Veteran painting contractors share their business wisdom
Every successful painting business owner once started out as an ambitious painter with a dream. Establishing and growing a business takes skill, a bit of luck… and quality advice from a trusted mentor.
We asked veteran painting contractors to share the best advice they ever received when starting their business. Here’s what they said. Continue reading The Best Business Tips I’ve Ever Received
Stumped by social media? You won’t be after reading this advice
When it comes to connecting with your local community, social media can be a game changer. It lets potential customers find you without you having to spend days knocking on doors or cold calling.
But social media isn’t just a box you check—using it well is a craft unto itself, and like any craft, some techniques and methods work better than others. While paid ads and sponsored content can be a quick way to get your name out to prospective clients, the savvy social media user may be able to draw a large audience with just a smartphone and a little trial-and-error. Continue reading 3 Secrets to Organic Social Media Success
Generate quality leads from social media with these 6 tips
Tell the painters on your team to pull out their phones and get on social media. No, it’s not a distraction or a waste of time on the job. In fact, savvy social media skills can save your business time and help you land more jobs and make more money. Continue reading How to Build Your Social Media Presence
Turn positive word-of-mouth into booming business with these best practices.
To have a healthy business today, you need to have a healthy online presence. And one of the most important parts of your business’ online presence are your online reviews. A good review can help you reach new customers you would have never run into in real life—and a bad review can turn someone away from your business before you’ve ever said a word to them.
Megan Hinz, marketing community manager at Sherwin-Williams, and her team read and reply to every review for every Sherwin-Williams store across Google, Yelp, Facebook, and sherwin-williams.com. They read hundreds of reviews every day. For this article, she talked to us about her team’s best practices for garnering good reviews, responding professionally, and creating a positive impression for potential online customers.
How to get a better finish faster
It was a disaster. The contractor and his crew had been contracted to paint a $4 million house for a new homeowner. But while power sanding to eliminate overspray from a knockdown ceiling, the painting crew hit a snag. The temporary heat wasn’t fully keeping the March moisture and condensation at bay, and the recycled drywall paper on the sheet rock was getting damp. Add to it that the 2000 RPM power sanders had raised the paper on the sheet rock, and the resulting texture of the walls could only be described as “furry.” For efficiency’s sake, the contractor decided to paint the prime coat over it with sprayer. He succeeded at making the texture no longer furry—except now it felt like 80-grit sandpaper. When the homeowner walked in, he could see every butt joint, flat, and nail spot in the wall under natural light. The homeowner was livid.
At this point, the contractor asked Kent Annis, president and owner of Full Circle International, for help. Kent took in the scene, told the crew to pause what they were doing, and asked the painting contractor to follow him into the basement. The contractor brought a roller and a fan, and Kent brought Full Circle’s Radius 360.
Why pro painters should join the PCA
Running a painting business may sometimes leave you feeling alone, like you’re on a remote island figuring out how to survive on your own—but it doesn’t have to be that way. There’s a community of painters ready to connect with you and elevate your business. If you’re not part of the Painting Contractors Association (PCA), you may be missing out on cost-saving resources and a network of fellow painters who want to support you.
PCA has come a long way from its 1884 origins as a negotiating arm of the painters’ unions and, later, as a kind of social club for professional painters. Today PCA is focused on equipping painting businesses with the resources, training, and personal support necessary to succeed.
Slowing down will help your team do more
One of Benjamin Franklin’s most notable quotes reads: “Take time for all things: great haste makes great waste.”
Not surprisingly, those words ring as true today as they did back in the early 1700s of colonial America. In fact, our own Navy SEALS have incorporated a similar attitude when training new members: “Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.”
In the painting profession, there’s a big difference between doing a job quickly and rushing a job. Hurry often leads to sloppy work, which can result in costly callbacks and tarnish your reputation for delivering quality work.
Sherwin-Williams offers step-by-step instructions on how to set up pages and start advertising
Stumped by social media and how it might help grow your business?
Many painting contractors are growing a successful social media presence. And your Sherwin-Williams rep can direct you to a new guide from Sherwin-Williams that will show you how, featuring specific sections on using Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and other platforms, as well as an extended section on creating Facebook ads. Continue reading Social Media 101 for Painting Contractors
Effective management will help you retain your top-performing employees. Continue reading Be a Good Boss
Purdy® innovation helps you get more done
What if your team could do more projects—without working any extra hours, hiring any extra employees, or cutting any corners?
With demand for work higher than ever, painting contractors are looking for any edge to make their crews more productive. That’s where the Purdy 14-inch Roller System comes in. Continue reading Improve Productivity by 55% with the 14-inch Roller System*
Employer Resources Board provides tools to address the hiring challenge
A program developed by Sherwin-Williams features a collection of resources designed to help painting contractors overcome the current hiring challenges facing the industry. Continue reading How to Build Your Team
Transition from res-repaint focus to commercial requires effective networking, planning, and patience, contractor says
Commercial painting projects continue to keep contractors busy to the point that demand for services often exceeds the working capacity of available contractors. Continue reading One Contractor’s Path to Commercial Success
Popular Paint Pro Training Videos help PROs — and their teams — achieve more
A Sherwin-Williams initiative designed to help grow the skill sets of new painters and address an overall painting industry labor shortage continues to be a major success, according to company officials and the contractors who benefit from it. Continue reading Making a Difference
A spring 2021 survey conducted by Sherwin-Williams asked more than 1,000 members of a DIY advisory panel a question of particular relevance to painting contractors: Why, exactly, do homeowners decide to hire out painting services? Continue reading Why do Homeowners Hire Painters?
How to make old business your best source of new business
A recent survey of painting contractors conducted by Sherwin-Williams reports that your best generator of new business remains the satisfied homeowner-customer whose house you just finished. Continue reading Earning the Referral
More than three decades ago, The Kaloutas Company of Peabody, Mass., was busy building a distinguished name for itself with a record of successful and efficient painting projects for commercial and industrial customers throughout New England. Continue reading Think Programs, Not Projects
Buy-now, pay-later plans could lead to new business
“I run a painting business, not a bank.”
If you’ve ever considered offering your customers buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) options, you might have had such a thought. After all, there are inherent risks in the financing business, especially when finance is not among your core competencies. Failures can be costly. Continue reading Should You Offer Customers Financing?
