Winter Marketing Ideas and Tips for Painting Contractors and Painters

 

Recently, I wrote an article in American Painting Contractor Magazine entitled: Four Winter Marketing Secrets That Keep Cash Flowing. Here’s an excerpt…

Winter: It’s the bane of your existence. It’s when you call the office phone from your cell phone just to make sure the confounded thing is still working – even though you know it’s not broken.

Winter: It’s when the harsh, cold winds blow untold thousands out of your once bulging bank accounts and overhead silently eats away at hard-earned cash month after month.

Winter: It’s the time when productive employees are lost to competitors forever because a few more weeks of work couldn’t be scraped together to retain them. So, you get to start all over again in the spring with the “labor leftovers.”

Yes, winter is cruel and unforgiving to you. However, winter is coming no matter what. Let’s explore how you can make this winter season the most profitable one ever!

Two Cold, Hard Facts About Winter

Winter Intensifies Marketing Problems – It Doesn’t Create Them

In this year alone, I’ve conducted over 100 in-depth marketing system assessments for painting contractors and here’s what I discovered: The same five marketing deficiencies cause 80% of all cash-flow problems for painters – it doesn’t matter if they generate $100,000 in sales or $1,000,000.

Weaknesses in marketing systems that are normally disguised by strong organic demand suddenly reveal themselves and begin to create problems during the depths of winter.

If you do not have self-initiated systems in place for maximizing past customer value, generating referrals in abundance, and capturing large commercial maintenance painting accounts, winter did not cause these costly system deficiencies – they were already present.

If you are casually approaching estimates and sending weak and wimpy emails instead of pre-positioning, presenting on-site estimates, post-positioning, and following up with multi-step campaigns, you were losing thousands all season long. However, in the winter, the pain of every lost sale is amplified.

This need not be so.

The Winter Profits That Lie Hidden from View

Buried in all the misery of winter, there is a fantastic opportunity most painters overlook for a lifetime: An abundance of capital at the outset of winter and an increasing abundance of time to build marketing systems that work.

You see, marketing requires two major inputs: An undistracted, focused owner with time reserved for building systems and the money required to implement them. In winter, you have both for much of the season.

Right now, heading into winter, you are poised to do amazing things – if only you’ll seize the opportunity!

The Four Major Winter Marketing Objectives

#1 Capture Profitable Painting Work – FAST! The hardest and most expensive thing you’ll ever do as an owner is…

P.S. If you need help developing marketing systems to make this winter your best ever and avoid the painful profit-draining experiences that are so common in our industry, simply contact the APPC by clicking here, or calling 888-510-6027.
Brandon Lewis, B.S., M.B.A.
Director of the Marketing Department
The Academy for Professional Painting Contractors
Department: 423-800-0520