How Keith Doubled His Closing Rates, Ramped Up Crews, & Bid $124,000 in NEW Painting Work

My name’s Keith Zafren. I’m owner of My Three Sons Professional Painting Services and I’ve been a part of the Academy for Professional Painting Contractors for almost two years. I’m a house painting contractor in Lexington, KY. Being a part of APPC has transformed my sales process. Before joining, I really didn’t have a sales process. I just did whatever came naturally or whatever I hoped would work. I always emailed my estimates to potential customers, a big no-no I’ve now learned, but that’s what I always did, no matter how high the price was.

Now, thanks to Brandon’s teaching, I have a clear pre-positioning process, a pre-positioning email with attachments for FAQs, customer testimonials, and a survey for the new customer to fill out before I show up for their consultation appointment. It’s now such a professional approach that sets me apart from my competitors in my local market. I also have a short Flip book presentation on my iPad that Brandon created and I then shaped to fit my business. Customers often comment how impressive and professional that short presentation is. I know none of my competitors do that.

I also now do on-the-spot estimates, printed in my truck, while my new prospect goes through my extremely professional picture book, both Brandon’s ideas I’ve adopted and adapted. I’m in the process of creating a leave-behind book that Brandon is coaching me to create as part of my post-positioning process.

Of course my enhanced sales process has literally doubled my closing rates. I’m actually surprised now when someone doesn’t accept my bid unless I can tell when I’m with them that all they really want is the lowest bid and that’s rarely ever mine. Increased closing rates means more work on the production calendar and more money in the bank. I’m grateful I now have such a solid sales process based on the fantastic teaching in the APPC modules about this. I feel so much more confident when I go to do new estimates now. Customers tell me repeatedly how professional I appear and that’s one of the reasons they went with my company over the others, even though I was not the lowest price. Thank you for that, Brandon.

Another thing is that all that increased work means a need for hiring. APPC has an entire module just on the hiring process. For instance, Brandon has helped me shape Craigslist ads for employees and commercial subs that have produced a long list of new and potential hires. He’s presently helping me to create a better onboarding and training process.

Brandon also helped me to develop a support team. For many years I did it all. I answered the phones, I set all my own appointments, I kept the books, I did payroll. I worked too many hours and did not have enough time with my family. Developing a support team the way Brandon challenged me has recaptured untold hours for me and time for other, more important things. I now have an answering service that takes all the calls that I don’t want to answer, day and night. They go through a survey with new potential customers. They set appointments for consultations. They keep my calendar. I have a bookkeeper that does all my data entry in QuickBooks. I have a payroll solutions company to handle all payroll and taxes. I’m now in the process of working on hiring an office manager.

Here’s a big one, something I never would have done before joining APPC and later getting personal coaching by Brandon. I ran my first, what do you call those, customer reactivation campaign just two months ago. Brandon repeatedly teaches us that we have a gold mine in our list and that a satisfied past customer is much more likely to hire us again than a new customer who doesn’t know us. After hearing Brandon’s stories about other guys in the Academy who have done this and then hearing them talk about it on our monthly phone calls, I swallowed my introversion and I gave it a try.

I don’t even have a huge list, about 500 customers, but the results have been amazing. I’ve already bid $124,000 in new work from my repeat customers and I haven’t even met with everyone yet who asked me to come and take a look at new projects to provide estimates. I’ve closed contracts worth $51,000 in new work and we’re now busy fulfilling those contracts, so there’s a lot more money coming the next couple of months but of the jobs we’ve completed so far there’s already been $11,000 [UPDATE FROM KEITH: $23,252] in profits just from our customer reactivation campaign. I would never, ever have done this without Brandon’s teaching and challenge.

Here’s the last thing, Brandon’s Platinum Coaching Program. It’s a one-on-one time with him twice a month. He provides a steady stream of fantastic ideas and accountability to keep me consistently moving forward. Brandon is an excellent sounding board to help me resolve problems in real time to create new, more opportunities for work, to build out my team, and to make more money.

I wondered for a long time if joining Brandon’s Platinum Coaching group would be worth it. It seemed expensive but when I spoke personally to two other guys in the program, it pushed me over the edge to give it a try and I’ve never regretted a single dollar spent. I can absolutely say it’s worth it in numerous ways. I’m glad that I’m already a part of his Personal Coaching Program because if it isn’t already filled it soon will be. I’d much rather be making the extra money I’m making now than sitting on a waiting list wishing I was doing so. Though it’s not inexpensive, Brandon’s coaching program easily pays for itself in multiplied
ways.

I’ve already paid for the whole year just from my customer reactivation campaign.

So, Brandon, thank you. Thank you for helping me make my business multiple times more successful in the last two years. I’m super grateful.