Performance Painting CEO Jason Parker talks about franchising a service-based business—and what's next for the commercial painting business.
As a working college student in the 1990s, Jason Parker knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur.
But after suffering an injury while training for a wakeboarding competition in 2001, Parker found himself in a position he never expected to be in. Forced to decide between continuing his education or turning his residential painting gig into a full-time business while recovering from the accident, Parker chose the latter. It was a decision that would alter the direction of his life – and lead to the creation of a painting company that would eventually become a national franchise brand.
“It's been an amazing journey. And one of those journeys that you look at and you realize that, if you knew everything that it would take, you may not have started. But if you take one step at a time, you take it and get better for every one of the phases of growth that we've been through. It's been a lot of fun,” says Parker, founder and CEO of Performance Painting, a commercial painting company that offers industrial and commercial painting services across the U.S.
Today, with over 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur in the commercial painting space, Parker’s decades-long success offers proof that his college gamble paid off – and set the pace for an ambitious franchising journey that has taken his career to new heights in recent years.
Building scaffolding for success
Laying the right foundation was critical to achieving success in the commercial painting industry for Parker, whose strategy for Performance Painting included differentiating the brand from competitors by elevating customer experiences and expectations early on.
“When I was early in the business, I was driving a little Volkswagen Golf and I had paint in the back, and probably paint on me. I was going through a drive-thru and I had a helper with me this day, and the (restaurant) drive-thru lady peeked her head out the window and looked at both of us, and then looked at me and said, ‘Hey, you boys are painters. Y'all can drink some beer, can't you?’,” Parker recalls.
The experience inspired Parker to raise the level of professionalism associated with the commercial painting industry – and his brand, more specifically. As a franchisor, in addition to placing a high priority on workplace safety, achieving that goal also meant developing high professional standards and a strong corporate team that would embody those standards daily.
For new service-based franchisors seeking similar strategies for building a solid team, Parker advises starting with the individual franchise owner and then choosing from various models that might include positions for regional managers, directors, field managers or supervisors. And while some new franchisors might decide to hire an initial crew, Parker says Performance Painting opts for a subcontractor model.
“Through our subcontracting model – we recommend that in the beginning, until revenue is flowing well – and, if you so choose to add your employees after that, that would be what we would recommend as the business scales, you would add sales and field managers at the rate that they would demand in the market. And so, the way that we would recommend that is a salesperson and a field manager for every territory for the beginning,” Parker says.
Building relationships and leaving a lasting impression
That emphasis on value doesn’t stop with customers. For Parker, it also includes adding to the lives of Performance Painting’s franchisees, who receive support like initial training, assistance with national and local advertising, digital marketing strategies and ongoing operations guidance – all designed to encourage their success as business owners.
“When I was working in a factory and there were no positions to move up in, it made me want to grow an organization and keep it growing, so that people inside the organization could have a vehicle that would allow them to reach their personal goals inside of that vehicle, rather than having to leave and go outside of the company to meet their goals,” Parker says.
With over 40 employees and territories available across the U.S. during the first phase of its national expansion, creating an environment where employees and franchisees can thrive has been an important part of Parker’s journey with Performance Painting, including as a franchisor.
“The thing that motivates me is the new environment that we're creating – to see the people around me achieve what maybe they didn't think they could in the beginning,” Parker says.
That emphasis on creating positive experiences and lasting relationships is baked into the brand’s business model, forming a strong foundation that allows the company to perform ongoing work for business clients of every size across the nation.
“I think without a deeper meaning or purpose, it’s really hard to do those jumping-off point things, those things that we don't know how they're going to turn out, and take big risks,” Parker says.
To learn about franchise opportunities at Performance Painting, visit https://www.performance-painting.com/franchise.
