Planning Your Strategy: How to Start a Growing Decorating Business
Starting a decorating business can be an exciting and satisfying way to make money doing something you enjoy. To be successful, however, you must first plan ahead. From choosing services to setting prices and creating a brand, there are several steps that need to be taken in order to get your decorating business up and running.
This about how you are going to set the business up. Are you going to be a limited company or a sole trader? Are you looking to take on staff or an apprentice over time? These are all things to consider and worth doing before you think up a company name as it may have to change so it’s worth speaking to an accountant to get the best advise.
Once you have done this then it’s time to get the bank account set up.
Create a Budget Plan and Evaluate Your Profit Goals.
When starting a decorating business, it’s important to create a budget plan to ensure your expenses are within your projections. This includes everything from purchasing a van or office furniture to marketing costs and a phone. Look at everything that you need to get the business set up in put everything down in a spreadsheet to look back over on a monthly or quarterly basis moving forward to make sure everything is on track. Once you have determined your budget, evaluate your profit goals. Consider how much money you want or need to make personally in order to be successful and add profit into your business. This profit allows for growth or future purchases to streamline systems or add in a new service into the business. Make sure these goals are realistic and achievable within your budget plan and plan to look over them periodically.
Set & Reevaluate Pricing Strategies Regularly
It’s vital to continuously evaluate your pricing strategy. Setting a realistic price that reflects the value of your services is key to having clients take you seriously and generating good word-of-mouth advertising. Depending on market conditions, it may be necessary to adjust your rates over time – either decreasing or increasing them. In addition, determining what discounts and promotions you want to offer is also part of a successful pricing strategy.
To get an accurate idea of your services’ worth, evaluate similar businesses in the same market to see what they charge. This may not be easy to do because most decorators don’t list their prices on line so you may have to be more creating when doing market research.
Research factors such as local costs of living, industry changes, fluctuations in demand, and competition before setting your base rate – this will help you set a reasonable price that keeps customers loyal while earning a profit. Once you have determined your base pricing strategy, reevaluate regularly to make sure it is working for both you and your clients. It you are booking too far ahead then your prices may be too cheap, at this point it may be worth considering putting your prices up.
Pricing should be something that is constantly evolving so keep an eye on this. The price of materials and the cost of living keeps going up so you need to make sure that you have allowances in your own pricing to reflect this.
Identify Your Decorating Services.
In order to have successful growth, it’s important to target and build a client-base for your services. Want to know more about how to find your target audience then have a read of this first. Identifying the services you are most passionate about and consider yourself an expert in can help you with this process. Look at what other decorators are offering to their clients, work out what you are the best at and what yu enjoy doing. There are lots of niches within the decorating industry including new builds, spraying, painted kitchens, venetian plaster, exteriors or UPVC for example. Researching the industry and look at what other decorators are doing will help you in identifying current trends and what services are currently in demand.
Develop Strategies and Branding for Your Business.
Once you’ve narrowed down the services you want to offer, it’s time to create strategies and branding for your business. Start by researching the competition; their pricing and services offerings. Then decide how you can differentiate from them and make your decorating business stand out.
Think about the name of your business when you start out (or if you are looking at rebranding), what would potential clients be searching for on line if they were looking for a decorator? Would they search for a sprayer or a decorator if they want their bedroom or extension painted? These are all things to consider and a podcast is coming on this exact subject.
Additionally, developing a unique brand that accurately reflects your style will help customers remember your services when needed. This could include things such as a logo, business cards, website and other promotional materials like flyers and site boards. Make sure that you get your social media accounts set up and that they are in line with the branding on your website so that people know that its you. We would advise you look at Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIan to start with and then follow on with Pinterest and TikTok at a later date depending on your niche.
Look at van sign writing, flyers and site boards, especially if you are looking to keep your work in your local area. Neighbours will see that you are working close by and may recognise you when they see your marketing in local groups, or the van driving around the area. This will help you to remain front of mind should they be looking for the services of a decorator in the future.
Starting or growing a decorating business requires careful planning and strategising. By defining your niche and target market, creating a business plan, setting up your business legally, developing your brand and marketing your business, you can establish a successful decorating business that provides value to your clients and fulfils your entrepreneurial aspirations. Remember, a solid plan and dedication are key to achieving your business goals. Best of luck on your journey!
Want to join The Decorators Growth Club Pro Members?
A great way to ensure business development is to join The Decorators Growth Club Pro Members because we help and encourage you with all of the above. Plus, you join with fellow decorators with the same problems as you, who are also there to help and guide you along the way with their own experiences.
If you are interested but don’t want to part with any money, then check out 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.
