3 Painting Tips. Don't Be TERRIFIED To Go Alone.

this Christiana container your own paint live TV and this is journeyman John and we're gonna be talking about what it takes to start a painting company and I've got John here today you want to stay tuned for this video because he's the proud owner of B&K painting and John we're gonna be givin you or you're gonna be given us or them three tips on starting and running the painting company so stay tuned for this video [Music] alright John so you won't be in Cape Annie now yeah so I'm sure you haven't owned it for a long time but to work for being a painting for a lot of years and I'm sure you've got some advice now we've been talking about this is our video series on starting and running a painting company and I know you're a smart very smelly it's Mary Mary Mary comes from the Old English or very smart guys so you have three tips that I think you want to share when it comes to starting or running the painting companies so what would be tip number one well so tip number one and this is something that I got from Chris just working with him over the years and kind of watching how he was growing being K painting prior to me taking it over and that was using every every touch point with the customer is a way to exceed their expectations so I know he's mentioned in a lot of his videos like the bid packet first off even having a bid packet is a way to set yourself apart and exceed expectations so here's an instance where everybody if they're getting three bids everybody's showing up everyone's doing the thing but if you're the guy that's leaving them more than just a tear off sheet if you're leaving them something that helps show that you're professional that you know what you're doing you have a process you have systems in place that this isn't your first rodeo that's going to set you apart from everybody else so um you have a bid packet I'm sure when you give a bid for an exterior paint job how many pages is your bid packet yeah our bid packet right now is right around 10 pages so 10 pages and what would be two key elements of that bid packet that really separates you from the competition you know some of it you know I'm trying to be realistic right like not everybody's going to look at this bid packet and read through all of the details but it does listen things like hey here's what's included here's what's not included here's the process that we're going to be going through to to complete an average exterior project but some of the things that I think are really good are give a preview of who is going to be showing up in doing the job make them feel comfortable with with who they're going to go into business with because I'll even have this conversation over the phone with people this is a relationship right so I need to trust you you need to trust me we want to make you feel comfortable with this decision moving forward and if it's not with us totally fine but we're gonna do what we can to help you trust us so in this electronic age now nowadays you know you can actually email bid packages you're running your own painting company do you hand deliver to the bid pocket or do you email it to us we emailed a bid packet to everybody occasionally we'll have an old-timer who says what's email or I don't do that email thing the the government's trying to track me down it happens what we'll do is we'll print off and then we'll either mail it or depending where they're at will hand deliver a package at that point but but it's nowadays people almost assumed that it's just going to be emailed to them I know years ago I think you got a lot of pushback about getting things emailed out but now it's I think everyone just knows like yeah that's that's normal it's pretty standard and it accepted if I think you know if your saves a ton of time yeah I get the business being a painting is very well-established has a really good reputation if you're just starting your painting company and you're not getting a lot of bids on I know you're probably how many bids are you writing a week a lot a long time child yeah we're it's a lot so they eat fluctuate the email works well but if you're if saved you're just getting two or three bids a week and you really need the jobs it's probably a good idea to print them up and handle it room to the customer or would you still email him you know there's a part of me that would still would still email them but I think I would address the the actual bid process a little bit different because even though we're a very well-established company there are a lot of people that are still coming to us just because they search for you know painters in Boise on the internet like they don't know us they don't know anybody that we've done work for they're just pulling up the first three names that come up online and and in some ways you're like a brand-new company to them so yeah even though you can say hey we've been here for 17 years they don't know that they don't care that you've been here 17 years like you've still got to do do your due diligence to say to convince them that you're you're the right people for them yeah that the estimate the bid packet is one way to set yourself apart and really sell yourself you have that opportunity once you leave from talking to the customer on the phone or meeting with the customer they're eventually gonna sit down they're gonna evaluate your bid packet compared to everybody else's and it's your opportunity to sell yourself and so the bid packet is very important so thank you for sharing that John so what would be another tip that you would have to share with our audience that wants to learn wants to start their own painting company say a guy that works for somebody and he's like you know what I just want to go out and work on my own yeah so you know this kind of segues off of what you were just saying with you know maybe there's a difference between an established and a new company and like I said I think being able to sell with confidence is key and so not everybody is going to be a referral in not everybody is going to you're not always going to have these glowing recommendations from friends or family who are going to be putting you forward and so when you're showing up they don't know you from Adam right yeah and so if you can show up at a job or at a at a bid at an estimate and and you're not desperate if you're confident if you you know what are they say in baseball like they get mad at those guys that like flip the bad and dance over home plate and they say oh you got to act like you've been there before I think when the sales piece comes to it like that's good advice you should act like you've been there this is what you do that you're not desperate for this job yeah I think that was one of the things when I started my painting company I had no experience painting I was new to it but I approached every job went in and and I was confident in what I could do at the point and I would just sell myself on what I could do and and be confident that you know hey if I couldn't do a task that I was confident myself that I would be able to learn and possibly you know learn on that job itself but you know sell with confidence I think is a very good point well in that confidence is going to serve you - because know do you always get into trouble when you get pushed around by a client right so you've got a client who starts saying well but I want you to do it like this and I want you to do it like this and I want you to and I want you to use these things like and they start acting like they're the professionals to be able to stand up and say oh hold on we do it like this and we do it like this for this reason we do it like this and we do it like this for this reason even that stuff communicates a certain confidence where they're gonna go oh this guy knows what he's doing versus what's the opposite of that oh yeah whatever you want we can get you in in the next two weeks here I totally will do you want that absolutely you've got it like there's there's a certain desperateness that people know they can they can sense that in selling with confidence part of doing so is learning your skill in trade and I know you've done a lot of reading and studying when it comes to the art and craft of painting I've done a lot of research and studying but I don't know something I read about it and study it so I can answer questions you know when I'm approached with certain questions and so how do you handle if you're confident in your bidding estimate skills and the customer says you know before you leave they say you know well so how much is this gonna cost me can you tell me right now what it's gonna cost what do you do and what do you say I always tell them no I tell them I don't like giving ballpark numbers because I want to go back I need to crunch the numbers I need to figure out how much materials it's going to take what the the timeframe that it is and go from there tell them you know we can get a bid out to really fast usually in the next day here but I don't like doing the the in-person thing yeah I don't know if I've maybe once or twice in my entire career I've actually spit out a number to somebody you know right there I always like to go back and sit down you know with my notes and talk with my wife who was part of the estimating process and come up with a number and then send it back to him don't ever be put yourself on this on the spot and throw out a number because there's a lot of things that could come up negative I guess well who's that and I found every time I do it or even if I ballpark it for them and give them like a thousand dollar range of what its gonna be and then I go crunch the numbers like this is my personality I don't do well in that moment coming up with the numbers I need to go I need to think through okay what's this project actually gonna take and calculate it and then I can feel really confident with look this is the number I'm not I'm not trying to you know gorge you I'm not trying to under bid anything here like this is what it has to be and if you don't like the price that's fine like I'm okay with you not being okay with the price because I know I did my work to come up with a price that's a good price so John we've talked about a couple things one other thing I'd like to talk about and is hiring employees and I had a lot of experience hiring employees I hired you quite a few used years ago I mean now you've got a bunch of experience you helped were involved with hiring process before you own being a painting and now you're on your own and you've hired you know a handful of employees you know can you give us some pointers on you know what it takes to get good quality help I guess is what you want to say you know I think when it comes to getting good quality help good people no other good people right that's a good point like if you've got guys on your team who are good good team members they're likely to know other people who are like them right they're gonna hang out with the same kind of people and if you can create the kind of environment where it's appealing for them to actually go to their friend who maybe has an office job and say oh my gosh dude you've got to get out of that scam and you've got to come like this is way better way cooler we we either have more fun or it's more satisfying or however you decide to communicate that to your team like that's a that's the best recruiting tool you can have I think character is a big deal right like you you should hire for for character and motivation not for skill set because we can teach all the skills yeah I was pretty big on that and I I kind of you know hired guys that had a lot of skills and then I hired guys that didn't have a lot of skills and so I have experienced both ways and I really like to hire guys with no skills at all that way I can just train them the way we do things and how I wanted to do it and then that was just the way they knew and understood how to do it and there was never any fight and push back yeah and I think the objection that a lot of guys have with that is but then I'm gonna have to babysit them and it's gonna take forever for me to get them up there but I mean just stop for a minute take a breath okay think about it like you're gonna start these guys off they're gonna make what 12 13 14 15 wherever you're at whatever that starting range is how long realistically does it take for them to be a break-even member of the team two weeks I think two yet two weeks three weeks if you're like intentional about you know teaching them and you're not one of those I mean we both grew up in construction right like there there are guys that would just razz you or you're the new guys so go fill up this bucket with air like like if you're actually trying to make them a piece of the team like I think in two weeks they can least break even and you're not losing money yeah and I think with guys this with a little bit of mechanical skills and stuff and and willingness to learn I think like in three months they would be they were very valuable members of the team making the company money and we I mean we would literally I mean two months in three months in we would guys with spray guns in their hands and these are guys right out of high school and just starting in college of guys a couple years in college we had a lot of experience hiring students in making them effective members of our team very quickly and some of that just having the confidence just to throw a brush in their hand and then having the confidence that you know we're gonna teach them these skills and yeah they may take off and start their own painting company and and be your competition but it was never a worry of art but that's where those two things come together right like if you're making this the kind of place where you're 18 guys want to bring on more a team guys they're not gonna leave right like if you do a good job of creating an environment where you're you're not just the boss you're looking at them as the whole person right and you're trying to take care of them as a whole person they're they're a lot less likely to leave you down the road for what a couple more bucks an hour you know yeah so you've had a um some experience you've hired some new guys could you give us you know three places where people could search to find employees and a lot of people starting their home payment any company have no idea even were to find guys other than throwing up a flier and their local paint store I mean you can always throw up a flier in your local paint store you know but the thing is is you're just all you're getting are the guys that are gonna jump from one ship to another for another buck an hour and they're just gonna jump your ship to another place for another bucking out like that's the kind of guys that you're you're looking at getting like that to me I think one I would you know if you have anyone on your team I would be asking them if they know anyone if you don't have anyone on your team and you're just starting out then you have friends right if you have friends that have a kid that's maybe just graduating at a high C school on surely you know someone who has a kid in the basement that they want to stop playing video games and like actually go out and get to work like that's not a bad place to start right that get you you can kind of get into it get started make some mistakes but but get somebody in there so that you can start in this process I think look for places where you're already getting great service right so like if you go to a coffee shop or restaurant or something like that and and there are people that you know like an assistant manager who's who's sitting there they they open and close the store they give you great customer service they already manage other clients maybe schedules things like that and they're probably not getting paid very well right how hard is it to look at them and say oh my gosh I've got something so much better for you like why don't you come try this thing out you don't have to deal with all of these things that you're dealing with now you you could do these other things instead I think that that's a good yeah yeah so you've got some employees you know Lucas Lucas come from so Lucas came from Facebook and that's a that's a place you can throw up an ad you're just gonna do more weeding right cuz I think you throw up an ad and you get a lot depending on your market probably lots of responses and not all of them are great but that's a place to start so I heard you how do you find out about being campaigning I was I saw an ad on a college billboard I utilize the college local college and so billboards one of those cork things where they they have those flyers these paper families and they staple them up on that was back in the old school I don't know if they do that anymore ya know there are websites right you're on the college that you went to and graduated from they still do that oh yeah but they will take a piece not saying mom they're still old school they are but most the universities now use a computer program then everybody gets on and you know puts in their notice for hiring and then the students get on there and they can really see it almost nationwide so yeah Facebook it and the colleges were great places especially as a painter that's a great place to pick up summer help right if you're just looking hey I want some guys on for the summer there are some guys that are looking for summer work well while they're out of school and that's a great spot probably a key is you want to get in early you should probably be starting looking for them around March or April because if you start in June or May looking for help they've all probably got summer jobs already so where did captain Zach come from captain Zach was a friend of a guide that was working for us now unfortunately the first guy didn't work out but we got exact out of it yeah so thank you very much for hanging out with us here talking about how to start a painting company thanks John for sharing some tips and tricks you're the proud owner being a penny you know I mean what if they want you to come yeah you can hit us up on we're on Instagram be n/k painting or our website Spain Idaho calm you actually have your own Instagram now I do I'm not nearly as active as this guy oh you got a post song I know I got app I know it's on the to do and what's your Instagram journeyman Jon journeyman dot Johnny so you can find him there so yeah if some people want to you know give you a shout-out or ask you a question you know need some help I don't know if you're handsome yeah every five days at least I'll jump on and I post something and maybe answer some questions if you got any questions or comments about this video just leave them down in the comment section below I'm sure maybe once a year John might take a look at it and do my best yeah he's so busy with his painting company now I don't know how he would even be able to answer your question but we'll try our hardest hope you've enjoyed this video give us a thumbs up yep i'ma thumbs up please and you know if you want more videos topics like this the business of painting just let us know down below and give us a topic give us a subject to talk about we'll see you on our next video oh yeah we really messed this up we should add like smoking jackets and like and like a pipe in like masterpiece theater a little fire going in the background [Music]