What I learned at Clayton Sales School

Jim Clayton singing at a Leadership Knoxville event shortly before revealing the "secrets" of Clayton Sales School.

I don’t know about you, but when I get the chance to hear sales tips from one of the most successful men in America right in my own backyard, I do it! So did almost 100 others who attended the final installment of this year’s “Behind the Scenes” events benefiting Leadership Knoxville.

The salesman, of course, was our own Jim Clayton, who founded Clayton Homes in 1966 and built it into the United States’ largest producer and seller of manufactured housing, a publicly traded company that was sold to Berkshire Hathaway in 2003 for $1.7 billion. Jim, as we all know, also is an author and founder of Knoxville’s Clayton Bank and Trust.

Throughout the long history of Clayton Homes, it has been a requirement for everyone who works there — at least in the retail and manufacturing parts of the business — to attend Clayton Sales School, a seminar on how to sell manufactured homes. When Jim Clayton and Clayton Homes became the first client of Moxley Communications (the forerunner of Moxley Carmichael) back in 1992, Jim required me to go to Clayton Sales School. (I was a little taken aback until I later learned that he also required his fiancee — now his wife — Kay Clayton to attend!)

Jim Clayton, right, chats with Sam and Ann Furrow during a tour of the Clayton Homes manufacturing plant in Norris.

Anyway, as it turned out, many of the lessons I learned at Clayton Sales School have been hugely beneficial to my own business over the years. That’s why I thought Jim would be a great speaker as part of the “Behind the Scenes” series — and he was!

The evening included a tour of Clayton’s Appalachia manufacturing plant in Norris, Tennessee, where we were shown how the homes are constructed. The tour was followed by dinner at the Museum of Appalachia, a few musical numbers by Jim (whose original career goal was to be a country music singer), and then his talk. It was a great evening and Jim was a charming host. Special shout-out to Katie Pickle, who was Jim’s assistant during the planning of this event, and Kate Campbell of the Museum of Appalachia, who coordinated the event from that end. Also to Kay Clayton, who was the glue that held all the logistics together!

Here are a few of the “secrets” from Clayton Sales School:

• Feature/benefit. When showing a manufactured home (or anything you are trying to sell, really) take the prospect through the home and point out all the great features. But also explain to him or her the benefit that results from each of those features. For example, don’t just say the home has a stainless steel sink. Explain that the benefit of that is that the sink will not chip and scratch like the cheap enamel sinks others sometimes install.
• Save the best for last. In a manufactured home, the best room most often is the living room or den. Save that until last on the tour. And then get the prospect to sit on the couch in that room. Help him or her picture themselves living there by asking questions like, “What would you put on this coffee table?” And, “Would you put pictures of your children on those shelves?”
• The worst room in a manufactured home is the small bedroom. There’s really not much good about it; it can be very tiny, just carved out of any leftover space in the house. If you let the prospect go in first and you stand in the doorway, the prospect is going to feel uncomfortable and trapped. They will get a small dose of claustrophobia. Instead, boldly enter the room first, Clayton advised, and walk straight to the window. This is where you feature/benefit the double-paned windows that are standard in all Clayton Homes. The benefit: keeps utility costs low. And there’s your happy prospect standing in the doorway, not feeling trapped at all. (And, hopefully, not noticing how small the room is!)
• Fine, fine, fine. Often a prospect will come in with a long list of requirements. As they tick off the items on their wish list, you say, “Fine,” after each item — even if you know some of the items are not possible to deliver. Just say, “Fine.” Then, only after you have taken them on a tour of the home and they have fallen in love with it, do you sit them down and say, “There is  just one thing I need to mention. We can’t get (fill in the blank).” They most likely will respond with, “Oh, that’s OK. I love it anyway.” But if you had started out by telling them you couldn’t deliver an item on their list, they would have just left the sales lot.
• Once you have made the sale, shut up! Once you “sell” the person, the only thing you can accomplish by continuing to talk is to “un-sell” them. Don’t do that! Start working on the paperwork necessary to close the deal.

Jim and Kay Clayton with Ronny Robertson, rear, the general manager of Clayton Homes' Appalachia manufacturing plant in Norris, Tennessee.

Here are a couple of other “Clayton-isms.” When I was hired to represent Clayton Homes 21 years ago, there was a whole movement in the industry to get people to refer to the products as “manufactured homes” rather than “trailers” or “mobile homes.” We spent huge amounts of time contacting media organizations asking them to please use the term “manufactured home” — and “manufactured housing community” rather than “trailer parks.” (Also, “double-wides” are supposed to be called “multi-sectionals!”) That’s why I was astounded one day when I heard Jim talking to someone about a “trailer.” When we were walking away from that particular meeting, I said, “Jim, I thought we were supposed to call them ‘manufactured homes!'” His response: “We are supposed to call them manufactured homes, Mox. But if a man wants to buy a trailer, I’m going to sell him a trailer!” Classic.

Someone asked me once if Jim were interested in selling the brand new 15,000-square-foot home he had built in Sequoyah Hills, which I seriously doubted. But I asked him, “Jim, is your house for sale?” He didn’t skip a beat. “Everything’s for sale, Mox. It’s just a matter of coming to an agreement on price.”

It's not elegant, but here is Dawn Ford serving wine on the bus that took attendees from downtown Knoxville to Norris for the event. This is the "bladder" that's inside a box of pinot grigio, for those of you who never have seen such a thing!

A true "servant leader," this is Leadership Knoxville alum Tom Catani serving wine to his fellow alum, Phyllis Nichols, on the bus to Norris.

Our first stop: the Clayton manufacturing plant in Norris.

Unlike "stick-builts" -- that's what manufactured housing folks call traditionally built houses! -- manufactured homes are built completely under cover in a plant.

Josh Morrison was one of our tour guides. The Clayton folks were all so helpful and informative. You could tell they were proud of their product.

Walls. Well-insulated.

One of our groups.

Walls installed.

A house covered up and getting ready for shipment.

Four completed houses are produced at this plant every day. Before the housing bust, the plant was producing ten per day.

We were blown away by the great media room in one of the houses being built. This is Phyllis Nichols testing out a chair. (Sorry for the rain on my camera lens. I had briefly stepped outside.)

Clayton Homes' Chris Young welcomes us into a finished product on the lot outside.

Marie Alcorn checks out the kitchen.

We were very impressed by the finishes in the $60,000 home.

Sharon Miller Pryse poses with Clayton and plant manager, Ronny Robertson.

Then it was back on the bus for the short drive to the Museum of Appalachia.

Here we are!

Dinner music was by the Museum of Appalachia Band.

The food was fantastic, everyone agreed! Here's Janet Testerman Crossley sampling some meatloaf.

Mary Bogert and the yummy macaroni.

Susan Brown had her eye on the chicken.

Tom Cervone and Susan Creswell in the buffet line.

And how great does this cornbread look?

Richard Ford added a little chow-chow to his pinto beans.

Steve and Kaye Maynard

Jim Nichols was a happy camper in the food line.

As was Janet Testerman.

Jim had to keep his strength up for his upcoming presentation.

Jay Secor

I guarantee you nobody left hungry!

Jim and Kay

Jim opened his part of the program with an Eddy Arnold classic: "Cattle Call."

Calling on my former career as a reporter, I got to interview Jim about the "secrets" of Clayton Sales School. What fun!

Ten lucky people won copies of Jim's autobiography, "First a Dream." And he signed them.

This is the second year for the “Behind the Scenes” fundraisers for Leadership Knoxville. A special thanks to the hard-working women who served on the planning committee alongside me: Susan Brown, Dawn Ford, Sharon Bosse, Gay Lyons and Janet Testerman. Also thanks to the hard work of the Leadership Knoxville staff, particularly Tammy White and Stephanie Edwards who worked on this event with the committee. If you’d like to see a report on earlier “Behind the Scenes” events involving Blackberry Farm, click here, or Scripps Networks, click here. Be on the lookout for next year’s schedule.

Photo credit: Alan Carmichael took the picture of me interviewing Jim.