Once again in 2023, PPC is teaming up with the Painting Contractors Association (PCA) on a series of articles to help you grow and improve your painting business. This year’s theme: Productivity is the path to profitability. In this article, PCA marketing specialist Lauren Forman shares some of the organization’s best hiring and recruiting practices for painting company owners and managers. Continue reading Navigating the Talent: Hiring and Recruiting Strategies for Success in the Painting Industry
5 Ways to Kick-Start Your Business for the New Year
A little bit of planning in December can go a long way toward the continued health and growth of a business in the next year. In this article, we’ll look at five ways for professional painting company owners to take stock and make plans to be more productive, profitable and generally improve their businesses in 2024. Continue reading 5 Ways to Kick-Start Your Business for the New Year
Top 10 Stories of 2023: A PPC Year-End Roundup
What were paint pros reading about in 2023? Here’s a list of stories that PPC readers clicked on the most in the past year:
Continue reading Top 10 Stories of 2023: A PPC Year-End Roundup
Surface Prep: For Perfect Walls and Ceilings with Less Effort, Try the New Planex Drywall Sander
The new generation PLANEX from Festool is revolutionizing drywall construction – with LED light and random orbit movement.
In this article, we review the four key benefits that professional painting contractors will get from using the new PLANEX LHS 2 225 Drywall Sander. Continue reading Surface Prep: For Perfect Walls and Ceilings with Less Effort, Try the New Planex Drywall Sander
Winter 2023 Editor’s Picks: Five Cool Tools and Products That Will Make Your Jobs Go Easier
As part of our ongoing mission to help painting professionals maximize their job site productivity, each issue of PPC magazine features our favorite application tools and essential job site equipment and supplies. Here are our Winter 2023 picks: Continue reading Winter 2023 Editor’s Picks: Five Cool Tools and Products That Will Make Your Jobs Go Easier
Winter 2023 ProBuy® Specials: Save 20 Percent or More on Select Painting Equipment and Supplies
Each issue of PPC magazine includes a roundup of special ProBuy® pricing on some of our favorite application tools and essential equipment and supplies. Continue reading Winter 2023 ProBuy® Specials: Save 20 Percent or More on Select Painting Equipment and Supplies
3 Secrets to Organic Social Media Success
Stumped by social media? You won’t be after reading this advice
When it comes to connecting with your local community, social media can be a game changer. It lets potential customers find you without you having to spend days knocking on doors or cold calling.
But social media isn’t just a box you check—using it well is a craft unto itself, and like any craft, some techniques and methods work better than others. While paid ads and sponsored content can be a quick way to get your name out to prospective clients, the savvy social media user may be able to draw a large audience with just a smartphone and a little trial-and-error. Continue reading 3 Secrets to Organic Social Media Success
How to Fit Everything You Need in One Van
Save time and skip the headaches by decluttering your van
The painter’s van is the central hub of your business—your office on the go. That’s why optimizing your van’s loadout is so important. A disorganized or overcrowded van can make it hard to find what you’re looking for when you need it. Painters can be stuck taking multiple trips from the van to the job site and back again just to get everything they need, time that could be better spent painting or with a client. Continue reading How to Fit Everything You Need in One Van
How to Build Your Social Media Presence
Generate quality leads from social media with these 6 tips
Tell the painters on your team to pull out their phones and get on social media. No, it’s not a distraction or a waste of time on the job. In fact, savvy social media skills can save your business time and help you land more jobs and make more money. Continue reading How to Build Your Social Media Presence
The Pro’s Guide to Airless Spraying
If you haven’t already gone airless, here’s 3 reasons to start
When purchasing a sprayer, you want to make the right decision. After all, buying a sprayer is a significant financial investment.
Many painting contractors have been increasingly choosing airless sprayers. Garrett Bogart, national account specialist at Graco, explains the three main advantages of choosing an airless sprayer, a couple of models he recommends for pros, and some best practices to keep your sprayer functioning at a high level for years to come. Continue reading The Pro’s Guide to Airless Spraying
3 Ways to Start the Color Conversation
Bust through homeowner indecision with these icebreakers
For some customers, committing to a specific color can be intimidating. What if it’s not quite right? What if it looks different in real life than how they imagined it in their head? What if this color goes out of style almost as soon as it dries? That fear can lead to paralysis—and may delay the start of your painting project waiting while you wait for a decision.
But you don’t have to wait. By engaging the customer in a conversation about color, you can help them gain the confidence to lock in their color selection and move forward. Best of all, it doesn’t require you to be a color expert; all you have to do is get them talking and pay attention. Continue reading 3 Ways to Start the Color Conversation
Beyond Taping
6 creative ways tape can add efficiency to your work
Painting pros know a high-quality tape can deliver sharp paint lines. But on painting jobs, painter’s and masking tapes offer many more uses than their names might imply. Over the years, pros in the trades have come up with some tape hacks to boost efficiency, clean work areas and keep painting jobs on track. Continue reading Beyond Taping
How to Generate More Leads
Get more paying customers with these four tips
Leads are the lifeblood of any painting business, but acquiring them is easier said than done. Moreover, you want to make sure your estimates actually turn into paying customers, so acquiring targeted, high-quality leads is important to ensure you’re not wasting your time. When you start off with the right customers, you are much more likely to win the job.
Here’s four things you can start doing today to continually generate quality leads for your business, so that you can spend less time on marketing and more time on painting. Continue reading How to Generate More Leads
Customer-Focused Interior Upgrade Solutions
Improve project efficiency and homeowner satisfaction with premium upgrades
Successful painting contractors agree that a customer-focused sales approach typically results not only in improved customer satisfaction but the opportunity to upgrade to products that can improve project profitability. Continue reading Customer-Focused Interior Upgrade Solutions
Painting the Fifth Wall
Help customers create visual interest with ceiling paint
While your customers are accustomed to carefully choosing the color of paint used on the four walls of a room, the ceiling is often overlooked. As a professional painting contractor, you know that the ceiling—sometimes referred to as “the fifth wall”—is an important component of any painting job.
How to Earn More Five-Star Reviews
Turn your five-star work into lead generation with these tips
If you want to generate more leads as a contractor, then one area you should focus on improving is your business’ online presence. One of the simplest ways to do this is by highlighting positive reviews of your company. The more positive reviews you have on places like Google, Yelp, and Facebook Marketplace, the higher your business will appear in searches, leading to more passive lead generation and increased business. And the better your review score, the better quality leads you’ll get.
It’s worth it to try and get more reviews then—but how do you go about getting them? Here’s six easy ways to start generating more five-star reviews for your business.
Project Profile: A Trio of Premium Paints Ensures Long-Lasting Color for Midwest Mural
The city of Fishers, Indiana has a colorful new welcoming mural, thanks to the Wilkinson Brothers and Sherwin-Williams paint.
Continue reading Project Profile: A Trio of Premium Paints Ensures Long-Lasting Color for Midwest Mural