The appeal of big box stores is undeniable. Sheer buying power enables them to sell at generally low prices. Then there is the convenience of getting many products from a single location. For the home owner or even a small contractor, you can get almost everything in one trip. I know of many carpenter/home improvement guys that are at Lowe’s or Home Depot almost every morning. But when it comes to paint contractors, most of them avoid these stores like the plague.
It’s not like they don’t have decent products. Like many paint stores, they carry several grades and price points of paint, so there should be something for just about all projects. They are brands that are well advertised so the consumer should not be alarmed at big box type paints. Even some of the hard core pros will admit that they have decent (maybe not the best) paint lines.
So what is it that drives professional painters away? From my networking with painters across the country, it falls into 7 categories.
1. Junk: Many pros just don’t believe that the big box carries a good product. To be truthful, not everything that the big boxes carry is good. But anybody can buy low grade crap from any of the established paint stores too. Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore, PPG all have top notch and slop grades of paint, with plenty of choices in between.
2. Afraid of change: Most people don’t embrace change, new and different can be scary. Switching from a tried and true product to the unknown can be frightening. After all, how is this new stuff going to work? What happens if it doesn’t work?
3. Warranty: Sure, lifetime on the can looks good; it is impressive, it screams“BUY ME BECAUSE YOU CAN TRUST ME!) But can you? What happens if you DO have a problem? Who do you talk to? Will they back it up? I know at my 2 main paint suppliers, if we have a problem they are there. They back us up with product and reimburse our time. I know who to talk to and they know me. It’s not like dealing with whoever’s shift it is.
4. Selection: There is more to painting than just paint. We need quality brushes, a larger selection of roller pads, leak proof drops, parts for spray rigs, some good scrapers and all that stuff doesn’t have to be cheap Chinese stuff. How about items for RRP jobs. (And if you don’t know what that is, you are a couple of years behind already.) Pro painters don’t want to go to one store for paint and another for quality sundries.
5. Price: Even though you have decent every day pricing, the specialty paint stores still beat you on most things. Besides, I think if somebody is buying paint weekly or monthly, they should get better than the occasional sale price everyday, specially when you are lacking in other areas.
6. Ego: Maybe ego is the wrong word, but most contractors like going to a store where they have built a solid relationship. I only know my paint rep at Home Depot. Don’t know if he is married or single, what he has done prior, and after being my rep for over two years I have spoken to him maybe 3-4 times.
Now, I know my Sherwin Williams rep, he comes to my jobs, calls or emails me, I have met his girlfriend and he has met several of my family members. He calls when there are sales and just to see how things are going. The local PPG store I deal with, I know the owners wife, rode motorcycles with his brother, he knows my fathers and brothers and I even have his personal (not business) phone number. So instead of ego, we will say relationships.
7. Service: Part of the lack of service flows from the relationships (or in this case, lack thereof) that business people build. The business model that the big box employs prevents a comparable level of service. Come in get it and get out.
To be honest, HD had tried to kick it up a notch. They do have a pro program
that is geared to the guys that buy mass quantities. (Which is really more for
builders and new construction, like THAT is going anywhere these days) I am
enrolled in the Home Depot program. You receive a minimal pricing break that
can be matched or exceeded by a sale. They also offer a horrendous fax/online
ordering system.
Horrendous? Here’s my experience with the Home Depot “online ordering”. I get
to the store to pick up my order at the “Pro Desk”.
Me: “I’m here to pick up my order”
HD Pro desk schlep in Annapolis, MD: “What’s the name?”
Me: “Family Professional Painting”
Schlep (looking around): “I don’t see it, when did you order it?”
Me: “An hour and a half ago.”
Schlep: “Well, it should be here. Let me call the paint department” (wait a few
minutes) “The paint department didn’t get it. When did you say you sent it?”
Me talking slowly: “I sent it an hour and a half ago”
Schlep: “Well. Let me look around the desk?” ………….I don’t see the fax.”
Me: “I sent it to the email you gave me”
Schlep: “Oh….let me look”……..”Here it is.” ……”You should have faxed it.”
Me: "I was on the jobsite when I sent that. I don’t carry a fax machine, that’s like
riding a horse to work. Does anybody do that?”
Schlep: “Well….we only check the emails first thing in the morning. You
should fax them for now on.”
Me: “I don’t even own a fax any longer. Why would you give out the Pro desk
email if you don’t regularly check it?”
Schlep: “I’m sorry, just fax it next time.”
That is just one example. I have called, emailed at night so it can be picked up the next morning and you have a 50/50 chance of it being ready. That said, when I got there and it wasn’t ready, they jumped right on it.
Lowe’s (Actually Valspar) in Easton, MD was worse. They have called me a half dozen times and I kept telling them I wasn’t interested. Finally they wore me down to a nub and I agreed to meet with the Valspar Rep and the Lowe’s store manager, who was to call and set up a time. Several months later and have yet to hear from them and to be honest, I have been in that store a few times and the paint department people have an attitude.
Personally, I have thrown in the towel on the big boxes and so have most of the pros I know. Sure I’ll stop in for a quick bag of Easy Sand, or a box of trash bags, but if they want the bulk of pro painters business they need to start offering the things the small guys do.
Note to big box stores: Look at those seven categories. See if you can or even want to compete with the local specialty paint stores. Then call us, maybe we can do business.
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