TOP 3 STRATEGIES TO GROW
YOUR PAINTING BUSINESS

TOP 3 STRATEGIES TO GROW YOUR PAINTING BUSINESS

Successful painting pros know that there’s a lot more to the business than painting. When you’ve mastered your craft and your hard work and reputation reward you with new opportunities, it’s an exciting turning point for your business. Here, we share 3 important strategies for growth.

Establish Your Business Goals

Beyond the brush, focus on setting and sticking to goals in 3 areas vital for increasing your revenue and expanding your business: Efficiency, customer relationships and impactful marketing. Planning for the future, having the right mindset and taking the right action will fuel your growth engine.

SET GOALS IN THESE 3 AREAS

1

Efficiency

with systems and practices that free up your time so you can focus on growth aspects of the business.

2

Customer Relationships

built through consistent, professional communications during every phase of the process.

3

Marketing

in the most effective channels—with tools and techniques to sell your skills and win new customers.

SET GOALS IN
THESE 3 AREAS

1

Efficiency

with systems and practices that free up your time so you can focus on growth aspects of the business.

2

Customer Relationships

built through consistent, professional communications during every phase of the process.

3

Marketing

in the most effective channels—with tools and techniques to sell your skills and win new customers.

1. Maximize the Efficiency of Your Painting Business

One key to growth will be putting efficient systems and practices to work for your company. If the majority of your day is currently spent painting alongside your crew, there’s no time left for essential business efforts like sales, marketing and customer communications. That means it’s time to put down the brush more often and delegate more tasks to the foreman and crew. Spending fewer hours in production means more time to focus on generating leads and other critical areas of growth. There are many helpful tools and systems designed to bolster efficiencies across all aspects of your business such as contractor software like accounting & bookkeeping, time management, estimating Jobs and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) programs. These can make a significant impact.

Putting time-saving techniques to work can jump-start momentum for you and your crew at the onset of a job. Paint colour selection often slows down a job’s momentum and causes delays. Tap into tools and tips to help customers select and match colours in advance of the job: See Guiding Customers to Colour Selection for actionable ways to make deciding on colour easier—and faster.

Work with your crew to make sure they are ordering and using materials efficiently. “Materials are usually 10 to 30% of a normal job cost. When your teams order and use materials efficiently, your company is more profitable,” explains Chris Shank, Education Director at the Painting Contractors Association.

Efficiency
Watch-Outs

Making unnecessary trips to the paint store

Taking too long to generate estimates

Testing too many colour samples

Making excessive visits to the job site

Taking small jobs that hinder bigger ones

1. Maximize the Efficiency of Your Painting Business

One key to growth will be putting efficient systems and practices to work for your company. If the majority of your day is currently spent painting alongside your crew, there’s no time left for essential business efforts like sales, marketing and customer communications. That means it’s time to put down the brush more often and delegate more tasks to the foreman and crew. Spending fewer hours in production means more time to focus on generating leads and other critical areas of growth. There are many helpful tools and systems designed to bolster efficiencies across all aspects of your business such as contractor software like accounting & bookkeeping, time management, estimating Jobs and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) programs. These can make a significant impact.

Putting time-saving techniques to work can jump-start momentum for you and your crew at the onset of a job. Paint colour selection often slows down a job’s momentum and causes delays. Tap into tools and tips to help customers select and match colours in advance of the job: See Guiding Customers to Colour Selection for actionable ways to make deciding on colour easier—and faster.

Work with your crew to make sure they are ordering and using materials efficiently. “Materials are usually 10 to 30% of a normal job cost. When your teams order and use materials efficiently, your company is more profitable,” explains Chris Shank, Education Director at the Painting Contractors Association.

Efficiency
Watch-Outs

Making unnecessary trips to the paint store

Taking too long to generate estimates

Testing too many colour samples

Making excessive visits to the job site

Taking small jobs that hinder bigger ones

2. Cultivate Great Relationships

Your customers are the lifeblood of your painting business. To truly grow, you need to create game-changing relationships with them. Consistently delivering outstanding service wins jobs, retains happy customers and generates referrals. Great communication plays a major role and will be a competitive advantage for you. Come across with confidence, experience, friendliness and professionalism at every touchpoint in the process. Always arrive on time and keep your commitments.

TRADE BEST PRACTICE VIDEO SERIES

"Do what you say you’re going to do. Stand behind your work. Put your customers’ interests at the level of yours so it’s a win-win situation for both the business and the homeowner." - Sean Kennedy, Kennedy Painting

WATCH VIDEO >

TRADE BEST PRACTICE
VIDEO SERIES

"Do what you say you’re going to do. Stand behind your work. Put your customers’ interests at the level of yours so it’s a win-win situation for both the business and the homeowner." - Sean Kennedy, Kennedy Painting

WATCH VIDEO >

Nurturing customer relationships results in referrals and repeat business. It starts with listening. “The customer communicates their needs... The painting contractor, that’s your company, communicates how it will meet those needs—the materials it will use, the amount of labour it will require, the level of prep, number of coats...The estimator is responsible for following up,” explains Chris Shank from the PCA. Give yourself an advantage with software programs for CRM designed to enable your professional customer communications and cadence. Having a customer-focused strategy is the difference between businesses that stay small and those that win.

Watch these Trade Best Practice episodes about growing your painting business:

3. Market Your Business for the Win

You don’t need an MBA in marketing to sell your company’s painting expertise to a wider audience. Here are some simple steps to get started.

Get noticed in the neighbourhood

Grassroots tactics like job-site signs, business cards and door hangers work.

Remember to make connections organically when on the job. If the opportunity presents itself, introduce your business to neighbours and friends of your customer with a flyer that includes a “friends and family” discount of 10% off—and leave a few with your customer if you think they’re amenable. And it’s always a good idea to attend local events to network.

Get online, get social and get discovered

Having a strong presence on digital platforms these days is table stakes in the painting business. Look at best practices for using Yelp, Google My Business, Facebook and Instagram. Here, you’ll be able to show off your skills with photos, spark conversations, feature testimonials and get inexpensive exposure that generates leads.

Get more leads

Use both inbound communications (content that draws customers to your services like social media posts, blogs and videos) and outbound communications (messages you send out to your audience including newspaper ads, radio ads and cold calling.)

If prospects “opt in” by giving you their email or phone number, consider giving them a special offer as a thank-you for joining your network.

Reengage people in the sales pipeline—make it a habit to routinely follow up with them, even if you didn’t get the sale the first time. And remember, referrals are the gold standard for driving business. Keep a list of your most satisfied customers and ask them if they can provide a reference in the format of their choice—whether by phone, email or a positive business review.

Fortunately, professional painting is a field with great potential for growth for any business with excellent skills and a smart strategy. Benjamin Moore is here to support and guide you along your growth journey. Through our partnership with the Painting Contractors Association, we are also proud to share the Trade Best Practices video series with you.