Experienced painting contractors recognize that spreadsheets, clipboards, paper receipts, and filing cabinets only slow them down.
Imagine the time you could save if you didn't have to sort through mountains of paperwork or repeatedly re-enter customer information into different Excel spreadsheets. With customer relationship management (CRM) software, you can reclaim that time and use it to serve your clients better.
CRM software minimizes workflow inefficiencies, streamlines customer communication, and uncovers potential sales opportunities.
Below, we’ll reveal how ServiceTitan, an all-in-one software solution with an inbuilt CRM program, automates customer relationship management and other key business processes.
We’ll then use our experience building a best-in-class CRM solution to uncover six other customer management software tools tailored to the needs of painting contractors.
Summarily, we’ll cover:
Jobber
Kickserv
PaintScout
Housecall Pro
Houzz
Builder Prime
1. ServiceTitan
ServiceTitan CRM is cloud-based software built to help painting companies streamline customer interactions. Setting it apart are its many CRM features, which cater to the unique needs of painting contractors.
Although ServiceTitan is not just a CRM, we’ll focus only on the five key features with the most extensive impact on customers:
Call Booking and Customer Pages: Streamline collection of customer information and grant access to customer-facing employees.
Follow-ups: Spot potential sales opportunities such as unsold estimates and quote requests.
Customer Experience: Automate customer interactions and engage with them in a way they expect and prefer.
Customer Portal: Empower customers to book appointments, review their job histories, and pay online.
Marketing Pro: Promote your services to prospects using marketing campaigns, generating more revenue.
Call Booking and Customer Pages
This CRM feature allows you to meet and exceed customer expectations. Since most US customers prefer calling to book appointments and address service concerns, this feature lets you deliver a positive customer experience, driving referrals, reviews, and ratings.
Before a customer support staff member picks up a call, ServiceTitan’s Call Booking feature automatically reveals the caller’s name and phone number on the software’s display interface. This allows CSRs to greet customers by name, delivering personalized service that boosts customer satisfaction.
ServiceTitan’s painting contractor CRM system automatically provides valuable insights into the customer’s property, such as the age and size of the structure. This allows CSRs to recommend additional services, spot potential sales opportunities, and build stronger customer relationships.
For instance, if a CSR discovers that the client’s house is 20 years old, they can suggest services like plaster patching, crack sealing, and wallpaper replacement, generating extra revenue.
If it’s a new caller, CSRs can rely on prompts and drop-down menus to quickly capture the right customer information without dividing their attention between the screen and a keyboard.
For existing customers, CSRs can access their complete history, including their name, outstanding work orders, service contract status, unpaid invoices, etc.
CSRs can also record calls and save key information in a central database, which team members and field technicians can access from ServiceTitan’s mobile app instead of using disconnected spreadsheets, emails, or filing cabinets.
Empowered with real access to customer data, technicians can arrive at the job site ready to address customer concerns effectively.
Likewise, it ensures technicians cover special customer requests, improving customer satisfaction.
One great feature of the Call Booking and Customer Pages is its integration with ServiceTitan’s Service Scheduling and Dispatching platforms. This eliminates manual data entry, ensuring accuracy and saving valuable time.
Follow-ups
Business owners, including painting contractors, know the potential revenue in follow-ups. However, it’s challenging to discover, track, and follow up on potential revenue stuck in your sales pipeline with outdated systems.
ServiceTitan’s Customer Experience software addresses this difficulty by showing all unsold opportunities, such as expiring memberships, missed calls, expiring credit cards, and open estimates.
CSRs can identify these sales opportunities, reach out to the lead, and convert them into customers. Technicians can also promote service contracts to customers with open estimates whenever they go for service calls.
ServiceTitan also streamlines follow-ups through its Email Marketing tool, which notifies users (contractors or their employees) whenever a prospect opens an email containing a free quote. This allows them to resolve potential objections and close the sale.
If the recipient’s email service provider (ESP) rejects the email for one reason or another, ServiceTitan automatically sends a notification allowing you to make the necessary corrections.
Finally, ServiceTitan lets you create automated text reminders for upcoming recurring services.
You can create the message, set the frequency, and define the customer segment to receive it. This way, the right customers receive your follow-up messages, and CSRs can focus more on booking jobs instead of calling customers to confirm appointments.
Automated text reminders also reduce the possibility of missed visits, making it easier to advocate for renewals.
You can also create email or text campaigns to remind customers to renew their maintenance agreements, which sustains a steady cash flow throughout the year, even during shoulder seasons.
The #1 newsletter for the trades.
Customer Experience
Beyond delivering quality jobs, customers appreciate painting companies that offer real-time updates and provide a seamless booking experience. That’s precisely what ServiceTitan’s Customer Experience feature is for.
It streamlines communication with customers by empowering business owners to provide customers with real-time updates on the status of their painting projects.
ServiceTitan’s Customer Experience tool allows painting contractors to send automated appointment reminders to customers, whether it’s a day or an hour before their scheduled service call, to reduce cancellations.
Users can also send a pre-job message before the appointment containing a brief description of the assigned technician—their name, photo, and other relevant details. This way, customers are more comfortable letting the technician into their homes.
ServiceTitan’s Customer Experience tool also has built-in GPS technology, which empowers customers to track their tech’s proximity on their mobile devices.
Customers can use real-time location updates to predict the tech’s arrival time and plan their day accordingly.
It doesn’t stop there.
You can add ServiceTitan’s Web Scheduler or Chat-to-Text widget to your website to allow customers to book appointments online or interact directly with you. This way, customers can schedule appointments at their convenience without calling CSRs.
Customer Portal
Providing excellent customer service starts with transparency, which builds customer trust and can generate word-of-mouth referrals.
ServiceTitan facilitates transparency through its Customer Portal, a web interface customers can log into to view their outstanding invoices, work history, membership status, and more.
Painting contractors can receive payments by including Customer Portal links in invoices. These links allow customers to make payments, change credit card details, and confirm appointment times for forthcoming service calls.
ServiceTitan’s Customer Portal also allows customers to submit appointment requests independently, which are automatically reflected in ServiceTitan’s Service Scheduling calendar.
For painting firms’ customer support staff, this means less time spent guiding customers to schedule appointments and more time for more productive tasks.
Marketing Pro
Nowadays, marketing requires an omnichannel approach to reach customers where they are, with content that addresses their needs and provides value at every touchpoint.
ServiceTitan’s Marketing Pro platform is designed to help create, manage, and track targeted email and text marketing campaigns.
Painting contractors can leverage ServiceTitan’s Marketing Pro – Email platform’s library of templates, created by ServiceTitan’s in-house email design and copywriting experts, to quickly create professional-looking emails.
The platform also lets you build customized audiences based on criteria like expiring memberships, unsold estimates, or aging equipment. This way, you can capture recurring revenue and maximize customer lifetime value.
ServiceTitan’s Marketing Pro – Email allows contractors to run automated email sequences, indicating when to stop or continue. For example, contractors can program an email sequence to discontinue once a customer renews their contract.
This ensures emails remain relevant to customers' needs, delivering a positive customer experience.
Painting contractors can optimize their marketing campaigns using valuable performance insights from the Home Services Marketing platform.
Using the platform, you can view each campaign’s exact revenue and track each customer call to the source campaign, giving you insight into what customers need.
Painting companies nationwide use ServiceTitan’s customer-facing features to grow their business. Arizona Painting is a great example.
The Phoenix residential and commercial painting company had been looking for a CRM solution before joining ServiceTitan. Unfortunately, every tool they tried fell short of their expectations until they found ServiceTitan.
“We were looking for a CRM program that could integrate our marketing and handle a customer from the beginning to the end,” said Joe Campbell, Arizona Painting’s owner, chief financial officer, and chief marketing officer.
“Many of the programs we looked at could not handle the marketing or front-end scheduling. Some could do the production side well, but none could do everything.”
Since switching to ServiceTitan, Arizona Painting has achieved:
A 60 percent increase in leads and revenue
A 60 percent increase in staff to handle the growth
A five percent increase in profit margin after ServiceTitan added live job costing.
“Using ServiceTitan is something that everybody in our industry needs if they want to know how well their business is doing and how to improve it,” Campbell said.
» Want to grow your business too? Click here to get a demo.
2. Jobber
Source: Jobber
Jobber helps to consolidate customer data management, quoting, invoicing, and payments in one place. The software is designed to handle the basic management needs of a home service company—job scheduling, route optimization, payment processing, etc.
Painting contractors can also pay more to access functionalities like QuickBooks integration, review management, and email marketing.
Jobber has an intuitive user interface perfect for people using field service management software for the first time.
However, when compared to Jobber, ServiceTitan offers:
Robust pricebook functionality fully integrated with manufacturer catalogs.
An advanced accounting system that reduces the need to hire bookkeepers.
A fully developed marketing feature that integrates with ServiceTitan’s CRM and automates key marketing tasks, reducing the need for hiring marketing specialists.
More developed reporting capabilities for monitoring business and employee performance and tracking data sources.
Extended control over membership plans and recurring service calls.
Detailed sales opportunities, property data, job history, and estimate reports for boosting revenue.
For more details on these differences, check out our complete comparison guide: ServiceTitan vs. Jobber.
3. Kickserv
Source: Kickserv
Kickserv is a field service business management platform with tools designed for painting companies and other trade businesses. It has desktop and mobile versions, with features that streamline invoicing, dispatching, workforce management, and more.
However, when compared to Kickserv, ServiceTitan offers:
Mobile app offline functionality, allowing technicians to work seamlessly in areas with limited or unavailable cell service.
Automated performance report creation and delivery.
Fully customizable price books and estimate forms.
In-person, company-wide, software onboarding and support.
Automated on-the-way messages and technician tracking powered by GPS technology to help ensure prompt arrivals.
A comprehensive property data report for identifying potential sales opportunities.
Fully customizable forms, pricing, and sales tools that field techs can access on their mobile tablets.
For more details on these differences, check out our complete comparison article: ServiceTitan vs. Kickserv.
4. PaintScout
Source: PaintScout
This field service management software is specifically designed for painting contractors. Its functionalities streamline the process of pricing and selling painting jobs. You can create follow-up messages, estimates, work orders, and invoices.
However, when compared to PaintScout, ServiceTitan offers:
Detailed performance dashboards and reports for tracking key metrics and KPIs.
Built-in marketing features.
Seamless integration with other tools necessary to automate key business processes like scheduling, dispatching, and accounting.
Intuitive dashboards that showcase key business and employee performance metrics.
5. Housecall Pro
Source: Housecall Pro
This trade software is built for both large and small businesses. It includes features for managing essential business processes like scheduling, online booking, client management, and invoicing.
Housecall Pro has a user-friendly interface with a clean design that grants users quick access to essential features. Like ServiceTitan, it has a mobile app that allows field technicians to manage jobs and access customer information on the go.
However, when compared to Housecall Pro, ServiceTitan offers:
Fully customizable performance dashboards with key financial and operational metrics you can slice and dice to access granular data.
A follow-up tab with a list of sales opportunities like unsold estimates.
Automatic scheduling of detailed reports to be delivered at specific intervals.
Quick access to detailed customer job histories, outstanding invoices, equipment, and service notes.
Bulk messaging functionality to remind customers of expiring contracts and schedule upcoming service runs.
An automated pre-arrival message with a tech’s brief bio, picture, and GPS-powered estimated arrival time (ETA).
Special portals customers can use to book appointments, pay invoices, and access their previous service history.
For more details on these differences, check out our complete comparison article: ServiceTitan vs. Housecall Pro.
6. Houzz
Source: Houzz
Houzz is a business management tool tailored to the unique needs of contractors, remodelers, interior designers, and home design professionals. The tool has functionalities for project management, streamlining customer communications, and creating invoices.
A significant benefit is the tool’s integration with the Houzz business directory, which grants contractors access to many potential clients. Contractors use this integration to create and display their portfolios and solicit reviews.
However, when compared to Houzz, ServiceTitan offers:
Easy in-app access to multiple supplier products and equipment catalogs.
Convenient two-way SMS texting functionality for answering customer inquiries, managing scheduling, and resolving complaints.
Field sales tools like the special presentation mode that showcases clear and compelling good-better-best packages, complete with integrated financing options.
An extensive marketing feature for creating, managing, and tracking campaigns.
7. Builder Prime
Source: Builder Prime
Builder Prime is a cloud-based, all-in-one CRM and project management tool designed for home improvement contractors, including painters. Like ServiceTitan, Builder Prime offers tools to organize, track, follow up on, and manage leads.
However, compared to Builder Prime, ServiceTitan offers:
Employee performance insights for improving customer service.
A mobile app replete with sales tools and a stable offline functionality that allows techs to access critical customer information and complete tasks in areas with limited internet connectivity.
Real-time technician tracking for dispatchers and customers, enabling efficient routing and faster arrival times.
Advanced marketing, accounting, and payroll management features that reduce the need to hire experts.
Over to You
Investing in a CRM is one way to improve your service quality, boost employee productivity, and grow your business.
When picking CRM software, you must make a crucial choice between two types of CRMs:
Dedicated CRM software specifically designed for customer management only.
Comprehensive painting software with advanced CRM features built-in and other functionalities for streamlining other business processes.
We advise you to pick the latter instead of spending massively on multiple tools and forcing new employees to learn how each software program works.
For example, ServiceTitan’s painting software has a fully developed CRM feature alongside functionalities that streamline accounting, scheduling, dispatching, etc. Painting contractors use the software to boost employee productivity and revenue generation.
ServiceTitan is a comprehensive software solution built specifically to help service companies streamline their operations and substantially boost revenue. Thousands of trade companies across the country use the software, increasing their revenue by an average of 25% in just their first year with us.
ServiceTitan Software
ServiceTitan is a comprehensive software solution built specifically to help service companies streamline their operations, boost revenue, and substantially elevate the trajectory of their business. Our comprehensive, cloud-based platform is used by thousands of electrical, HVAC, plumbing, garage door, and chimney sweep shops across the country—and has increased their revenue by an average of 25% in just their first year with us.