General Motors (GM) has completed its female buyer initiative (FBI), which aimed to address the full spectrum of issues that currently affect female consumers.

Dealer principals and nominated frontline staff attended a half-day course where they acted out various scenarios involving female customers shopping on their own and as part of a couple.

“A lot of people say they already know how to react when dealing with female consumers but at the end of the day women shop very differently to men,” says Collette Dunkley, chairwoman of the FBI steering committee. “But even though some were cynical at first, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and dealers say the training has been very helpful.”

The programme is at its early stages and Dunkley hopes that GM will see an ongoing improvement in how female customers are served.

“Change cannot happen overnight, but with most of the potential growth in the market predicted to be in sales to women over the next 15 years, it’s absolutely fundamental that the industry gives women the attention they deserve,” says Dunkley.