October 20, 2025 • 31 mins
What if your contractor experience felt more like a five-star hotel stay than a gamble with your calendar and patience? That’s the challenge Cedric Merrills took on when he left wedding photography to build WOW 1 Day Painting in Asheville—a company that pairs speed with hospitality and backs it with systems anyone can understand. We talk about the surprising power of basic promises kept: estimates delivered before leaving the consultation, photo updates during the job, clear walk-throughs at the end, and a team trained to solve problems on the spot without waiting for permission.
Cedric opens up about hiring for character and teaching the craft—why professionalism, trust and ambition beat years of patchy “experience,” and how that approach grows a team clients mention by name in reviews. He breaks down the unit economics behind premium service, from lead costs to labor hours, and shares a simple truth: you can’t deliver excellence if you’re racing to be cheapest. Instead, he borrows moves from luxury restaurants and hotels—crew bios texted before arrival, name tags, small gifts, and a transparent status tracker—because confidence and clarity turn anxious buyers into lifelong fans.
We also dive into his bold next step: a lifetime touch-up guarantee. Once a year, during the slow winter season, his crew returns to refresh scuffs and marks for any interior they painted—for as long as you live in the home. It’s a retention engine disguised as kindness and a smart use of idle capacity. If you’re an entrepreneur or a homeowner who values reliability, communication, and quality that lasts, this conversation is a roadmap for raising both your price and your standards.
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Thanks for Listening. You may contact me or our team at https://billgilliland.biz/
All the best!
Bill
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All the best!
Bill
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Bill Gilliland (00:02):
Hey there, welcome to this week's episode
of Epic Entrepreneurs.
I am super pumped up about ourguest today.
My name is Bill Gillilan.
I am the owner and principal atAction Coach Business Growth
Partners and also one of thefounders and principals of the
Asheville Business Summit.
But today we're not here totalk about me.
(00:22):
We're here to talk about andspotlight WoW painting.
So I've got Cedric Merrills onthe line here today.
Cedric, tell us a little bitabout you and WoW painting.
Cedric Merrills (00:34):
Yeah, uh thanks for having me on, Bill.
Um so my name is CedricMerrills.
I started WoW one day paintinga little over three years ago.
And and the reason I started itis, well, to give you some some
background on me, I'm I'm 26years old.
I came from the weddingphotography industry.
I was a wedding photographerfor several years, you know,
(00:57):
shooting hundred-plus weddings,and I loved it.
And um the thing I loved aboutit is that it's like the point
in someone's life where you havean ability to have a really big
impact, and it really makes adifference for people.
Um, what I did like about it isthat typically people want to
hire you specifically, right?
People wanted to hire CedricMarylands, and so I was looking
(01:19):
at different opportunities, andI heard about the the franchise
WoW One Day Painting, and um Iwas considering opening up my
own painting business without afranchise, or I was considering
going through a franchise.
Well, the reason I ultimatelychose WoW One Day Painting is
because every single person Imet, whether it was like Brian
Schoonmore, who started thecompany, or CJ in Nashville, or
(01:43):
John Kalamazoo, they all had alaser focus on the customer
experience.
And customer experience is oneof those things where everyone
says they care about it, but ifyou look at the reviews or or
their customer experience,ultimately, usually it's not
very good.
But every single person very,very much cared about it, had
amazing reviews, and put thework into making an amazing
(02:04):
experience.
And that was my philosophy withblame photography, and so
that's why I joined UltimatelyWild One Day Painting and
started in Nashville, um, tokind of make contracting a
really easy and really enjoyableexperience.
Because I think everyone haseither had a bad experience or
know someone who's had a badexperience with contractors, and
(02:25):
my goal is to kind of changethat perception uh and kind of
elevate what what contractingcan be through painting.
Bill Gilliland (02:34):
Love that.
Love that.
So let's talk a little businesshere.
Like you've done this for threeyears.
You were in the I guesstechnically the wedding
photography business is abusiness too.
So but if you had to start fromsquare one, what would you do
differently?
Cedric Merrills (02:50):
Yeah, that's a great question.
Um the things that made areally big difference for us
when we were starting on wasgetting really good at
understanding the customer andwhat they needed and and wanted
uh from our services.
That was a really big part ofpiece of it.
(03:10):
And the second piece wasdelivering it.
Um and when we started, wealways kind of had that same
ethos, but we weren't very goodat it, relatively speaking.
And so I think I would spendeven more time figuring out what
are like the really goodquestions to ask on the front
end so that we can deliver areally great experience on the
the back end of painting.
Because ultimately, if you dothat, um it's it's gonna work
(03:32):
out great.
But if you don't ask thosequestions, you might never know
some of the things that areimportant to your to your
customers.
Bill Gilliland (03:38):
Love that.
Hey, Cedric, give us an exampleof one or two of those
questions.
Cedric Merrills (03:43):
Yeah.
Um, well, it's very simple.
So for for us, our processstarts at the the uh someone
will either go online to book anestimate or they're call our
call center called me.
Um and I'll ask them somethinglike when you think about this
project, what comes to mind asimportant for you?
Or I might ask them, have youworked with a professional
painter before or contractors?
What did you like about thatexperience?
(04:04):
What did you dislike about thatexperience?
You know, just kind of reallydive in to understand what's
driving them, right?
Are they selling the home andthey just need it sold as soon
as possible?
So time is gonna be reallyimportant.
Is this their forever homewhere they want to raise
grandchildren and they want thisto be the they want this paint
job to last 15 years?
Um, are they, you know,everyone has something different
(04:26):
that's important to them.
Do they do the last paintersleave a mess?
And so making sure we're reallyclear about exactly how we
protect their home, how we'regonna protect their furniture,
how we're gonna protect theirfloors.
Um, you know, is is that gonnabe one of the most important
things to them?
Everyone's a little bitdifferent, but you know, I
probably spend about 20% of mymy talks when I'm talking with
(04:47):
customers talking about theactual scope of what they want,
you know, walls, baseboards,whatever.
The other 80% is really divinginto about what what matters to
them.
Bill Gilliland (04:58):
Yeah, so you're after more about the person than
the the job's important,obviously, in the in getting it
done, but you know, it's got tobe a fit personality-wise as
well, with with what with whatin figuring out what they want
so that you can provide thatservice.
I love that.
Cedric Merrills (05:14):
Yeah, exactly.
If we don't get thatinformation up front, if if
they're like timing was the mostimportant thing for them, and
and we don't go through theproject with that in mind, we
may do a perfect pay job, andthey're still gonna be unhappy
because it delayed their movingdate, you know, maybe for
example, you know.
Bill Gilliland (05:31):
Right.
Yeah, yeah.
No, that's a great example.
That's a great example.
So if time is more important,yeah, it's that's great.
So, what have been uh some ofyour bigger learnings as an
owner and an employer since youstarted?
Yeah, great question.
Cedric Merrills (05:44):
But the hardest part for me when I started was
in lane photography, I dideverything.
I could guarantee a perfectexperience because I was the one
doing everything.
In painting, I can't paintevery single project, it's it's
impossible, right?
And so I'm working throughpeople.
Um, where when lanephotography, I was just doing it
all myself.
And so I had a it's becomereally important to us to not
(06:06):
only find really, really goodpeople, but also have the
training and other pieces inplace to make those people
thrive, right?
Because you can take someonewho's really, really cares about
customer experience and really,really cares about delivering a
good product, but if if theydon't have the tools or the
training to do a good job,they're not going to do a good
job, you know?
And so it's I think it'sgetting really clear on the
(06:28):
recruiting piece when we'rehiring painters of knowing
exactly what the type of personwe're looking for is.
We call them in our businesspaths, a professional, um,
trustworthy, ambitious, um, andthen making sure we have that
training piece to make sure thatthey can succeed, you know.
Bill Gilliland (06:45):
Yeah, I think getting clear ahead is the is
one of the keys so that youdon't just get anybody off the
street.
Love that.
Hey, so what are some commonmisconceptions about running a
business?
Cedric Merrills (06:57):
Yeah, well, the the biggest one, I I I have
some friends who are thinkingabout starting businesses or
starting small businesses.
Um, they all think if you ownyour own business, you get to
work less, you get to make yourown schedule, and it's gonna be
easy.
And there's pieces of that,that's true.
You know, you you get to makeyour own schedule, but the
reality is if you talk to anyonewho's started a business or any
(07:19):
entrepreneur, you're gonna workten times harder than you'll
ever work for anyone else.
Um, and it's just kind of afact of life, especially in the
beginning.
And so I think um a lot ofpeople think entrepreneurship
means you're gonna be workingless, but the vast majority of
the time you're working way, waylonger, way harder, like, and
(07:40):
it's gonna be way morestressful.
It doesn't mean you shouldn'tdo it, but you should go into it
with your your eyes wide open.
Bill Gilliland (07:46):
Yeah, no, that's 100% right.
I mean, what's the old saying?
You leave a 40-hour job to work80 hours and make half the
money in the beginning.
So uh yeah, it's uh it's ayeah, it's an it's an
interesting one.
So what do you attribute yourgrowth to?
Cedric Merrills (08:02):
Yeah, honestly, uh the most experiences people
have as contractors is justterrible.
Um, and so I think uh it's justtrue.
The bar is off the ground.
Bill Gilliland (08:14):
Yeah, the yeah, the the the bar is low, right?
Cedric Merrills (08:16):
Yeah, and so I think just by simply because I
mean we our our name of ourbusiness is Wow One Day
Painting, and and that's that'spart of it.
But I think the thing thatseparates us is just doing the
basics really well.
You know, we're gonna start thejob when we say we're gonna
start the job, we're gonnafinish the job, when we say
we're gonna finish the job.
We're gonna have really greatcommunication throughout the
whole process.
So, you know, for what thatlooks like for us is you're
(08:39):
gonna have the estimate beforewe ever leave the consultation,
right?
You're not gonna be chasing usfor weeks just to get the
estimate.
We're gonna have it before Ileave, right?
On the start of the project,we're gonna walk through
everything with you again tomake sure you we're all on the
same page.
It's also in the estimate, it'salso in the notes for the crew,
but we always confirm it onemore time.
If you're not there while we'reworking, we're gonna be sending
you photos throughout the dayso you can see exactly how
(09:00):
progress is going and be updatedthroughout the day.
And then when we finish, we'regonna walk through everything
with you again.
And so it's just making surethose pieces of you know you
know, the client knows exactlywhat to expect.
We know everything that'simportant to them, we're
delivering that, and then we'remaking sure they love it before
we leave.
You know, if if if you didn'tdo that, you're gonna have you
know super happy customers andthey're gonna recommend you to
their neighbors and theirfriends, and like the majority
(09:22):
of our growth has just come fromrecommendations from our past
customers.
Bill Gilliland (09:27):
Love that.
Yeah, it's not just do what yousay you're gonna do.
Yep, exactly.
I mean, it's yeah, I yeah.
It's so simple.
It's not easy, but it's no, no,no, it's yeah, it should be.
It should be it should be easy,but it's it's an interesting
one.
Uh, you know, I had a plumber,you know, that had it on the
side of his trucks.
We show up.
(09:48):
I mean, essentially, when theysaid they were gonna be there,
they were they made that wastheir deal.
So and that was that was theirwhole their whole business was
built.
I mean, he had 50 trucks.
This guy was a you know, but hehe was he was done well.
So um, so how do you balancepersonal life and demands of
running a business?
Cedric Merrills (10:06):
That's a great question.
Uh I don't.
I was kidding.
Uh honestly, I'm someone who II unlike ADHD, I've always been
kind of hyperactive.
And for me, I hate nothing elsemore than being bored.
And I really enjoy business, Ireally enjoy running a painting
company.
And so I'm gonna end up workinga lot, not because I
(10:27):
necessarily have to, especiallyas we've grown, but I really,
really enjoy it.
So I'll I love talking tocustomers and I love trying to
tweaking up processes to makethem a little bit better, a
little bit better.
Just kind of like, you know, ifwe if we get you know one
percent better a day, you know,the improvement is gonna be
massive.
Um, and I I just love doing it.
And so uh the majority of mytime, and when I moved to
(10:49):
Asheville, I moved to Ashevilleto start the business.
I didn't know anyone here.
Uh the only person I knew is mysister who's introverted and
also didn't know anyone.
And so all my time and effort,and all most of my friends have
come from this business, whetherit's realtors that we work with
or you know, flooring companiesor roofing companies we work
with, a lot of my social lifeand personal life is intertwined
(11:12):
with the business.
And I love that because I lovewhat I do and I love the people
we work with, but it's notreally like balance in the way
that I was like, oh, I stoppedworking at five and you know, I
I ignore business from 5 p.m.
to 5 a.m.
or something.
It's all intermingled and Ilove it because I love what I
do.
Bill Gilliland (11:32):
Yeah, the the uh yeah, balance is an interesting
word, right?
I mean, if you love it, I meanit's just yeah, it's not I it's
still work.
I don't believe that you knowyou never work a day in your
life, you work every day if youbut but if you love it, then
it's fun and you you just youjust keep doing more.
So I love that.
I love that.
Cedric Merrills (11:52):
So what what I find is like when I go on
vacation, for example, like Ienjoy it, and then after like
three or four days I getrestless, and when I start
thinking about the business, andlike, oh, what if we could do
this?
And you know, my mind's alwaysthinking about it, even even if
I don't have to be.
Bill Gilliland (12:06):
Yeah, well, you get a lot of uh you get a lot of
your great ideas in downtimeanyway.
So that's that's one of thereasons to have downtime just to
just to recharge and get greatideas.
So I mean you've hired a fairnumber of employees.
What do you look for?
Like what qualities do you lookfor in employees, and how do
(12:27):
you foster that positive andproductive work environment?
Cedric Merrills (12:30):
Yeah, great question.
Um, the biggest quality I lookfor is someone who's like
professional, someone who'strustworthy, and someone who's
ambitious.
You know, they want to grow,they want to learn, they have to
be coachable becauseultimately, you know, some of
our best painters, you know,take Alex, for example.
He's one of our painters, he'samazing at what he does.
And before this, he he workedin the the restaurant industry
(12:53):
and it's great with customers.
He really cared about his work.
He had never painted a day inhis life, and we've turned him
into one of our best painters.
And it's because in the grandscheme of things, painting's
very much teachable.
We can teach someone how topaint.
It's much, much harder to teachsomeone to care about the work
they do, or try to teach someoneto be trustworthy, or teach
(13:13):
someone to be professional, youknow.
You you can you can do it, butwe try to find really good
people and then teach them howto paint.
And if they already know how topaint, great.
But we kind of start with theculture fit, making sure they,
you know, they're coachable,they care about the work they
do, and then and then we worryabout you know whether they can
paint or not.
And oftentimes we're we'reteaching people how to paint
that way.
(13:33):
We know they're going to do agreat job, and they're doing it
exactly the way we want them todo it because we know it
delivers great results.
Um, Kendrick, another example,he moved here when I started the
business about six months in.
He was in Seattle at the time.
He drove across the country,and this like 1992, like
literally cars falling apart.
Like, it's horrible.
(13:54):
He moved across the country towork with me, and now he's one
of our project managers.
He he helps interview and hirea lot of the painters, and he is
extremely good at what he does.
And he had zero paintingexperience before before
starting.
And if you look at our reviews,one of the proudest things for
me is occasionally they'llthey'll mention me, but the vast
majority of them, they're like,Oh, Kendrick was amazing, Alex
(14:16):
was amazing, you know, Mike andDav and the rest of the team,
they do a great job.
Like the mention the paintersby name, um, and they do do a
great job.
Bill Gilliland (14:24):
So I love it.
I love it.
So I'm gonna give you um so BEpic is an acronym that that we
use.
Um, I'm gonna give you thedefinition, and I want like a
quick, it's sort of a quick fireround, just your real, you're
quick anyway.
But we'll give you, you know, acouple of sentences on each
one.
So they it's bepic.
(14:45):
So B, the first B, well it's B,is um bring the energy.
So what are your thoughtsaround that?
Bring the energy?
Yeah, bringing energy, yeah.
Cedric Merrills (14:56):
Yeah, no, it's it's everything.
Ultimately, I think I'm someonewho I work really hard just
naturally, like it doesn'tmatter what I'm doing, I'm
working really hard, and thatpermeates through all of our
people.
I I think it affects the peoplewe hire.
And so if I go to a job site,you know, Kendrick, for example,
I'll tell you a great story.
Uh he's one of our most trustedand longest time painters, and
(15:20):
he'll he'll if a job needs toget done, he'll he'll stay late
just to get the job done, orhe'll go above and beyond even
what I would even considerasking, because I would never
ask him to do a lot of thesethings, and he'll just do it
because he knows it reallymatters to the customer, or it's
really, really important.
Um, one time we had a customerwho she was having a uh it was
(15:42):
her birthday, and the paintersfound out halfway through the
day.
And at lunch they went and gotsome balloons and a birthday
card, and they like surprisedthe customer at the end of the
day um with like a littlebirthday celebration, which I
thought was so cool.
I had never even heard about.
They just did it on their own.
And uh, you know, it's thosekind of like little touches that
you only get when everyone inthe organization, right?
(16:03):
Kendrick, every single painter,every single person on our
team, is hyperlined aroundcustomer service and what
matters to the customer, and hasthe autonomy to do it.
And so um we really try to growthrough people because at the
end of the day, the day this isa people business, right?
(16:23):
It's customers, it's employees,and we try to find really good
people and then treat themreally well and pay them really
well and keep them for a long,long time.
Um, because you know it's it'severything.
People are the most importantthing in this business, and
frankly, in life.
Bill Gilliland (16:39):
Yeah, I know I like it.
I like it a lot.
So the E and B Epic stands foreducation.
Give me your thoughts oneducation.
Cedric Merrills (16:46):
Uh it's everything, right?
We have so much moreflexibility than most painting
companies because we can takesomeone in who's never painted
before and turn them into anamazing painter.
And so the applicants that wecan hire is much larger.
We can find someone who hasthat passion, who is
professional, who istrustworthy, and turn them into
a painter.
Whereas if you're limited toonly painters, you can find all
(17:07):
those same attributes inpainter, but it's much, much
more difficult because the poolis so much smaller.
And so it allows us to have areally amazing team that most
painters painting companiesdon't have access to because
we're able to take someone,train them, teach them
everything they need to know howto be a successful painter, and
then put plug them into oursystem.
Bill Gilliland (17:27):
Yeah, love it.
Having a great system there.
So that brings me to the P andB epic, which is planning.
Cedric Merrills (17:36):
For planning, um, it's really interesting.
Honestly, we don't plan a wholelot, uh, probably as much as we
should.
I'm very focused on thenumbers.
I know exactly where our let'ssay lead costs need to be for a
channel to be profitable.
I know exactly where we need tosell a job at, I know exactly
how many hours we need to haveon the job.
(17:57):
And so if I'm evaluating a newmarketing channel, for example,
you know, I know if I can getqualified appointments at a
certain price, I will spend asmuch money as I want to on that
or can at that price.
It's gonna be profitable witheverything else.
Um, and so I don't really lookat it as like, oh, we're gonna
(18:19):
spend $10,000 this month onmarketing or you know, whatever
it is.
I look at, you know, what aregonna be the most effective
channels for us, and we're gonnaspend the money on those, you
know, we're gonna spend as muchmoney as we can.
And the same thing with the thepainters.
You know, we know how many jobswe have, we know how many leads
we're getting.
We need this many painters, andwe bring on enough painters so
that we can get all our projectsdone, and we're no more than,
(18:41):
let's say, ideally, a week ortwo booked out so that we can
make it really easy for ourclients to get their projects
done.
Um, same thing with when we'reuh selling projects, we know
exactly where it needs to bepriced at so that we can deliver
a great service and beprofitable and pay for the
marketing and the insurance andeverything else.
And so we probably should domore planning, but we kind of
(19:03):
just focus on the numbers.
And as long as the numbers ineach area of the business is
where they need to be, um thenwe're kind of on track.
And we're just trying to try totry to grow and help as many
customers as possible.
Bill Gilliland (19:14):
Love it.
Love it.
So, how about I inspiration?
Cedric Merrills (19:20):
Yeah, great question.
Um, I get a lot of inspirationfrom luxury brands and luxury
services outside of painting.
Um, one of the best books I'veread is Unreasonable
Hospitality.
It was a book written by WillGallardo.
Yeah, and and the whole premiseof the book is I love in Nassen
(19:40):
Park.
He he took this restaurant,made it the world's number one
restaurant through a focus onamazing hospitality.
And so I look at that and andask myself, how can we implement
that into what we do forpainting?
And we have, you know, when wefinish a job, we'll bring
customers flowers or we'll bringthem uh a box of local cookies
from mini batch bakery and we'llhave a handwritten card for
(20:03):
them.
Um we like at the anniversaryof their job, we'll often send
them like a nice handwritten no.
We we dive in and try to figureout what pieces can we steal
from like restaurants, forexample.
Like how do they introducecustomers?
How do they welcome customers?
You know, can we have that samething when we're introducing
ourselves at the door for apainting?
You know, like what worksreally well in those industries?
(20:24):
Same thing for like uh jewelry,right?
You know, the way they talkabout um their services and what
they do.
Uh, you know, what can we learnfrom that?
How can we be more polished inthe home?
And or like uh high-end hotels,for example.
If we look at Ritz Carlton orany of these you know, four
(20:46):
seasons, they're all of theiremployees have an ability to
solve customers' problemswithout having to go ask their
boss, right?
And I think it was the fourseasons, if I could be wrong.
Like if it's under like $100,they they can just solve it on
their own.
They don't need to go askanyone.
We have the same thing for ourpainters, right?
If there's a problem that theysee that they can solve or a
thing that they can make thecustomer's life better, they
(21:06):
don't need to ask them, theyknow just already that to go
ahead and go solve it, go makeit a good customer experience
moment.
Um, and so we try to steal fromas many industries as possible
the best practices and implementthat.
Like, what does that look likein a painting company?
Um, and it's maybe teachdifference.
Bill Gilliland (21:24):
Yeah, no, I love that.
I love that.
It's sort of like I was I wasthinking while you were saying,
hey, we do it looks like arestaurant.
Do you do, I mean, do youintroduce still say, hey, you
know, knock on the door, hey,I'm Cedric, I'll be your painter
today.
Cedric Merrills (21:35):
Uh no, exactly.
Bill Gilliland (21:38):
Yeah, yeah.
Cedric Merrills (21:38):
No, I love that.
Bill Gilliland (21:39):
Yeah.
Cedric Merrills (21:40):
Well, and and like before we and we're working
on implementing this right now,uh, everyone has name tags.
Before we even get to the jobsite, the customer has a text,
and they see everyone who'sgonna be on the project, a photo
of each of them, a mini bioabout each of them.
Love that.
Oh, that's awesome.
Yeah, and the customer's notthere.
We're gonna have kind of likeDomino's as a pizza tracker,
we're gonna have the same thingfor painting.
So they can see exactly whatstep the painting process is in.
(22:02):
They can see the latest photos,you know, they can know exactly
what's going on, even ifthey're not there.
You know, those like smalltouches, but just a little bit
better of an experience, alittle bit more transparent, a
little bit better communication,you know, at every single step
in the process.
Bill Gilliland (22:15):
Yeah, I love that.
I love that.
So the last one, MB Epic, is Ccommitment.
And I know you're committedbecause you love it, but tell us
a little bit at your thoughtson commitment.
Cedric Merrills (22:25):
Yeah, that's a that's a great question.
Um commitment is one of thosethings where it's always easier
to say you're committed than tobe committed.
But I I always try to measureit in in actions.
Um for example, every companysays they're committed to good
(22:45):
customer service.
I don't think it'll find asingle company that says they're
not.
And then you go read theirreviews, and it's just like
there's a small problem, and thecompany tried to charge me $500
to fix it, and even it wastheir fault, you know, whatever
it is, you know.
And uh they you read thenegative reviews, and it just
doesn't seem like they reallycare about the the customer
(23:09):
service experience, right?
And my opinion on customerservice has always been is like,
even if I'm convinced I'mright, like I know 100% I'm in
the right around a situation.
If the cut if I think thecustomer believes their own
story, like if the customergenuinely believes that I'm
being malicious, if theygenuinely believe we did
something wrong, I'm gonna justgo ahead and treat it as if we
did, and we're gonna doeverything we can to make it
right, even if we're notactually wrong, because
(23:32):
ultimately, you know, we wecharge a premium price, we're
not the cheapest paying company.
And the reason we do that is sothat we can fix these
situations when they come up.
You know, if we were barelyprofitable and we scratch
someone's floor, it's gonna bereally hard to go ahead and fix
that floor, you know.
But the reason we charge a lotis so that when we scratch their
floor, it's not a big headache.
(23:53):
Uh, and and that actuallyhappened.
We scratched someone's floor,we had it refinished, completely
redone before they moved inthree days later.
And we're only able to do thatbecause we're profitable enough,
and obviously we made zerodollars on that job, but overall
we're profitable enough to fixthings when they come up because
we try really, really hard togive the customer a great
customer great experience.
But mistakes do happen, and weneed to be able to fix it and
(24:16):
make it a great experience, evenin those cases.
Um, and I think too many peopleget caught up on being right.
It's like, oh, I'm right, it'snot my fault this happened, and
then they use that as an excusenot to deliver a good
experience.
Um, and we we try to do theopposite.
We try really hard to delivergreat experience, even in the
cases where something happenedthat's beyond our control,
(24:38):
right?
There's another contractor orthe customer was misunderstood
something, or whatever it is.
We're gonna try to doeverything we can, even in those
situations where it's not ourfault, to still deliver a great
experience.
Bill Gilliland (24:52):
Love it.
Love it.
Hey, what advice would you giveothers for business owners who
are looking to grow?
Cedric Merrills (24:59):
Yeah, I'd say the most important thing is to
focus on improving your producton one side.
Um, because especially in incontracting, at least for
painters, and frankly, mostsmall businesses, there's no
advantage you get in being thecheapest.
You're not Walmart, you'llnever have the volume or
(25:21):
whatever to be the cheapestprice.
And so you shouldn't youshouldn't try to be.
You should try to be clearlythe best product, solve the
problem most effectively, makeit as easy as possible compared
to everyone else.
That should be one piece of it.
And you should constantly beputting a lot of your time and
effort into improving yourproduct in every way.
And the other part of it is youneed to make sure you're
(25:43):
charging enough for thatproduct.
Um if you're not chargingenough, you're not going to be
able to deliver, even if youwant to, you can't deliver great
customer experience if you'renot charging enough.
Um, if you're not chargingenough, for example, and don't
have the right insurance andsomething catastrophic happens,
right?
There's there's nothing you cando.
If you're not charging enoughand you want to um surprise the
(26:07):
customer, bring them cookies atthe end of the job, you can't do
that, right?
And so you need to chargeenough so that you're able to
deliver an amazing experienceand deliver a better product.
And I think that's the formulayou have to work with.
Um, don't worry about peoplebeing cheaper.
There's always someone cheaper.
There's also always someonemore expensive.
(26:27):
Figure out how you can be thatmore expensive person and
deliver a product that's 10times better than that person is
delivering.
Uh, I think that's the muchbetter path to growth than
trying to be cheaper and kind ofshrink your product.
I think it's much better tomake your product so much better
than everyone else that it's ano-brainer to go with you, even
though you're more expensive.
And for the people who can'tafford you, they wish they could
(26:49):
go with you and they just can'tafford it.
Bill Gilliland (26:51):
I think that's kind of the position you want to
be in.
Yeah, I know.
I love yeah, that's theposition we've always taken.
I love that.
Hey, so what's the next bigthing for Cedric and while
painting?
Yeah, really just doubling downon the basics.
Cedric Merrills (27:05):
You know, we we've grown every single year,
including this year, and um, themore we grow, we can do bigger
and bigger projects in one day.
Kind of the the three-prongthings we focus on is making it
really easy, um, guaranteedquality.
And if we can do those things,um I'm I'm happy.
(27:26):
So something we're rolling outright now is a lifetime touch-up
guarantee, um, which isdifferent than a warranty, but
essentially it says uh if we uhpaint a space in your home, your
entire home, for as long as youlive in that home, we'll come
back once a year, forever, totouch up anything you want
during our slow season.
So in painting, there's kind ofseasons, and the slowest period
(27:50):
is between December and Januarybecause everyone's spending
time with the holidays, it'scold, you can't do exteriors.
So we typically have extracapacity during that time.
And so what we're doing iswe're taking that and using it
as a time where we can dotouch-ups completely for free
for our customers for for anyproject that we completed for
them.
And so it's something that Idon't think any other painting
company offers.
(28:10):
And it's just that you know,making the experience a little
bit better.
You know, you had a kid andthey sprayed, they marked the
walls away with a marker.
You know, we'll we'll come inand touch that for you
completely for free.
There's no cost associated withit, and just about making the
experience you know that thatthat much that much better in a
way that no one else can do it.
Bill Gilliland (28:29):
Yeah, I like it, Cedric.
Yeah, I like it.
I like it a lot.
So, what's the best way forsomebody to find you?
It's pretty easy to find you,but let's tell them anyway.
Cedric Merrills (28:38):
Yeah, absolutely.
So you can you can follow us onInstagram at Wild One Day
Painting Asheville.
Um, you can see our reviews.
If you type in Wild One DayPainting Asheville, you'll see
all our five-star reviews.
Um, and we may have a YouTubechannel, but type in Wild One
Day Painting, you'll you'll findus everywhere we're at.
Bill Gilliland (28:56):
Yeah, I love it.
I love it.
I love it.
Listen, fantastic.
Thank you for being on thepodcast.
Thank you for all you're doingin our community.
Thank you for sharing yourlearnings and your knowledge.
Um, I know that you're going tocontinue to be a massive
success in the marketplace.
unknown (29:13):
Thank you.
Bill Gilliland (29:14):
Thanks for having me on.
And until next time, all thebest.
Hey there, welcome to this week's episode
of Epic Entrepreneurs.
I am super pumped up about ourguest today.
My name is Bill Gillilan.
I am the owner and principal atAction Coach Business Growth
Partners and also one of thefounders and principals of the
Asheville Business Summit.
But today we're not here totalk about me.
(00:22):
We're here to talk about andspotlight WoW painting.
So I've got Cedric Merrills onthe line here today.
Cedric, tell us a little bitabout you and WoW painting.
Cedric Merrills (00:34):
Yeah, uh thanks for having me on, Bill.
Um so my name is CedricMerrills.
I started WoW one day paintinga little over three years ago.
And and the reason I started itis, well, to give you some some
background on me, I'm I'm 26years old.
I came from the weddingphotography industry.
I was a wedding photographerfor several years, you know,
(00:57):
shooting hundred-plus weddings,and I loved it.
And um the thing I loved aboutit is that it's like the point
in someone's life where you havean ability to have a really big
impact, and it really makes adifference for people.
Um, what I did like about it isthat typically people want to
hire you specifically, right?
People wanted to hire CedricMarylands, and so I was looking
(01:19):
at different opportunities, andI heard about the the franchise
WoW One Day Painting, and um Iwas considering opening up my
own painting business without afranchise, or I was considering
going through a franchise.
Well, the reason I ultimatelychose WoW One Day Painting is
because every single person Imet, whether it was like Brian
Schoonmore, who started thecompany, or CJ in Nashville, or
(01:43):
John Kalamazoo, they all had alaser focus on the customer
experience.
And customer experience is oneof those things where everyone
says they care about it, but ifyou look at the reviews or or
their customer experience,ultimately, usually it's not
very good.
But every single person very,very much cared about it, had
amazing reviews, and put thework into making an amazing
(02:04):
experience.
And that was my philosophy withblame photography, and so
that's why I joined UltimatelyWild One Day Painting and
started in Nashville, um, tokind of make contracting a
really easy and really enjoyableexperience.
Because I think everyone haseither had a bad experience or
know someone who's had a badexperience with contractors, and
(02:25):
my goal is to kind of changethat perception uh and kind of
elevate what what contractingcan be through painting.
Bill Gilliland (02:34):
Love that.
Love that.
So let's talk a little businesshere.
Like you've done this for threeyears.
You were in the I guesstechnically the wedding
photography business is abusiness too.
So but if you had to start fromsquare one, what would you do
differently?
Cedric Merrills (02:50):
Yeah, that's a great question.
Um the things that made areally big difference for us
when we were starting on wasgetting really good at
understanding the customer andwhat they needed and and wanted
uh from our services.
That was a really big part ofpiece of it.
(03:10):
And the second piece wasdelivering it.
Um and when we started, wealways kind of had that same
ethos, but we weren't very goodat it, relatively speaking.
And so I think I would spendeven more time figuring out what
are like the really goodquestions to ask on the front
end so that we can deliver areally great experience on the
the back end of painting.
Because ultimately, if you dothat, um it's it's gonna work
(03:32):
out great.
But if you don't ask thosequestions, you might never know
some of the things that areimportant to your to your
customers.
Bill Gilliland (03:38):
Love that.
Hey, Cedric, give us an exampleof one or two of those
questions.
Cedric Merrills (03:43):
Yeah.
Um, well, it's very simple.
So for for us, our processstarts at the the uh someone
will either go online to book anestimate or they're call our
call center called me.
Um and I'll ask them somethinglike when you think about this
project, what comes to mind asimportant for you?
Or I might ask them, have youworked with a professional
painter before or contractors?
What did you like about thatexperience?
(04:04):
What did you dislike about thatexperience?
You know, just kind of reallydive in to understand what's
driving them, right?
Are they selling the home andthey just need it sold as soon
as possible?
So time is gonna be reallyimportant.
Is this their forever homewhere they want to raise
grandchildren and they want thisto be the they want this paint
job to last 15 years?
Um, are they, you know,everyone has something different
(04:26):
that's important to them.
Do they do the last paintersleave a mess?
And so making sure we're reallyclear about exactly how we
protect their home, how we'regonna protect their furniture,
how we're gonna protect theirfloors.
Um, you know, is is that gonnabe one of the most important
things to them?
Everyone's a little bitdifferent, but you know, I
probably spend about 20% of mymy talks when I'm talking with
(04:47):
customers talking about theactual scope of what they want,
you know, walls, baseboards,whatever.
The other 80% is really divinginto about what what matters to
them.
Bill Gilliland (04:58):
Yeah, so you're after more about the person than
the the job's important,obviously, in the in getting it
done, but you know, it's got tobe a fit personality-wise as
well, with with what with whatin figuring out what they want
so that you can provide thatservice.
I love that.
Cedric Merrills (05:14):
Yeah, exactly.
If we don't get thatinformation up front, if if
they're like timing was the mostimportant thing for them, and
and we don't go through theproject with that in mind, we
may do a perfect pay job, andthey're still gonna be unhappy
because it delayed their movingdate, you know, maybe for
example, you know.
Bill Gilliland (05:31):
Right.
Yeah, yeah.
No, that's a great example.
That's a great example.
So if time is more important,yeah, it's that's great.
So, what have been uh some ofyour bigger learnings as an
owner and an employer since youstarted?
Yeah, great question.
Cedric Merrills (05:44):
But the hardest part for me when I started was
in lane photography, I dideverything.
I could guarantee a perfectexperience because I was the one
doing everything.
In painting, I can't paintevery single project, it's it's
impossible, right?
And so I'm working throughpeople.
Um, where when lanephotography, I was just doing it
all myself.
And so I had a it's becomereally important to us to not
(06:06):
only find really, really goodpeople, but also have the
training and other pieces inplace to make those people
thrive, right?
Because you can take someonewho's really, really cares about
customer experience and really,really cares about delivering a
good product, but if if theydon't have the tools or the
training to do a good job,they're not going to do a good
job, you know?
And so it's I think it'sgetting really clear on the
(06:28):
recruiting piece when we'rehiring painters of knowing
exactly what the type of personwe're looking for is.
We call them in our businesspaths, a professional, um,
trustworthy, ambitious, um, andthen making sure we have that
training piece to make sure thatthey can succeed, you know.
Bill Gilliland (06:45):
Yeah, I think getting clear ahead is the is
one of the keys so that youdon't just get anybody off the
street.
Love that.
Hey, so what are some commonmisconceptions about running a
business?
Cedric Merrills (06:57):
Yeah, well, the the biggest one, I I I have
some friends who are thinkingabout starting businesses or
starting small businesses.
Um, they all think if you ownyour own business, you get to
work less, you get to make yourown schedule, and it's gonna be
easy.
And there's pieces of that,that's true.
You know, you you get to makeyour own schedule, but the
reality is if you talk to anyonewho's started a business or any
(07:19):
entrepreneur, you're gonna workten times harder than you'll
ever work for anyone else.
Um, and it's just kind of afact of life, especially in the
beginning.
And so I think um a lot ofpeople think entrepreneurship
means you're gonna be workingless, but the vast majority of
the time you're working way, waylonger, way harder, like, and
(07:40):
it's gonna be way morestressful.
It doesn't mean you shouldn'tdo it, but you should go into it
with your your eyes wide open.
Bill Gilliland (07:46):
Yeah, no, that's 100% right.
I mean, what's the old saying?
You leave a 40-hour job to work80 hours and make half the
money in the beginning.
So uh yeah, it's uh it's ayeah, it's an it's an
interesting one.
So what do you attribute yourgrowth to?
Cedric Merrills (08:02):
Yeah, honestly, uh the most experiences people
have as contractors is justterrible.
Um, and so I think uh it's justtrue.
The bar is off the ground.
Bill Gilliland (08:14):
Yeah, the yeah, the the the bar is low, right?
Cedric Merrills (08:16):
Yeah, and so I think just by simply because I
mean we our our name of ourbusiness is Wow One Day
Painting, and and that's that'spart of it.
But I think the thing thatseparates us is just doing the
basics really well.
You know, we're gonna start thejob when we say we're gonna
start the job, we're gonnafinish the job, when we say
we're gonna finish the job.
We're gonna have really greatcommunication throughout the
whole process.
So, you know, for what thatlooks like for us is you're
(08:39):
gonna have the estimate beforewe ever leave the consultation,
right?
You're not gonna be chasing usfor weeks just to get the
estimate.
We're gonna have it before Ileave, right?
On the start of the project,we're gonna walk through
everything with you again tomake sure you we're all on the
same page.
It's also in the estimate, it'salso in the notes for the crew,
but we always confirm it onemore time.
If you're not there while we'reworking, we're gonna be sending
you photos throughout the dayso you can see exactly how
(09:00):
progress is going and be updatedthroughout the day.
And then when we finish, we'regonna walk through everything
with you again.
And so it's just making surethose pieces of you know you
know, the client knows exactlywhat to expect.
We know everything that'simportant to them, we're
delivering that, and then we'remaking sure they love it before
we leave.
You know, if if if you didn'tdo that, you're gonna have you
know super happy customers andthey're gonna recommend you to
their neighbors and theirfriends, and like the majority
(09:22):
of our growth has just come fromrecommendations from our past
customers.
Bill Gilliland (09:27):
Love that.
Yeah, it's not just do what yousay you're gonna do.
Yep, exactly.
I mean, it's yeah, I yeah.
It's so simple.
It's not easy, but it's no, no,no, it's yeah, it should be.
It should be it should be easy,but it's it's an interesting
one.
Uh, you know, I had a plumber,you know, that had it on the
side of his trucks.
We show up.
(09:48):
I mean, essentially, when theysaid they were gonna be there,
they were they made that wastheir deal.
So and that was that was theirwhole their whole business was
built.
I mean, he had 50 trucks.
This guy was a you know, but hehe was he was done well.
So um, so how do you balancepersonal life and demands of
running a business?
Cedric Merrills (10:06):
That's a great question.
Uh I don't.
I was kidding.
Uh honestly, I'm someone who II unlike ADHD, I've always been
kind of hyperactive.
And for me, I hate nothing elsemore than being bored.
And I really enjoy business, Ireally enjoy running a painting
company.
And so I'm gonna end up workinga lot, not because I
(10:27):
necessarily have to, especiallyas we've grown, but I really,
really enjoy it.
So I'll I love talking tocustomers and I love trying to
tweaking up processes to makethem a little bit better, a
little bit better.
Just kind of like, you know, ifwe if we get you know one
percent better a day, you know,the improvement is gonna be
massive.
Um, and I I just love doing it.
And so uh the majority of mytime, and when I moved to
(10:49):
Asheville, I moved to Ashevilleto start the business.
I didn't know anyone here.
Uh the only person I knew is mysister who's introverted and
also didn't know anyone.
And so all my time and effort,and all most of my friends have
come from this business, whetherit's realtors that we work with
or you know, flooring companiesor roofing companies we work
with, a lot of my social lifeand personal life is intertwined
(11:12):
with the business.
And I love that because I lovewhat I do and I love the people
we work with, but it's notreally like balance in the way
that I was like, oh, I stoppedworking at five and you know, I
I ignore business from 5 p.m.
to 5 a.m.
or something.
It's all intermingled and Ilove it because I love what I
do.
Bill Gilliland (11:32):
Yeah, the the uh yeah, balance is an interesting
word, right?
I mean, if you love it, I meanit's just yeah, it's not I it's
still work.
I don't believe that you knowyou never work a day in your
life, you work every day if youbut but if you love it, then
it's fun and you you just youjust keep doing more.
So I love that.
I love that.
Cedric Merrills (11:52):
So what what I find is like when I go on
vacation, for example, like Ienjoy it, and then after like
three or four days I getrestless, and when I start
thinking about the business, andlike, oh, what if we could do
this?
And you know, my mind's alwaysthinking about it, even even if
I don't have to be.
Bill Gilliland (12:06):
Yeah, well, you get a lot of uh you get a lot of
your great ideas in downtimeanyway.
So that's that's one of thereasons to have downtime just to
just to recharge and get greatideas.
So I mean you've hired a fairnumber of employees.
What do you look for?
Like what qualities do you lookfor in employees, and how do
(12:27):
you foster that positive andproductive work environment?
Cedric Merrills (12:30):
Yeah, great question.
Um, the biggest quality I lookfor is someone who's like
professional, someone who'strustworthy, and someone who's
ambitious.
You know, they want to grow,they want to learn, they have to
be coachable becauseultimately, you know, some of
our best painters, you know,take Alex, for example.
He's one of our painters, he'samazing at what he does.
And before this, he he workedin the the restaurant industry
(12:53):
and it's great with customers.
He really cared about his work.
He had never painted a day inhis life, and we've turned him
into one of our best painters.
And it's because in the grandscheme of things, painting's
very much teachable.
We can teach someone how topaint.
It's much, much harder to teachsomeone to care about the work
they do, or try to teach someoneto be trustworthy, or teach
(13:13):
someone to be professional, youknow.
You you can you can do it, butwe try to find really good
people and then teach them howto paint.
And if they already know how topaint, great.
But we kind of start with theculture fit, making sure they,
you know, they're coachable,they care about the work they
do, and then and then we worryabout you know whether they can
paint or not.
And oftentimes we're we'reteaching people how to paint
that way.
(13:33):
We know they're going to do agreat job, and they're doing it
exactly the way we want them todo it because we know it
delivers great results.
Um, Kendrick, another example,he moved here when I started the
business about six months in.
He was in Seattle at the time.
He drove across the country,and this like 1992, like
literally cars falling apart.
Like, it's horrible.
(13:54):
He moved across the country towork with me, and now he's one
of our project managers.
He he helps interview and hirea lot of the painters, and he is
extremely good at what he does.
And he had zero paintingexperience before before
starting.
And if you look at our reviews,one of the proudest things for
me is occasionally they'llthey'll mention me, but the vast
majority of them, they're like,Oh, Kendrick was amazing, Alex
(14:16):
was amazing, you know, Mike andDav and the rest of the team,
they do a great job.
Like the mention the paintersby name, um, and they do do a
great job.
Bill Gilliland (14:24):
So I love it.
I love it.
So I'm gonna give you um so BEpic is an acronym that that we
use.
Um, I'm gonna give you thedefinition, and I want like a
quick, it's sort of a quick fireround, just your real, you're
quick anyway.
But we'll give you, you know, acouple of sentences on each
one.
So they it's bepic.
(14:45):
So B, the first B, well it's B,is um bring the energy.
So what are your thoughtsaround that?
Bring the energy?
Yeah, bringing energy, yeah.
Cedric Merrills (14:56):
Yeah, no, it's it's everything.
Ultimately, I think I'm someonewho I work really hard just
naturally, like it doesn'tmatter what I'm doing, I'm
working really hard, and thatpermeates through all of our
people.
I I think it affects the peoplewe hire.
And so if I go to a job site,you know, Kendrick, for example,
I'll tell you a great story.
Uh he's one of our most trustedand longest time painters, and
(15:20):
he'll he'll if a job needs toget done, he'll he'll stay late
just to get the job done, orhe'll go above and beyond even
what I would even considerasking, because I would never
ask him to do a lot of thesethings, and he'll just do it
because he knows it reallymatters to the customer, or it's
really, really important.
Um, one time we had a customerwho she was having a uh it was
(15:42):
her birthday, and the paintersfound out halfway through the
day.
And at lunch they went and gotsome balloons and a birthday
card, and they like surprisedthe customer at the end of the
day um with like a littlebirthday celebration, which I
thought was so cool.
I had never even heard about.
They just did it on their own.
And uh, you know, it's thosekind of like little touches that
you only get when everyone inthe organization, right?
(16:03):
Kendrick, every single painter,every single person on our
team, is hyperlined aroundcustomer service and what
matters to the customer, and hasthe autonomy to do it.
And so um we really try to growthrough people because at the
end of the day, the day this isa people business, right?
(16:23):
It's customers, it's employees,and we try to find really good
people and then treat themreally well and pay them really
well and keep them for a long,long time.
Um, because you know it's it'severything.
People are the most importantthing in this business, and
frankly, in life.
Bill Gilliland (16:39):
Yeah, I know I like it.
I like it a lot.
So the E and B Epic stands foreducation.
Give me your thoughts oneducation.
Cedric Merrills (16:46):
Uh it's everything, right?
We have so much moreflexibility than most painting
companies because we can takesomeone in who's never painted
before and turn them into anamazing painter.
And so the applicants that wecan hire is much larger.
We can find someone who hasthat passion, who is
professional, who istrustworthy, and turn them into
a painter.
Whereas if you're limited toonly painters, you can find all
(17:07):
those same attributes inpainter, but it's much, much
more difficult because the poolis so much smaller.
And so it allows us to have areally amazing team that most
painters painting companiesdon't have access to because
we're able to take someone,train them, teach them
everything they need to know howto be a successful painter, and
then put plug them into oursystem.
Bill Gilliland (17:27):
Yeah, love it.
Having a great system there.
So that brings me to the P andB epic, which is planning.
Cedric Merrills (17:36):
For planning, um, it's really interesting.
Honestly, we don't plan a wholelot, uh, probably as much as we
should.
I'm very focused on thenumbers.
I know exactly where our let'ssay lead costs need to be for a
channel to be profitable.
I know exactly where we need tosell a job at, I know exactly
how many hours we need to haveon the job.
(17:57):
And so if I'm evaluating a newmarketing channel, for example,
you know, I know if I can getqualified appointments at a
certain price, I will spend asmuch money as I want to on that
or can at that price.
It's gonna be profitable witheverything else.
Um, and so I don't really lookat it as like, oh, we're gonna
(18:19):
spend $10,000 this month onmarketing or you know, whatever
it is.
I look at, you know, what aregonna be the most effective
channels for us, and we're gonnaspend the money on those, you
know, we're gonna spend as muchmoney as we can.
And the same thing with the thepainters.
You know, we know how many jobswe have, we know how many leads
we're getting.
We need this many painters, andwe bring on enough painters so
that we can get all our projectsdone, and we're no more than,
(18:41):
let's say, ideally, a week ortwo booked out so that we can
make it really easy for ourclients to get their projects
done.
Um, same thing with when we'reuh selling projects, we know
exactly where it needs to bepriced at so that we can deliver
a great service and beprofitable and pay for the
marketing and the insurance andeverything else.
And so we probably should domore planning, but we kind of
(19:03):
just focus on the numbers.
And as long as the numbers ineach area of the business is
where they need to be, um thenwe're kind of on track.
And we're just trying to try totry to grow and help as many
customers as possible.
Bill Gilliland (19:14):
Love it.
Love it.
So, how about I inspiration?
Cedric Merrills (19:20):
Yeah, great question.
Um, I get a lot of inspirationfrom luxury brands and luxury
services outside of painting.
Um, one of the best books I'veread is Unreasonable
Hospitality.
It was a book written by WillGallardo.
Yeah, and and the whole premiseof the book is I love in Nassen
(19:40):
Park.
He he took this restaurant,made it the world's number one
restaurant through a focus onamazing hospitality.
And so I look at that and andask myself, how can we implement
that into what we do forpainting?
And we have, you know, when wefinish a job, we'll bring
customers flowers or we'll bringthem uh a box of local cookies
from mini batch bakery and we'llhave a handwritten card for
(20:03):
them.
Um we like at the anniversaryof their job, we'll often send
them like a nice handwritten no.
We we dive in and try to figureout what pieces can we steal
from like restaurants, forexample.
Like how do they introducecustomers?
How do they welcome customers?
You know, can we have that samething when we're introducing
ourselves at the door for apainting?
You know, like what worksreally well in those industries?
(20:24):
Same thing for like uh jewelry,right?
You know, the way they talkabout um their services and what
they do.
Uh, you know, what can we learnfrom that?
How can we be more polished inthe home?
And or like uh high-end hotels,for example.
If we look at Ritz Carlton orany of these you know, four
(20:46):
seasons, they're all of theiremployees have an ability to
solve customers' problemswithout having to go ask their
boss, right?
And I think it was the fourseasons, if I could be wrong.
Like if it's under like $100,they they can just solve it on
their own.
They don't need to go askanyone.
We have the same thing for ourpainters, right?
If there's a problem that theysee that they can solve or a
thing that they can make thecustomer's life better, they
(21:06):
don't need to ask them, theyknow just already that to go
ahead and go solve it, go makeit a good customer experience
moment.
Um, and so we try to steal fromas many industries as possible
the best practices and implementthat.
Like, what does that look likein a painting company?
Um, and it's maybe teachdifference.
Bill Gilliland (21:24):
Yeah, no, I love that.
I love that.
It's sort of like I was I wasthinking while you were saying,
hey, we do it looks like arestaurant.
Do you do, I mean, do youintroduce still say, hey, you
know, knock on the door, hey,I'm Cedric, I'll be your painter
today.
Cedric Merrills (21:35):
Uh no, exactly.
Bill Gilliland (21:38):
Yeah, yeah.
Cedric Merrills (21:38):
No, I love that.
Bill Gilliland (21:39):
Yeah.
Cedric Merrills (21:40):
Well, and and like before we and we're working
on implementing this right now,uh, everyone has name tags.
Before we even get to the jobsite, the customer has a text,
and they see everyone who'sgonna be on the project, a photo
of each of them, a mini bioabout each of them.
Love that.
Oh, that's awesome.
Yeah, and the customer's notthere.
We're gonna have kind of likeDomino's as a pizza tracker,
we're gonna have the same thingfor painting.
So they can see exactly whatstep the painting process is in.
(22:02):
They can see the latest photos,you know, they can know exactly
what's going on, even ifthey're not there.
You know, those like smalltouches, but just a little bit
better of an experience, alittle bit more transparent, a
little bit better communication,you know, at every single step
in the process.
Bill Gilliland (22:15):
Yeah, I love that.
I love that.
So the last one, MB Epic, is Ccommitment.
And I know you're committedbecause you love it, but tell us
a little bit at your thoughtson commitment.
Cedric Merrills (22:25):
Yeah, that's a that's a great question.
Um commitment is one of thosethings where it's always easier
to say you're committed than tobe committed.
But I I always try to measureit in in actions.
Um for example, every companysays they're committed to good
(22:45):
customer service.
I don't think it'll find asingle company that says they're
not.
And then you go read theirreviews, and it's just like
there's a small problem, and thecompany tried to charge me $500
to fix it, and even it wastheir fault, you know, whatever
it is, you know.
And uh they you read thenegative reviews, and it just
doesn't seem like they reallycare about the the customer
(23:09):
service experience, right?
And my opinion on customerservice has always been is like,
even if I'm convinced I'mright, like I know 100% I'm in
the right around a situation.
If the cut if I think thecustomer believes their own
story, like if the customergenuinely believes that I'm
being malicious, if theygenuinely believe we did
something wrong, I'm gonna justgo ahead and treat it as if we
did, and we're gonna doeverything we can to make it
right, even if we're notactually wrong, because
(23:32):
ultimately, you know, we wecharge a premium price, we're
not the cheapest paying company.
And the reason we do that is sothat we can fix these
situations when they come up.
You know, if we were barelyprofitable and we scratch
someone's floor, it's gonna bereally hard to go ahead and fix
that floor, you know.
But the reason we charge a lotis so that when we scratch their
floor, it's not a big headache.
(23:53):
Uh, and and that actuallyhappened.
We scratched someone's floor,we had it refinished, completely
redone before they moved inthree days later.
And we're only able to do thatbecause we're profitable enough,
and obviously we made zerodollars on that job, but overall
we're profitable enough to fixthings when they come up because
we try really, really hard togive the customer a great
customer great experience.
But mistakes do happen, and weneed to be able to fix it and
(24:16):
make it a great experience, evenin those cases.
Um, and I think too many peopleget caught up on being right.
It's like, oh, I'm right, it'snot my fault this happened, and
then they use that as an excusenot to deliver a good
experience.
Um, and we we try to do theopposite.
We try really hard to delivergreat experience, even in the
cases where something happenedthat's beyond our control,
(24:38):
right?
There's another contractor orthe customer was misunderstood
something, or whatever it is.
We're gonna try to doeverything we can, even in those
situations where it's not ourfault, to still deliver a great
experience.
Bill Gilliland (24:52):
Love it.
Love it.
Hey, what advice would you giveothers for business owners who
are looking to grow?
Cedric Merrills (24:59):
Yeah, I'd say the most important thing is to
focus on improving your producton one side.
Um, because especially in incontracting, at least for
painters, and frankly, mostsmall businesses, there's no
advantage you get in being thecheapest.
You're not Walmart, you'llnever have the volume or
(25:21):
whatever to be the cheapestprice.
And so you shouldn't youshouldn't try to be.
You should try to be clearlythe best product, solve the
problem most effectively, makeit as easy as possible compared
to everyone else.
That should be one piece of it.
And you should constantly beputting a lot of your time and
effort into improving yourproduct in every way.
And the other part of it is youneed to make sure you're
(25:43):
charging enough for thatproduct.
Um if you're not chargingenough, you're not going to be
able to deliver, even if youwant to, you can't deliver great
customer experience if you'renot charging enough.
Um, if you're not chargingenough, for example, and don't
have the right insurance andsomething catastrophic happens,
right?
There's there's nothing you cando.
If you're not charging enoughand you want to um surprise the
(26:07):
customer, bring them cookies atthe end of the job, you can't do
that, right?
And so you need to chargeenough so that you're able to
deliver an amazing experienceand deliver a better product.
And I think that's the formulayou have to work with.
Um, don't worry about peoplebeing cheaper.
There's always someone cheaper.
There's also always someonemore expensive.
(26:27):
Figure out how you can be thatmore expensive person and
deliver a product that's 10times better than that person is
delivering.
Uh, I think that's the muchbetter path to growth than
trying to be cheaper and kind ofshrink your product.
I think it's much better tomake your product so much better
than everyone else that it's ano-brainer to go with you, even
though you're more expensive.
And for the people who can'tafford you, they wish they could
(26:49):
go with you and they just can'tafford it.
Bill Gilliland (26:51):
I think that's kind of the position you want to
be in.
Yeah, I know.
I love yeah, that's theposition we've always taken.
I love that.
Hey, so what's the next bigthing for Cedric and while
painting?
Yeah, really just doubling downon the basics.
Cedric Merrills (27:05):
You know, we we've grown every single year,
including this year, and um, themore we grow, we can do bigger
and bigger projects in one day.
Kind of the the three-prongthings we focus on is making it
really easy, um, guaranteedquality.
And if we can do those things,um I'm I'm happy.
(27:26):
So something we're rolling outright now is a lifetime touch-up
guarantee, um, which isdifferent than a warranty, but
essentially it says uh if we uhpaint a space in your home, your
entire home, for as long as youlive in that home, we'll come
back once a year, forever, totouch up anything you want
during our slow season.
So in painting, there's kind ofseasons, and the slowest period
(27:50):
is between December and Januarybecause everyone's spending
time with the holidays, it'scold, you can't do exteriors.
So we typically have extracapacity during that time.
And so what we're doing iswe're taking that and using it
as a time where we can dotouch-ups completely for free
for our customers for for anyproject that we completed for
them.
And so it's something that Idon't think any other painting
company offers.
(28:10):
And it's just that you know,making the experience a little
bit better.
You know, you had a kid andthey sprayed, they marked the
walls away with a marker.
You know, we'll we'll come inand touch that for you
completely for free.
There's no cost associated withit, and just about making the
experience you know that thatthat much that much better in a
way that no one else can do it.
Bill Gilliland (28:29):
Yeah, I like it, Cedric.
Yeah, I like it.
I like it a lot.
So, what's the best way forsomebody to find you?
It's pretty easy to find you,but let's tell them anyway.
Cedric Merrills (28:38):
Yeah, absolutely.
So you can you can follow us onInstagram at Wild One Day
Painting Asheville.
Um, you can see our reviews.
If you type in Wild One DayPainting Asheville, you'll see
all our five-star reviews.
Um, and we may have a YouTubechannel, but type in Wild One
Day Painting, you'll you'll findus everywhere we're at.
Bill Gilliland (28:56):
Yeah, I love it.
I love it.
I love it.
Listen, fantastic.
Thank you for being on thepodcast.
Thank you for all you're doingin our community.
Thank you for sharing yourlearnings and your knowledge.
Um, I know that you're going tocontinue to be a massive
success in the marketplace.
unknown (29:13):
Thank you.
Bill Gilliland (29:14):
Thanks for having me on.
And until next time, all thebest.
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