How to Close More Painting Jobs: The Final Step of the Estimate Process

Jon Bryant: Hey everybody, welcome back to the Price Cell Paint Podcast. I'm Jon, joined again by Michael to talk about painting sales and how we do things.

Michael Murray: Today we're talking about the final stage in our estimate process. We've built a quote in PaintScout, so we know it's accurate. We've had good conversations with the customer up to this point, and now we get to show them that quote, sell the job, and try to close it — or at least come up with a next-step agreement.

Jon Bryant: That sounds great. We've gone through a multi-stage process across a few different podcasts — the setup, how to show up to quotes, how to meet the customer and get the process started, how to gather information and build your price. Today is about sitting down with the customer and talking about that price and that project.

We've talked about this a lot: this last step doesn't happen without those earlier steps being done well. If you haven't listened to those first couple episodes, go back and do that — they set the stage for this conversation, for figuring out if we're a good fit for this customer, and for being honest about price and whether we should work together.

Michael Murray: Can I share a quick thought on what happens when the earlier steps don't go well? This is something we talk about with our sales team. At the beginning, we want to build know-like-and-trust with the customer, which earns us the right, later in the conversation, to talk about money and budget directly.

The customer needs to understand we're a decent person trying to help them solve a problem — so we have to build that trust early. We also need to build value. When a customer says your price is too high, what they're really saying is the value they perceive is too low. If the value in the customer's mind is higher than the price you quote, you'll likely sell the job. If it's lower, you likely won't.

The third piece is price conditioning. If we haven't talked about pricing or budget at all, and the first mention of money is the actual price, that's often followed by sticker shock. Most homeowners don't get painting quotes often and have no idea what a job should cost. Some are researching with ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and so on, but those tools aren't always accurate. You can even raise pricing early in the estimate — ask if they've researched what a job like this might cost, or bring up something else they bought recently, like a new roof, and whether that felt expensive. Price conditioning sets up a good, value-based conversation once we get to the actual quote.

Jon Bryant: When you say we need to understand if there's a value alignment — what does that practically mean?

Michael Murray: It means asking a lot of good questions to figure out what this prospective client — homeowner or commercial, same idea — is actually looking for. If I assume I know what they want, assume they know what they want, and assume I'm the best solution, that works sometimes, but not as often as it could.

I'd rather show up with genuine curiosity: What are you looking for? How long are you planning to live here? How long do you want this paint job to last? Sometimes a homeowner says they don't need it to last that long, which can be hard to hear when we want to use the best products and prep. That's not bad — it might just mean they're not the right customer for us, and that's okay. Or it might mean we adjust our approach to match what they're actually looking for.

Jon Bryant: That tracks. Not everyone is the right customer — I think of this process as being a bit of a detective. What's actually important to them? Can we deliver that? If someone values price above all, and I can't get there, let's talk about that. It's okay.

The mindset shift for me was realizing not everyone is the right customer, and that you're there to help them make the best decision for themselves — even if that means saying "I'm not the right fit, here's someone who might be." That shift changed everything for me, and I actually won more often because of it.

Michael Murray: Right — it takes the stress off. One more thought: if you ask most people what actually drives their buying decision, it's rarely about painting specifically. Price is a factor for everyone — nobody's out there hoping to overpay. I see painting contractors get turned off by customers who ask for an "affordable" or "inexpensive" painter, as if that makes them the wrong customer. But nobody's looking for the expensive painter. It's all relative, all perception, not hard fact.

Often what we need to do is educate. I can give you a $3,000 quote or a $5,000 quote for what looks like the same job. Here's how I'd get to $3,000 — cut corners on prep, skip priming, use a cheap paint-and-primer-in-one that won't hold up. Or I do it the way I'd do my own home — proper prep, right primer, two coats of quality product. Here's the outcome each way — which sounds right to you? Most homeowners, given the facts, lean away from the cheap option they'll regret in a couple of years.

Jon Bryant: I want to talk about customers making decisions without understanding the variables at play. They're not painting professionals — they see a red room, want it white, assume one coat and it's done. A lot of times the education is: are you getting multiple bids? How comfortable are you evaluating them? Because you're going to get numbers all over the map, and it's hard to interpret value when you don't know the terminology. Someone says "we use Benjamin Moore" — great, which line? There's a huge range from basic to top-tier. Helping customers understand what value actually means is part of the job.

Let's move into the actual conversation. We've walked the home, and the process is about reconnecting with the customer. Estimates start with a walkthrough, then you take time on your own to enter the data into PaintScout and build the estimate, with the understanding that you're coming back to talk it through and deliver the price. Walk me through the process once you've got your numbers.

Michael Murray: One thing first: the worst thing you can do, after finishing your measurements, is tell the customer you'll go put together the numbers and email them the quote. Don't do that. There's a time and place for it — maybe one out of a couple hundred estimates — but ideally you have an accurate price on-site that they can sign off on with a deposit, and you leave with a sale. If you can't do that today, we should talk about how to get you there.

Here's what we do: we use the presentation feature in PaintScout during the estimate. Before opening the quote itself, we walk through one or two project-specific "slides" — for an exterior job with lead-based paint prep, for example, we show photos of what that looks like, along with relevant product details based on what we discussed on the walkthrough.

So: find the homeowner, ask to sit down and go over everything, and open the presentation on the iPad. Walk them through specifics — prep process, protecting the house and yard, whatever's relevant. If I noticed mildew on the siding, I mention we'll soft-wash to clean and kill it, and show a picture. All of this builds value before I even get to the quote, and I'm checking in along the way: does this sound like the right fit? Is this what you're looking for?

Jon Bryant: How long does that process take?

Michael Murray: Three or four minutes.

Jon Bryant: So you're reiterating the process and bringing them deeper into the project with more detail. Once you've been on the customer's side of this, you realize how much it builds trust — even if some details go over their head, the feeling being transferred is that this person is trying to understand my needs. That feels good. Then it's on to the details and the price.

Michael Murray: Most customers want a predictable outcome. Showing them exactly what it'll look like when we're at their house — because we've done this thousands of times — gives them the same comfort as walking into a Starbucks or Chick-fil-A and knowing what they'll get. We might not be the right fit, and that's fine, but it's not a guessing game as to what they get if they hire us.

From there, once the customer agrees everything sounds good, I pull up the quote in the presentation and go straight to price: "The price to paint your house, including all paint, materials, and our warranty, is $9,672." I say it slowly and confidently — not mumbled, not rushed like a car commercial disclaimer. Then a brief, noticeable pause — long enough for it to land, not so long it feels like their turn to talk. Then I transition: "Now let me explain exactly what's included," and scroll to the top of the quote to walk through the pertinent details — what's included, what's excluded.

Jon Bryant: I like how deliberately you've thought through the delivery. If you're not confident, it leaves room for the customer to think you made the number up.

So — you deliver the price, leave the pause, and the customer looks visibly uncomfortable. Do you still walk through everything, or change approach?

Michael Murray: Depends what you mean by uncomfortable. The worst case is a customer who treats it like poker — but at this point all my cards are already on the table, so let's have a real conversation. If they react — "yikes" or similar — I lead with humor but stay direct. I'm not naturally the most direct person, which is why I'm not the ideal sales rep myself, but I know what good looks like and can coach it.

I'd say something like: "Sounds like you have some reactions to the price — tell me more about that." Then let them talk.

Jon Bryant: That moment is so important, because you can feel the reaction — some people's shoulders just drop. It's worth naming it directly: "It seems like the price is higher than you expected — let's talk about that." That moment, when someone says the price is too high, is actually the nicest thing they can do for you, because now you know what you're dealing with, instead of the estimate going quiet for two days.

Michael Murray: Say that to them: "Thank you for letting me know — what should we do now?" It reminds me of the scene in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation — Clark finally opens his Christmas bonus letter after telling the family he's putting in a pool. There's visible tension, and his wife breaks it: "It's more than you expected." Sometimes when a customer reacts to your price, you can lean into that same kind of humor — "It's less than you expected" — and just cut through the tension to get to a real conversation. You don't have to sell this job; you're there to figure out if you're the right fit, and you'll end up in a good place more often than not.

Jon Bryant: And even if you don't end up working together, it's a better experience overall than treating it like a fight over price.

So — everything's gone fine, you've covered the details. What happens next?

Michael Murray: At this point I ask for the sale — every appointment, even without an exact price. If there's something like unresolved carpentry costs, it sounds like: "The total will be somewhere between $17,000 and $20,000. Once I check the cost of lumber and talk to our carpenter, I'll know exactly. Assuming we're in that range, would that work for us to move forward?" Then it's time to stop talking.

Jon Bryant: Has that pause ever lingered — fifteen, twenty seconds?

Michael Murray: Sure, plenty of times, after a couple thousand of these. At that point you can just ask: "Is that something you'd like to get on the schedule today, or where do we stand?"

Jon Bryant: And stopping right after that question matters. I've heard "the person who speaks next loses" — not sure that's literally true, but the pause is part of the process; that's when you get real feedback. I've used lines like, "My manager would be upset if I didn't ask — would you consider working with us at that price?" There was never really a manager, but I like giving myself permission to ask directly.

Michael Murray: Agreed — and it shouldn't feel like something you're hesitant to ask. If it does, something didn't go right earlier. With good price conditioning, the customer already has a sense of cost and has agreed to how we're doing things, so when we get to the number it should land as "this is probably less than you thought" — because they've already told us they want the detailed prep, the good primer, the good paint. They may not know the exact number, but they know it isn't going to be cheap.

Once I've asked for the sale, most reps treat that as the end of the appointment. I think that's actually where the real conversation begins.

Jon Bryant: All the earlier work — call it priming, pun intended — was just to get here. So: you ask if we should work together. What happens when it's not a clear yes?

Michael Murray: It happens — "I need to think about it," "I need to talk to someone else," "I want more quotes."

Jon Bryant: Does that happen a lot for you?

Michael Murray: For sure — get more quotes, talk to a spouse, that kind of thing.

Jon Bryant: There's a couple of things to address here. First, that's a tell — something wasn't fully resolved, and a "maybe" is close to a "no." Second, what do we actually do with it?

Michael Murray: I wouldn't say maybes are always no's, but the point is to get to the root cause. Why do you need to think about it? What do you need more quotes for? What do you need to discuss with the other person? Ask another question, then another — keep peeling back the layers to find the real hesitation. If it's "I want to make sure I'm not overpaying," that's reasonable — ask what they'd be willing to give up from our proposal to hit a lower price, which naturally surfaces what they'd be sacrificing elsewhere.

Jon Bryant: A "maybe" left alone is usually a deflection that was a no to begin with — "we'll get back to you," "just send the quote" — those are wastes of time. That's why peeling back the onion matters: I don't want to leave feeling like my question got deflected. If you don't address it, people go get other quotes without honoring that you gave them a price.

Which leads to the next point — setting the next step. What happens next, and when?

Michael Murray: We need a next-step agreement, ideally within the next few days. The probability of winning a project drops as time passes — homeowners get busy and start forgetting details, let alone two weeks out.

Jon Bryant: I agree, but there's a right and wrong way to do it. I once dealt with a sales rep who never asked permission to follow up. When I told him I needed more time and would reach out once I had things together, he followed up every week, sometimes twice, asking why I hadn't gotten back to him — with backhanded comments about how busy I must be. He never once offered a better cadence, like following up in a month. Eventually I was so annoyed I didn't work with him.

Our job isn't to bombard people until they decide — it's to ask what actually works for them. Ideally the next step is soon, and most painting customers want it soon too. But if someone says "check back in three weeks," that's fine — lay out the pros and cons of that timeline honestly, and respect it. I don't want to surprise people with random follow-up calls; I prefer setting a specific time on the calendar that works for both sides.

Michael Murray: I don't disagree, though I'd say most reps under-follow-up rather than over-follow-up. As a homeowner getting quotes myself, the worst reps are the ones who don't follow up enough. We had an issue with foggy window seals, and I was getting quotes — not urgent, but something I wanted fixed. Some reps called once and gave up; some never followed up again at all. A month later I still had the problem and no idea what happened to any of them.

If it's not the right job for you, just say so — don't quote it and disappear, and don't lowball a high price just to dismiss the customer without saying so directly. The best experience I had was a rep who said plainly, "We're not a good fit for this, but call this company — they specialize in it." I did, and they fixed it. He lost that sale but earned my trust for any future job that would fit his company.

The lesson: I have a problem, I'm going to get distracted by life, and as the sales rep you need to care about solving it more than I do in the moment. That earns the business. And when you do follow up, ask directly — "I don't want to be pushy, but I want to make sure we don't get too late in the season — what's a good cadence for me to follow up?"

Jon Bryant: Right — it's permission-based. Lately I've noticed a lot of companies not answering the phone or showing up for estimates at all, which is wild.

Michael Murray: Good companies using AI well are going to take a lot of people's jobs — but that's a different podcast.

Jon Bryant: Fair. The idea is that follow-up is agreed upon and works for both sides. If you miss a scheduled time: "Looks like we couldn't connect — when's the next best time?" People do get busy, and what was a priority Tuesday might not be a priority Wednesday. We have to help them get back on track.

That's probably a good place to wrap up. You've now got the whole process end to end, the way we do it. Between us we've probably done five to ten thousand estimates.

Michael Murray: Thousands, for sure.

Jon Bryant: This is the process we've been trained in, and it's one of the most effective approaches I've seen. Hopefully there are takeaways here to improve your own process, serve your customers well, and win more work by doing it.

Michael Murray: One final thought: once you've delivered the price and asked for the sale, notice how long you're still at the house. Most reps leave three, five, six minutes after that point. What if it were seven, eight, nine, ten minutes later — because you asked a few more good follow-up questions, or took the time to set a specific date and time for the next step? That extra time is valuable. I'm confident that if everyone listening just spent a couple more minutes with the homeowner after that point, their win rate would go up.

Jon Bryant: Absolutely, couldn't agree more. Thanks for tuning in to the Price Cell Paint Podcast — feel free to like and subscribe, it helps keep this content coming. We'll see you next time. Keep it real out there.

Michael Murray: See ya. Thanks.

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