Can you afford to lose half your customers?

The story of how sexism and discrimination put some people out of business but created opportunities for others.

Sexism and other forms of human rights discrimination can drive your sales down faster than high prices.

Let’s face it guys, we haven’t always given women equal billing.

Some men are holding onto the “good old boy” thing far too long. 

Remember intuition? Women can sense a male sexist pig faster than tickety-boo.

When a woman feels she is being treated with discrimination she is likely to move her business elsewhere.

Since women make up more than 50% of the population can you afford to lose her as a customer along with her partner, children and other relatives?

Here’s how simple it can happen. This is a true story.

A woman goes to the car dealer to get a duplicate key. When told it will cost $35 she baulks. Keys cost $6 at Home Hardware and women know pricing.

A guy went back to the dealer within a week and gets the key for $10 without asking for special treatment.

A woman knows instinctively that car dealerships and garages are owned by, run by and organized for men despite the fact that women influence more than half of all new car purchases.

That single incident reinforces a lifetime of female experience with discrimination.

GM loses female buyers to Toyota

When it’s time to buy a new car, guys may feel loyalty to the good-old-dealer, but the woman has already changed to another brand that feels more feminine in its customer service.

This is the hidden reason why Toyota has passed GM as the largest car manufacturer in the world. Toyota builds and markets their cars to appeal to women.

“Women purchase about 55 percent of all Toyota vehicles and 60 percent of all Toyota passenger cars sold in the U.S. Consequently, ‘Women are extremely important to us from a product and marketing standpoint,’ said Sandi Kayse, Toyota’s national advertising manager.” (Edmunds.com)

Think of it. Japan is not known for being a liberal country as far as women’s rights are concerned but they know how to make money marketing to women.

Ending sexism in companies

Getting rid of sexual discrimination does not come accidentally. It is not asking customer service staff to smile or be friendly.

It will take direct training of every person in your company, including you especially if you are the boss. You may have to let some people go who do not want to conform.

Almost two decades ago, I had to fire a trusted employee who treated women as lesser on client sites. He only wanted to talk to male managers even when they were subordinate to a woman. He refused to change his attitude and it was costing me business besides being wrong.

During a consulting engagement I had a few years ago, the owner displayed the only sexist behavior in the firm. He touched women on the payroll regularly in a sexual manner, had soft porn pictures on his desk calendar, ogled good looking female customers giving them personal attention. The list went on and on. His example may be extreme but even nuances can repel customers or keep them.

One woman told me she picked a computer salesman as “hers” because he sold her Flight Simulator. She thought the game was for men but liked that the salesman didn’t see the difference.

Follow-up – Island Chevrolet the GM car dealer went out of business. The sexist business owner sold his business and retired to a farm milking cows. My sexist employee changed his ways and eventually got married and is living pretty happily I hear.

The woman who bought Flight Simulator opened her own technology company that caters to women in business who are tired of being treated like dirt my male techie nerds.