Be treated to behind-the-scenes glimpses of the industry, learning what it takes to bring a homeowner’s vision to life. In this insightful episode of The People at LIME, we dive deep into the colorful world of luxury painting with our guest, Jordan Jeffords, a seasoned professional from LIME Painting of Southern Colorado. Jordan shares his rich experiences as a Visual Reality Consultant (VRC) in the painting industry, revealing the intricacies and challenges of working on custom homes and the paramount importance of collaboration and craftsmanship. He underscores the significance of the artisans and applicators, the unsung heroes whose skills and dedication ensure the highest quality of work, making every project seamless and spectacular. This episode is not just a conversation but a celebration of teamwork, artistry, and the pursuit of excellence in the world of custom home painting. Join us as Jordan peels back the layers of his profession, sharing insights and anecdotes that highlight the beauty and complexity of his craft.
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Welcome to the Level Up Show with Nick Lopez where we have the absolute pleasure of learning from thought leaders in business, franchising, and high-performance personal development today. We have a special episode of the people at LIME and today’s guest. He is known around LIME. His name often comes up because he does such a tremendous job of serving customers. He has tremendous leadership. Jordan Jeffords, welcome to the show. What location are you with?
I work down in Southern Colorado and anywhere from South Denver down to South Pueblo, but mainly right in the middle doing a lot of my work in the Colorado Springs area.
Working with Matt and Camilla Foose the owners there in Southern, Colorado. How did you find lime painting and what do you do for Lyme?
I was surfing Indeed, the company I was previously working for went under and I was going through there for production, management, and sales jobs, and saw a little LIME painting ad and all the stuff about the high-end quality, luxury-values-driven company. I thought it looked cool, so I applied and I got a phone call from Matt a couple of days later. I have no idea, it starts like this.
You never thought you’d be in the pain industry is what you’re saying.
No, I thought I was funny. It sounded super interesting all I saw was paint. I painted stuff as a kid, but I never would have guessed I’d be out here painting houses and stucco and restoring all these needs for a living. That’s funny.
Hey, you and me both, and here I am. it’s crazy to think in my 16th season, started in college at Michigan State much like yourself, I am from Colorado and I always looked at myself as going to school and getting my masters in JD at the University of Miami to do real estate development. That’s what I was doing after college.
This painting business, as I’ve always said. It kept wooing me to it. There’s something about the transformations that you do on these custom homes where you can see and have that immediate impact but also, one thing that I didn’t realize was how much I would like consulting people on their home. It’s very personal and it’s not very business-esque.
You’re in somebody’s home and you’re talking about their hobbies and what they are in, where they like to golf, what homes they own, and where they travel to. That’s something that I started to fall in love with when in college. As you know, ultimately it was the opportunity to serve custom homeowners. People who want to pay more to get more and they do that with the custom home they own. They did that with the custom vehicles that they own and they did that with the high-end restaurant that they went to the past weekend with friends.
Why can’t they have an option in construction and specifically painting where they know, “Look I know I’m going to get great solutions. They’re highly vetted. I’m going to get a great craftsman. I’m going to get the expertise and account management, the turnkey experience, not the consultation with the delivery.” My goodness. That is certainly an opportunity. You’re searching Indeed, you’re looking for a new opportunity and you find LIME painting, you jump in, What do you do for LIME?
I’m an Account manager. Virtual Reality Consultant is the official title but to the homeowners and clients that I work with our managers, I’ll explain it to them. Walking them through the entire process of A to Z for restoring their home. Meeting them out at the door telling them. “Hey, I saw you’re stucco or whatever it might be. It’s deteriorated.
That’s something you’re looking at doing. Most of the time, it is. People are happy that you’re there getting them prices, educating them on what it takes to restore whatever problems they have, then seeing if I’m going to work well with that homeowner because I’ll tell everybody I’m not the guy that’s going to slap paint on your house, run to Home Depot, buy a bucket, and throw it on.
I explain to them that we see the value in doing it right, doing it with high-performing products, and doing it well. seeing if the homeowner cares about that stuff and values it like we do because somebody who doesn’t, they’re not going to see the value in our company, but the people that are OCD about that stuff and you do it right. It’ll last much longer and work well with us as a company.
Finding those people and then once they do book with us walking them through the whole process and being out there with the painters, making sure it’s rolling smoothly, making sure that the homeowners are satisfied with all the promises that we had made. Maybe adding some stuff on or it’s a It’s like a ball game. You don’t go from steps 1, 2, 3, 4. Something’s going to change. You’re going to have to adjust and work with the homeowner on that. That’s the job in the role.
Every home is custom. To your point, you’re going to have to pivot and come up with custom solutions because frankly this style of home has never been built before. It’s built and tailored for this particular client. That is a custom home. A custom home is made up of many different surfaces, right? It could be stucco, masonry, wood, metal generally a combination of all of those surfaces.
With that being said, we want to be able to come out and provide solutions to those different surfaces that have been exposed to sun and water damage. For a lot of our clients, they don’t quite grasp that beyond the paint. Other surfaces that are exposed to those elements and how do you properly maintain and restore them as opposed to getting to a point where they need to be replaced?
Frankly, the types of homes that we’re consulting on the replacement cost are significant in many cases. It’s hundreds of thousands of dollars. For example, manufactured windows and doors. That’s half a million dollars on a couple million dollar home. We can coat that for seven grand and that is a maintenance item where from a durability standpoint, we’re protecting it. We’re freezing the elements and the exposure that’s happened to it.
Then aesthetically It looks great. You can change the color or make it pop again. That’s the fun piece where obviously we get to help clients fall in love with their home again but we’re providing a practical solution because these are custom assets and that is why there for hedging your investment is critical.
I often look at it as, “Hey, why would you drive your vehicle until the engine blew out then you replace the engine.” It would be a lot more cost-effective and practical and require a lot less heartache if you change the oil. If you drove it till the engine blew up and you had to replace it. It’s no different to leave surfaces exposed to the elements after they deteriorate.
I think a lot of homeowners too don’t realize the scope of work that we can take on. There are a lot of times where it’s like they’re talking about how they got to drop a bunch of money to replace all these windows. “Hey, we can coat it. We can have some fun with it and customize your home to make it fit you a little bit better. Save you a lot of money, and seal it up well, so they’re still going to last.
It takes it away from the stereotypical construction of thinking homeowners’ minds. That’s very stressful. It’s a headache. A lot of money. You’re dealing with probably a contractor that’s a pain in the butt at sometimes. There’s that stereotype behind the construction, but I think it’s nice because painting on the other side of things is still in the construction realm, but it’s more fun. You get the customized stuff save some money, maybe stamped concrete.
As an example, there are so many homeowners I’ve come across that have no idea you could even stain that and make it look beautiful. They thought that they were stuck with a broken engine as a metaphor or something. It’s something that you can’t deal with, “My DTM railings or light scales are super ugly, nowhere close to the color they used to be. I’m going to replace them.” It’s like, “Well, we can put a good coating on there from Sherwin-Williams, use it 100 times, and keep it looking beautiful for another 5 to 6 six years. It’s fun seeing that educational process of their eyes opening to that and restoring their home and these other needs that are fun in a way
Yes and often, the client doesn’t realize that those direct-to-metal items, the railings, the light fixtures and so much of those items that look ugly and have lost their luster. That client knows. They knew how much they used to love the finish on them and over time. They’ve dulled and, it’s so hard to take those off. “Who do I call?” “Their custom, they look great. I don’t want to switch them. I don’t want to have to think about switching them. Where do I even start and frankly, Who do I call?”
On and on and on, it’s a lot of work. To have a process with an advisor with LIME. Where you can be brought up to speed on okay, what was assessed? What have the sun and water done to my specific home? The north side of my home is exposed to a lot more water. Well, I have different water-prone areas and horizontals and for my home, I’m going to have themes that this advisor was able to assess and provide me heavily vetted solutions to things that in many cases, I didn’t quite understand or even know.
In other cases, solutions to things I’ve been noticing but frankly, I don’t even know where to begin. Of course, the obvious things like a fresh coat of paint. I know that I need to do that as a homeowner. That is a fun experience, oftentimes, we talk about working in beautiful places for beautiful people with beautiful people.
That’s a customer experience that we get to provide over and over again. Helping them come to these realizations and giving them expertise and valued solutions on one of the most important assets that they own and live in a day in and day out. On your end, my gosh. You’re driving Solutions. You’re not only consulting on them but then your problem solving and providing those solutions and making it turnkey. That is a team effort and LIME has a way of doing business. LIME stands for Love, Integrity, Mission, and Excellence. Jordan. What is your favorite value and why?
Definitely, Love. I think for that reason that whenever you’re finished with the job, you can see the happy look on the homeowner’s face of that stamped concrete that he didn’t know that he could stain and make beautiful again. From A, where you bring it up to him and he has no idea, all the way to the Z where it looks beautiful and his wife comes outside and she’s super happy. I think that feeling and you’re standing there with them looking at it or looking at everything. All the lights, the stucco, and the Spain siding, all look super fresh.
I think that’s great and it’s refreshing. It’s an easy enjoyable and refreshing experience. To humble brag on you Jordan, my gosh the number of reviews and positive customer feedback. As I mentioned at the beginning of the show, Jordan is most certainly making noises at LIME and it’s because of his expertise and commitment to serving customers.
Solving their problems, doing it proactively, and communicating proactively throughout a project. My goodness, Jordan, keep crushing it. You’re doing an absolutely amazing job. You’re making so many customers happy. Congratulations on everything that you’re doing to make a difference in the Southern Colorado Market
Thank you so much. I hope to keep killing it.
There are a lot of things that go into motivating somebody to serve a customer. What do you think motivates you to want to do a great job for a customer, time and time again?
I think the horror stories of what I’ve heard from other companies or contractors seeing the stress on the homeowner’s faces when they start to think about restoration or any sort of construction. It’s that that basic stereotype of what the project’s going to look like? How much stress you’re going to have to go through while dealing with the rest of the stress of life?
It’s something nobody wants to think about, I think being able to be that company, work with that company, or be that Account Manager can relieve that stress from the homeowners. You’re advising and educating them on how we recommend doing it after repeatedly doing it in the past. Seeing what works best and then that high quality.
I think it’s common that people will promise this and promise that but never actually deliver on it. Being a Company that can deliver on all these promises, the homeowner isn’t stressed out through the process. They’re almost enjoying it because they learned that they can restore something new or restore something that they want to be restored and it goes well.
In the past, it used to be common, that’s how life was as people did their jobs. They did what they said that they would do. It’s now you find a company that hones in on it and cares about it. The real value is driven to make a difference. It’s fun to see, that’s what drives me to be able to do that and people being shocked almost. I don’t think they should be shocked about it. But they are and then you get to have a high-five moment with them.
Jordan, back in college, I shared with you at the beginning of the show. I jumped all in in college once I realized, “Wait, That’s my competition? Wait, I have to show up, do a good job, and answer my phone? I’m delivering a ton of value.”
If you go a little above and beyond, it makes the world of a difference which it shouldn’t because it should be normal. Other companies are making my job easy for me because I’m doing my job in homeowners are like, “Thank you.” “Well, I didn’t. Okay, yeah.”
Makes it a lot of fun. It’s always fun to deliver that key lime pie at the end of a job and be able to celebrate a job well done. My goodness, The Artisans that we work with, certainly make our jobs a lot easier, but that’s exactly it. It takes a team, and everybody doing what they do well on that team. That’s how we’re able to be consistent and deliver that experience time and time again.
Everybody committed to their four walls on each account with each customer and all too often in our industry. You have what’s called the Superman model, right one guy wearing all hats. He’s doing the quoting, he’s doing the painting. You name it and that’s not sustainable. You can’t deliver that, “Wow,” In fact, you’re, most likely not even able to deliver if even so.
We are most certainly committed to bringing white-collar sophistication to the blue-collar space, painting. As a result, delivering a lot of value for customers consistently. That is all positioning in the market you name it. It takes incredible people to bring that to life and Jordan you are certainly a leader at LIME and we appreciate your dedication to serving customers in your community providing expertise and solving their problems, one at a time.
Thank you. It’s a blast doing it.
The great thing about that is you’re doing it and they don’t even know. You’re doing it proactively and the great thing about paint is it’s very simple. It’s very straightforward. We’re going to touch it up and make it better. If it’s taken longer, we’re most certainly going to own that, reset expectations, and work our hardest to hit that deadline. That’s the painting business. It’s straightforward and it’s certainly about the people and for us, It’s about helping clients fall in love with their home again. Jordan. I’m curious. When it comes to being on a team, where do you like to contribute the most?
In the LIME space with the other Account Managers, I like checking in and seeing how their jobs are gone and advisory on that making sure that they’re good. I think with the painters commonly checking in, I’ll motivate them when they’re doing a good job by bringing pizza or maybe Red Bulls. I’ve got a couple of brews where it’s almost an inside joke at this point towards the end of the job.
I’ll check in a couple of times. “It looks good, looks good. No problems. Great job.”Doing what we set, all those expectations that we set you guys are doing great. I’ll start cracking jokes, “Oh, where’s the Red Bull?” You want a good job. I’m helping through that aspect, rewarding them instead of that harsh discipline.
Training on that side. I think you get different kinds of people that’ll train through discipline when something goes wrong and then when it goes, well, it’s just, “Oh, good job.” On to the next job. I think it’s fun to help out in that aspect where when it is going well. It typically does, you make sure everybody’s having a great time and then they’re more motivated for the next job.
I grew up a gym rat and I wrestled my freshman year at Michigan State, one of the things that I enjoyed most was the culture piece and being able to be on a team and go on the journey with others who are on the same path. That’s the love piece. I can most certainly relate to that. It is one thing to line it up, knock it down, line it up, knock it down, and serve client after client after client. Being able to love other people in that process brings light and that is awesome. That is inspiring. Thank you for sharing and I can certainly relate.
That is fun building those relationships whether it’s the paint crew or even the homeowners. A couple of months ago, I saw one of the homeowners out eating food and he came over and said, “Hi.” Typically with other construction, you see a connection like that. You’re probably going to sit and hang out with your family.
Maybe put your hat down a little bit and finish eating your food and stuff that builds mini-friendships or even learning. I’ll learn from the homeowners what their career path is and get to know them. Hear their story. It’s fun. Aside from the painting aspect things and build a little mini relationship. Maybe give them one of the Red Bulls
I once got a check from a client and was the end of the job, they were heading out of town. We had worked through the job together and here we are wrapping things up. They wanted to make sure that we were paid after the project was finished, but they had the leaves so they left the blank check and said, “Nick, hey, we weren’t sure what we owed you but we signed it and it’s blank and fill it in for what we owe you.” I thought that was the greatest compliment.
Talk about trust. Other contractors are taking deposits and moving the different States. These homeowners are like, “Here you go, you can have as much as you want, but I trust that you’ll only charge me what I owe you.” Very rare.
Yes, and that is being intentional. One interaction at a time. I saw this quote recently along the lines of, you can have a conversation with somebody and over time what they’re going to remember. They’re probably not going to remember anything about the combo but they will remember how you made them feel.
Jordan, it sounds like you’re all over that man. I keep loving on clients and your teammates, those Artisans. I’m always amazed at what our Artisans can do. Personally, back in college, I would do touch-ups to help finish jobs and I wanted to intentionally get my hands dirty to learn the business while in college. While doing so, got the opportunity to learn how bad of a painter I am.
Working with artisans, their craft. They are so good at what they do and they are certainly a complimentary teammate in us helping people fall in love with their home. Jordan, I am curious. What is your superhuman power?
Definitely, teleportation. I think if I didn’t have to drive around in my car, jump in from job to job to check in, and could be there. People would be writing me even more blank checks.
Jordan, that is awesome. You’re right about that, my gosh. That is funny. Teleportation, I think mine would be Time travel.
It would be super cool. Go back to college with all that you know now. It will be even more unfair, to start a painting business.
That’d be a lot of value for customers. I’ll tell you that. Jordan, it has certainly been a pleasure having you on the show. You have helped LIME level up. You have certainly helped Southern Colorado level up. This conversation has been inspiring and you’ve motivated me to get in the field and experience working in beautiful places for beautiful people with beautiful people. What we do is certainly an honor. I’m grateful to do it with people like you. If anybody would like to get in touch with you, how can they do that?
Give me a phone call, love to chat with people and get to know each other, start that little relationship. Phone number or email is the best communication method.
Absolutely and free consultations?
Always.
Jordan. I know you are super busy. I appreciate you taking the time and help our audience level up and give a glimmer into what makes LIME painting of Southern Colorado a top location in the country. They are serving customers at a very high level. Congratulations. Keep up the tremendous work. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the channel. It’s how we’re able to continue to grow and bring on tremendous guests. Like this episode and drop a comment down below and as always Level up.
Jordan Jeffords is a dynamic and enthusiastic sales professional with a multifaceted career that spans across various industries, including pest control, fencing, handmade jewelry, and high-end residential home restoration. With a knack for fostering relationships and a passion for achieving sales targets, Jordan has carved a niche in direct and retail sales, door-to-door (D2D) canvassing, customer relations, and project management. Armed with an innate ability to understand customer needs and a persuasive communication style, Jordan has consistently driven sales growth and exceeded quotas in every role undertaken. His journey in the sales domain is marked by a deep understanding of the sales process, from initial contact to closing deals, making him a valuable asset in competitive market environments. Jordan’s success is not just rooted in his sales prowess but also in his ability to manage projects efficiently, ensuring that customer expectations are not just met, but surpassed. His adaptability to switch across industries, all the while maintaining high sales performance, is a testament to his dedication and versatile skill set. In his spare time, Jordan indulges in creating handmade jewelry, a hobby that reflects his appreciation for meticulous craftsmanship and detail – qualities that also shine through in his professional endeavors. Through a blend of passion, persistence, and proficiency, Jordan Jeffords has established himself as a standout sales representative in every industry he has touched.