This is the second installment of a series on how to market and sell to women consumers. Not only do women account for more than half of all vehicles sold in the United States today, they are the driving force in the service department. Women have a tremendous influence on your backend. Check out these facts:

• 83 percent of women are responsible for the maintenance of their own vehicles
• Women represent 73 percent of service facility customers
• Women purchase roughly 81 percent of riding lawn mowers
• Women carry 76 million credit cards; eight million more than men
• 85 percent of CSI surveys are completed by women

The service department is crucial to the profitability of your dealership. It is important to discuss how to bring more women consumers into your service department and improve your sales and communications skills so that you can successfully sell to these women.

As you may know, AskPatty.com is an automotive advice site and we provide articles and tips for women as well. We address questions and concerns from women consumers every day. One of the most frequent complaints from visitors is the manner in which they are spoken to by the service advisors. We are regularly told that they feel they are spoken down to and made to feel stupid by the advisor. The lack of patience some advisors display is considered extremely rude by these same women.

Working on the service drive is a very stressful and busy job, but let’s put it in perspective. Working in the service department pales in comparison to being a mother and managing all the demands of children and their hectic schedules. The family vehicle is the main transport to and from school and all the various events to which children need to be taxied on a daily basis. The challenge of managing the various events has even spurred web sites designed to help parents find carpools to get the kids back and forth to sports practice. One of my neighbors with three children spends his Saturday shuffling between dance lessons, karate and soccer. We have joked about painting his car yellow and putting a sign on the roof offering taxi service.

When the family taxi needs service it generates a number of problems for mom that many in the dealership probably do not even consider, but may explain why we get so many calls looking for updates and why parents often seem so stressed when in the service lane.

I am going to let you in on a few tips that will help you sell successfully to women. Whatever you can do to establish and maintain a relationship with a female customer will make her feel more comfortable and therefore more likely to buy from you. Establishing a connection should be your primary goal. If you do that, the sale will almost take care of itself. One of the first things that you need to do is listen to her.

Women talk twice as much as men and it is imperative that you listen to them effectively. It is important that you allow her to express her concerns and do not try to answer her questions before she finishes asking them. The most important thing is to talk to them with respect and do not talk down to them. If you take the time to explain the repairs and the benefits of having the work done, you will be much more successful.

Communication is the most important aspect you need to work on. Women, especially working women with children, are on a very tight schedule, so providing them accurate information and respecting their time will go a long way in building a strong relationship.

Sometimes just being truthful isn’t enough. Many women contact us and ask for validation on what they were told at the dealership. They don’t necessarily think you are lying to them, but their frustration or concern comes from the way they are being spoken to. When you spend the time to explain the process in a respectful manner, (and avoid being patronizing) you avoid the doubt or the distrust. You can avoid these feelings and the need for a third-base coach if you take the time to work with women.

The next important tip is to make sure that if a man and woman come into the service drive together, and it is her vehicle, that you address her. Most people make the mistake of addressing the man and ignoring the woman. For example, one of the team members of AskPatty happens to be a car enthusiast and drives an Acura RSX-S. She knows more about cars than most men I know and she refuses to take her husband into the dealership when she takes her car in for service because the service writer always talks to him and this frustrates her. As she put it, he doesn’t even know his car needs oil in the engine, much less what type of service it might need. The service writer doesn’t even realize he’s talking to the same guy who let his car run out of oil completely before he realized something was wrong with it. She commented that this experience makes her want to take her business to another dealer, which is a reaction you want to avoid at all costs.

Some other ideas to help you to build a relationship with your women clients:
• Respect their time and time constraints. Understand that they are usually on a tight time frame. Look for evidence of children that may be a clue to some of the activities that they are working around. Respecting their time will go a long way to foster a strong relationship.
• Ask her what her concerns are about the service, and then listen.
• Take the time to explain the work that needs to be done and if possible show her on the vehicle what needs to be repaired and the benefits of having the work done. Do not just tell her what needs to be done and expect her to take you at your word that it needs to be done.

These tips are just a few that will help you establish a trusting relationship with your female customers. It doesn’t end here, but it is a good beginning.

Peter Martin is the founder and CEO of AskPatty.com, the premier automotive advice site for women and has one of the most visited and respected blogs on the Internet. Ask Patty provides a turnkey marketing program for dealers to help them communicate and sell to women.