What Service Businesses Need to Do to Keep Up with the Rest of the World

What happens when contractors think different?

The painting industry is over 500 years old and as creative as painters can be we still haven’t innovated beyond the paint brush as the symbol of our trade.

As a painter, I understand the pure joy that is found in handling a brush so I’m not suggesting that we lose the brush all together but I do question the stumbling blocks tradesmen put in their way because of the way things are and always have been.

Take the image above for example. Sure the solution is…creative, it got the job done but what ideas is this fellow missing that could have made the task easier, faster and safer?

Let’s analyze the problem. The wall height is too high. The most obvious solution is to get you closer to the ceiling. He could have used a ladder… but I’m guessing he didn’t have one so the next logical step would be to stand on the door; of course. Problem solved.

Yet, the solution doesn’t solve the root problem which is that the brush is designed to be handled in close range and the only way to get the brush up to the ceiling line is to get yourself up to the ceiling line.

But let’s think differently here by asking the question behind the question. Not “how do I get myself up there”, rather, “how do I get the paint up there”. From here you might think to use an extension pole with a brush, heck why not a laser guided spray gun, forget that why not a laser guided paint bomb?! Or how about a flying orb with a little spray tip or millions of nano paint bots. It doesn’t really matter, right? As long as we are finding the best way period and not the best way to do the old way.

Now, I don’t have the answer to high tech application. I mean, I would use a real ladder. But the question is important. How do we deliver services better?

If I were an engineer I might attack that problem with a machine but I’m a marketer. So as a marketer, how do I deliver services better?

During the early stages of my company I was marketer and salesman and painter, but when I got out of the bucket and focused entirely on sales and marketing I realized I had been underserving a huge can of unopened worms. Take a look at this info graphic for example. I didn’t even know that such a battle raged between sales and marketing.

That’s a tone of work. Spending all of my time on a ladder this stuff wasn’t even on my radar. But now having both marketing and sales staff I see the importance of each side doing their job so that the painters can focus expressly on delivering our service to the best of their ability.

Insert Modern Marketing & Sales Methods

The name on the street in modern marketing and sales is automation. How do you set up an automatic system that finds customers, attracts them to your business, educates them on the service and leads them into buying behavior all while maintaining a level of personableness and trust that is still so essential in providing services in the home? After all, that infographic above sounds like it might involve a lot of people and dedicated time which is something services providers don’t have. 76% of paint companies employ fewer than five people which isn’t enough staff for the owner to comfortably take themselves out of production. It probably means the owner spends about half his time in the field and the other half is spent on estimates, meanwhile he’s left his crew unsupervised in a nice home. How are any of these companies going to have time to set up something automated so they are able to focus on building a better team? They won’t.

But Color Theory Will

Our new system, launching in the spring will automate the sales and the scheduling of paint jobs so that paint professionals will have more time to dedicate toward honing their craft and leading teams rather than spending divided time between getting work done and wondering where the next job is coming from. Our color consultants will be empowered to spend more time with customers on choosing color giving them the best service possible with added perks and value.

Currently on our site customers can build a paint estimate online using basic measurements. We encourage users to use the site as a ballpark reference to get an idea of their project cost and then call us to get more customized pricing through a traditional estimate. You can see this in action here.

Within the next month, however, we are migrating to our new system that will build the jobs more accurately online, allow for scheduling the work right from the site and it will allow customers to pay upon completion of the work. We think this is going to serve our customers well as it will help them plan their projects more conveniently without the hassle of setting up multiple estimates with providers you don’t know and who you won’t hear from for weeks on end.

Definitely stay tuned for what’s coming next because it’s going to make the whole house painting experience more enjoyable.

I know you love hearting things. Go ahead, it’s easy.