AUTO INDUSTRY Car saleswomen remain a rare breed

Dealers are trying to get more women to join their sales force.
MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL STAR TRIBUNE
Kathy Hughes and her friend Jan Magnuson drifted into the downtown Minneapolis Saturn showroom on a recent Tuesday, idly spooning up bites of frozen yogurt and chatting. Little did Hughes know how much she wanted to buy a car.
"Hi there!" called Diana Persons, striding up to them, opening her arms and flashing a bright smile. "Did you bring me a little yogurt today? No? But we do match," she said, finding a connection in the shade of Hughes' slacks.
You wouldn't know it from this exchange, but the car-sales business has woman trouble.
Though women make or significantly influence at least 85 percent of car-buying decisions, women account for only 8 percent of the national car-sales force, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association. Sexual harassment and discrimination suits have given dealers a bad name. Women car sellers complain of long hours, high stress, and worst of all, the still-pervasive notion that cars are supposed to be a "guy thing."
Nearly three years into her career in Saturn's downtown Minneapolis showroom, the resilient Persons has lasted longer than many women survive in car sales -- an overwhelmingly male industry known for old-boy networks and locker-room workplaces.
"It's a tough, exhausting way to make a living," Persons said. "But I'll tell you," she added, leaning forward to spill a confidence: "Obstacles in my life simply enhance me."
A different approach
Increasingly, car dealers are trying to attract women to the job. One reason for the change: Women make darned good car sellers.
"Men try to push, coerce and force," said Persons' manager, Doug Gustner. "They don't let things just happen. You have to listen in this business. Women do that. They help people buy a car rather than try to make them buy it."
Persons put it this way: "Car salespeople don't have to be smarmy and greasy; they don't have to wear a big gold medallion," said Parsons, who came to work wearing a feather-light blouse and form-fitting skirt complemented by manicured nails and thin-strapped, high-heeled sandals.
Persons' approach is to identify her customers' needs. "Men want to know about a car's performance; they want to know how big the motor is. Women want to know about a car's safety and dependability."
Sensitivity counts. "If someone comes to me and wants something, some feature in particular, I will go out of my way to get it for them, because I know the importance of a car to a person's life. Especially for women, because a car to them means independence. As a woman, I understand that."
Bad experiences
Persons is a star in her workplace, and an oddity. For every success story like her own, she said, dozens of women "crash and burn."
Laura Plaetzer lasted only two and a half years at a nearby Volvo dealership. Now she's suing, alleging that her supervisor often denigrated her for being a working mother and denied her opportunities afforded to men. The federal court complaint also alleges that the store's general manager made repeated unwelcome sexual overtures to her. After she refused the advances, she was fired, the suit alleges. Plaetzer has since been hired at another dealership.
"Those suits aren't the half of it," said Steve Heikens, an attorney who has handled more than 400 cases of sexual harassment, including many involving auto retail. The majority of claims against dealers are settled quietly, leaving little or no paper trail, he said.