage more often, to be loyal and spread the word among her family and friends.

FOXY Steph

Can female friendly car dealerships outfox Tesco Cars? This is the question on many dealers lips this week.

On behalf of women drivers I welcome Tesco’s entry into the car sales market because they cannot afford to get this wrong  and they know what we want. This gives them a distinct edge over many dealerships.

But if Tesco does get it wrong they will pay the price. Let’s not forget, this is the much complained about motor industry where used car quality can be a hit and miss affair and customer service is all too often an oxymoron.

To perform to Tesco standards, we can expect a tight contract to cover industry ethics as well as customer service, sales performance and commission levels. They want to sell Tesco car insurance and finance products too. So all cars must be HPI checked (easy) and inspected (RAC, sounds trustworthy) and costed competitively. All this needs to be 100% watertight because their stock of used cars includes fleet cars, ex rentals and Motability car returns which may or may not have been well cared for during their pre MOT years.

Fortunately they are leaving a big gap in the market by not offering a part exchange service; providing those that fill it don’t do what webuyanycar.com did by quoting a price online and then dropping this significantly when they came to collect the car.

And it’s relevant that Tesco’s cars are in Birmingham which means that you can’t always ‘see before you buy.’

The good news is that this is surely the time for car dealers to up their game with women in mind; it’s us that influence c80% of all car buying decisions and local dealers have the advantage here of being local and knowing cars.

My point is that because Tesco is a female friendly brand, I’d expect more dealership groups to think long and hard about their ‘marketing to women’ strategy.

Wake up guys. Selling cars isn’t the only way to sell cars…

Sell her female friendly garage services for starters, know what she wants, spoil her, prove she can trust you and she’ll look to you for advice when she’s next car shopping.

Why is this so hard for so many male dominated and car-sales-oriented franchised dealerships to understand?

FOXY Steph

Women wanting independent advice and support services when buying a new car can join FOXY Lady Drivers Club.

a clever marketing ploy to women

An innovative tyre retailer is selling handbags recycled from inner tubes.

Is shopping for car tyres a female friendly experience? Not in my experience. Essential car safety items of course but surely much of a muchness regardless of the detail… and not as enjoyable as shopping for fashion or beauty essentials items.

A creative tyre retailer in the US is trying to change female perceptions here by courting the female purse with a range of tyres, wheels and other services and accessories alongside a range of stylish female friendly (and distinctly more appealing) credit card holders, wallets, travel bags and unisex briefcases. All made from recycled inner tubes from spent farm tyres in Ohio, Virginia and Georgia.

You can imagine the conversation… “Please fit the tyres I need and now that’s out of the way <yawn> I’d like to try on your handbags…”

The female friendly tyre retailer is called Waukegan Tire in Illinois and they’re selling them at prices ranging from $24 to close to $400. A company called Passchal produce them.

The bit I like is using handbags to market to women AND be seen for their “green” initiatives as a source of competitive advantage. Very clever.

FOXY Steph

Members of FOXY Lady Drivers Club get advice about tyre maintenance, information about their choice of car tyres and special foxy offers. But no handbags yet ;-(.

I am not at all surprised to read that men and women have different relationships with big brands. Whether we like it or not, genders display stereotypical differences from birth so perhaps we should just accept this and not try to be PC in our business dealings.

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.

It’s not rocket science nor is it feminism prioritising the female buyer when she’s the one that makes the majority of the buying decisions.

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…

FOXY provides marketing services to help garages and dealerships become [and be seen as] more female friendly and my specialist subject is marketing to women so I do have a vested interest in this subject…

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

At first I thought this was a joke from Nationwide Autocentres in their latest newsletter but it isn’t.

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

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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.