There are many wonderful talented women in the auto industry holding important roles in the dealership arena. Women can make a difference in this industry. They are smart, hardworking, can think outside of the box and genuinely want to make a difference in the outside world! There is story upon story of successful women who fought hard to get where they are today. Two women that stand out to me is Tammy Darvish Vice President of DARCARS Auto Group. I read Tammy's book and it gave me an insight to dealers that I had not known and I have been in the automotive industry for 21 years! Another woman I had the pleasure to meet is Cherie Watters, General Manager of three dealerships in the Los Angeles area. Cherie won the Women's Automotive Spirit of Leadership Award. During the downturn Cherie went to work one day and found the dealership where she worked had shut their doors. A year later Cherie found a buyer for another dealership and opened Puente HIlls Hyundai with all of her team following her! She now is General Manager for three dealerships.
I attended the PCG Digital Marketing Strategy Conference as well as the National Automobile Dealers Assocation convention with Jody DeVere CEO of AskPatty.com recently.
My impression of dealers and experiences with dealerships as a consumer has not been positive. I have many stories of how I was treated as a women and as a customer by several dealers with unsatisfactory customer service. So my perception going to this conference was more on a negative view.
What I saw and learned over the past several days is you cannot judge a book by it cover. What I found is many dealers want to have the best customer service to all of their customers no matter what the demographics are. They make a concerted effort to try and understand what will make a customer happy. The are placing emphasis on the experience of you buying the car. Yes,the car is important, but what is going to make the customer feel different about the experience of purchasing a car from my dealership.
Spent a week in Vegas leading up and over Super Bowl weekend immersed in the world of car dealerships, auto makers and the best and brightest minds at the Digital Marketing Strategies Conference (DMSC) and attending the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) convention. Wanted to share some highlights to give you an insider view of what goes on behind the scenes with highlights of what happens when 20,000 automotive industry professionals gather in Las Vegas!
Digital Marketing Strategies Conference (DMSC) Tuesday - Friday
Best Speaker by far was Inspiration Speaker - Todd Durkin, CEO of Fitness Quest 10 Strategy. If you ever have the opportunity, run do not walk to hear this man speak! He will energize you and the entire room.
Fitness Quest 10 is a premier health and human performance facility in San Diego CA. We specializing in Sports Performance, Personal Training, Massage Therapy, Pilates, and Yoga. Owner and founder, Todd Durkin, is a leader in the fitness industry training athletes like LaDainian Tomlinson, Drew Brees, Carson Palmer, and Reggie Bush just to name a few. Todd’s passion for health and fitness has lead Fitness Quest 10 to be recently named one of the top 10 training facilities in America by the nationally publicized Men’s Health magazine. To find out more information about Fitness Quest 10 please visit his website at www.FitnessQuest10.com.
Lots of thought leaders and awesome workshops during DSMC on social media strategies and connecting with shoppers at ZMOT, Winning the Zero Moment of Truth, a new Google 75 page FREE eBook. Attended social gathering galore with some of the brightest minds in the industry. Had the opportunity to keynote on "What is Your Strategy To Dominate Your Market with Women Buyers?" to rally dealerships to deliver a WOW experience to women.
Thank you Brian and Glenn Pasch and PCG Digital for including me in this powerful thought leader educational event.
I got a ticket to take the Harley Davidson Rider's Edge Motorcycle Training with H-D of Glendale recently as a guest of the head of women's outreach for Harley Davidson. With an open mind and a total sense of adventure I donned my helmut, leather gloves and boots and said to myself, woo hoo, let's RIDE!
More and more women are becoming Harley owners and enjoying the experience and freedon of the wind on your face. The best way to learn about motorcycling and see which Harley-Davidson® motorcycles fit your style and personality is to visit a H-D® dealership and ask questions. Dealerships welcome folks interested in riding and can tell you what you need to know about getting started.
A great way to start and learn more is to attend a women-only Harley Garage Party™ social events hosted by H-D dealerships. These women-only parties include hands-on demos and tips, and give you a chance to meet other women who are looking for adventure behind their own handlebars.
The Alliance for Women in Media recognized the 2011 local, online, public and student winners of the Gracie Awards at an industry luncheon May 25th, 2011. I attended with Helen Graham and the amazing, vivacious Edie Hand who sits on the board of the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation. Edie is the creator of "You Pave the Way" an initiative to help build self-esteem in young people that we support at AskPatty.com.
The luncheon was held at the historic Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Beverly Hills. Paula A. Kerger, President and CEO of PBS, delivered the keynote address, her surprising statistics on the low percentage of women in C-Level or borad positions of leadership in Fortune 500 media companies, reflects the same challenge women face in breaking the glass ceiling in the automotive industry.
Television and radio personality Nancy Giles, pictured above far left, served as the always fun and humorous host of the 2011 Gracie Awards Luncheon.
Last month I went on the CARQUEST 2011 Caribbean Cruise with roommate Paula Lombard, president of AutoTex Pink. The cruise was called the "Incredible Journey", with stops in Belize, Grand Cayman, Cozumel and Isla Roatan. It was a rare opportunity to spend some quality time socializing with the over 600 Tech-Net shops represented from the US and Canada, as well as many CARQUEST executives and store owners.
This turned out to be a way fun Certified Female Friendly "car girl" trip with Paula Lombard as we explored the various island stops together with over 1400 CARQUEST attendees. The two full days at sea were filled with great shows, mucis, cocktail parties, spa treatments and lounging around the pool and eating! No lack of great food on a cruise.
Oh yes...we actually did do quite a business there too! Really enjoyed meeting the entire Certified Female Friendly® team from Active Green+ Ross at the CARQUEST Canadian Cocktail party. Met many Tech-Net shop owners over meals and at the scheduled events, what a great group of CARQUEST Top Shops!
As the blog editor at AskPatty.com, some days I feel like I spend more time talking about one particular brand or other - which isn't the goal, honest, I really do try to keep my content as universal as I can - but when Chevy is doing such a great job releasing consistently great videos on their Youtube channel, I can't let them all go by without mentioning them. Chevy's really using social media to the fullest in their marketing department, and while I certainly don't cover all of them, when something leaps out at me it's my duty as your faithful blogger to inform you of it.
Today's video comes from Dept. 180, which has already proven to be the coolest job at Chevrolet, where engineers spend their days destroying cars in clever ways and watching footage of the events in super-slow-mo. I can't even imagine how much fun that office is. Today's video is full of the requisite slow-motion videos of crash tests in progress, this time focusing on the Chevy Traverse (which was recently named IIHS Top Safety Pick for 2011, no less), and features a couple of lucky employees in a mock interview discussing the various safety features highlighted in these tests. That's all wonderful, and good on the Traverse for the accolade - but it's not the whole reason I'm sharing it with you today. Want the scoop? Head past the jump for the answer.
Jennifer Jo Cobb made her NASCAR Debut back in 2004 in the Busch series. Since then, she's created quite a name for herself, even making a line of clothing for female race fans called "Driver Boutique." In 2008 she competed in the Camping World Truck Series and since 2010 she's been driving in the truck series full-time, and at the end of the 2010 season she became the highest finishing points finisher in any of the three major Nascar Series, finishing 17th in final points.
But all of these accomplishments, impressive though they are, pale in comparison to acceptance, says Jennifer - the validation that comes with finally being accepted as a female driver in a predominantly male sport is, to her, priceless.
The annual dinner honoring professional women in the automotive industry with the prestigious Spirit of Leadership Award, presented by the Women's Automotive Association International (WAAI), is slated for Saturday, February 5, 2011, in San Francisco, CA.
The 12th Annual Spirit of Leadership Awards Luncheon will take place at the Intercontinental San Francisco beginning at 6:30pm. Individual tickets are $125.
Did you know there is a shortage of women seeking education, jobs and careers opportunities in the automotive industry? Automotive career opportunities range from marketing to high technology and many just require high school diplomas or vocational education! University level degrees are also available at universities like Northwood University's three locations, offering specialized programs for automotive career seekers.
Auto Manufactures, service providers, independent repair shops and car dealerships want to hire more women in management positions, marketing, sales, service advisors, finance managers, parts departments and technicians. Professional Technicians can earn $60,000 or more per year! Service Advisors can earn up to six figures in some major cities.
There are an incredible number of career choices for women in the automotive industry. Check out our panel of automotive expert women and review all the various roles which include race car drivers, automotive journalists to owners of automotive businesses. The automotive industry and specifically car dealerships and independent service and repair shops are looking to hire more women. There are many positions available to women in each and every department.
Women at the SEMA Show are way out-numbered by the guys and I always enjoy reporting from an insider woman's point of view on the women and women friendly-ness growth each year at SEMA for my readers to enjoy as this show is not open to the public. There were so many amazing and cool custom car builds on display inside and outside show grounds it was hard for me to get from point A to point B in time for all my many meetings. I have to stop, look and take a ton of pictures and do so many car crazy girl car lust... Ooohhh and Aaahhh's. My favorite display custom vehicle this year was this adorable miniature woody child's wagon and trailer on display near the media center, pictured.
The APPEX Show and the SEMA Shows are the premier automotive specialty products trade events in the world held each year at the Las Vegas Convention Center and Sand's Convention Center. It draws the industry’s brightest minds and hottest products.
As part of the AAIW, the SEMA Show attracts more than 100,000 industry leaders from more than 100 countries for unlimited profit opportunities in the automotive, truck and SUV, and RV markets. The displays are segmented into 12 sections, and a New Products Showcase featured nearly 1,500 newly introduced parts, tools and components. In addition, the SEMA Show provides attendees with educational seminars, product demonstrations, special events, networking opportunities and more.
During the SEMA Show and inaugural, the first SEMA Award was presented to the Chevrolet Camaro for the Hottest Car, the Ford F-Series for the Hottest Truck and the Jeep Wrangler for the Hottest 4x4-SUV, in Las Vegas.
Each year I see introduced more and more eco-friendly green products, greener vehicle technology and solutions that I find and beleive are exciting for many women. These touch every aspect of the automotive market from vehicle technology, fuel systems, tires to automotive paint solutions to creating retail locations with energy saving in mind and recycling programs. The automotive industry has embraced going green at the SEMA Show this year more than ever!
On Monday before the SEMA Show opening I attended the Tire Industry Association Tire Industry Honors event. Tire Review Magazine honored two AskPatty.com Certified Female Friendly®clients as finalist for the 2010 Top Shops. Tires, Tires, Tires, based in Sioux Falls, S.D., is the 2010 winner of the Tire Review Top Shop Award presented by Ammco/Coats.
“The program is a step forward in getting women to speak their minds and become more informed about what’s going on,” Patty says. “After their house, vehicles are the second largest investment they’re ever going to have, so they need to take care of them. There are more widows, single women and divorced women out there today – and they want to be independent. If we can make them feel comfortable and educate them at the same time, then we consider that a success.”
Fleischmann adds that the strategies learned in the AskPatty.com program can be applied to all customers, not just women. “Male customers also notice the changes,” he says. “They won’t complain about sitting in a wooden chair, but they sure like sitting in leather. They also won’t complain about a bathroom that is not up to the quality they’d want at home, but they certainly do comment when you offer the little extras.”
(Howard and Patty Fleischmann of Community Tire and Steve and Kim Nerheim of Waukegan Tire pictured with Jody DeVere CEO AskPatty.com)
Waukegan Tire with four location in North Chicago. As a company, Waukegan Tire has been aware of the need to pay special attention to women consumers. “We operate in a male-dominated industry that traditionally has not focused on the needs or wants of women, who account for more than half of our customers,” Scroggins explains. “I realized it would be a great benefit to our employees to go through the AskPatty.com Certified Female Friendly program, and our employees felt they learned how to communicate better with female consumers.”
The partnership has been valuable in other ways. “Once our entire staff went through the program’s training and all of our shops became AskPatty.com Certified Female Friendly, we began to pursue the realm of digital media,” says Scroggins. It has lead directly to expanding the company’s use of social media by putting employees’ automotive expertise and newly acquired communication skills online to interact with female customers."
Tuesday November 2nd I arrived bright and early to the SEMA Show for the first day at our booth, located in the South Hall Global Tire Expo, and was busy all day meeting with many tire dealers and dealer groups. Some highlights on Tuesday were meetings with Ken and Angela of Passchal, makers of the beautiful recycled tire inner tube luxury hand bags we raffled off during the show, Escort PassportIQ makers of a cool radar detector/GPS device, EZY Tire a new site to connect tire buyers with tire dealers, lunch with several representatives from NHTSA to work with them on their Distracted Driver Education & Safety programs and meetings with Bartec on Tire Pressure Monitoring System maintenance. Bartec USA are world leaders in TPMS I will be working with them to help women learn more about tire safety and TPMS education.
Tuesday evening I went over to AAPEX at the Sand's and attended the annual 2010 Automotive Communications Awards (ACA) organized by the Car Care Council Women’s Board, the awards and reception are sponsored by a variety of aftermarket companies and organizations. I am a member of the the Car Care Council Women’s Board which is comprised of professional women and men, including company executives, service shop owners, service writers, motor sports figures, association executives and consultants, who are dedicated to informing female audiences about proper vehicle maintenance and safety, while encouraging young people to investigate automotive career choices.
Congratulations to Kristin Brocoff Marketing & Public Relations Manager of CarMD.com on your Car Care Council Women’s Board (WB) 2010 Automotive Communications Awards (ACA). The mission of CarMD.com is to empower consumers and the vehicle market by providing them with the tools and information needed to make educated decisions about vehicle health and maintenance.
Congratulations to Paula Lombard President of Wexco Industries and Founder of AutoTex PINK, a women-owned company that sells wiper blades, auto parts and accessories for your Car Care Council Women’s Board 2010 Automotive Communications Award (ACA) for the Educational Article "Your Car, Like You, Needs the Right Diet". Ten percent of each AutoTex Pink wiper blade purchase, year-round, goes to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Through this partnership, AutoTex PINK hopes to benefit those affected by breast cancer and help by increasing awareness and contributing to funding for research.
Wednesday November 3rd, Lori Johnson, an AskPatty.com top automotive expert woman and owner of Ladies Start Your Engines who runs professional car care clinics for women for major brands like General Motors, joined me in our booth to help met with the many visitors to our booth. Highlights from Tuesday include an interview with Sarah Lee of MyCarLady on the state of women in the auto industry, the SEMA Ambassador luncheon, a trip to visit the 3M booth and took a look at some of the awesome new consumer products women will love and topped off my Wednesday at SEMA with an AskPatty.com Certified Female Friendly® evening Top Shop celebration with clients Waukegan Tire, Community Tire and Larsen's Auto Service at Roy's Hawaiian Fusion and after dinner laughed until we turned blue at Harrah's Improv Theater.
Thursday November 4th our day started at my favorite event during SEMA; the SEMA Business Women's Networking Breakfast, were I was honored with a nomination for SBN "Woman of the Year". The 2010 SBN Woman of the Year award is presented to a woman who has demonstrated recognizable outstanding achievements and contributions in the automotive industry. This well deserved "Woman of the Year" award went to past SBN Chairman, Kelli Colf of Eaton Detroit Spring, congratulations Kelli, (pictured to the left).
Congratulations as well to Wade Kawasaki the honoree for the SBN 2010 Athena Award.
Many of the AskPatty.com automotive expert women and other women leaders in the automotive aftermarket attend SEMA and the SBN Speed Networking Breakfast each year and it was wonderful to have some quality time together during SEMA and the SBN events.
Here is more link love for some amazingly inspirational and talented automotive aftermarket women leaders!
Lori Johnson Owner and Instructor - Ladies Start Your Engines is a light maintenance class for women. Lori who works with large brands like GM teaches her basic car care class for women at venues such as car dealerships, colleges, tire dealerships, independent service and repair shops, local adult education centers and women’s organizations. She enjoys empowering women with automotive knowledge so that they can feel confident when servicing or purchasing parts for their vehicles and she helps them become a more informed consumer.
Diane Larson Owner/Manager - Larson's Service Peabody, MA, a Woman-Owned AskPatty.com Certified Female Friendly® independent service and repair center.
My new woman hero in motorsports is Emily Miller, Off-Road race car driver and team driver for Rod Hall Racing. Trained by off-road racing legend, Rod Hall, Miller debuted as a team driver at the 2006 Baja 1000. She has multiple podium finishes and wins as both driver and navigator. She holds the distinction of being the only woman to “Ironman” the longest off-road race in the US taking third in the Stock Full Class. She repeated the 1000 mile race in 2009 - winning the Stock Mini Class. In 2009, she was a driver in the Stock Mini Class and helped the team capture first place.
Read her blog post on "Being a Woman" on what she is doing to help oppressed women in third world countries. Emily is truly an inspiring role model for women behind the wheel or not!
Later that day really enjoyed meeting with the exuberant Dave Gunderson, President of Meguiars (from 3M) and his marketing team to discuss efforts to market to female consumers. Meguiar's research found that women want three major things in the DIY detailing: Information, convenience and efficacy.
Notable and interesting SEMA eco-friendly meetings were with Earthgarage.com a new place to learn how to make your car greener. It's the easy way to find, review and share available- right-now products and services to increase your fuel economy, reduce your carbon footprint and save money and Hankook Tire gave a sneak peek at a new line of low rolling resistance fuel economy saving tires. Products include the Enfren Eco, an environmentally friendly product that will hit the market in late 2011."Designed for high performance 'eco-driving,' the Enfren Eco can help improve a vehicle's fuel economy," says Bill Bainbridge, Director of Brand Communication Hankook Tire America. Continental Tire was honored for its ProContact with EcoPlus Technology tire that was said to improve a vehicle’s fuel efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. It has an 80,000-mile limited tread-wear warranty. Continental Tire also announced the winners of its “How Eco Are You?” photo contest, which challenged consumers to enter their most creative and original ecologically impactful photo.
Friday and the last day of SEMA was spent meeting with some of my collision industry contacts at 3M, I-CAR Education Foundation, Collision Kids, Jordan Hendler, Collision Industry Foundation and Aaron Schulenburg from the Society of Collision Repair at the SCRS booth in the North Hall. I visited the TIA booth and actually won some prizes in the money box LOL and met with TIA Executive VP Ray Littlefield over coffee and was was able to take a bit more time to see many more vehicles on display before packing up our booth and heading back home with sore feet, tired and a big smile on my face as this car crazy girl loves all the sights, sounds, wonderful people, products and fun during the SEMA Show each year!
A big thanks to Lori Johnson of Ladies Start Your Engines, get well wishes to Jim Smith Editor of Tire Review Magazine , thank you for all your help and support to AskPatty.com during SEMA 2010. Now if my poor feet will just stop aching from walking the 17+ miles covered during the show on foot, I will really be a happy car crazy girl! Check out my SEMA Show videos on Facebook, too!
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