Appealing to a Female Customer Base
Last time we discussed women workers in the auto industry and touched on how having women on your staff might attract more women customers to your auto repair shop. Some women are much more comfortable doing business with other women or choose to support businesses that offer opportunities to women.
Do you have women techs on your staff? This question came up in our forums, and a number of our members wrote that they had female techs, it had worked out well for them, and had, in fact, been a way for them to stand out from their competition. While everyone’s experiences with employee interactions are different, many auto repair shops do try to recruit women techs and staff so that their numbers are more a reflection of society in general.
Even if your auto repair shop doesn’t have female techs or has a largely male staff, there are things that you can do to appeal more to a female clientele. As it is many women believe that the auto repair industry discriminates against women because women tend to be less knowledgeable about what is wrong with their cars and what fixing them involves. Given this, the following are some things you can do to bring more women through your doors.
Offer workshops and tips – There are plenty of practical tips you can give on basic car care that will make people feel more knowledgeable and comfortable with their cars. Offering workshops on your premises will bring people in, and being encouraging while educating will go a long way toward building relationships in your community. If you choose to do this, make sure you let any neighborhood organizations know. They may wind up referring new neighbors to your auto repair shop as well.
Focus some of your marketing on women – You don’t need to change the tone of your newsletter or replace all of your car pics with pink ones, but pay attention to the questions or concerns you hear from your female customers, and include those, with answers, in your marketing either online or in your newsletters.
Ask your women employees and friends to give you input about your business from a female perspective – If you find out that there are areas where service is poor or lacking, take the appropriate steps to remedy these things. Women often expect different things from a customer service interaction, for instance. Training your employees about customers’ differing needs is always helpful
Ultimately, it’s your business, and you need to manage it to best suit your customers, but it’s always good to remember that people view the world – and its businesses – from different perspectives, and women often see things differently than men. Since women bring 65% of business to the auto repair industry, it would be foolish to discount their perspective as unimportant.
Responses