For some people in Sacramento, CA, it's the unofficial start to the holiday season. Every year in early November, they pull up to Gem Auto Wash and ask, "Are the books in yet?" The "books" these visitors are inquiring about aren't collections of holiday tales or Yuletide recipes, they're pre-paid coupons that Gem sells only between November 15 and January 5.

"People always start asking for our holiday coupon books a few weeks ahead of time," says Gem General Manager Vic Vosburgh. "I think our books must be the first item on their Christmas shopping lists."

There's a good reason why Gem's books are so popular with holiday shoppers. They represent the wash's "absolutely best prices of the year," according to Vosburgh. Customers have two options to choose from when buying pre-paid books: a three-wash pack or a 10-wash pack. In either case, they get an attractive 33 percent discount.

A perfect example of the "win-win" principle, the cards also have been a good deal for Gem. Since the full-service wash started the holiday program five years ago, pre-paid book sales have generated $40,000 to $50,000 in extra revenue every November and December.

"The holiday book sales have turned December from a money-loser into a profitable month for us," says Vosburgh. "Unlike carwashes in the East, we tend to slow down in the winter because it's our rainy season. However, because the books bring in all those extra customers, we're able to maintain some decent traffic in December and January."

In addition to drawing much-needed traffic, the holiday books help boost the sale of extra services and non-carwash items at Gem.

"When people come in with a pre-paid coupon, they're more prone to spend money on other things," says Vosburgh. "Sales at our waiting lounge gift counter have increased by 75 cents per vehicle since we started promoting pre-paid coupons."

Given the popularity of Gem's holiday coupon books, why doesn't the wash offer them all year long? Vosburgh says it's a matter of marketing.

"We have other pre-paid programs other months, but the holiday plan is the best," he says. "The reason we limit this plan to the holidays is that we want it to stand out as special. Our holiday coupons are a great value, but they might not be as exciting to customers if they were available every day of the year."

Offering customers an exceptional value is essential to making a holiday card or coupon book a success, says Vosburgh. Another key step is merchandising.

Gem promotes its seasonal books with a scrolling electronic sign behind the sales counter. The small electronic display on the wash's computerized cash register and its outdoor signage also tout the benefits of the pre-paid coupon books.

At South City Carwash in San Francisco, owner Bob Cavalieri has taken the holiday merchandising concept a step further. He puts pre-paid coupon books and cards in gift boxes during the holiday season.

In addition to making an attractive holiday display at the register counter, the decorative boxes get customers to think of the carwash as a "last-minute solution" to their annual gift buying dilemma.

"We get people who call, and ask us to ship a carwash gift box to their friends or relatives," says Cavalieri. "Having the boxes on display at the register counter also stimulates a lot of impulse sales, especially in the week before Christmas. Plus, the boxes are so attractive, they make great Christmas stocking-stuffers."

South City Carwash's customers can buy a holiday book of four washes for $32 (normally a $51.80 value), or they can get a pre-paid card that entitles them to either 30 or 90 days of unlimited washes. The 30-day wash card sells for $49.95 and the 90-day card is $139.

"The 30- and 90-day cards are rarely abused," says Cavalieri. "We track our card customers on computer, and have found that they visit an average of five to six times a month, which works out well for us."

According to Cavalieri, the pre-paid coupons and cards also help him compete against the lower-priced gas stations in his market.

"Some customers might use us for their good wash, and then fill in at a gas station carwash between visits," he explains. "However, when they pre-pay, they're more likely to come back to us for all their washes. The holiday promotions are important because they get a lot of people to try a pre-paid book for the first time. This helps us throughout the year."

Chuck Delany, owner of Allston Carwash in Allston, MA, also subscribes to this view.

"Would I rather get people coming in without the coupon books, and paying full-price for a carwash? Of course, but in the real world, the pre-paid book program helps me pull in customers more often," he says.

Delany says his wash has a lot of competition from gas station carwashes, and the books get customers in the habit of visiting his business on a regular basis.

Although he sells pre-paid coupon books throughout the year, Delany promotes them more heavily during the holiday season. He adds an extra free wash to his six-wash coupon book for the two weeks leading up to Christmas. He also benefits from a radio campaign that the New England Carwash Association runs in the Boston area promoting pre-paid cards and coupons as holiday gifts.

Attractive merchandising and media ads work well to promote pre-paid holiday cards and coupon books, but the most effective form of marketing is still one-on-one selling. Recognizing this, most carwash owners will offer their employees an incentive to sell pre-paid cards or coupon books.

"We like to involve our employees in promoting our pre-paid books during the holidays," says Richard Smith, general manager of the Golden Nozzle chain of 13 carwashes in the Springfield, MA, area. "Incentives keep our employees focused during the holidays, when there can be a lot of distractions. Employees also welcome the chance to pick up extra bonus money during the gift-buying season, so they like the idea of promoting pre-paid books."

Last year, Golden Nozzle averaged $20,000 in pre-paid book sales at each of its 13 locations during the holidays. Needless to say, Smith describes himself as being "completely sold" on holiday pre-paid promotions.

"Anyone who doesn't do it is missing the boat," he declares.

Golden Nozzle sells pre-paid books of six washes throughout the year. During the holiday season, the chain promotes its pre-paid plan by adding an extra wash to the books at no additional cost.

The coupon books are available in three grades: regular wash, express wash and super wash. All three grades sell well during the holiday season.

Although Golden Nozzle tracks purchase histories of some customers (its "loyalty club" members), the wash does not bother to record the names or license numbers of customers who buy pre-paid coupon books.

"Our coupon books are treated the same way that the phone company treats phone cards," says Smith. "We don't know who buys the books or uses them. This is a very clean, low paperwork program, no time has to be spent entering customers into the computer system."

Like Golden Nozzle, Wayne Carwash in Wayne, MI, also draws a distinction between its customer club plan and its pre-paid promotions.

"We have a club plan, and we want to track the purchases of its members, but our objective is different with the pre-paid sales," says owner Terry Johnson, who sells more than $5,000 of pre-paid coupons every December. "We treat the pre-paid certificates like cash. The customers buy them, then use them as they see fit, without any rules or paperwork. From a management standpoint pre-paid coupons are a very simple thing for a carwash to offer."

For more information, please go to www.carwash.com, click on the "archives" icon and use the following in a keyword search: promotions.