It’s true that for many customers, price is the primary factor in selecting a painter. But just how important is price? If a customer receives quotes from three painters, and they’re all within 10% of each other, will they select the lowest quote simply because it’s lower than the other two?
In many cases they will – but not because they want to. Customers will happily pay slightly more if they feel more comfortable that they’re going to get a superior product or service. Unfortunately, in many cases, customers can’t find much difference between what they’re being offered. When this happens, it’s easiest just to select based on the price.
How do you avoid this race to the bottom? How does your painting company stand out in a customer’s mind as the confidence-inspiring choice? Great customer communication plays a major role in winning business even if your competitors provide a price quote that undercuts your own.
Here are the most important things you can communicate to customers, along with some suggestions on how to communicate them.
Confidence: If you don’t have confidence in yourself, it’s impossible for customers to have confidence in you. When you provide information to customers, make sure that you’re confident in it and that it doesn’t change.
For instance, if a customer asks when you can do a job, and you don’t have your calendar in front of you, it’s better to tell them that you’ll provide that information later when you have your calendar in front of you than to make a guess and have to correct it. If a customer asks for a quote before you have enough information to provide one, tell them exactly what you need to make a quote and how you price your work. In either situation, make sure to follow up with them when you told them you would, and that your answers are thorough.
Customers will realize that you won’t provide any answers until you’re confident in them, and that once you provide answers, they don’t change. This will provide them with confidence that the job will come in on time and on budget – something they may not experience when they call other painters.
Experience: Customers want to know that you have experience doing the type of job they want done, and that you have a track record of doing a great job. The primary way that people discover this is through referrals, testimonials and reviews. It’s always good to reinforce your experience, however. If you do similar types of jobs all the time, bring that fact up in customer communication. If you do a lot of work near that location, you can tell them that as well. If you’ve done exterior paint jobs nearby, you could even provide an address so they could drive by the house and see the work.
Images are also a great way to reinforce the quality of your work. Make sure to take high-resolution pictures of your completed work, so you can post them on your website or send them to people asking for quotes directly. This visual reinforcement can sway customers more than they realize, especially if they don’t have it from competing companies.
Friendliness: People like doing business with people they like. They definitely don’t want people in their home if they don’t like them. Because these decisions are made in a matter of seconds, it’s key to come off as friendly and easy to work with in your very first exchange with the customer. People will easily pay 10% more to keep a person out of their house if they view them as suspicious or angry.
It’s a competitive market for painting contractors right now. By being the best at customer communication and demonstrating your confidence, experience and friendliness, you’ll give yourself a great chance to win more jobs.
To learn more about how to get more business for your painting company, call ProPainter Websites at 855.385.1134 or email us at Team_PPW@ProPainterWebsites.com.