#TrustOnline

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[teamswomi]

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What's up r/Entrepreneur it's been a while since i've dropped in for a post, hope you all are well.I want to preface this by saying I've done a fairly decent job of documenting my business through posts that can be found on my profile, in short, I've been running a painting business now for 3 years.My goal from the very beginning of this was to keep my team busy. I didn't care about the profit, I would've broken even if it meant making sure my guys had the option to work. I'm pleased to say that still to this day we're fully staffed and have been making it through this storm. Due to having a newborn, I haven't left my house, I'm writing this to showcase how I've been able to run my painting business at close to full capacity.Contrary to the popular subcontractor model, I opted for employees. Although more difficult, times like this prove it to be the better decision overall. They're really making this entire process easy because over the last 3 years we've built such a high level of trust and understanding. I have full confidence in them to perform our jobs to the standard of which they would be performed if I were assuming my normal duties of doing job sight visits.Company background:Our residential house painting company has 10 employees, and our highest grossing year on paper was $921,000 (last year). the prior years were around $560k and $280k. We had our largest month of production in March of this year of $104k.I've always been big about helping other contractors develop systems in their business, and, after taking my own medicine I'm reaping the benefits of this tremendously. Our teams are broken up into two teams. One of 4, one of 5. Our model is simple, each team has a project manager responsible for overseeing the jobs, reporting to me, and collecting the payments.There's been a lot of concern with contractors about the lack of business, however, I've been marketing heavily with HomeAdvisor ever since the inception of my business - the natural thing to do for most business owners is to retreat in times of uncertainty (like this pandemic) but, knowing that this would create a worm hole in the lead distribution for me to capitalize on, I ramped up my spending and have been getting a STEADY flow of house painting leads since.April has been a BUSY month despite everything that has been going on. We will produce $75k worth of jobs, with another $40k on the books for next month. 50% is new business that has been generated remotely.With a steady flow of marketing, we're averaging 6-8 estimates for exterior painting PER WEEK. This is extremely surprising to me, but I'm definitely thankful.Here's how i'm doing it:Marketing & Sales AdjustmentsI've limited my marketing from HomeAdvisor to only send me Exterior requestsI hired my PM's wife to visit each house and simply take pictures of the job. I know that I could easily look it up or ask the homeowner to do it, but I still want to be more than just a quote, so having someone physically show up to the house has been a great way to build trustOnline quoting has been something I preferred to stay away from simply because I'm all about building relationships and trust. So for me, this has been the biggest adjustment, but I always connect with the homeowner before I send the quote. I'll call them and talk about what I saw in the pictures, go over the scope again, explain our processes, and also how we're approaching COVID-19 and social distancing when we work on the houseI've developed an app to help me do cost-based pricing, this helps me accurately quote any job without worrying about measurements and things like that. The purpose of the pictures is to help me get an idea of how much paint I will need.I did receive the PPP loan. This has been a huge benefit. I'm able to cut pricing because the way I see it, this loan is being used and forgiven for payroll, so I don't have to factor in a huge payroll expense. This has helped us sell way more jobs than if I were pricing based on the margins I usually shoot for.Production AdjustmentsWe're only taking exterior paint jobs & empty interiorsHomeowner gets a phone call before the job, during the job, and after the job.Team has been sending me photos of the progress of the workWe're being very cautious about social distancing, and encourage people to stay in their houses while we paint, there's no need to interact.If they don't feel comfortable finding a way to give the PM a check, they can pay online with no additional cost for processing the cardFinancing has been something I've been bringing up a lot, when people want something done in a time of scarcity, there's nothing better than using someone else's money. People have been jumping all over the 0% for 18months financing we offer​Lessons & AdviceIf you're a business owner and in a similar predicament, you have to adjust.You have to be creative, and you have to get uncomfortable. If you have a team counting on you, my first piece of advice is to price out jobs in a way that guarantees them work. Don't worry about hitting high margins, the focus should be to keep your schedule full.If you're a potential business owner, employees are a great move.Building trust and a foundation of loyal people to come to work for your company and to buy into your vision proves to be the best decision time and time again.There's always a market.It's about how easy it is for those interested in your product or service to find you. In my specific case, I know a very large majority of the contractors in my area shut off their HomeAdvisor leads. Customers are telling me that I'm the only one who's reached out. I'm betting when everyone else is holding, and i'm getting the rewards.Thanks for reading, share some ways you've been adjusting in the comments below! If you care to follow me on Instagram, I'm sharing more of my journey there: IG/TradeThrive. I'm also going to be sharing on r/Paintingbusiness.

[teamswomi]

Are you underestimating the power of online reviews? ⠀ ⠀ For individuals and businesses alike, online reviews greatly contribute to your digital and offline reputation: ⠀ https://loom.ly/H3ktcTM ⠀ ⠀ -TeamSWOMI