Creativity and Pivoting Result in Strong Booking Rates During a Traditionally Slow Time of Year

Since 2006, painting-services franchise 360° Painting has become the go-to resource for commercial and residential painting. Now, amid a global pandemic, the Premium Service Brands vertical has shifted its operations to appeal to changing consumer demands, and the results have been inspiring. After a record-breaking first half of the year, 360º Painting franchisees are continuing to see great success, with a 21% YOY increase in system wide sales for Q3. Not only is this success impressive amid the pandemic, but it also shows great momentum during a traditionally slow time of year.

“Usually, revenue and consumer interest start to decrease this time of year because of the cooler weather, but franchisees are seeing incredibly strong booking rates this year, and there is still a ton of interest moving into Q4,” said Dave Rychley, vice president of brand performance at Premium Service Brands, the parent company of 360º Painting. “There are a few factors that have really helped make 2020 different. For one, the shutdown in the early part of the year certainly created pent-up demand in the home services marketplace.

When painting and construction were deemed an essential service in most states in April or early May, our franchisees were able to slowly start picking up jobs in the spring and summer, but there was still a lag in the economy, so we now have the wind at our back.”

In addition, Rychley notes that franchisees have had a proactive mindset — they know that if they want to achieve their year-end numbers or revenue goals, they will need to do things differently this year. In order to encourage this mindset, the 360º Painting team has worked hard to provide franchisees with increased support and training ahead of the winter months.

“We’ve created several resources, including a COVID-19 preperation document in the event of another shutdown,” said Rychley. “We are accumulating the best practices we’ve learned about running a residential and commercial painting company during a pandemic, including everything from social distancing, PPE, customer protocols, contactless service, virtual estimates, the clean-up process on job sites and more. We learned about these things in the spring and can now implement them easily and efficiently this time around.”

In response to COVID-19, 360° Painting pivoted to offering free virtual estimates and provided franchisees with the appropriate tech training. By using video services such as FaceTime and Skype and having customers send photos of the spaces they want to be painted, 360° Painting franchisees have been able to do virtual walk-throughs and provide customers with estimates by email. Franchisee benefits at this time also include weekly one-on-one calls with their business coaches, financial webinars regarding cash flow and marketing packets that include email templates, and social media posts.

Since the painting industry can be seasonal, 360º Painting has always trained franchisees on how to manage cash and plan marketing and projects in the wintertime, as well as how to attract clients interested in the slower months.

Now, 360° Painting is continuing to leverage its 2020 momentum by expanding to new territories across the country, including recent signings and openings in Texas, Montana and Florida. “We have a number of new franchisees in 2020 that are performing very well, with new records being set all the time,” said Rychley. “This is really a testament to the type of recruitment that the franchise development team is offering — the training process continues to improve every time we run it.

We were virtual for a while, but we are now giving new franchisees the option of coming in person. Still, a lot of our training resources are online, including recorded sessions and interactive videos.”

Looking ahead, Rychley is confident and excited about the future of the home services industry as a whole. “People will always want to invest in their home,” he said. “When you look at the economic downturns of the past few decades, customers always come back to the home improvement industry, and it is a service that cannot be automated.

Even if franchisees don’t have a job to do right at this moment because of COVID-19, the industry will always bounce back, and there will always be a need for residential and commercial painting. As America continues to spend time at home and the desire for home improvement continues to grow, we’re excited to offer franchisees a winning opportunity and are eager to expand our brand.”