The final speaker of the virtual DealerTalk 2020 conference was Risha Grant, Diversity Consultant, Founder and CEO of Risha Grant LLC.
The issues around Black Lives Matter that appeared to gain global prominence in 2020 after the death of George Floyd, among others, have signalled a need to consider how diverse our own culture is — including businesses within the automotive industry, and to a finer degree, car dealerships.
Based in the U.S. in one of the reddest states in the country, Grant described her experience growing up Black in a majority White community and how she eventually launched a career to help businesses attract diversity in the market.
What she discovered is that, through her experiences with the people she grew up with such as her grandmother, there was a “we” (Black people) and a “they” (White people), and this was one of the roots to a bias she learned to overcome.
Her presentation is about how dealers can get rid of their BS to attract a more diverse market as potential car-buying clients. The way to do this, she said, is to follow a three-step process that starts with identifying your BS: Bias Synapse (how our brains communicate between brain cells), although it is also a play on “Bullshit.”
“Society tells us how we should feel, and it doesn’t matter. At our core, we feel how we feel. So go ahead and own that, but then, you have to make a commitment so you can move through those feelings and confront them,” said Grant.
She said the only thing that is difficult about the process is that each person may realize “there are some things about you that are not so great.”
“Confronting the BS requires unconditional love,” said Grant, while adding that owning your BS, stage two, involves understanding your audience, knowing how to reach your intended audience, being unconventional, and developing partnerships with groups that represent diversity or Black people and the issues that are important to them.
Grant said getting consumers to understand that you want their business — and not just White consumers, but Black consumers and people of colour — involves being intentional.
“(You) have to be intentional to be inclusive,” said Grant. “I’ve been in this industry for 25 years, and I know if I’m not intentional, I’m not going to be inclusive.”
Grant said the benefits of creating an inclusive culture creates the possibility of being twice as likely to meet or exceed financial targets, three times as likely to be high-performing, six times as likely to be innovative and agile, and eight times more likely to achieve better business outcomes.
Dealers interested in expanding their market reach should focus on inclusive marketing, recruiting diverse people to work at the dealership, building authentic relationships, and creating partnerships.
As for what exactly inclusive marketing means, one example is to ensure there is diversity displayed on the dealership website and not just the homepage. Another is building authentic relationships with partners and consumers that caters to these groups (i.e. online, radio, local churches, and barber shops, among other things).
“The main thing that I hear from people of colour or Black folks, or diverse people period, is that it becomes exhausting when people want to become allies, but they haven’t done any of the self-education,” said Grant. “Learn as much as you can on your own.”
