Do you want your team to focus more on selling car wash memberships? Well, here’s our top six ways to develop a culture of selling at your car wash.

Hey guys, I’m Mike Berlin from Slam Car Wash Marketing bringing you some fresh ideas to consider when marketing your car wash. It’s the SLAM Six, and this week let’s talk about getting the team fired up about selling. Let’s sell some memberships.

It’s shocking to see how many operators don’t really track their sales conversion rate. What I’m talking about is out of 100 non-member cars that come through those gates, how many do we convert into the unlimited plan? Did you know that the lifetime value of a member, on average, is about $300? $30 a month on average, they last for about 10 months. So every time you sell an unlimited membership, it’s like selling a $300 item.

So what are some ways we can get the crew to start thinking about sales, training in sales, and making sales part of their daily actions and thoughts? How can we begin to develop a sales culture?

1. Conversions

If you don’t measure it, you can’t improve it. Use a scoreboard like this.

Have your team track key performance indicators every single day. Now I’m not saying this is another job for you to do. This is for your team. Your team should be reporting this to you every day. Show your sales crew how to pull the sales conversion rate from your Sonny’s Back Office. Generally speaking, you want to be hitting about 8 to 10%.

Also, track net cars or sales opportunities. These are those non-member cars that come through your gate every day. If you’re doing a good job of marketing, you should have plenty of opportunities to sell.

Another one is tracking your churn rate. You need to understand how big is the hole in the boat. Beyond tracking internal KPIs, you should also look at new reviews. These help you with your Google ranking. I would set a goal for the crew to get at least two new five-star reviews every day. If you want one of these scoreboards, send us a quick email or give us a buzz, and we’ll ship one of these out to you. They’re a dry erase markerboard poster, and I promise if you use it, they’ll start to help you change that culture.

2. Opening Lines

If you think about sales like dating, when you first meet that person, say it’s a guy or a girl, the first thing that you say to that person makes a big impact. Your opening line is very important, and it is the make or break moment. When you’re selling at the pay station or the vacuum area, your opening line is key. Get with your crew and write down about 25 good opening lines, and then work with them and y’all filter them down to like your top five. Have them commit them to memory, try them out, and see which ones work the best. Having a good opening line is key.

3. Sell the Benefits

I had a good friend of mine who’s a great salesperson, Jimmy Williams. He told me, “Mike, sell the hole, not the drill.” I was like, “What?” But then I got it. Ah, he’s talking about selling the benefits, not the features. So, when you talk about unlimited plans, talk about the benefits to the customer. It saves you time, it saves you money, it’s faster through the wash, it helps you maintain your car’s resale value, it gives you that sense of freedom when you can wash anytime. Things like that resonate with customers. Tell them why they would feel better with an unlimited plan. Like Jimmy says, sell the hole, not the drill.

4. Objection Flashcards

Take it back old school. Get the team together, make a big list of all the reasons customers say they don’t want the unlimited plan, and make flashcards. On the front, write down what the customer says. On the back, write down what our response is. This way, your team member can control the narrative and response, putting that person in a good position to close.

5. Create a Sales Position

As we work with many clients on their marketing, some are constantly training their team and giving everyone a chance to sell. Some clients have decided to create a sales position and recruit a seasoned salesperson for that position. The idea is that we get quarterbacks throwing the ball and running backs running the ball. So, I’d recommend build out a nice commission structure and then go poach somebody from the cell phone industry. They’ve developed some great salespeople that are bored looking for their next venture. Our industry has a lot of action and upside potential.

6. Role Play

Man on a rainy Wednesday, get some crew together, practice those flashcards, do some role play sessions. Get somebody to pull their car up at the pay station and practice. Coach and repeat.

When you start tracking your sales and KPIs every day on a board with the crew, and you start making some intentional efforts with that crew, develop them as salespeople, you will see a culture shift. Set some goals, award some relevant prizes when that team hits those goals. It’s a partnership between sales and marketing. The marketing team has to create more leads; the sales team has to take those leads and convert them into revenue and memberships.

If you want some help or need some advice, email or call us at SLAM.