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How Claytonomics will change your business
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From Volume 25, Issue 12 - December 2001
Feature
Texas wash focuses on meeting, not beating, benchmarks.
by: Ken Brott

Clayton Clark, vice president and general manager of Bubbles Hand Car Wash in Houston, was reviewing his computerized sales reports on a busy Saturday last spring, when a surprising statistic jumped off the screen. The service and sales associates (SSAs) at one of the chain’s five locations were selling Bubble’s $29.95 “Ultimate” package to 42 percent of the wash’s customers, well over the 28 percent benchmark that management had established for this option.

Although most carwash managers would have cheered this performance, it triggered a red alert for Clark, who rushed to the site to correct his sales team’s “mistake.”

Gathering the four SSAs together, the general manager told them to stop talking about the Ultimate package, and focus instead on Bubble’s “Express Hand Wax” option, which costs $45.95.

The net result

In the hour following Clark’s talk, the SSAs sold 21 Express Hand Wax options, generating an extra $336 in revenues for Bubbles.

“The fact that our SSAs were hitting such a high percentage of Ultimate sales, meant that they weren’t spending enough time talking about our Express Hand Wax,” explained Clark. “Our theory is that if customers are willing to spend $29.95 at our carwash, at least some of them can be moved up another $16, if we explain the benefits of our Express Hand Wax. It’s all a matter of how our sales people focus their attention.”

Focusing the sales associate or ticket writer’s attention on the right service for the right customer is at the heart of “Claytonomics,” the name given to this innovative sales strategy by Bill Lawrence, the president and founder of the Bubbles chain.

The objective of Claytonomics is to meet, not beat, sales goals for each specific extra service. This allows the carwash to achieve the optimal sales mix so it can maximize revenues per vehicle.

“Like most carwashes, we used to follow a more-is-better approach to sales,” said Lawrence. “If our goal was to sell a specific extra service to 10 percent of our customers, and we sold it to 20 percent, we thought we were doing great. But then we reevaluated things and asked ourselves, ‘Can some of the customers who buy that extra service be moved up to a better option?’ In most cases, the answer was yes, which put things in a different light. All of a sudden, if sales of a service were twice as high as they should have been, we start thinking that maybe we weren’t doing all we could to encourage customers to move up. This is what Claytonomics is all about - focusing on opportunities to create step-up sales.”

Impressive changes

Since Claytonomics was implemented at Bubbles a little over one year ago, the chain has been averaging $2 more per vehicle. Every one of the 20-plus SSAs at Bubbles is averaging at least $1 more per ticket.

The $2 per vehicle increase is especially impressive, according to Lawrence, because it was achieved without any costly coupons or other discount incentives. The wash shies away from sales and give-aways, because Lawrence feels they become addictive for customers as well as salespeople.

“Customers start thinking that a discount should be part of every carwash purchase, and the sales folks start looking to discounts as an easy way to make a sale,” said Lawrence.

According to Lawrence, the wash experienced an increase per vehicle because managers motivated their SSAs to zero in on the critical factors that can bump up a sale.

Pressure-free sales techniques

However, Lawrence and Clark are quick to point out that Claytonomics does not involve pushing unneeded or unwanted services on customers.

“Our philosophy is to sell the customer only those services that offer him or her a real benefit,” said Clark. “The job of our SSAs is to sell by informing customers about the things they need.”

When selling these services, a Bubbles SSA will never simply ask customers if they want a specific extra service. Instead, the SSA will inform the customer about the added benefits that an extra service offers.

For example, when a customer buys an Ultimate, the SSA will not ask, “Would you like to trade up to an Express Hand Wax?” Instead, he or she will say, “For another $16, let me put on a wax that will last five or six times longer than this one.”

According to Clark, asking a question makes it very easy for the customer to say no. On the other hand, stating a benefit will give the customer something very positive to consider.

Establish goals

Lawrence and Clark have established five Claytonomic goals for Bubbles’ SSAs:

1.) Convert Ultimate Package customers to Express Hand Wax customers.

2.) Convert customers who buy the Tire Dressing option to the Exterior Dressing Package.

3.) Sell more Saddle Soap Leather Cleaning option.

4.) Sell Door and Dash treatment to Interior Dressing Customers.

5.) Sell more floor mat cleaning.

“After studying our computer reports, we determined that this is the sales mix that we should target to maximize our dollar per vehicle figures,” said Lawerence. “We look at our computer reports all the time, so we can see how each individual SSA is doing in each of these categories.”

Getting SSAs to concentrate their efforts on those customers who are most likely to move up to a better extra service is only part of the Claytonomics equation. Clark also trains salespeople not to focus on customers who have no real interest in extra services.

“Like all carwashes, we get people who roll their window down two inches, and say, “All I want is a basic wash.’ We tell our SSAs to be very polite, thank these customers for their business and wish them a good day, but don’t worry about trying to sell them anything extra.”

This type of customer isn’t interested in anything more, and the SSAs are just wasting time and energy that could be better spent on other customers. Hearing no from too many customers may discourage employees, making them less enthusiastic when dealing with the next customer.

Performance reviews

Clark reviews the performance of SSAs every Friday during Claytonomics classes. Bubbles’ computer system produces reports that show each individual SSA how he or she is doing in terms of meeting the five Claytonomics sales goals. According to Clark, this reporting is critical to the success of his sales strategy.

“Sales people do much better when they’re given feedback on their performance,” he said. “If an SSA sees that he’s selling Ultimates to 36 percent of his customers, he knows he has to start talking more about the Express Hand Wax. In almost all cases, this re-focusing will be enough to produce the desired results.”

Ken Brott is vice president of sales & marketing at DRB Systems, Uniontown, OH.
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