Fresh Coat Painters is a residential and commercial painting franchise under the Strategic Franchising Systems umbrella. The brand offers franchisees a low-cost, high-margin business model that makes it easy to find and unite all painters, hire them as employees and provide customers with the security and professionalism they deserve. The brand's state-of-the-art technology suite is a big part of that infrastructure, which the Fresh Coat team has continued to build out over the past few years.

Earlier this year, Fresh Coat held a soft launch for a brand new, custom-developed estimating software Smart Quote. Fresh Coat Senior VP of Commercial/National Accounts Greg Platz says the team has had a proprietary, cloud-based estimating system in place for over a decade but this tool is significantly better in every way. 

“We decided it was time to start over and build a new platform from scratch,” said Platz. “We are committed to staying on the cutting-edge of technology, and we are always thinking about the future. For two years,  building our new estimating software, and we already have several locations that have switched over to the new version.”

Platz says the team analyzed existing software used by competitors and decided that building a new, Fresh Coat-specific platform was the right choice. The new tech will be integrated into every aspect of the Fresh Coat business, including a CRM that seamlessly interacts with the brand’s website. 

“When someone filled out a quote request form on the website in the past, the franchisee would have to enter that info into another database,” said Platz. “Now, that process is all handled in one place — customers can book a quote online through a website without having to call someone. They can pick and choose a time to fit their schedule, and the software will directly alert the franchisee. The follow-up process is also better now. Customers receive reminders that the quote is scheduled and that the painters are on their way to do the project. We also now have geo-tracking, so the customer knows where the crews are at all times. The overall goal is to offer a better user experience for the customer, and this new smart-quote program allows us to do that. This also results in stronger marketing automation, helping owners work their sales pipeline.” 

In addition to residential customers, the new software will also benefit commercial clients. The award-winning Fresh Coat business model provides three lucrative profit centers to maximize owners’ earnings: residential (interior and exterior), commercial (retail stores, restaurants, offices, apartments and more), and government projects.

“Our commercial service was all manual before, but we have integrated our platform with the STACK software, which is an industry-leading blueprint reading software,” said Platz. “We can now upload the blueprint to the software, type in the word ‘paint,’ find all the relevant pages in that blueprint and from there create a plan. The software determines how much area is being painted, the amount of material you need for the project, and downloads that all into our smart quote system. From there, we can hit a button and send out a bid to the company or general contractor. It saves time and makes the process more accurate, and makes commercial business as easy as residential for our franchisees.”

The new estimating software will not only make the experience better for customers, Platz said, it will also make the business more efficient for Fresh Coat franchisees.

“We had the success of our owners in mind when we built this platform,” said Platz. “They provided us with feedback, and we leveraged that to include all their wants and needs into the system. The development of Smart Quote was truly a team effort. The new platform will significantly streamline operations, ”

Since the start of 2022, Platz says a select number of Fresh Coat franchisees have been testing out the new software. “They are already telling us that the platform is handling a lot of the work they had to do themselves in the past,” he said. “They are blown away by the potential this platform has for the brand.”

The Fresh Coat team plans to fully launch the new smart quoting software systemwide in August and says that franchisees will have all the training and support they need to get started. 

“We’ve already held some group training and in-person training to teach franchisees about the new system,” said Platz. “We are also doing one-on-one Zoom training with each location. They can ask any question, and we’ll be there to answer. Those meetings have already been heavily attended. We also have regional meetings every quarter out in the field, and we will be helping owners get the system up and running,”

In line with the new estimating software, the Fresh Coat team also recently launched a new customer website in April 2022. “"The new website has been updated in both form and function,” said Fresh Coat VP of Marketing Jim Farinacci. “The updated, modern design better reflects our brand. The integration with Smart Quote allows us to better align with how our customers shop for home services, and it offers our owners deeper insight into how their marketing and advertising efforts drive revenue.”

Ultimately, Farinacci says, the new Fresh Coat site is a powerful lead generation tool for franchisees. “Added functionality like the ability for customers to schedule their own quote appointment right on the site and concerted SEO efforts are already showing positive results,” he said. “Google search rankings and conversion rates are higher and gaining momentum. We've elevated the customer experience and streamlined the sales process, and that's a win win. Website leads are automatically entered into the Smart Quote CRM. Franchisees save time, which allows them to focus on growing their business instead of data entry.”

Now, with this upgraded technology in place, Fresh Coat franchisees are better positioned than ever to satisfy the rapidly-growing demand for painting services. And after growing its systemwide sales by 44% year-over-year and opening 31 new locations in 2021 alone, Fresh Coat is well on its way to achieving its goal of hitting the 200-unit mark by the end of this year. 

The total investment required to start a Fresh Coat franchise ranges from $53,850 to $76,750, including the $44,900 franchise fee. For more information, visit https://freshcoatfranchise.com/.