fbpx

Ready to scale your business?

Add $75,000 in Profit Per Year, Every Year... Without Working More

Learn More

Professional Painting Proposal – How to Use One to Boost Your Sales

In this post, we are going to review how to put together a professional proposal, and how to present it to the customer so you can start winning more jobs by simply looking more professional to the customer.

paintbrush
Eric Barstow
Published Date: 05/31/2019

Creating a professional painting proposal is a simple thing you can do, that will immediately set you apart from some of your competition. This is one of the easiest ways to win more business while putting in about the same amount of effort. These painting proposals are one aspect of having a top-notch painting business sales process.

To Get a Copy of the Contract/Proposal We Use for Our Customers, Click Here

And any time you can get more with the same amount of effort, means you are making more money per hour. Think of it as giving yourself a huge raise by implementing a few simple strategies.

In this post, we are going to review how to put together a professional proposal, and how to present it to the customer so you can start winning more jobs by simply looking more professional to the customer.

Professional Painting Proposal, Professional Sales System, Writing Professional Proposals


What’s in This Article

Click any of these links to go directly to that section.

Preparing to Write a Professional Painting Proposal

Before you can write a professional painting proposal, you are going to need to know what the customer wants. Don’t do a stock estimate. Actually find out what the customer’s wants and needs are so you can customize an estimate to them. As a painting contractor, you know how much price can vary based on prep work, what is being painted, how many colors, how many coats, what type of paint is being used, and any other specific preferences the customer has.

I cover more about the sales process in other articles and in my course.


Writing the Proposal

So back the proposal. Let’s assume you have all of the customer’s preferences… what should go in your proposal?

  • Your information and your company information.
  • The customer’s information. Make sure to include their name, phone number, address, and EMAIL. This is going to come in handy later when you implement your marketing strategies to retain customers.
  • What areas of the house are being painted? Be specific.
  • What prep work is included? Be specific.
  • What materials are being used? Be specific.
  • Other considerations or expectations. For example, on our contract, we clarify that the estimate includes sticking with the same color scheme on the house, meaning whatever is body color, needs to be body color. Trim color stays a trim color. They can change those colors, but not add new trim accents onto the house, etc. If they do want to do that it costs more money.
  • A notes section for other important notes and preferences for the job.
  • Prices and options.
  • A section where they can choose the option they want. This section should outline the deposit and balance amount, and have a place for customers to sign.

Professional painting proposals can be written or typed. The downside to electronic proposals is you usually can’t deliver the estimate to the customer on the spot. And that’s the best way to win business.

We just used Excel to create a basic contract with all of the above areas included. Do this one time, and then print a bunch of them. We print them on carbon copy NCRs so we get a copy and the customer gets a copy.

Now you have your professional painting proposal written up. Time to go back inside and review it with the customer.


How to Close a Paint Sale Using a Professional Painting Proposal

I go into a lot more detail on closing in my course, but here are the basics:

  • Walk inside. Be friendly.
  • Sit down. Put the contract in front of them and say, “Ok, so let me show you what I came up with”. It’s ok if their eyes go straight to the price, but you don’t start at the price. You go through the contract step-by-step.
    • “So here is your information. Is everything correct?”
    • “Here is my information, my number, email, etc.”
    • “Here are the areas we are painting like we talked about”
    • “This is the prep work we talked about… Scrape sand and prime peeling areas, like those spots on the north side we noticed. We are going to caulk all the cracks like I showed you around the windows and especially those big cracks above the garage…” and go through the prep work reminding them of everything you talked about. You are also demonstrating how detailed you are.
    • “These are the materials we are planning to use, like we talked about”
    • “Here are just some other notes about the job…”
    • Then before you review the options and prices, ask them “Did I get everything? Is there anything else we talked about that I’ve left out or is this pretty much exactly what you guys are looking for?”
    • “Great… so here are the options. Option #1 is _____ and that’s going to be $2,970. Option #2 is _____ and the difference with that one is that we are doing 2 coats. The price on that one is $3990.”
  • Review all options. Then CLOSE. That means – ask for the job. Don’t say “What do you think?” Because they will answer, and what they are thinking is “damn, that’s a lot of money that I don’t want to spend. I sure would like that price to be lower. Let’s think about it for a while and not do anything today.”

Instead, you should say one of these lines:

  • After you show them the prices and options, just shut up and don’t say anything. Set the pen down. After 5-10 seconds of silence, say “So where you do want to go from here?”
  • “So which option do you want to go with?”
  • “Do you want to go with the one coat or two coat option?”
  • “So all I need to get you in my schedule is a 25% deposit and your signature here.”

Then they will say yes, or they will say something else – and how to deal with that is for another article and in my course.

But using a professional painting proposal AND a detailed sales system, you will immediately demonstrate that you are more professional and more detailed than most of your competition. Detail and professionalism build trust. Trust is why people buy.

We are not the lowest price, not even close! But we win a large percentage of our bids because people are most comfortable with us.

If you want to start using our contract template right away, you can download it here

In the Painting Business Pro course, I’ll walk you through each step of how to use the contract and give you a newly designed template for your very own professional painting proposal.

Do you have something to add or a question? Share in the comments.


Downloaded by over 40,000. Earn 10-50% more profit/job

ESTIMATING GUIDES

Painting Business Pro

Get instant access

Estimating Guide - Articles

The contract we used to sell millions in residential paint jobs.

Project Contract

Save on attorney fees

Get instant access

Project Contract - Articles

Earn profit quickly.
Your startup checklist.

Startup Checklist

Your first steps to get started.

Get instant access

Startup Checklist - Articles

Subscribe to our daily emails

Daily newsletter

Stay tuned.

Join over 20,000 subscribers

Subscribe to Our Daily Emails - Articles

Start Winning Bigger Jobs

Commercial Painting

Introductory Training

Get instant access

Intro to Commercial Painting Training - Articles
logo
1730 S College Ave, Suite 305, Fort Collins, CO 80525

Subscribe to our daily emails

Daily newsletter

Stay tuned.

Join over 20,000 subscribers

Subscribe to Our Daily Emails
crossarrow-up-circlearrow-left-circle