Courses/Audio Conferences

Welcome to the APC education page! Here you can sign up for courses and audio conferences designed to help you with marketing, hiring, finances, sales and many other business issues faced by painting contractors. Courses are available for immediate access and audio conference cd's and material will be promptly mailed. Email ehwoard@columbiabooks.com with questions or technical difficulties.

GO FOR THE GOLD: Marketing to Grow Your Business

Presented By Richard Greene

In this upbeat presentation, PDCA CEO Richard Greene walks you through easy-to-implement marketing concepts that can help you get more business by "mining" your prior customers, "cultivating" your current customer list, and "digging" for new customers. He

will remind you of the 7 most important seconds of the customer relationship, tell you how home-made pie grows revenue, and explain how thinking about your dentist can result in repeat business. This is a fun-filled hour of reviewing old tricks and new tips to help market your unique business expertise.

$75.00

Register for the course

This course is offered free to PDCA members. To find out more about becoming a PDCA member, visit www.pdca.org.

Personal Fiscal Fitness

Presented by: Paul L. Vogel

This course presents clear and easy-to-follow presentations on retirement planning, education planning, investment planning, estate planning, insurance planning, tax planning, and business succession. Valuable tools will be reviewed, including an examination of the amount necessary to maintain ongoing desired lifestyle during retirement. Expert and easy-to-follow assistance is provided so that you can determine the amount necessary to fund your children's or grand-children's education costs. You will find critical information concerning the appropriate asset allocation and investment alternatives to meet your financial goals while simultaneously minimizing risk to the extent possible, and help with the identification of those risks that could impair a successful financial plan and the acquisition of the appropriate insurance products to mitigate such risk.

$75.00

Register for the course

This course is offered free to PDCA members. To find out more about becoming a PDCA member, visit www.pdca.org.

Screening and Hiring: An Expert Guide to Making the Right Hire

Presented By Jamie Hasty, Sesco Management

A Labor Department study shows that 50% of new hires last only six months in their new job. Common sense tells you that some of these hires are superstars and will likely be promoted, while a good portion of others either quit or are fired. The cause of a bad hire can be linked to many things, such as poor analysis of the job function or person qualifications, inadequate initial screening and interview technique, or failure to complete necessary reference and background checks. SESCO's "Screening and Hiring: An Expert Guide to Making the Right Hire" program provides the means to understand and utilize the basic tools of effective screening and hiring. Identify what one should and should not ask during the interview process, and learn how to attract qualified applicants by developing a comprehensive job posting.

$75.00

Register for the course.

This course is offered free to PDCA members. To find out more about becoming a PDCA member, visit www.pdca.org.

Sales Success for Painting Contractors - Breaking through Wimp Junction!

Presented by Kevin and Brian Nolan

Get ready for an intense audio conference on the contractors' sales process. No wimps aloud! In this session, Kevin Nolan and Brian Nolan, from Nolan Consulting Group, Inc. will analyze the make it or break it point in every sales call. The point in every sales call when you have the opportunity to make the sale.

Discussion will include not only overcoming a customer's objections, but your own self-limiting beliefs about objections. Learn how to take a passionate sales approach. Learn when and how to negotiate on price. Be confident and committed - with conviction! Be a gladiator. Feel the fear and do it anyway. Are you ready to break through "Wimp Junction?"

Learning Objectives:

Use non-verbal and tonality cues to your advantage in communication.
Set effective goals.
Develop the best follow up plan.
Create fear, uncertainty and doubt in your competition.
Ask for the sale... and get the sale!

$75.00

Register for the course.

This course is offered free to PDCA members. To find out more about becoming a PDCA member, visit www.pdca.org.

Creating an Effective Marketing Strategy for Painting Contractors

By Linnea Blair

A business can survive for some time with poor records, insufficient finance or a lack of management skills, but it can't last long without a market. Something has to be done to make the phone ring - and that thing is marketing. Yet perhaps the most common problem faced by business owners is their inability to effectively sell their products. There are numerous examples of businesses that are able to make high quality products at a competitive price, but have little experience or skill in finding people who are willing to buy them. Essentially, they do not have a marketing strategy.

This audio conference explains the core concepts of a marketing strategy - identifying customer groups (target markets), which a small business can serve better than its larger competitors, and tailoring its product offerings, prices, distribution, promotional efforts and services towards that particular market segment (the marketing mix). A good strategy implies that a business cannot be all things to all people and must analyze its markets and its own capabilities so as to focus on a target market it can serve best.

Learning Objectives:
Approaching Marketing Strategically
Creating Unique Core Differentiator to sustain your competitive advantage
Developing a Marketing Plan
Marketing ROI - How to measure and monitor the effectiveness of your marketing strategies.

$75.00

Register to receive the audio conference.

This course is offered free to PDCA members. To find out more about becoming a PDCA member, visit www.pdca.org.

PDCA Standards

Presented By Bob Cusumano

Examine standards for scope and quality of work for financial responsibility. Learn how effective use of the PDCA Standards will help avoid many day-to-day problems. Walk through common bid document terms so that bids accurately reflect the intent of the documents. Detailed "quality of appearance" specifications are examined so that reference standards are controlled by sample review and approval. Learn why you should incorporate PDCA Standards into your proposals. Learn how PDCA Standards can establish procedures for measuring and testing to determine compliance with a manufacturer's specifications.

$75.00

Register for the course.

This course is offered free to PDCA members. To find out more about becoming a PDCA member, visit www.pdca.org.