Jump Start Your Painting Business

Are you tired of making less money than your employees? Are you tired of working 60, 70, or more hours a week? Are you tired of saying "next year will be better"?

Operating a successful paint contracting company does not need to be complicated. It just requires good business practices. Do you need more leads? Implement a marketing plan that includes effective strategies like customer retention and proximity marketing. Do you want motivated and happy employees? Empower them and get out of their way. Do you fret over low priced competition? Learn to sell more effectively by focusing on consumer education.

The reason most businesses fail is because the owner does not have the necessary business skills. He gets what Michael Gerber (author of The E-Myth) calls "entrepreneurial seizure". A skilled craftsman decides he is tired of working for someone else and hangs out his shingle--now he'll make the big bucks. The problem is, this seldom works out well. A skilled craftsman does not necessarily make a good business owner. The skill sets are much different.

This 335-page manual covers virtually every aspect of the business side of owning a paint contracting company. This manual covers:

• Business Systems

• Finance and Accounting

• Marketing

• Estimating

• Sales

• Production Management

• Administration

• And more...

For readers of our blog, we are offering a limited time special. You can save $60 off of our regular price. Click here to learn more.

Can You Give me a Ballpark Price?

I just received a phone call from a woman wanting a ballpark price to paint her bedroom. I explained that I couldn't do that--there are too many factors to be considered, such as the texture, the prep required, the number and style of the doors and windows, etc.

She persisted. "There is no texture. I have standard doors and windows. There is no prep," she insisted. I repeated my explanation. "Come on," she said, "you should know what kind of doors and windows I have. They are the standard style."

"Ma'am," I explained, "I look at more than 300 houses a year and there is no such thing as standard doors. There are French doors, there are panel doors, there are patio doors, there are louvered doors, and more. In addition, I must see what kind of coating is on the surface now so that I know what prep we must perform."

She wasn't having any of this. "Look, you are the professional, and I would expect you to be able to give me a ballpark price."

"You are right, I am the professional," I said. "And as such, I am telling you that I cannot give you a price over the phone."

"Well," she snorted, "you must not be a very good professional if you cannot give me a price over the phone."

Growing more annoyed, I asked her how much a car costs. "That depends," she answered. "You can get a Yugo or you can get a Lexus. You can get something very basic, or you can get something with all of the bells and whistles. What does that have to do with painting?"

"Because," I responded, "the same is true of painting--it depends. It depends on whether you need a basic type of job, or a more extensive type of job. It depends on whether you need the bare minimum or you need more bells and whistles. Just as you can't tell me what a new car costs, I can't tell you what a paint job costs. It depends."

"That's different," she said. "Just give me a price."

"Okay," I said. "It will be less than $20,000." She hung up.

When the Customer Knows More than You

If you have been in business very long, you have likely run into a customer or two who knows more about painting than you do. Or at least, the customer thinks that he does. I used to get very annoyed with such people, buy now I simply find them amusing.

My company has painted more than 200 houses a year for the past 15 years. Since I get about 40% of the jobs I look at, this means that I have looked at about 7,500 paint jobs over the last decade and a half. I seriously doubt that a non-professional painter has even looked at the painting on that many homes, let alone tried to identify the various conditions and issues present.

But that certainly doesn’t stop some people from pretending that they know more than me. Apparently they believe that watching an episode on HGTV provides more experience and knowledge than years of actually painting.

I generally find that such people do not make very good customers. They tend to be very closed to listening to my advice and recommendations; they tend to have very selective memories and only recall what fits their preconceived notions.

This isn’t to say that every customer who has an opinion on painting is going to turn out bad. Indeed, I prefer customers who have done some homework and understand what should be considered regarding their project. But they also must be willing to listen.

I have said many times that sales is about communication, and communication is a two-way street. Just as a contractor should not assume that he knows what is best for the customer, the customer should not assume that he knows more than the contractor. Each must listen and learn.

The Answers have Changed

Much has happened in the world in the past year. Economic uncertainty abounds, and painting contractors across the country are concerned about their future. Leads have slowed and consumers have tightened their belt. As we kick off a new year, a story about Albert Einstein is worth considering:

Albert Einstein was teaching at Princeton University and had just administered an exam to an advanced class of physics students. On the way back to his office, the teaching assistant carrying the exams asked him, ”Dr. Einstein, wasn’t this the same exam that you gave to this same class last year?”

Dr. Einstein responded, ”Yes, it was.”

The teaching assistant, in awe of perhaps the greatest physicist of the twentieth century, then asked, ”Excuse me for asking, Dr. Einstein. But how could you give the same exam to the same class two years in a row?”

Einstein replied simply, ”The answers have changed.”

At the time, discoveries in physics were occurring rapidly. The answers were literally changing. The same can be said about the painting industry. What worked in 2008 may not be working today, and to continue to thrive we must adapt to the changing economic climate.

That change should not occur haphazardly--it should be carefully calculated and based on solid information. For example, if you lead flow has slowed, additional marketing may be required. But how will you decide where to advertise and what to spend? How will you determine what would be a good investment?

If you are like most contractors, you will throw money around and hope that something good happens. But if you track your leads and carefully analyze your marketing, you can make informed decisions. And your results will be much more predictable.

The answers may have changed, but the methods for finding those answers haven't. Solid business principles are timeless.