PaintED Podcast

A lot of companies are starting to talk more about finding good salespeople and supercharging their sales team with the right training and tools. That requires a lot of intelligent infrastructure and training resources, and a lot of companies need help with that. Enter Benji Carlson with Breakthrough Academy. By now you probably know that BTA has systems for everything, and they have awesome helps for bringing in and training salespeople. Benji talks with us about how to find them, train them, and keep them producing in creative ways. And there are free templates if you attend the webinar on April 17 about building high performance sales teams. Go to pdca.org to learn more.

Learn more about Breakthrough Academy at www.btacademy.com.

PCA Overdrive is free for members.

Not a member? Try our 30-day, free trial; $5.99/mo after.

Download the app on the Apple Store or Google Play.

Become a PCA member: https://www.pcapainted.org/membership/

How many times a month do we come into contact with poor marketing? There’s a lot out there, so it’s probably a lot. And nothing can be more of a turn-off than marketing that comes across as an outright deception or a bait-and-switch. Deception is a brand-killer, and yet, it happens a lot, even accidentally at times. Martin Morgan of Pro Painter Websites chats with us about that fine line between trying to generate a solid lead and…lying. If exaggeration is sister to deception, then some websites are much more deceptive than we’d like to think. Do you over-promise and under-deliver? Self-assess for your Honesty Quotient and keep your online and website marketing clear and direct to build trust with customers.

Learn more about Pro Painter websites at www.propainterwebsites.com.

PCA Overdrive is free for members.

Not a member? Try our 30-day, free trial; $5.99/mo after.

Download the app on the Apple Store or Google Play.

Become a PCA member: https://www.pcapainted.org/membership/

On this episode of Paint ED, we chat in-studio with Deanna Delunas who helps people get connected as new members at PDCA. She talks to a lot of contractors and she understands problems businesses are having, and helps them find the resources they need to get past the hump. People connect with her, and she helps new members know exactly what to do next when they come into our association. It all starts with getting that logo. The PDCA logo opens doors.

Don’t miss the webinar coming up on April 3 at 4 pm Central. We’ll be showing pictures and examples of how businesses are utilizing the PDCA logo in marketing. We’ll also have the "Benefits of Using a PDCA Contractor" brochure available for you and discuss how to leverage it. Share how you use the PDCA logo! Send us a picture or a screenshot and we’ll use it as an example! Just tag or message us on social media, or send examples to [email protected]. Register for the webinar at pdca.org.

PCA Overdrive is free for members.

Not a member? Try our 30-day, free trial; $5.99/mo after.

Download the app on the Apple Store or Google Play.

Become a PCA member: https://www.pcapainted.org/membership/

Ladders. We all use them. We all talk about them. But ladder safety is one of those things that is the easiest to ignore and brush off the more busy we get.

On this episode of Paint ED we chat with a few members from PDCA’s new sister trade organization, the American Ladder Institute, about ladder safety. We talk to Mike Van Bree of Louisville Ladders, Dave Francis of Little Giant Ladders, and Mike Melton of Werner Ladders—all members of the American Ladder Institute—about the things we think we all know about ladder safety, but about which we always need more good education and constant reminders. You know why--because one bad fall can ruin a life, and of course it can ruin a business. As business owners, you have people’s lives and livelihoods in your hands. It’s an awesome responsibility. Aren’t you glad there are people who want to help you with that? So take a few things from the podcast and share them with your employees and your leadership team this month. Or think about playing this entire podcast out-loud at a team meeting or distributing it across the company to raise ladder safety awareness.

To learn more about The American Ladder Institute or Ladder Safety Month, visit www.americanladderinstitute.org

PCA Overdrive is free for members.

Not a member? Try our 30-day, free trial; $5.99/mo after.

Download the app on the Apple Store or Google Play.

Become a PCA member: https://www.pcapainted.org/membership/

Someone recently asked me what the next episode of Paint ED was going to be about. I told them, “Working With Your Spouse.” Their response? “Sounds miserable.” To be sure, some people would rather go back to middle school or try to explain The Matrix series to someone who’s never seen the movies. But many businesses work with family, or are considering working with family, or are considering NOT working with family any longer. Family can certainly help accelerate business if everything’s working right, but the key is to keep things working right. Meet two husband-wife teams that seem to be making it work: Christian and Angelina Militello of Militello Painting and Powerwashing in Philly, and Ryan and Danie Turry of Headwaters Painting in Minneapolis. We talk about roles, boundaries, expectation, reality, and—yes—handling disagreements!

Don’t miss their LIVE webinar on Working With Your Spouse, Thursday, March 21, at 3 pm Central. Ask your questions and let us know how YOU work with family. Visit pdca.org to learn more and register.

PCA Overdrive is free for members.

Not a member? Try our 30-day, free trial; $5.99/mo after.

Download the app on the Apple Store or Google Play.

Become a PCA member: https://www.pcapainted.org/membership/

On this episode of Paint ED, Nick May of Walls By Design and The Business Brush podcast shares with us how he built systems for his business that increased his bandwidth to do more, persuaded his customers that he knows what he’s doing, and allowed him to get away when he needed to. But, as we discuss, this isn’t easy or common for businesses to do. Business owners, by their very nature, are expansive people with big ideas for change. That is normal and okay. “One must have some chaos in oneself to give birth to a dancing star.” But, there’s less pain and more profit with, well systems.

Don’t Nick’s presentation at the EXPO, “Putting Down the Brush: Building Processes that Allow you to Get Away.”

Learn more about Nick and The Business Brush at thebusinessbrush.com

PCA Overdrive is free for members.

Not a member? Try our 30-day, free trial; $5.99/mo after.

Download the app on the Apple Store or Google Play.

Become a PCA member: https://www.pcapainted.org/membership/

On this episode of Paint ED we are joined by Gareth Hayfield, the Head of Research and Technical Development at Farrow & Ball. Gareth has a true chemist’s perspective of quality paint production, and we challenged him with some questions about how that first-hand knowledge of the deep science of paint applies to contractors and salespeople in the field. He gives great advice on how to help customers understand the differences between the products you are using and what the ‘other guy’ is using, and how to communicate paint choices as a worthwhile investment. But contractors aren’t off the hook once they communicate this knowledge to customers—Gareth reminds you to follow those specs if you want to keep customers happy!

Register for the EXPO at www.pdca.org/expo

Learn more about Farrow & Ball at farrow-ball.com

PCA Overdrive is free for members.

Not a member? Try our 30-day, free trial; $5.99/mo after.

Download the app on the Apple Store or Google Play.

Become a PCA member: https://www.pcapainted.org/membership/

On this episode of Paint ED, Fred Yarur of the Painters Estimating Program (PEP), discusses with us the pros and cons of estimating by your own personal genius versus estimating with process and systems. And if you don’t know already, there is a big difference especially in the long run. Are you and your estimators more instinct or intellect when it comes to estimating? The answer to that might determine the consistency of your profit margins or your ability to grow your business.

Don’t miss Fred’s TWO presentations at the EXPO, The Basics of Estimating and Blueprint Reading Using the PDCA Cost and Estimating Guide, on Friday morning and Friday afternoon at the EXPO.

Learn more about PEP at paintestimating.com.

PCA Overdrive is free for members.

Not a member? Try our 30-day, free trial; $5.99/mo after.

Download the app on the Apple Store or Google Play.

Become a PCA member: https://www.pcapainted.org/membership/

On this episode of Paint ED, John Myers and Chase Cowart of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at the University of Georgia talk about how salespeople can quickly perform an analysis of potential customers and match them up with the right sales people and messages. This is just another way that businesses can personalize their approach to prospects in a more, well, humane way. The bad way of selling involves tricks on how to separate fools and their money. That usually only works once. A better way of selling involves trying to better understand people’s essential problem, and communicating more effectively about how your company is able to solve that problem. Now the challenge is to make that process simple, and I think the four buyer-type profiles do just that.

Don’t miss John and Chase’s presentation at the EXPO, “Buying Personas and Sales Types: Identifying the Types of Buyers and the Types of Salespersons, Making a Match, and Closing the Sale.”

Learn more about the services available to you at your local SBDC at americassbdc.org

PCA Overdrive is free for members.

Not a member? Try our 30-day, free trial; $5.99/mo after.

Download the app on the Apple Store or Google Play.

Become a PCA member: https://www.pcapainted.org/membership/

On this episode of Paint ED, Kevin Calmes from Legacy Painting in Oklahoma, talks about how he developed simple, intuitive systems for big change. Everything this guy talks about is relatable. If you’re banging your head against the wall trying to make your business work, or, your business is working but your trying to break through to the next level and having problems, Keven “Guy-Like-Me” Calmes will not only make you feel better about what you’re going through, but he talks about the simple, home-grown systems that helped him build a better business and that can help you too. But I’d say the single most important thing you can get this from this guy is a restored belief in yourself and your dream. You can tell Kevin has learned to believe in his goals the resources he has to reach those goals, and he can help you believe in yours again too.

Hear Kevin speak at the PDCA EXPO, March 6-8 in Savannah, Georgia. He will be presenting, “Growing Simple Systems For Big Change and Bigger Profit.” Register for the EXPO at PDCA.org.

PCA Overdrive is free for members.

Not a member? Try our 30-day, free trial; $5.99/mo after.

Download the app on the Apple Store or Google Play.

Become a PCA member: https://www.pcapainted.org/membership/