Women-Drivers.com CEO Interview: Anne Flemming

Used car shoppers are always looking for great resources. Thanks to a nice tip, we stumbled across another high-quality resource that couldn’t go unnoticed and had to be shared.

Women-Drivers.com is a new site positioned as a valuable source of automotive information for women and families. The site is nicely designed, filled with various buckets of information and plenty resources designed to inform and educate. The main community aspect is centered around a visitor registration process which enables visitors to read dealer reviews and write about their own experiences.

Anne Flemming is the super-energetic CEO behind the scenes of Women-Drivers.com. She’s got a positive outlook on the current state of the industry; her drive to deliver positive change to female consumers is refreshing.

A quick tweet led to an incredible conversation about her vision, goals and the industry. Check out what Anne had to stay…

EM: What led you to create Women-Drivers.com – who or what was your inspiration?

AF: As a 20 plus year marketing, product management and brand building veteran, I had just returned from an Asian trip when I bought my newest car. Excited about the BMW, my boss asked if I had received a good deal on the purchase of it.

“A good deal? Well, of course. I hired a negotiator and got the deal I wanted,” My boss asked, “You manage a $30 million dollar business and travel the world by yourself. Why did you give your power away?”

This question resulted in a conversation with my business coach who introduced me to Linda Babcock, who in 2006 co-authored Women Don’t Ask. The book was a remarkable read, however,  I saw such a disconnect. While I had much success negotiating on behalf of my employers; I wanted nothing to do with the interaction. So, I hired someone to handle the transaction and negotiation of buying my car.

After reading the book and all the glaring facts and research, especially about women going into the dealerships, and most of the time going with a man, I started taking notes and began gathering ideas and business concepts about how to shift this experience.

EM: Why is your female audience so important to automotive retailers?

AF: Women buy 54% of new cars in the United States, however they influence up to 80% of the purchases. We request 65% of the mechanical service work done at dealerships; all of this amounts to $200 billion dollars worth of purchasing pow-her.

EM: What’s your unique proposition?

AF: Women-Drivers^TM is a leading catalyst in transforming the automobile industry to become more women-friendly. With input from women, we enrich the purchase and service experience of women in North America.

EM: What’s your vision for the site?

AF: Our vision is to educate those who serve the automobile industry and to reward dealers who are women-friendly. We connect millions of women with dealers who respect and treat women well, therefore enhancing women’s buying experience and empowering them to negotiate and receive a fair price.

EM: How has the initial visitor & community reaction been?

AF: Visitor reaction has been exceptional. Women want a safe and anonymous place where they can share their experiences and stories. There’s no one on the other end of the phone asking them if they will increase their ratings to receive a free oil change. With our recent national media attention, and dealers now visiting the site and seeing that we are a bridge site that promotes dealerships with high consumer scores, dealers are signing up daily – from Santa Barbara to Vermont, Tennessee and Colorado.

EM: Share your thoughts on the current state of change within the automotive industry?

AF: The undercurrent has been happening for quite some time. It wasn’t strictly from the AIG collapse that lead the home, auto and many other industries into this state. Wall Street – Main Street, most Americans contributed. Over the years, lots of folks have been living in $350,000 houses when their household income was only $62K. That type of living simply cannot be maintained…let alone when there is a hiccup, like losing a job. Corporate greed is easy to point to. Looking at our own greed is not as easy to process and accept.

Supply and demand and fear are at stake right now in the auto industry. So is proliferation of brands and doing things the way we have always done it. It really is a new day, and unfortunately real people, thousands or them, are & will be impacted.

Having said that, our love affair with the automobile will not go away. It may change, it may shift. We may wear our practicality like a badge of honor now, but car sales will expand back to 14 – 16 M in due time. The issue at hand is and will be the growing pains and morphing of companies, ideologies and efficiencies to get the industry on track.

EM: How do you see Women-Drivers.com helping the retail automotive shopper?

AF: We provide an objective medium for her to engage in three areas:

1) Providing a forum for her to express her dealership experience and make a difference with other women in her city/community by writing a Dealer Review.

2) Time is a luxury and with the Internet and services like Women-Drivers.com, there is no need to go to 4 or 5 dealerships anymore. Our site provides a fast track or ability to thin slice where she wants to buy her next car for herself, or her family, by going to dealerships with good ratings.

3) We’re a site for all things auto-from 2009/10 Car reviews, to a Community Forum where she can engage and connect with like -minded women and mothers, Negotiating Tips, Travel and Safety tops to the latest in Gadget reviews. Also a His & Her Car review section where a car is looked at and rated from both point of views.

EM: What other trends do you foresee for our industry over the short & long term?

AF: Customer Service is currently being redefined to Customer Services. I wouldn’t call it a trend, but rather an opportunity: There are dealers in Canada that have women consisting of more 50% of their sales team – their sales through Q1 are up double digit. Dealerships could look at taking on this paradigm and stepping beyond what they know that they know. Beyond that, my crystal ball is pretty cloudy.

EM: What blogs do you regularly read, and why?

AF: NYTimes Auto, Edmunds; Joanne Helperin M2W – marketing to Women, the largest such conference in the world; US Today Auto Section.

EM: What’s the funniest story you’ve heard from a car dealership customer?

AF: Mmmm. Let’s just say that we had plenty of ‘real’ life stories from women.  When we shot our YouTube videos not a lot of creative copy writing was required for our actors.

EM: What’s your favorite piece of advice that you can give to women shopping for a vehicle?

AF: Read, research, know your strengths and weaknesses when negotiating and follow your intuition.

EM: And lastly, what’s your favorite football team?

AF: Pittsburgh Steelers

EM: Go Browns!

Thanks for taking the time to share your vision Anne. Best of luck!

Stop by Women-Drivers.com to see the resources she’s assembled. You can also catch her on twitter: @annefleming