Last night I met a lady who urged me to talk to "the world's greatest mechanic", so I will visit him, too. Watch for my next article - please send me an email and let me know if you have suggestions on who you would like me to visit (I will need contact information and a brief description of why that store or salesperson, mechanic etc is so good.)
I will only mention names of those whom I find to be friendly to women - feel free to email me your horror stories, and these articles will focus on the positive. Go to my website (above) for more in-depth information and photos about these women-friendly stores and employees.
I went out on Monday, May 19th, and visited almost every car and powersports dealership on 104th Avenue in Westminster/Thornton and on 120th Avenue in Broomfield. There were a total of 13 visits - I did skip a few, and will visit those at a later date. I found a mixed reception. I did not present myself as a customer; I pulled up alone in my dark blue 2007 Honda Civic LX Sedan, dressed nicely, and asked for the General Manager or the General Sales Manager.
My "real" job is working with SendOutCards, a relationship-building company that helps people act instantly on a "prompting" to keep in touch with family, friends, loved ones - and customers. I am introducing the automobile industry to an easy and inexpensive way to keep in touch and build better relationships with their customers. (I did not mention that I am writing for Womenof.com on women-friendly dealerships, on this first round of visits.)
I am 54 years old, and what really struck me about this first round of visits was how generally friendly and helpful the older salesmen were. I was also treated extremely well by Tree King at Grand Auto Inc (2000 W 104 Ave in Thornton) the only saleswoman I spoke to. John Spencer at the same store was helpful and pleasant as well.
Completely the opposite of what I expected, the younger salesmen (in their 20's and 30's) were the ones who appeared eager to impress upon me how unimportant I was, and to run interference with the management: "And you are? And who do you represent? And this is regarding? Do you have a card? He's busy right now." I don't know - it's not like these guys (salesmen) were doing anything else and I interrupted their busy schedule. I don't believe any of them offered information to me on who I should talk to, here's his name and number, call for an appointment.
The older gentlemen, as I mentioned, were generally very helpful, bringing me their manager or at least his card and usually suggesting a good time to call. Several other managers were helpful - Dan Peeples, the new-car manager at Mike Shaw Subaru, came out and spoke to me, and suggested getting together Thursday at noon (he was pretty busy but made time to speak to me personally.) Nick Meyers, salesman at Lithia Volkswagen of Thornton, was eager to help me, too - brought me right inside to introduce me to his General Sales Manager; when it turned out Mark was on a corporate call, Nick brought me his card and offered some suggestions on when to contact him.
Ed Kabbash, salesman at O'Meara Ford, was a font of great information, and I spent half an hour with him. Next, on to Northglenn Dodge, where manager Andy again offered much assistance; I'm sorry I did not get your last name, Andy!
I also had great rapport with several receptionists on my Monday odyssey - unfortunately, these ladies do not wear nametags, so I did not get most of their names (I was incognito for this first trip - from now on I will tell everyone I am writing for Womenof.com - wanted to see what kind of reception I would get without.) Diane Cherry, the six-year receptionist at GO Nissan North was friendly and helpful - when I went back today for my scheduled appointment with General Sales Manager Jeremiah Carey, I chatted with her and found out her name. Jeremiah was generous with his time, also.
On the negative side, not going into any specifics, at one store the manager flat-out refused to speak to me. "We're not interested." You don't even know what this is about. "Sorry, we're not interested." Several receptionists and a number of younger salesmen were actively unhelpful. I was appalled to see the treatment that several managers gave their female employees; I thought the way I was treated when I first got into the business at age 42 in November 1996 would have changed by now! I did spot a few females sales staff here and there - mostly young women, but did not have occasion to speak with any of them.
In short, I learned a lot on my first foray on the "outside" of the auto business, had a great time and eagerly anticipate writing more articles such as this one, and following up on my website. The auto business does not intimidate me at all - the men in the business did not succeed in driving me out (and there were some pretty spirited attempts, let me tell you!) I left on my own terms, when I was ready - and it disappoints me to see that with all the progress women have made in the last eleven and a half years, I noticed so few women on my exploratory journey.
I look forward to hearing from you, the reader, as well. Suggestions for any auto-related industry that you would like me to visit and review are welcome - email is best, at lauraryan24@gmail.com, so I have all of the details to refer to. If you are a dealer reading this, and want to know how your store fared, send me an email and I will let you know privately. Until next time...
Laura Ryan sold cars at 3 different dealerships in the North metro Denver area for 11 years. She is the Colorado woman’s guide to the auto industry…from the inside out. You can reach her at laura@ColoradoAutoInfo.com or (303) 464-8352.