Nissan to Add Women to Japan's Sales Force

Tokyo December 11, 2005; The AP reported that Nissan Motor Co. will double the percentage of females in its Japanese sales force over the next two years because the public "would prefer to have a woman sell them a car," Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said Friday.

Japan's second-largest automaker will boost the proportion of women on showroom floors to 10 percent from 5 percent by the fiscal year ending March 2008 and raise that of female technical advisers to 20 percent from 11 percent, Ghosn said.

The move comes after a slump in October sales and is meant to respond to customer surveys showing that buyers in traditionally male-dominated Japan respond better to female salespeople than to their male colleagues.

"The bottom line is that _ statistically _ more than half the public say they would prefer to have a woman sell them a car," Ghosn said while unveiling the plan to a group of 100 saleswomen at a seminar in Tokyo.

"In business, when you encounter a statistic like that, you had better sit up and listen," Ghosn said.

Tokyo-based Nissan has 142 dealerships in Japan and started the drive for more saleswomen here because it owns about 50 percent of the showrooms.

Ghosn said market research shows that buyers respond better to women staff because females are more skilled in showing empathy and in connecting with customers and understanding their needs.

Nissan has been on a roll since embarking on a revival under the leadership of Ghosn, who was sent in by alliance partner Renault SA of France in 1999. Before his arrival, Nissan had lost money for years, but the company has returned to profitability.

In October, Nissan said it had reached a key target in its turnaround plan by increasing its annual global sales by 1 million vehicles compared to three years ago. For the year through September, the company sold 3.67 million vehicles worldwide _ more than 1 million from the 2.6 million vehicles sold in the fiscal year ended March 2002.

But domestic sales slid 19 percent in October.

Ghosn said the decision to recruit more saleswomen was in response to public demand, not the October drop. He offered no figures on how the move might impact sales, but said it was taking Nissan "in the right direction."

Nissan has about 30,000 employees in Japan, and 18,000 in sales. Women account for about 800 of the sales staff.

Nissan's profit for the July-September quarter climbed 8 percent to 125 billion yen ($1.04 billion) as strong sales around the world offset rising raw material costs and discount incentives to sell cars in North America.