Are We Having Fun Yet?
I remember when I started my painting business; it was a daring, exciting time. I was just a kid. I couldn’t wait for someone to hire me to paint something – anything. It didn’t matter back then. Just the thought of being my own boss and not answering to anyone else kept me psyched up every day. At age eighteen I looked only fifteen. That’s probably why so few people hired me, but that was okay, Freedom was a blast. I was the only boss of me.
It didn’t matter how much money I made at first, only that I was working for myself. The worst day as a business owner was 100 times better than my best day working for others. I was doing what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it.
I got married at age twenty one. Along with my new bride came something I wasn’t completely ready for… reality. I never saw it coming. Reality snuck up on me and revealed itself in the form of rent, food, insurance and utility bills. In other words, adult responsibilities. For me responsibility was just another word for “fun-sucker.”
I wanted the fun back. Sadly it was gone until I discovered ways to care for my new reality.
No money, no fun. The only way to bring the fun back was to get serious about my painting business.
The irony was so thick I could cut it with a putty knife!
How hard could it be? Run a few ads, make some sales calls, and decide how much to make, right? Slap on some paint, turn in a bill and collect a check. Piece of cake, right? It was an easy formula, right? Wrong!
My would-be customers rarely followed my script.
I spent years battling it out in low-price wars with competitors, taking any painting job out there. Usually the ones no one else wanted. I missed the fun days. Then, one day my wife said those three little words that changed how I saw everything. The words weren’t, “I love you.” No, they were, “Terry, I’m pregnant”. That was it. That was the inspiration and motivation I needed.
I made up my mind instantly I wouldn’t raise kids in a home where the parents scrape and struggle. I thought about the good times I enjoyed as a teenager. I never waited for someone to give me permission to start a business, or, permission to have a good time. I just went for it!
That’s the day I stopped whining and making excuses for why I wasn’t getting the results I wanted. If I wanted to blame someone all I had to do was look in the mirror. That’s the only person who was holding me back.
I learned success in the service industry boiled down to how good you are at getting hired. I started talking to salespeople in any industry that could help me learn to sell better. I read every book I could get my hands on. I spent the next three winters selling cars, furniture, even vacuum cleaners.
I picked my colleagues’ brains; I questioned prospective customers about what they wanted in a painter, and, in a painting company. I became the “Piers Morgan” of house painting, asking “hard-hitting” questions like why they chose one painter over another. Gradually I discovered what they’re looking for and became very good at providing it.
I started focusing entirely on getting hired and the rest fell into place. After all, nothing happens until a sale is made. Over the past twenty plus years I’ve fine-tuned and turned my process for lead conversion into a valuable system. A system made up of four components. I call them the four abilities:
Likability
Believability
Trust-ability
Wow-ability
These four simple, yet critical abilities are the building blocks to selling success in your painting business. When I started focusing on embracing and embodying them in the late 80s, I began closing eight out of every ten painting jobs I bid. Still do.
Oh, and the best part; I’m having the time of my life. The fun is back, the money is great, and, it has been for many years.
Sure, owning a business can be serious stuff at times. However, keep in mind good or bad, happy or sad, we create our reality. Your fun is out there; sometimes you just need to reveal it to yourself.
That’s all for this issue. Talk with ya soon.