Good Friends & Painting Customers Are Often Found By Accident, But Keeping Them for Life Takes Something More Intentional

My closest friends will tell you, that I just don’t let people go. They’ll also let you know that I tell really bad jokes, am obsessive-compulsive, and bossy – but that’s another story for another time…

I have been very intentional and proactive about maintaining my friendships over the years. Pictured above is Tommy (guy in the floppy hat) with his son, Corbin, and his nephew, John (to the right of him). Tommy and I have been best friends for over 24 years. We may have different parents, but make no mistake: He IS my brother.

Callie (white shirt on the far right) is one of my best friends from college of 16 years with her arm around Ashley (the guy in the blue shirt) who I met in church 13 years ago. They’re dating now via my introduction and I hope they get hitched soon!

My father-in-law, Craig, joined us (to the right of me) and so did Daniel and Jamie (on the far left) who are friends from church of four years.

Admittedly, my friends are very different from each other. Staying in touch over the years has taken a lot of calls, dinners, beers, and cookouts but it has been worth more than worth the time and effort. In fact, I know that the happiness and enrichment my friendships provide me far outweigh all of the consistent and intentional investments I have made over the years.

Do you have friends you do this with? Do you have people in your life that you purposefully set aside time for? Friends that you invest in for the “long-haul?” Those you’ve made a spoken or unspoken commitment to for life? I’ll bet you do … I really, really hope you do.

Let me ask you this: Do you treat your past customers in a similar way? Are you intentional and consistent in staying in touch with ALL of them? Do you set aside time and resources to communicate with them each month? Yes? No?…

Question: Would you keep your friends if you only communicated with them once a year? Once every 90 days? Or worse yet – NEVER?

The only predictable, reliable, fail-proof way I know to build a consistently profitable painting business that grows year after year and never shrinks is to intentionally set up systems that “leave nothing to accident.”

Doing this is very affordable, simple, and easy once you have systems in place:

1. Mail a monthly newsletter that is 100% customer-focused and builds a personal relationship between the customer and owner

2. Supplement your mailed newsletter with a monthly e-newsletter that recycles the same content found in the mailed version

3. Execute quarterly customer reactivation campaigns for specific purposes and specific offers to better serve your customers

4. Organize annual or semi-annual customer appreciation events that encourage and systematically request referrals

Past customers are the “best friends” your business will ever have. Treat them as old friends, and your investment will pay off ten-fold!

Want to turbo-charge your past customer list and turn it into a cash-machine? Just CLICK HERE to reach out and we’ll help you like we’ve helped dozen of other painting contractors with marketing their services!