A bold, can-do attitude defines the Deinböck painting contractors

The Bavarian firm is now running brilliantly. 25 employees handle more than 400 jobs a year – for exclusive private customers and small businesses. Take up of quotations is around 70 percent. And customer satisfaction is so high that Deinböck has almost no need for conventional advertising. The firm's reputation gets round by word of mouth. But that wasn't always the case. The path to success required courage and sometimes an unconventional approach.

A radical change of course brings results

You can see how it all started in the painting contractor's consulting room. In this room, decorated with modern designer chairs and a stylish wooden table, an old photograph of Edgar Deinböck's father hangs on the wall – looking smart, in his best suit, right after passing his trade exam. He founded the family business in 1959 and passed it on to his son in 1997. One year later, Edgar's brother Walter joined the company, a graduate business economist, who has taken care of everything business-related ever since. The company seemed well prepared.

But the coming years were not easy. Sometimes there were scores of customers as part of large building projects, sometimes they dropped off in large swathes. In the end, the turnover plummeted so far that Deinböck, like many painting companies in the region, had to make an existential decision – give up or go on? "I was on the verge of giving up, but at the very the last minute, I decided to push the family business forward. I wanted to keep what we'd grown."

But one thing was also very clear. Things couldn't continue as they were. Edgar Deinböck faced a Herculean task – he had to completely realign the business. So in 2005, he brought in a business coach to help. "That was the best decision ever!" he says in retrospect. "When you're in the midst of the daily grind, you often don't take the time to really look around you. My consultant taught me to look at the situation from outside." And as soon as he'd had the first meeting, the consultant wanted to know why his brother Walter and their respective wives weren't part of the coaching process, too. "I wondered why, because our wives never worked in the business. But of course, the consultant knew, that this would be a long and arduous process. If our wives weren't on board too, we'd soon give up. So we brought them in, too!"

On top of that, Edgar Deinböck went into a closed session once a month with his coach. There, they worked together on developing visions for the future and how to make them a reality. What's our current situation? How should the company continue? And how do you motivate your employees? The line of approach soon became clear. "I saw how other painting contractors were dealing with these tough economic conditions. One had filed for bankruptcy, another was letting all of its employees go, one had focused entirely on tenders." But for Deinböck the solution lay elsewhere. "We wanted to specialize, away from the property business, and undertake the most attractive painting jobs in the region, for high-quality private customers."

A profession perfectly suited to the charismatic Edgar Deinböck. It's hard to imagine that customers wouldn't be enthused by his communicative nature and sound advice. Yet his employees also had to be prepared for this new focus. After all, they are the ones who have to make an impression on site through their attitude and good work. To show just how important their contribution is, Deinböck involved the entire team in the planning stages. "I explained where we wanted to take the business and asked them to make suggestions about how to best achieve it." The result? More than 100 ideas, ranging from team building to presentation when meeting customers. Edgar Deinböck was impressed. "It was like a real shock wave ran through the business!" Supported by the company coach, everyone got together at a hotel in Upper Bavaria and worked on the concept for days.

This resulted in a series of workshops which are still held regularly today. "We practice how to behave around customers in order to make them feel comfortable. After all, it's part of your job to be in the most private areas of their home. We discuss issues mentioned in employee conversations, improve workflows and quality." Even when it comes to wages and working hours, Deinböck gives employees some control – and by doing so, achieves results that make both the boss and the employee happy, because everyone is entitled to speak. The best side effect? "My employees learn to think and find solutions for themselves."

Thinking collaboratively instead of competitively

The company's success since its realignment has also been proven by an analysis undertaken by students from the University of Applied Sciences Landshut. They wanted to know if a trade company could be considered a premium brand and surveyed customers and wholesalers. The pleasing response was a "yes", and resoundingly so! This is demonstrated by the fact that half of new customers do not go on to seek a second quote. They want their home to be decorated by Deinböck alone, even if it might be cheaper elsewhere. This makes the tradesman particularly happy. "Indeed, we're not the cheapest providers, but our price-performance ratio is right. That's exactly what I always wanted. To offer great work at a reasonable price."

It all works so wonderfully because Edgar Deinböck is not afraid to take an unusual path and try something new. That includes external appearances. Where others try to stand out from the competition, the bustling 56-year-old prefers collaboration. As was the case with an elegant interior design job in Landshut. For many years, the Deinböck painting contractors have been painting the exhibition rooms for the German Design Award winner and then can use these as a showroom in return. This works all the better, since customers there can experience just how the Deinböcks' work improves the chic rooms even further.

The company has also gained another partner for collaboration via the furniture store, "Die Raumformer" (or 'space shapers'). This is an informal association of several individual entrepreneurs – ranging from art glass producers to a kitchen studio company right through to a smart home technician – all of whom the painting contractors can reach out to, to undertake even the most exclusive customer requests. And last, but not least, Deinböck works together with a color psychologist. The trained interior designer and psychologist finds out which color nuances optimally support the psyche and health of her clients.

A structured, sporting approach to stress

Deinböck often meets his customers at networking events, in the premium seats at "Rote Raben" volleyball team games, where business people and fans often meet, or in the golf club, where he regularly hosts wine tasting events. Deinböck has innovative ideas and is not afraid to implement them. The reconstruction of his company has taught him how to do this. "You need to structure the work well. Back then, we decided what we wanted to have achieved in ten years' time and then broke the tasks down and assigned them to individual years."

Even the subsequent management of the painting contractors is already organized. In January 2020, Edgar Deinböck changed the business form from a sole proprietorship to a GmbH & Co. KG and named his brother Walter, who up to this point had been an employee, as a managing director. Over the next two years, the brothers will now investigate what the operation is worth. Then Walter Deinböck and long-time employee Anton Limmer will join as partners. Edgar Deinböck wants to live a quieter life once he turns 60. "I'd still like to take care of the networking side of things, but I don't want to have to get up the next morning at five."

The only time he wants to get up that early is to go to the ski slopes and devote himself to free riding or ski touring. Or perhaps to take a trip to a hotel in South Tirol with his wife, where yoga is on offer. "Sport, especially golf, helped me through the company's most stressful time." That's behind him now and he can look forward to the next few years. Just like the company motto, the future is bright!