Cathy's Car Corner - Women and Trucks
Three Women’s Journey with the Ford F-150
By Cathy Droz
I’ve often said, I love the automotive business! When I say this, I get some strange looks from dinner guests or female friends at birthday parties; but it’s true. The predominantly male industry is finding out what women have known all along, we can do anything from engineering today’s vehicles to selling them, paying for them and driving them wherever we want.
When I found out that a woman from Gilbert, Arizona, sold more Ford vehicles than anyone in the region, I wanted to know why, who, and what the ? It seemed amazing that a female salesperson sold 177 Ford vehicles and 70% were trucks. The woman I’m talking about is Laurie McClellan, a sales associate at Earnhardt Ford and the top Ford salesperson of the year in the Phoenix region. Laurie made it clear to me that her title on her business card reads “Facilitator of Vehicle Purchases,” not sales associate. She feels very strongly that she doesn’t sell cars; she facilitates a customer’s auto buying choice.
The ladies of Ford F-150 have quite a bit in common, besides the F-150. There was a statement made by all of them…” getting out of my comfort zone.” DiMarco said it when it came to going for the more technical and challenging job in automotive; McClellan did when she described to me about dropping out of school in the 10th grade to pursue various sales positions where she worked very hard and always came out on top. She admits that at 16, everything was out of her comfort zone, but she needed to make a living. And Nan, our bounty hunter, worked in law enforcement all her life with a degree in criminal justice… yet she too took a leap of faith when she decided to start her own agency at 47, complete with handcuffs and Tasers.
Laurie says she loves her job and makes a good living selling Fords. I wondered how her approach is different from her male counterparts. She said that she is a good listener, she is detail oriented, cares deeply about each customer and knows more about Ford products than anyone else on the floor. Most of her customers are repeat customers, and so many are men. They tell her she is a breath of fresh air and even if they’ve never bought from a woman before, they were so pleased with their experience, they keep coming back. Her customer service Index is off the charts and she wastes no time chit chatting, she is always learning more about the products and assisting customers.
Nan had a lot to say about her F-150 fitting her needs. First of all, it’s her office on wheels, it fits in her garage and the hands-free zone of the truck is exactly what she needs when transporting her clients. They are handcuffed and sitting pretty in the back seat of her truck. The cargo area is plenty big enough for transporting the goods and the towing capacity means she can tow more collateral. Nan had one complaint and that is… she wanted the truck in yellow in order to attract more attention to her “business.” She purchased a red truck and has yellow magnetic signs with her business information displayed. She feels her truck is an extension of her office and her personality with room under the rear seat bench for handcuffs, paperwork and other useful equipment she may need besides her smile.
*Compiled from statistics from the Harvard Business Journal, Forbes, Ford Motor Company and Nielsen Ratings
For more about the Ford trucks go to www.ford.com
