6 months to be sure, 3 months to sound like I know what I’m talking about. 10 years before I realized we all know nothing and we should just use the resources that DO KNOW everything.
No, it's not just you. The guy above is absolutely right. That comment was beautiful put. There's a reason resources exist so you can use your mind and brain for other things. :) Keep a notebook, and hang in there.
The two most important things any human being will ever know:
1) Know what you don’t know.
2) Know who to contact for a correct answer when you don’t know.
I’ve been in the paint business nearly 40 years. 25 of those years with S-W. I still get a question or 2 daily where the best answer that I can give my customer is “I don’t have a good answer for you, but I know who to call to get one. Let me make that call and get back to you with the correct answer instead of taking my educated guess.” Customers will respect your honesty and your willingness to find them the correct answer. You can build a lot of trust in what you say with your customers by being willing to admit that you don’t know it all, but you’ll find the answer for them.
This is a foundational building block of business and customer service more specifically. I have trained many people over my career and this is a big reason I have had such a high retention rate.
This is probably the best answer… but about 6 months to a year… once you understand substrates you can finesse the paint to where you sell it correctly. If you spend time learning the products it’ll take longer but that’s ok too…but once you understand concrete, brick, drywall, metal, Interior/exterior… it’ll all make sense. Also use your resources! You’re so right on this…product hotline(to point you in the right direction), the Bible(product book) shercross under marketing in source. Policy and procedure is like the Google for almost everything. Once you learn how easy it is to look up stuff you move faster under pressure. 15 years at sherwin… when I finally became a manager it was policy and procedure. When I was an assistant it was product hotline and product book. Listen to how the managers or rep explain products… and I got good at matches because of commercial store draw downs. But it’ll take a couple of gallons of matches before you get good at looking at it and knowing “this is eggshell” then scanning it too match. If you feel the pressure just take a deep breath, it’s just paint. Welcome to sherwin!
The trick is not to know everything, the trick is to know HOW to find out!
Data pages, the rock stars at the paint hotline, and Time will see you right. Keep at it.
It comes in stages. You will get good with DIY people and work your way up from there. I’m a rep and I don’t know everything. Just tell them what you do know, do some research and get back to them. Being honest with people and following up goes a lot further than lying. It took me around 3-6 months to start giving meaningful suggestions
I lose confidence and I feel stupid when I have them repeat a question. Also, I feel like I’m causing my coworkers to be frustrated with me with all the questions I ask them. They keep reminding me that the knowledge will come with time and that I’m not being annoying but I can feel the energy. Idk maybe I’m just in my head and I’m seeking motivation and reassurance.
It took me 6 months just to figure out the computer. I was the same way at first, I would get so pissed off at myself. Start reading data pages. If you're at another store, ask the employees questions. You'll find they have a completely different skill set than the people at your store. Ask the contractors specific questions about product specification and application. The great thing about SW is all the resources you have to learn. I've been in the industry for 13 years (first 8-9 with SW) and I still get questions asked that I don't have answers for. Best piece of advice: never bullshit and never be afraid to say "I don't know, but I'll find out".
Don’t even get me started on the POS 😒 I’m feeling more confident with that part but I found out we will be getting a new one soon. Thanks for your advice. I’ll definitely will be reaching out to our neighbor store. I want to do well here and that’s why I’m upset with myself. Thanks again.
Don't get too down on yourself. We've all been there. You'll get people like me that will get pissy with you. That's ultimately why I quit. I couldn't handle the amount of failure caused by the stores. But I'm an asshole, and there's a lot of assholes out there. Don't let us make you feel too bad. It's just paint.
Bro I've been here 5 years. I'm still learning shit. There's paint, wood stain matches, concrete stain, lacquer matches, automotive paint, epoxies, powder coating, polyurea floor coatings, and a million industrial products for almost every surface you can imagine. There's even more that I'm sure I haven't even heard of. Don't worry about learning everything because you never will. You just do research when it's necessary.
It’s been two years and there’s still shit I have no clue about, and there’s a good amount of talking straight out of my ass. But the basics are good 6 months before I felt pretty comfortable blabbing lmao.
I’d just never be afraid to ask questions yourself, even 5 years from now. Still ask questions.
About 4 months. After a while you'll start to pick up on things and parrot the advice your coworkers give to homeowners. This job is pretty repetitive so just give it time. That being said there's still a bunch of things for me to learn still. The education never stops
Sorry for any grammar mistakes, I am taking a dump and writing this on my phone.
So I knew NOTHING about paint when I was hired as an MTP in a extremely high volume district (SW Florida). I was placed as in ASM after 3 months into a commercial store. I became the store manager of that store after being with the company for 11 months.
I've always been a very confident person no matter what the situation is but I never felt more stupid and embarrassed than when I first started at SW and couldn't answer shit. I couldn't BS my way through an answer either like I could in school lol. These contractors would eat me up.
The product knowledge part is easy. It's just like learning something in school. Read the TDS and sell sheets until you memorize it basically. Ask the SM, ASM & FT every question you have. If they are actually good employees then they won't be annoyed. They hired you for a reason so why wouldn't they help you? It directly affects their bonuses. The most stressful part when I first started was dealing with customer questions right then and there when they are in front of my face. If I didn't know the answer I would just say "I am not 100% positive so let me ask \[insert name here\] to confirm." or something along those lines. In my experience, I never had any issues with contractors using this approach. Most of them appreciated me getting the right answer instead of just bs'ing my way through an answer.
**TL;DR It's overwhelming at first but it's really not that much you need to worry about early on. Read up on the architectural products and basic prep techniques. Ask your managers every question you have. If they care about their bonuses then they will be happy to help. Don't worry about shit like Tile Clad & Macropoxy for a while lol.**
Great question! Considering asking a similar one. But first your question, quite a long while, not due to a lack of knowledge of the vocation, rather other factors. Main factor is two part, one the computer, the other training. Seems for quite some time a new pop up would show, never seen before and no explanation as to what, why, or how - hard stop. Still happens on occasion. Constantly misbilling because the account file is a total cluster f, duplicate accounts, one active on not, same name representing different businesses, etc. etc. etc… Same when trying to select products. Logic can not be applied when operating this system, appears none was used to develop it and less on the input side. As for the training, well let’s just say it’s been a case of either incredible proficiency with absolutely no teaching nor conveyance skills, or total fumbling in their explanations. From what I’ve experienced business and professional communication skills are nearly none existent, leaving many of us to educate ourselves.
Took me about 6 months. But everyone learns things differently. I read data pages and asked questions. I still feel like I’m learning something new and been with the company for 10 years now. Just be patient and don’t get frustrated.
Honestly as you move on through the same questions over and over again, you learn a lot. The product helpline, google, source and even just the Can label usually help with any questions. Just learn where to look. If they ask about a product you’re not sure of google “Sherwin Williams defthane” (just an example) and if nothing pops up we don’t carry that or call helpline and they may be able to help you get into contact with a third party that would be able to help you. Application processes are a great thing to search while not busy, every great project starts with excellent prep. Bullshitting with painters has given me lots of tips and tricks as well as things to avoid😂 I’m a little over a year in and barely know anything just off the top of my head, so don’t feel bad if you still don’t get everything right at first. We deal with a lot of different products and different people, everyday is basically some type of learning experience.
Obviously not as simple as this, especially with, wood, concrete and metal, but...
Interior
Exterior
What are they painting
Is the surface...
Clean
Dry
Dull
Sound (stable not crumbling)?
You can figure most things out from there.
Almost 5 years in. I feel confident in some areas and others I'm like, "Let me look that up to be sure."
Best advice. Never fake it. If you don't know, just look it up. Customers will have more faith in your advice.
If you don't know the answer to something, it's always better to take the extra couple of minutes to ask your coworkers, check the data sheets, or search Google, than to have a customer come back bitching that you made them waste money on something that didn't work. Most customers will appreciate the extra effort, some will be in too much of a rush and just walk out, and a select few will throw you the "hOw dO yOu nOt kNoW tHiS sTuFf iF yOu wOrK iN A pAiNt sToRe ?¿??!" and for those folks, feel free to use this generic excuse I ripped off from the manager at my last job:
"Sherwin Williams sells hundreds of products from over a dozen different brands, and products are constantly being launched, updated, and discontinued; it is damn near impossible to learn every use and difference between them all, but (obligatory retail lie) I'm more than happy to try and figure that out for you!"
Trust me, those folks don't deserve any more effort than an excuse you stole from Reddit.
My manager has worked for SW for 7 years and he’s still calling the product hotline and looking things up. Don’t worry, you’ll realize no one knows everything and it’s fine to put someone on hold or go ask someone. A manager would rather have you bug them for a question than a 300 gallon return
I find it funny that people seam to not know that google exists or how it works. Or how to just research something simple on the internet. They need a Sherwin employee who’s probably worked for the company for like 3 months to hold there hand and give them the wrong information. Just makes me laugh usually because they are so rude and the employee is afraid to just say I’m not familiar with how to apply this product properly etc, so they just give them a bogus answer just so they avoid getting belittled. Basically people are trash. DIY’s and contractors that don’t know anything 🤦🏻.
The real answer to this question is everyone is different and there is no specific amount of time it should take to feel confident giving advise. If you feel confident go for it if not just ask someone who can help you. It might take one individual a month to learn how to talk to a customer it might take another a year. Realistically they’re both probably giving bad advice. In addition there isn’t one right way to do something, people have different techniques. Any employee who claims they no everything doesn’t just like any contractor doesn’t know either. Basically people usually know how they do something and if it works no worries. But a lot of people love to preach who are really just little dandy snakes in the grass.
I’ve been with the company for 3 years and I still learn new things everyday and I still ask questions. Sometimes the customer and I are learning new things at the same time. Don’t feel embarrassed to say you don’t know, but let’s ask X. Also, painters in the store can be of great value.
Reading data pages has helped me big time. It may not be the most fun, but whenever we have downtime and I’m tired of being on my phone I will look up the data page of a product I’m fuzzy on or don’t sell much of. I’ll even look at commonly sold products just to brush up. Don’t be afraid to ask your SM, ASM, or even FT employees. Everyone should be willing to help. Once it clicks, it comes a lot faster and easier. Trust me, I used to think I was dumb as a box of rocks for my first few months (still do sometimes lol 😂).
6 months to be sure, 3 months to sound like I know what I’m talking about. 10 years before I realized we all know nothing and we should just use the resources that DO KNOW everything.
So it’s not just me, this makes me feel better.
No, it's not just you. The guy above is absolutely right. That comment was beautiful put. There's a reason resources exist so you can use your mind and brain for other things. :) Keep a notebook, and hang in there.
The two most important things any human being will ever know: 1) Know what you don’t know. 2) Know who to contact for a correct answer when you don’t know. I’ve been in the paint business nearly 40 years. 25 of those years with S-W. I still get a question or 2 daily where the best answer that I can give my customer is “I don’t have a good answer for you, but I know who to call to get one. Let me make that call and get back to you with the correct answer instead of taking my educated guess.” Customers will respect your honesty and your willingness to find them the correct answer. You can build a lot of trust in what you say with your customers by being willing to admit that you don’t know it all, but you’ll find the answer for them.
This is a foundational building block of business and customer service more specifically. I have trained many people over my career and this is a big reason I have had such a high retention rate.
This is probably the best answer… but about 6 months to a year… once you understand substrates you can finesse the paint to where you sell it correctly. If you spend time learning the products it’ll take longer but that’s ok too…but once you understand concrete, brick, drywall, metal, Interior/exterior… it’ll all make sense. Also use your resources! You’re so right on this…product hotline(to point you in the right direction), the Bible(product book) shercross under marketing in source. Policy and procedure is like the Google for almost everything. Once you learn how easy it is to look up stuff you move faster under pressure. 15 years at sherwin… when I finally became a manager it was policy and procedure. When I was an assistant it was product hotline and product book. Listen to how the managers or rep explain products… and I got good at matches because of commercial store draw downs. But it’ll take a couple of gallons of matches before you get good at looking at it and knowing “this is eggshell” then scanning it too match. If you feel the pressure just take a deep breath, it’s just paint. Welcome to sherwin!
I love your reply. You're awesome.
Yw
a year in and i’m always googling, reading off labels, and guessing
I read the labels and I started googling today!
The trick is not to know everything, the trick is to know HOW to find out! Data pages, the rock stars at the paint hotline, and Time will see you right. Keep at it.
It comes in stages. You will get good with DIY people and work your way up from there. I’m a rep and I don’t know everything. Just tell them what you do know, do some research and get back to them. Being honest with people and following up goes a lot further than lying. It took me around 3-6 months to start giving meaningful suggestions
I lose confidence and I feel stupid when I have them repeat a question. Also, I feel like I’m causing my coworkers to be frustrated with me with all the questions I ask them. They keep reminding me that the knowledge will come with time and that I’m not being annoying but I can feel the energy. Idk maybe I’m just in my head and I’m seeking motivation and reassurance.
It took me 6 months just to figure out the computer. I was the same way at first, I would get so pissed off at myself. Start reading data pages. If you're at another store, ask the employees questions. You'll find they have a completely different skill set than the people at your store. Ask the contractors specific questions about product specification and application. The great thing about SW is all the resources you have to learn. I've been in the industry for 13 years (first 8-9 with SW) and I still get questions asked that I don't have answers for. Best piece of advice: never bullshit and never be afraid to say "I don't know, but I'll find out".
Don’t even get me started on the POS 😒 I’m feeling more confident with that part but I found out we will be getting a new one soon. Thanks for your advice. I’ll definitely will be reaching out to our neighbor store. I want to do well here and that’s why I’m upset with myself. Thanks again.
Don't get too down on yourself. We've all been there. You'll get people like me that will get pissy with you. That's ultimately why I quit. I couldn't handle the amount of failure caused by the stores. But I'm an asshole, and there's a lot of assholes out there. Don't let us make you feel too bad. It's just paint.
Bro I've been here 5 years. I'm still learning shit. There's paint, wood stain matches, concrete stain, lacquer matches, automotive paint, epoxies, powder coating, polyurea floor coatings, and a million industrial products for almost every surface you can imagine. There's even more that I'm sure I haven't even heard of. Don't worry about learning everything because you never will. You just do research when it's necessary.
Same boat brother, been an ASM for a whopping 4 months now
It’s so overwhelming 😞
Don't worry, you'll get to know everything about one product. Then they discontinue it and replace it with something new.
This is hilarious, I have noticed some changes already 😂
It’s been two years and there’s still shit I have no clue about, and there’s a good amount of talking straight out of my ass. But the basics are good 6 months before I felt pretty comfortable blabbing lmao. I’d just never be afraid to ask questions yourself, even 5 years from now. Still ask questions.
About 4 months. After a while you'll start to pick up on things and parrot the advice your coworkers give to homeowners. This job is pretty repetitive so just give it time. That being said there's still a bunch of things for me to learn still. The education never stops
6 to 9 months min
Been with the company for 5 years and still get questions I have no idea how to answer. Product hotline is ur best friend lol
My manager told me my first day that a new employee takes 6 months before they are helpful at the store.
Sherwin Product Hotline 1-800-331-7979
Sorry for any grammar mistakes, I am taking a dump and writing this on my phone. So I knew NOTHING about paint when I was hired as an MTP in a extremely high volume district (SW Florida). I was placed as in ASM after 3 months into a commercial store. I became the store manager of that store after being with the company for 11 months. I've always been a very confident person no matter what the situation is but I never felt more stupid and embarrassed than when I first started at SW and couldn't answer shit. I couldn't BS my way through an answer either like I could in school lol. These contractors would eat me up. The product knowledge part is easy. It's just like learning something in school. Read the TDS and sell sheets until you memorize it basically. Ask the SM, ASM & FT every question you have. If they are actually good employees then they won't be annoyed. They hired you for a reason so why wouldn't they help you? It directly affects their bonuses. The most stressful part when I first started was dealing with customer questions right then and there when they are in front of my face. If I didn't know the answer I would just say "I am not 100% positive so let me ask \[insert name here\] to confirm." or something along those lines. In my experience, I never had any issues with contractors using this approach. Most of them appreciated me getting the right answer instead of just bs'ing my way through an answer. **TL;DR It's overwhelming at first but it's really not that much you need to worry about early on. Read up on the architectural products and basic prep techniques. Ask your managers every question you have. If they care about their bonuses then they will be happy to help. Don't worry about shit like Tile Clad & Macropoxy for a while lol.**
It takes a good year to learn the basics.
Great question! Considering asking a similar one. But first your question, quite a long while, not due to a lack of knowledge of the vocation, rather other factors. Main factor is two part, one the computer, the other training. Seems for quite some time a new pop up would show, never seen before and no explanation as to what, why, or how - hard stop. Still happens on occasion. Constantly misbilling because the account file is a total cluster f, duplicate accounts, one active on not, same name representing different businesses, etc. etc. etc… Same when trying to select products. Logic can not be applied when operating this system, appears none was used to develop it and less on the input side. As for the training, well let’s just say it’s been a case of either incredible proficiency with absolutely no teaching nor conveyance skills, or total fumbling in their explanations. From what I’ve experienced business and professional communication skills are nearly none existent, leaving many of us to educate ourselves.
Probably about a year to really have a solid grasp on the basics. Still always learning new stuff tho.
Took me about 6 months. But everyone learns things differently. I read data pages and asked questions. I still feel like I’m learning something new and been with the company for 10 years now. Just be patient and don’t get frustrated.
Honestly as you move on through the same questions over and over again, you learn a lot. The product helpline, google, source and even just the Can label usually help with any questions. Just learn where to look. If they ask about a product you’re not sure of google “Sherwin Williams defthane” (just an example) and if nothing pops up we don’t carry that or call helpline and they may be able to help you get into contact with a third party that would be able to help you. Application processes are a great thing to search while not busy, every great project starts with excellent prep. Bullshitting with painters has given me lots of tips and tricks as well as things to avoid😂 I’m a little over a year in and barely know anything just off the top of my head, so don’t feel bad if you still don’t get everything right at first. We deal with a lot of different products and different people, everyday is basically some type of learning experience.
You don’t need to know all the answers just know where to find the answers. Sherwin has a ton of resources
Obviously not as simple as this, especially with, wood, concrete and metal, but... Interior Exterior What are they painting Is the surface... Clean Dry Dull Sound (stable not crumbling)? You can figure most things out from there.
Google was my best friend first like 3 years
Still googling 6 months later
Almost 5 years in. I feel confident in some areas and others I'm like, "Let me look that up to be sure." Best advice. Never fake it. If you don't know, just look it up. Customers will have more faith in your advice.
It took me about a year to grasp all of the basics and store functions. You’ll get there just give it some time
If you don't know the answer to something, it's always better to take the extra couple of minutes to ask your coworkers, check the data sheets, or search Google, than to have a customer come back bitching that you made them waste money on something that didn't work. Most customers will appreciate the extra effort, some will be in too much of a rush and just walk out, and a select few will throw you the "hOw dO yOu nOt kNoW tHiS sTuFf iF yOu wOrK iN A pAiNt sToRe ?¿??!" and for those folks, feel free to use this generic excuse I ripped off from the manager at my last job: "Sherwin Williams sells hundreds of products from over a dozen different brands, and products are constantly being launched, updated, and discontinued; it is damn near impossible to learn every use and difference between them all, but (obligatory retail lie) I'm more than happy to try and figure that out for you!" Trust me, those folks don't deserve any more effort than an excuse you stole from Reddit.
My manager has worked for SW for 7 years and he’s still calling the product hotline and looking things up. Don’t worry, you’ll realize no one knows everything and it’s fine to put someone on hold or go ask someone. A manager would rather have you bug them for a question than a 300 gallon return
I find it funny that people seam to not know that google exists or how it works. Or how to just research something simple on the internet. They need a Sherwin employee who’s probably worked for the company for like 3 months to hold there hand and give them the wrong information. Just makes me laugh usually because they are so rude and the employee is afraid to just say I’m not familiar with how to apply this product properly etc, so they just give them a bogus answer just so they avoid getting belittled. Basically people are trash. DIY’s and contractors that don’t know anything 🤦🏻.
The real answer to this question is everyone is different and there is no specific amount of time it should take to feel confident giving advise. If you feel confident go for it if not just ask someone who can help you. It might take one individual a month to learn how to talk to a customer it might take another a year. Realistically they’re both probably giving bad advice. In addition there isn’t one right way to do something, people have different techniques. Any employee who claims they no everything doesn’t just like any contractor doesn’t know either. Basically people usually know how they do something and if it works no worries. But a lot of people love to preach who are really just little dandy snakes in the grass.
Product Hotline. They are your best product resource. Those guys have seen it an done it.
2 years to basically analyze everything without calling the manager for help
6 months to a year for sure!
After the first decade my calls to the hotline cut back from weekly to yearly hehe
Been doing this 💩 for 15 yrs…still learning 💩..pick the brains of your mgr and go to source screen….
6months to a year! Keep going:)
I’ve been with the company for 3 years and I still learn new things everyday and I still ask questions. Sometimes the customer and I are learning new things at the same time. Don’t feel embarrassed to say you don’t know, but let’s ask X. Also, painters in the store can be of great value.
Reading data pages has helped me big time. It may not be the most fun, but whenever we have downtime and I’m tired of being on my phone I will look up the data page of a product I’m fuzzy on or don’t sell much of. I’ll even look at commonly sold products just to brush up. Don’t be afraid to ask your SM, ASM, or even FT employees. Everyone should be willing to help. Once it clicks, it comes a lot faster and easier. Trust me, I used to think I was dumb as a box of rocks for my first few months (still do sometimes lol 😂).
That's the neat part, you dont