Professional Painting Contractors Guide To Finding New Business Leads

By Author: Mark Stjean
Total Articles: 59
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The economic slowdown presents a number of challenges to painting contractors. If you have found yourself fresh out of new leads, try our set of lead generating ideas to get more painting projects. Use these strategies regularly, not just when you are out of leads, as they will help you to keep a steady stream of prospects flowing to your company.

1) Don't be afraid to ask your current customers for referrals. They may very well have friends and family who could use your professional painting services.

2) Definitely approach current customers with new services. Customers who are already satisfied represent excellent upsell opportunities. Mention to them that you were thinking of them and wanted to serve their needs with your additional painting products / services.

3) Create an email newsletter that allows you to present professional paint job deals and special offers to your customers and prospects. Most of the well-known email newsletter creation programs such as Constant Contact and Campaign Monitor include tools to track how many emails were opened, who clicked on which links, etc. so you can track your ...
... campaign's effectiveness. Another important feature to look for when choosing a tool to create your painting pro email marketing campaign is the ability to white label it so it can be branded with your own logo and business information. You'll also want to find an email marketing program that offers a variety of templates to choose from. Campaign Monitor offers these 30 free email newsletter templates that are tested in the most popular email programs so you can be sure they will be readable by your recipients. Consult these up-to-date and comprehensive Top Ten Reviews of the best email clients so you can save time finding the one that meets your needs.

4) Try direct mail. Stan Holden, one of the leading authorities on writing effective direct mail letters, offers these tips on how to write a sales letter that gets results. You can emulate Mr. Holden's style and create special offers for new and existing customers. For example when a customer orders two rooms to be painted you could offer to paint an additional room at 50% off. Send your direct mail letters to different lists. Try your best customers first; then consider buying lists that would fit your target market.

5) Claim your Google Local listing and enhance it so you will stand out from your competition. Claiming your Google Local listing entails proving to Google that you are the business owner. Open a free Google account. Then find your painting contractor listing in Google Maps. When you find your listing you will see a link within the upper portion of the listing, near the upper right, that says, "Business Owner." Click on this link and follow the instructions. As soon as you verify with Google that you are the owner of the business you can start editing the listing to suit your needs. You can add images, video, text descriptions, categories and much more to enhance your listing in Google. When you have verified your listing you can also go into your Google Local Business Center and add coupons to attract customers with special offers, such as "Take 15% off your next painting job." Please be aware that Google Local is a free service from Google and sometimes can present some updating issues. Your patience and perseverance with Google Local can help you increase your business' online visibility.

Fortunately there are a variety of online and offline techniques like those outlined above that you can employ to kick start your sales lead process. Remember that you are always the best advertisement for new business and repeat business. Your commitment to satisfying a customer pays off repeatedly: Once with them and again and again as they tell their friends and family about the great experience they had with your painting firm. The only limit to your ability to generate leads is your imagination. Sharper Impressions Painting came up with an innovative way to get new business. They recommended to homeowners on their blog that they give a painted room as a gift to their spouse. A little innovation and dedication to delivering the best painting products and services will go a long way to ensuring that you land many new business leads.

Written by Lisa Santora; guest writer for Behr Process Corp. Behr Process Corp. is a company that specializes in helping painting contractors improve their painting businesses. Lisa Santora is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. © 2010 Behr Process Corporation.