Think Like a Planarian

Last year I discovered a significant number of disgusting looking worms in my garden. These worms were long and slender, with a pointed head. I soon discovered that they are land planarians. I also learned that they like to eat earthworms. Since I consider earthworms to be my friend, I was concerned.

I researched these slimy beasts but could find no information on eradication. I visited a garden forum and was told to “think like a planarian” in order to find their hiding places. At first I thought this was a little silly. After all, planarians are very simple creatures and I seriously doubt that they have any cognitive powers. But the advice worked.

A similar piece of advice holds true regarding our paint contracting company. But rather than think like a planarian, we must think like our customers. We must identify what our customers are looking for in a painting contractor, and then offer those values.

It’s not enough to offer our customers what we think they want. We must offer what they want. Our values may differ from our customers.

Henry Ford once said that his customers could purchase a Model-T in any color they wanted, so long as it was black. His competitors gained market share by offering cars in different colors—the competitors offered customers what they wanted.

We must examine our business from the perspective of a customer. If we don’t, our business can easily look like our competitors. And that leaves us with no way to compete except on price.

© BEP Enterprises Incorporated 2008

Survive or Thrive?

Many painting contractors are worried about the slowing economy. With new construction decreasing, contractors who specialize in that area are entering the repaint market. Tighter credit and other concerns are causing many home owners to delay painting projects.

For many contractors, their concern focuses on surviving this slow down. But a savvy contractor can use this time to do more than merely survive—he can actually thrive.

It’s fairly easy to thrive in a booming economy. Jobs seem to fall into our lap. However, these situations are always temporary, and they can instill a false sense of confidence. Solid business practices however, work in any kind of economy.

Leads are the life blood of a contracting company. Leads create sales. And marketing creates leads.

The key to thriving in a slower economy is marketing. A solid marketing plan—one that is carefully thought out and executed—will generate leads. It is never too late to start marketing, unless of course, you are out of business. And one way to avoid that tragic fate is to market.

© BEP Enterprises Incorporated 2008

Back in the Day

When I was a child I was, well, a lot younger. During my first two years in grade school I had to walk more than a mile to school. All of the grade school kids would gather and make the trek together. We usually took the same route, but on occasion we would mix it up. I don’t recall if we did it for the adventure or for some lesser reason.

To a six-year-old, a mile is a long way. Assuming each stride covered a foot, I had to take at least 5,280 steps each way. On a nice spring morning, such a walk could be fun, particularly when we would stop at the gas station to buy candy. But in the dead of winter, plodding through snow and ice was hardly the most enjoyable way to start the day.

But that walk was a necessary step in reaching my destination. It was a mundane chore, but without it, I would not have learned the alphabet or how to add. Nor would I have met Sharon Johnson, but that’s a different story.

Building a successful painting business often requires long, tedious walks through snow and ice. Sometimes that journey is painfully slow and boring. Sometimes it seems we will never get to our destination.

As a child I learned that even the longest journey can be completed if I simply took step after step. I knew where I was going and how to get there. I learned that if I kept putting one foot in front of the other, and repeated that process long enough, I would eventually get to school.

At the end of second grade our neighborhood got a school bus. And I learned another lesson. The bus got us to school much quicker, and in the winter I didn’t need to freeze my butt off. But the journey was seldom as exciting as when we walked to school. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that we could never convince the bus driver to stop at the gas station so we could buy some candy. Or, perhaps it was the fact that the journey no longer required any effort on my part.

Sometimes the journey is as much fun as reaching the destination. Sometimes the journey is its own reward.

© BEP Enterprises Incorporated 2008

Thoughts on Naming a Painting Company

While there are a lot of options when it comes to naming your painting company, there are a few basic rules you should follow. While this list is hardly exhaustive, it should give you a good start.

Avoid names that imply low prices, such as Discount Painting or El Cheapo Pintura (for our Hispanic readers). If your name says that you are competing on price, don’t complain to me when you can’t make any money. Customers will expect cheap prices.

Don’t use names that might imply a less than desirable character, such as Drunk Painting Company, Watered Down Paint Company, or Blow and Go Painting. I think the reasons are obvious for avoiding such names. But in case they aren’t: you don’t want the public to think that you will be drinking their booze, using WalMart’s worst paint, or leaving a mess that even Mary Poppins couldn’t clean up.

I personally don’t like the idea of naming the company after the owner. To me, it sounds too “mom and pop”. Mind you, there is nothing wrong with mom and pop, but it’s not the image I really want to project. I think a name other than “Bob’s Painting” projects a larger, more professional company. Plus, it can create intrigue and interest as customer’s try to figure out where the hell you got your name.

For example, my company is named Philpaint. Several times a week someone calls asking to speak to Phil. (Less frequently, someone will call asking to speak to Frank—I don’t know why, but I find it humorous.) But I digress.

We have no Phil in our company. Never have, and as a matter of principle, never will. (This is another aside, but if we had someone named Phil everyone would think he owned the business, and that wouldn’t be good for my oh so fragile ego.) The “Phil” in Philpaint comes from my last name. Pretty clever huh?

When we were thinking about renaming the business from Phillips Painting Services, someone mentioned that he liked the sound of Microsoft. He thought the way they took parts of two words—microcomputer and software—to make a new word had a nice ring to it. So I figured that if it was good enough for Bill Gates it was good enough for me. Besides, if I have .001% of his success I’ll be able to retire a very wealthy man.

I realize that these last few paragraphs probably won’t prove very helpful to you, but sometimes I just enjoy telling a story. And since this is my blog, I can do that.

© BEP Enterprises Incorporated 2008

Business Structures

Many painting contractors operate as a sole proprietorship. I believe that this is an invitation for disaster.

As a sole proprietor your business is inseparable from you—they are one and the same entity. You are personally responsible for everything your business does. This means that if your business gets sued, it is really you that is being sued. Your personal assets are at risk in this situation. In short, a sole proprietorship provides no personal protection.

Partnerships are little different, except that each partner shares the risk. Partnerships also carry the risk of the relationship going sour, and the “divorce” can be messy and expensive.

A corporation or LLC provides personal protection. The corporation stands as a distinct legal entity, separate from you as an individual. This is true even if you are the sole owner of the corporation. If the business is sued, only the business’s assets are at risk.

Corporations can also provide certain tax benefits for the owners. For the individual, income is taxed; for the corporation, only profits are taxed.

You should always consult with an attorney and/ or accountant before making important decisions regarding your business. But operating as a sole proprietorship in these litigious times is a risk nobody should take.

© BEP Enterprises Incorporated 2008

What is the Best Roller Cover?

As a long time participant on various forums for painting contractors, there seems to be no shortage of questions and discussions regarding the best roller cover, what kind of primer to use, and similar issues. While technical issues certainly have some merit and can be helpful, they seldom matter in the long-term.

It is a statistical fact that 90% of small businesses fail within 5 years. Painting contractors don’t fail because of the primer they use or what they pay for a gallon of paint. They fail because they don’t know how to run a business.

Forgive me for being blunt, but the odds are that you will be out of business within 5 years. And I personally believe that the odds will increase significantly if your worry more about roller covers than you do marketing, sales, cash flow management, systematizing, and more.

In other words, running a painting business isn’t really about primer and caulk and roller covers. It’s about marketing, sales, and finance.

If I don’t generate enough leads, I can’t sell jobs. If I don’t sell jobs (at the right price), I can’t pay my salary. If I can’t pay my salary, my cats won’t eat. And if my cats don’t eat, they won’t be happy. (Unhappy cats are not pleasant to be around). In short, if I don’t take care of business, it really doesn’t matter what roller cover I use.

Building a business is not easy. Statistics prove it. But it can be done, and statistics prove that as well. Building a business requires focusing on the right things—business things. Things like marketing, sales, and administration. In the end, business isn’t about primer or caulk. It’s about business.

© BEP Enterprises Incorporated 2008

Cut to the Chase

What do you want from your business? Why do you put up with the stress, hassles, and long hours that often accompany owning a paint contracting company? What do you want your business to provide to you and your family?

These are some of the most important questions you can ask yourself regarding your business. The answers (or lack thereof) determine the decisions you make and the actions you take.

Our business is much like a blank canvas, and we get to choose what we paint on it. If we have no final image in mind, but simply begin slapping paint on the surface, we will likely end up with a mish mash of colors that is meaningless (like modern “art”). However, if we identify our final product, plan our work, and then implement our plan, our results will be meaningful.

Too often we get absorbed in the daily grind and lose sight of our final destination. Too often we lose focus of why we own a business and allow the business to own us.

While mundane tasks are a part of owning a business, if they dominate our activities we can easily stagnate. We fail to move toward our long-term goals, and the result is frustration and disenchantment.

To accomplish our long-term goals we must cut to the chase—we must identify those goals and then remain focused on them. We must be pro-active in their achievement. To do otherwise is to allow our life and our business to drift aimlessly.

© BEP Enterprises Incorporated 2008

The Name Changes

About a dozen years ago it was popular for painting contractors to complain about “station wagon bandits”—unlicensed, uninsured, and low priced contractors. In the ensuing years the names have changed, but complaints haven’t. Today the complaints are directed at “illegals”.

The problem really isn’t with station wagon bandits or illegals. The problem lies with the contractors who find themselves competing with these types.

If you are competing on price you are in a losing situation. There will always be hacks who will beat your price. And there will always be customers who are willing to hire them. No amount of licensing or complaining will change this fact.

The real solution is to quit competing on price. If you compete on value other issues become more important than price. When you sell value issues such as insurance, certifications, job specifications, and much more take precedence over price.

Contractors tend to worry about price more than consumers. While consumers certainly don’t want to pay more than is necessary, they also want to receive the best value for their money.

If you want to quit worrying about SWBs, illegals, or whomever becomes the scapegoat de jour, focus on selling value. Focus on offering value that the SWB can’t offer. When you do this, low priced hacks will become less and less of a concern. When you do this, you may begin to see the SWB for what he truly is—a minor annoyance who really has no long-term impact on the professional contractor.

© BEP Enterprises Incorporated 2008

Misanthropes Don’t Like Me

Over the years that I have been a painting contractor, it has become very clear to me that misanthropes do not like me. It doesn’t matter if the misanthrope is a customer, a vendor, or a fellow contractor.

At first I took their hostility personally. I wondered what I had done to deserve such treatment. But I eventually realized that their scorn was not directed at me specifically. After all, they are misanthropes.

The best way to deal with misanthropes is to not deal with them. They should be shunned like the plague. Not only will this prevent us from being exposed to their venom, it will also impose an appropriate punishment upon their tortured soul—misanthropes do not like being judged too harshly.

Identifying misanthropes can be a tricky proposition. While we should not rush to judgment, neither should be indefinitely suspend judgment. This is where good communications can be very helpful in identifying potential problem customers.

Unfortunately we cannot always identify such people immediately. Often they hide their self-induced misery under a façade of sweetness. Sometimes they come across as perfectly normal—until it is too late.

A well written proposal—i.e., a proposal that clearly defines the scope of work, customer responsibilities, expectations, etc.—can provide protection. A well written proposal can greatly limit the misanthrope’s irrationality.

When the above precautions fail, and you find yourself dealing with a misanthrope, don’t take it personally. They don’t like me either.

© BEP Enterprises Incorporated 2008

Ballpark Pricing

Customers love to ask for a ballpark price when I’m looking at a painting job. And I am usually happy to provide them with numerous ballpark prices:
Hot dog-- $4
Peanuts-- $2.50
Large beer-- $9

I realize that ballpark prices vary around the country. I haven’t been to Yankee Stadium in years, but I suspect that prices are much higher there than in Minute Maid Park. I visited Busch Stadium 2 years ago and prices there were similar to Minute Maid (this must have something to do with ballparks named after beverages). I’ll be going to Chase Field in May, and I’m not sure what to expect other than a lot of ATM machines.

But I digress. Of course, ballpark prices are only a part of the expense when attending a game. Tickets at Minute Maid can range from a paltry $10 to a lot more (I really can’t say how much more because I usually buy a cheap seat and then spend the game wandering around trying to avoid spilling my beer). And then there is parking, whatever trinkets you decide you can’t live without, and last but not least, gasoline.

To be honest, I’ve never used the above lines to a customer. What I usually say when then ask for a ballpark price is: We don’t paint ballparks. Some smile, some frown, some don’t get it. If they persist, I will point out all of the variables that must be considered and any number I throw out will be pretty meaningless.

Even if you provide a range, the customer is mostly likely going to hear the low number. And if your price exceeds that number you will likely have some explaining to do. So unless the customer is really interested in the cost of hot dogs at Minute Maid Park, I’d avoid discussing ballpark prices.

This Day in History:
On April 10, 1962 the first major league baseball game in Houston was played . The Colt 45s (as the Astros were called then) beat the Chicago Cubs 11-2.

© BEP Enterprises Incorporated 2008

The Immorality of Contractor Licensing

The topic of licensing painting contractors can provoke intense debate. Many contractors view licensing as a way to raise the standards of the industry, while others view it as ineffective and simply a money grab by the government.

While I agree with the latter, my opposition to licensing goes way beyond that argument. At its very core, licensing is a violation of individual freedom.

Freedom means the right to pursue one’s values without intervention from others. It means that, so long as one does not impose force upon another individual (or threaten to use force) one may act as one chooses. It means the right to think independently and act accordingly.

Licensing removes this freedom. An individual who seeks to enter a licensed profession must seek government permission before doing so. At the same time the consumer is denied the right to hire the professional of his choice. Licensing violates the rights of both the professional and the consumer. In essence licensing requirements turn individuals into criminals simply because they did not secure government permission.

Licensing breeds a false sense of security. Consumers falsely believe that licensed professionals are competent and trustworthy. But the legal and medical professions—both of which have rigidly enforced licensing requirements—are routinely plagued by reports of incompetent and unscrupulous conduct.

Individuals—both professionals and consumers—must take responsibility for their decisions and actions. Consumers must educate themselves regarding the appropriate standards for selecting a professional. Relying on licensing to accomplish this is a repudiation of their responsibility.

Professional contractors must educate their customers regarding the proper criteria for selecting a contractor, as well as why those criteria are important. To rely on licensing to accomplish this is a repudiation of their responsibility.

Licensing does not and will not prevent consumers from making poor decisions. Directing the government’s guns at contractors will make criminals of those who do not follow the prescribed edicts. It is ineffective, and more importantly, immoral to use force to impose one’s values and standards on others.

© BEP Enterprises Incorporated 2008

Bartering

In the early years of my business I was often contacted by advertisers who wanted to exchange services. As money was often in short supply, this was appealing. However, I made a few mistakes and the deals were seldom as good as they first appeared.

The biggest mistake I made was to exchange my services at cost. For example, if a job would cost me $500 in labor and materials, I would ask for $500 of advertising. This was flawed in several respects.

First, the exchange did nothing to recover my overhead. Consequently, these jobs actually cost me money. Second, I was not getting my full price so it was essentially the same as offering a huge discount. There really was no benefit to me. Third, I found myself advertising in places I probably wouldn’t have if not for the bartering deal.

After doing this a few times I changed my strategy and began asking for my normal price in exchange. The advertisers were less eager to barter, but I was at least getting the right price. However, I was still advertising in the wrong places.

Bartering can be a good deal, if done properly. If you get your normal price (or close to it) you are still covering your overhead and profit. In addition, you should be certain that you would be willing to pay actual money for the advertising. Otherwise, it will turn into a waste of your resources.

© BEP Enterprises Incorporated 2008