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38 Posts
I was reading the post about whether Behr paint is crap or not which made me want to bring up this topic which has baffled me for years:
I hear of painters here and elsewhere talk about offering clients any brand of paint they wish. Not just offering but in some cases encouraging the client to pick the paint brand like it's a great selling point.
This I don't understand for several reasons.
You are the expert. You know what paint is going to provide the best results when you apply it. It's not like their picking different brands or styles of ceramic tile. If they don't trust you to use quality paint why would they hire you in the first place. This is exactly what I ask my clients that start demanding a specific brand. Almost all of my clients back down and let me choose.
I walk away from the jobs where the clients still insist. Why? I've owned my painting company 18 years and in my experience the clients that insist choosing the paint are the same clients that question everything you do every step of the way slowing down production and costing you money. Which brings me to my second point.
By purchasing your paint anywhere and everywhere you never develop the close relationship with a supplier that gets you great prices and benefits. My supplier offers me better and better prices each year as my company continues to grow and I purchase more product. I guarantee you don't get those prices if you're splitting your money among multiple suppliers. Most will offer the typical 20% off to any unknown contractor.
What benefits you ask? Well the greatest benefit is the ability to walk in the back door, pick up your paint and walk back out when there is an hour long line in the front of the store. Before I became loyal to SW I lost so much money from standing in lines while my guys were waiting at the job site for paint.
I specifically chose SW because of their loyalty to me and I can find a store in any city I'm working in.(In my neck of the woods anyhow). In my opinion, no other supplier caters to painters like SW does.
Running all over town trying to find where you can purchase todays clients brand of choice sounds like a bad business model to me. My company runs like a well oiled machine that I feel could never be achieved if I wasn't a loyal SW customer.
What are the benefits of offering any brand a client demands?
I hear of painters here and elsewhere talk about offering clients any brand of paint they wish. Not just offering but in some cases encouraging the client to pick the paint brand like it's a great selling point.
This I don't understand for several reasons.
You are the expert. You know what paint is going to provide the best results when you apply it. It's not like their picking different brands or styles of ceramic tile. If they don't trust you to use quality paint why would they hire you in the first place. This is exactly what I ask my clients that start demanding a specific brand. Almost all of my clients back down and let me choose.
I walk away from the jobs where the clients still insist. Why? I've owned my painting company 18 years and in my experience the clients that insist choosing the paint are the same clients that question everything you do every step of the way slowing down production and costing you money. Which brings me to my second point.
By purchasing your paint anywhere and everywhere you never develop the close relationship with a supplier that gets you great prices and benefits. My supplier offers me better and better prices each year as my company continues to grow and I purchase more product. I guarantee you don't get those prices if you're splitting your money among multiple suppliers. Most will offer the typical 20% off to any unknown contractor.
What benefits you ask? Well the greatest benefit is the ability to walk in the back door, pick up your paint and walk back out when there is an hour long line in the front of the store. Before I became loyal to SW I lost so much money from standing in lines while my guys were waiting at the job site for paint.
I specifically chose SW because of their loyalty to me and I can find a store in any city I'm working in.(In my neck of the woods anyhow). In my opinion, no other supplier caters to painters like SW does.
Running all over town trying to find where you can purchase todays clients brand of choice sounds like a bad business model to me. My company runs like a well oiled machine that I feel could never be achieved if I wasn't a loyal SW customer.
What are the benefits of offering any brand a client demands?