Selling to Women: The Myths, The Realities
By Gerry Myers
Myth: To sell to women, just make it pink.
Reality: My favorite, the Pink Myth, was created by manufacturers and retailers who decided the best marketing strategy when targeting women was to make it pink. While a lovely color, pink is just that-a color. It is not a marketing tool. In fact, it is often a roadblock to success. For example, the 1950s rose-colored Dodge Le Femme lasted a mere two years and sold less than 1,000 units. Likewise, the Cadillac Baroness and Pontiac Parisian, both blatantly targeted at women, were low sellers.
Even though these marketing ploys were flawed, automotive manufacturers weren't alone in their miscalculations. Many have tried to capture the female market by "coloring it pink." As more women traveled for business, hotel rooms turned pastel. In the late 1950s, Royal made a pink typewriter. Tires, running shoes, tool sets and even gun grips have turned pink in pursuit of the feminine buyer.
As in the days of yesteryear, the female consumer today is interested in far more than color. She wants to be respected and appreciated as a customer, not stereotyped and patronized. She demands professional, knowledgeable salespeople, not someone pandering her. She needs to build relationships based on trust and integrity, not lies and half-truths.
Myth: You will lose male customers if you target women.
Reality: Manufacturers, brand managers and dealerships have wasted a lot of energy worrying about losing their male customers if they are successful with females. This isn't going to happen for a number of reasons, including:
- 1. Women buy half of all vehicles purchased for personal use and influence more than 80%. Statistically speaking, this would indicate that sales would increase with both men and women, if the number of women happy with your dealership grew.
- 2. Men love automotive products and are not going to stop buying them.
- 3. Companies that have asked women what they want, and listened to them, have increased their sales to women while maintaining their male customers. For example, in the early 1980s when Jockey International decided to make a line of women's underwear, their bottom line almost doubled. They retained their male customer base while adding an untapped market to their sales strategies.
Myth: Little things aren't as important to women as big things.
Reality: Little things are big things to women. How a woman is treated can be as critical to the sale as the product or price. In fact, most of the time, it is more important. Women are value-added consumers. They will pay more if they perceive value in it. Conversely, they will terminate the sales process if they feel they are talked down to, ignored or told to bring their husband in to discuss the finances.
Myth: There is no difference between men and women so salespeople need no special training or information.
Reality: To comprehend why women buy what they do, you must understand that their decision-making processes and motivators are different from men's. Automotive salespeople need to realize when a woman walks into the showroom, her life experiences probably include personal car buying horror stories, awful reports from friends and negative TV exposes. By trying to understand how she feels and thinks, rather than judging her "chip on the shoulder" attitude, you will be in a better position to complete the sale. To improve your knowledge of women, you can:
- Read magazines she reads.
- Realize how vulnerable she feels when she has a mechanical problem and why reliability is so important to her.
- Ask your wife, sister, daughter or co-worker how it feels when she is ignored in an automotive dealership or electronic store.
- Recognize that women are aware that they frequently pay more for vehicles, dry cleaning alterations and hair cuts.
- Watch TV exposes that reinforce the fact that she pays more than men for numerous purchases, gets worse tee times and is paid $.72 for every dollar a man makes with the same education, experience and capabilities.
Myth: Given an identical set of circumstances, men and women will generally react the same way and come to basically the same conclusions.
Reality: Men and women have different physical characteristics, brain construction, hormones and life experiences. These result in our being unique individuals with distinct personalities and traits. While many characteristics are innate or developed in response to the norms of our society, others reflect our gender.
To be successful with women, accept the reality of our differences and use them to your advantage. Build relationships and rapport. Create a win-win-selling situation. Then watch your business grow and prosper.
Gerry Myers, president of the Myers Group, provides consulting, keynote speeches and training on marketing and selling more effectively to women. She is the author of "Targeting the New Professional Woman." gmyers@dealeronline.com
