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.



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.

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 labor 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.

Another way you can keep existing customers satisfied? Help them maintain the appearance of their facilities: Help them to take advantage of the free Benjamin Moore Facilities Maintenance Guide.

The Facilities Maintenance Guide helps to easily record paint colors, products, and finishes—as well as track surfaces and locations throughout the building—to facilitate repaints and touch-ups. Get started on your customized guide by emailing ProSegments@benjaminmoore.com.


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 neighborhood

Grassroots tactics like job-site signs, business cards and door hangers work. We can help you customize some of your own marketing support materials.

Remember to make connections organically when on the job. If the opportunity presents itself, introduce your business to neighbors 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.

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