Three Tips For Boosting Your Painting Business
As a professional painter, your work is about more than just applying paint on residential and commercial jobs. It’s also about guidance. Many of your clients look to you to provide insights into how best to make the most of their upcoming paint job, and this is where good painters prepare themselves ahead of time to provide three different kinds of tips.
Tip#1: Learn to Explain Paint Choices
Many painting clients believe that paint quality is related to paint brand, but this is only part of the truth. The other part is paint chemistry. While almost all surfaces are painted with latex these days, not all latex paint is the same. The most durable, highest hiding latex is 100% acrylic in formulation. Many clients also believe that glossier paints are more durable than flatter sheens, but that hasn’t been true for 20+ years. Today flat paint is more scrubbable and durable than ever before. Clients also are more frequently requesting flat finishes as low sheens are stylish and ideal for concealing imperfections.
Beauti-Tone is Home Hardware’s own brand, and it’s the #1 paint brand that’s formulated and manufactured in Canada. Their 180,000 square foot R&D and manufacturing facility in Burford, Ontario is one of the largest and most advanced in North America, and Beauti-Tone’s high-hide base in the Designer Series is a one-coat wonder. Designer Series is a premium, 100% acrylic latex paint that’s approved by the Masters Paint Institute (MPI) and costs less than comparable premium paints.
Tip#2: Colour Selection Made Easier
A fresh updated look is one of the common reasons people paint. Many consumers find choosing colour challenging. People are afraid of selecting the wrong colour because liking and living with a colour can be two very different things. Beauti-Tone takes the anxiety out of colour selection by offering new tools to assist both you and your clients with colour discussions and selections. Digital colour visualizers can be found on
beauti-tone.ca and apps that work with any smartphone such as Beauti-Tone Live reduce the worry of choosing the wrong colour as they provide a digital colour solution by helping to find the perfect colour in real time in the client’s actual room. Also, the Nix Colour Sensor uses technology to take the pain out of colour matching by scanning almost any surface to identify and colour match, providing the formula for a custom tint. Ask your local Home Hardware Paint Expert about using a Nix Colour Sensor.
Tip#3: Explain Surface Prep
Everyone knows this is important, but that doesn’t mean surface prep always happens properly. It usually doesn’t and a lack of finances and time are often the reason why. When dealing with interior repaints, it can easily take longer to fill and sand holes and cracks as it does to roll on the paint. Same goes for exterior surfaces, especially wood. Budget properly for prep time, but that’s not all. You also need to explain to clients that your fee includes enough time for surface prep that’s necessary for a project that both looks great and is long-lasting.
Being a painter involves trade skills but also diplomacy and the ability to communicate important details. As with many things in the trades, the better you communicate with clients, the smoother and more profitable your business will run.