Painting is a messy business. No matter how careful you are, there’s always going to be a bit of paint left over after you’re done with a project. And if you’re a professional decorator, those bits of paint can start to add up.
So, how many times does a decorator go to a paint shop in his lifetime? The answer may surprise you.
According to a recent study, the average decorator will make 35 trips to the paint shop over the course of his or her career. That’s a lot of time spent shopping for paint and this figure seems really low to me.
But there’s a silver lining to this story. The study also found that decorators who are more organised and time-saving are able to cut down on the number of trips they make to the paint shop. In fact, the most organised decorators will only make 17 trips to the paint shop over the course of their careers.
So, if you’re looking to save time and be more organised, make sure to check out our tips in this video.
What We’ll Be Focusing on In 2023: The Little Things
This video is an example of what we go into more depth about in the Decorators Growth Club Pro Members Group. If you haven’t already looked at the other blogs on the page then one to read after this (or before this because it’s part of the reason we talk about this now) is all about the year of the profit. We need to focus on the little things next year because they add up to big things! How can we increase profit by being more efficient, lean and just thinking a little bit smarter and be honest with you, more organized?
Where is your nearest paint shop that sells the brands you like?
Let’s just take the scenario of popping to the paint shop to buy paint and sundries for the projects you have lined up. Where is the nearest paint shop compared to where you live? Now let us look at the area that you cover as a decorator, how far from home are you prepared to travel for work? Do you travel a maximum of 30 -40 minutes, or do you travel less or even further? Would you be prepared to travel further for the perfect project?
Scenario 1
We have a project 30 minutes from home and luckily the nearest paint shop is on the way to the job, perfect! What’s the name of the person in the shop that you deal with? Do they treat you well, do they have a coffee machine, do they offer bacon sandwiches (yes some merchants do this)?
So you chat with the person in the shop, you grab a cup of their free coffee, and you pick up a few extra things whilst you are in there because they are great salespeople and you fell for it. How much money have you now added in wasted time in the shop PLUS money spent on things you didn’t really need!?
At this point it doesn’t really matter too much because you have a good discount as a loyal customer, you have lots of big projects coming up and you could benefit from the deals they are offering. We did the same, we had a merchant whom we dealt with all the time, we got really good deals and they always had time for a chat when you went into the shop.
Now let’s take Scenario 2
You have a project that’s still 30 minutes from home BUT the shop is now in the opposite direction! Let’s just think about the time that’s wasted popping to the shop before you get to site, during or at the end of the day. If I was to send a member of staff or if a member of staff was in the van with me then that would be even worse!
How about we think about things a little differently?
What if, and I am an advocate of building relations with the paint shops because if you buy everything online, yes, you might get cheaper prices, but you will never be able to build ongoing relationships where you can actually negotiate and get the extra level of service like you can if you deal direct or over the phone.
Our business is not always about getting the cheapest price, it is also about the service, and that’s from our suppliers as well. We want to build relationships with them so why not just pick up the phone? Why not be a little more organized? Why not get everything you need to be delivered to site, or to your home instead? Just think of the time savings when you look at it over a week, a month and even a year!
Even if you only go to the paint shop a couple of times a month, could you phone up and ask them to mix paint before you arrive? Cold you ask them to put your order to one side so you can just pop in and collect it rather than standing there waiting for it to be mixed and put together? It’s the little things that can make a big difference as we say.
By wasting time on things like this you are going to be eating into the profit you had on each and every job. So what we are asking you to think about is to look at all the things you do, where do you waste time and how could you switch things up a little bit to save yourself some time. This is time that you could be spending on your business or time you could be spending with friends and family instead of just wasting it.
The Benefits of Getting Organised: How You Can Save Time and Money
By getting organised you can save time and money. Do you have a few big projects coming up? Could you call the rep at the paint shop and ask for a deal for buying in bulk? If you don’t have a shed or garage then some shops like Brewers for example will even hold the stock for you. The paint shop is happy because they have larger orders and fewer deliveries and you are happy because you are making more profit on materials.
2023 is going to be a big year for profits, and we need to start looking at ways to save time. One way to do this is to join the decorator’s growth club FREE group where we post lots of great tips that can help us make more money, but the best way to get even more help and guidance is to join the Pro Members Group for only £25 a month.
