Provide guidance and expertise with Sherwin-Williams color tools and services
One of the trickiest challenges pros face is helping customers make color choices. As a contractor, you may not feel like an expert on color or have the time to dedicate to help homeowners through the possibly overwhelming color selection process. Thankfully, with Sherwin-Williams in your corner, you have all the tools necessary to help even the most indecisive customer imagine the perfect palette.
Guiding customers on their color journey helps them choose colors faster, so that you can get to painting. It also ensures that you’ll have a happy, satisfied customer who will view you as a valued resource for this and future painting projects. Here are some tools and services you can use to help customers visualize their ideal color palette and find the perfect shade.
Color Toolkit
The Color Toolkit, which can be accessed through the Sherwin-Williams PRO+ app, helps you quickly find and access information to share with your customers. Simply download the app from your device’s app store, link your PRO+ account to the app, click on the “Tools” tab, and then click on the Color Toolkit. From there, you can see what’s trending in the Top 50 colors, order samples online with quick delivery directly to your customer, and schedule a free Virtual Color Consultation with a color expert. The Color Toolkit saves you time and shows your customer you are prepared for anything.
With Virtual Color Consultations, you can offer your clients a complimentary, 30-minute consultation with a color expert via video chat, a phone call, email or text. The simple process begins when you give your residential customer a Virtual Color Consultation sell sheet. The customer can then visit swcolorconsult.com to book a consultation. Pros can also share the Virtual Color Consultation customer self-scheduling link directly with their customers through the Color Toolkit. During their consultation, your customers will receive not only expert color advice, but also a digital color palette and customized color suggestions.
“This is a benefit of doing business with you, because you partner with companies like Sherwin-Williams to ease their pain in this part of the process,” says Archie Bartel, Sherwin-Williams Director of Sales Force Effectiveness. “You’ll be ready to start their project faster and get it done promptly.”
Try-Before-You-Buy Samples
For clients who need to see the colors in action before they know for sure, Sherwin-Williams also offers a couple of try-before-you-buy options. Your customers may know that Sherwin-Williams offers free color chips for reference, but have they heard of Peel & Stick samples?
These 8” x 8” color samples allow homeowners to visualize and test out sample colors without any mess, dry time, or repositioning hassle. Applying these adhesive squares to the wall or surface they want painted can be a great way for homeowners to see how well a particular color pairs with existing lighting, architecture, and furnishings. And for customers debating between two colors, applying both side to side on the desired surface may help them realize which they prefer. Peel & Stick color samples are available in most popular colors and can be ordered here or accessed via the Color Toolkit in the PRO+ app.
Another popular try-before-you-buy option is Color to Go®, 30.7 fl. oz. paint samples available in any color. These color samples—which can cover about 75 square feet—enable you to eliminate guesswork by letting your customer see for themselves how any given color will look after it’s applied. Color to Go® samples come in small, Twist-n-Pour containers at affordable prices. For undecided customers, this allows for easy experimentation and trial-and-error at minimal expense—in time, money, or labor—to your crew.
2023 Colormix Forecast
If your customers want a fresh look but don’t know where to begin, another great starting point for color visualization can be the 2023 Colormix collections. These 40 colors—arranged into four themed palettes—represent cutting-edge design trends for residential homes. Show them sample layouts and designs in this year’s Colormix Lookbook and pay attention to what catches their eye.
Don Easton of Easton Painting in Woodland, California, says a perceptive painter can intuit a lot about a customer’s color preferences from their behavior and environment.
“I listen and watch their body language when they’re looking at the color samples,” Easton says. “I look at their clothing and accessories, their artwork and decorations, and the style of their home. I notice colors in their garden and the color of their car. These are all clues to the right color for them.”
These observations, in tandem with the styles laid out in Colormix, can indicate the right color for your customer.
Conclusion
These tools and services provide plenty of ways for your business to help customers take the next step on their color journey.
“While many customers who ask you for a quote really do intend to paint, they are often overwhelmed by color choice,” says Paige NeJame, owner of CertaPro Painters of the South Shore and Boston. “Offering to help with colors helps give your customers confidence to move forward with their painting project.”
Giving customers confidence in their color selection can also give them the confidence to close the deal and hire you. By partnering with your clients to find the right color, your team can get to work faster, and your clients will end up with a finished project they love. Everybody wins when you take advantage of Sherwin-Williams suite of color visualization tools.