Three Fast - Easy Ways To Sharpen Up Your Painting Business Brand & Image

No matter the size of your painting business, having a nice sharp image and uniform brand goes a long way in gaining the trust and respect of prospective customers...

Here are a few fast, easy and affordable tips to tighten up your brand and image:

1. Keep the same look and feel on all of your marketing pieces, correspondence letters, web site, uniforms and signage.
   
   If you have a logo or tag line (slogan) be sure to include it on everything the public and your clients will see. This synergistic look and feel will help you attract a higher caliber of clientele and make your company look professional.
   
   
2. Work with your employees and educate them on "what to say and how to say it" when speaking to customers when you are not around.
   
   Homeowners see your employees everyday and many times will strike up conversations with them just to be polite, so make sure they know how to properly respond to common questions. Doing so will give you peace of mind and put a nice polish on your image.
   
   
3. Be Polite - Have Manners... saying please and thank you goes a long way.
   
   It's no secret that most homeowners have a very negative image of what a house painter is... Most if not all homeowners have had or knows someone who has had a bad experience with a painter.
   
   So being polite and saying please and thank you... cleaning up after yourself... asking if you should take your shoes off at the door... etc. goes a long way in overcoming that negative stereotype.
   

These tips may seem simple and like common sense but very few painting contractors actually practice them on a daily basis.

The residential house painting market has changed and so have homeowners buying habits... the days of "anyone with a brush and roller" finding work are gone, and those who take the time to freshen up and tighten up their brand and image will be the ones keeping their schedules full and making the most money.

SIDE NOTE:

We have just created a really great Joint Venture with a local screen printer/sign shop and will be putting together "Branding - image" t-shirt and sign packages very soon.

The printed marketing and promotional items we will be offering are:

1. T-shirts, sweat shirts, hats, owners polo's
   
   
2. magnetic vehicle signs
   
   
3. corrugated yard signs, intersection signs, pole/association signs
   
   
4. custom cut to fit vinyl vehicle graphics
   
   
5. banners, etc

The great news is that we am able to get these things at wholesale cost so the packages we are going to put together will be WAY more affordable then any retail shop can offer...

I'll post more about this as things begin to develop.

If this is something you would be interested in or have a question about how to better 'brand' your business, post a comment and we will do our best to help.

Painting Business Web Sites: Update & Progress

Thank's to everyone who gave feedback regarding our upcoming web site development service...

Not only were the responses helpful but also quite enjoyable to read. We had a great meeting with Bill (our programming partner) yesterday. We worked through the planning part of the project and nailed down some important details.

I will post updates to this blog as we continue to move forward. Keep in mind we are developing this web site service "specifically for painting contractors"... This will not be some low end cookie cutter program, but rather an affordable custom concept that will include the necessary components to make your painting business web site a very powerful marketing and branding tool that home owners in your local area will easily find.

Our intent is to do ALL of the heavy lifting for you. NO guesswork on your part. You will have access to everything you need to make your web site a customer converting tool that positions your painting business in a professional manner. A sharp, clean easy to navigate web site that generates calls.

If you would like to be notified as soon as we are ready to go, leave a comment on this post as we will be sure to put you on the early notification list.

Exercise Your Marketing Muscles

I can hardly type today because I'm SO sore... You see, for the last three years or so I have been running my painting business and consulting full time rather than swinging a brush.

...And I have put on A LOT of weight!

So last week I decided to hire a personal trainer to whip me back into shape and today was my fitness evaluation... OUCH!

In fact, worse than ouch... I puked! and as I type this blog post my arms are still trembling.

Over the years as I saw myself getting fatter, I would go on a diet and exercise for a week or two which always helped me lose a few pounds and make my clothes fit better but then I would stop.

back and forth - back and forth until here I sit 45 pounds heaver.

As I was sweating and swearing my ass off I said out loud... "How did I get here?"

...And Jason instantly replied, "laziness and lack of consistency."

Wow, that answer hit me like a ton of bricks!

Here I have been teaching painting business owners that the number one most important secret to growing a profitable business is marketing with consistency.

So many times business owners will market for a few days, drum up a little business and stop marketing until business slows down and then start up again.

This kind of IN-consistency creates the same kind of yo-yo effect with business and profits as it did with the fat on my a$$, except instead of your bank account growing it's your frustration and stress level...

...it is impossible to create momentum being inconsistent!

It's not about how much you do it's about how often you do it. If you make a commitment to yourself, your family and your business that you will pass out 10 business cards per day, in 100 days you will have passed out 1000 cards.

If you get a 10% response you will have gained 100 new clients. Concentrate on doing the simple little things 'consistently' and they will pay big rewards.

Looking back over the last three years, I realize that it is my fault that I got so out of shape.

I guess the only thing I was consistent at was eating poorly and being inconsistent with my exercise program.

Take an honest look at your business right now... is it where you want it to be? If not, lack of consistency could be the reason.

Now get out there and start exercising your marketing muscle on a daily basis.

Residentail Re-Paint Quality: How Good Is Good Enough?

These tips will help new painting business owners gain confidence going into their first contract paint jobs...

I remember the very first residential repaint job I ever landed on my own...

I had painted in the field as an employee for over a decade before I started my own business and when the day came that I was to start my very first "Solo" paint job, all of a sudden I had a panic feeling as I was about to start cutting in.

I wondered:

What kind of quality is this customer expecting?

How good is good enough?

So I picked up the cell phone and called Paul (my mentor) who I had just completed a three year apprenticeship with and asked him those questions.

Here is what he said...

When painting a residential repaint the MINIMUM quality that is acceptable should be based on the quality of the paint job already on the surface.

...BUT he said, if the paint job that you are painting over was done by the homeowner or DIYer and doesn't look good (uneven cut, holidays, etc.) then it's your responsibility to make it look a lot more professional.

...If the paint job being painted over already looks good (sharp cut lines, good coverage, etc) then you should use that as your minimum quality guideline.

Your goal as painting business owner, whether you do the painting yourself or hire others to do the work, is to provide a quality finished paint j0b that the customer is happy with.

One way to ensure you always meet the customers expectations is to do a final walk through with them.

The final walk through gives you time to take after photos, talk to the homeowner about your referral program and ask them for a testimonial and/or letter of recommendation.

If you are new to owning your own painting business and have any questions, please leave a comment on this post and we'll try to answer them for you.