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Painter To Painter |
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5 Keys to Surviving an Economic Downturn
Headlines across the country tell the tale: New home sales down, unsold inventories, declining prices. Few places have been harder hit than Florida, and that hurts companies like Constantino Painting.
"We were painting 50 to 60 houses a week," says owner Chris Constantino. "Now we're down to 15 to 20 a week. But we're one of the lucky ones. A lot of companies went under. We worked hard to revamp our business, and I think that weathering this downturn will make us an even stronger company when the economy comes back."
Here are Constantino's five keys to surviving an economic downturn:
1. Know your local economy. Be ahead of the trends and plan accordingly. If you wait for it to happen, you might be too late.
2. Diversify. The more you offer customers, the more jobs you will win, especially if a specific market like new res is heavily impacted.
3. Crunch the numbers. Take a close look at all costs and margins and eliminate inefficiencies.
4. Get expert advice. Top quality paint suppliers like Sherwin-Williams are a valuable resource and can help you with products, training and job leads.
5. Don’t cut corners on quality. A company with a reputation for high quality work will survive a downturn while the lower quality firms are weeded out.
FURTHER READING: Get the complete story on Constantino Painting by downloading the Weathering The Storm: Florida Painter Finds New Ways To Compete In A Slow Economy article PDF from the Fall 2007 edition of Professional Painting Contractor magazine.
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