It always surprises me how little people focus on the sales part of starting a painting business. Everyone is worried about hiring painters, equipment, estimating, and marketing… But sales seems to be the last thing people worry about.

If you are starting a painting business from scratch… or you run a painting company already, sales is the most important thing for you to master. Here’s why:

You can charge higher prices if you are good at sales.

You can hire better painters when you charge higher prices.

You can make more money when you charge higher prices.

You can utilize more marketing opportunities when you are better at sales. If you suck at sales, some marketing won’t be in your budget because you aren’t good enough at sales to make it work.

You can get more work when you are good at sales.

You can hire and train sales reps for your painting company if you are good at sales. You can’t do this if you suck at sales.

Nothing happens in your painting business until a job gets sold. Nothing. You could be the best marketer in the world – with tons of leads coming in. You could have the painting best crews in all the land. But none of that will matter if you can’t sell the job. But if you can sell the job, you can always find good painters, you can always find good marketing, everything else works out.

The good news: 95% of painting companies suck at sales. It’s not hard to be better than the rest of them out there.

Here are a few ways to be better:

1. Show up on time.
2. Call when you say you are going to call.
3. Be detailed.
4. Educate your customer on what their options are..
5. Give them what is best for them, not what is best for you.
6. Put your customer first.
7. Provide a detailed and written estimate, at the time of the estimate.
8. Give them options.
9. Provide references, pictures, and a basic company binder for them to look thru.

Leave me a comment – What are some other ways to set yourself apart? Because it’s not all about price.

~Eric