Vendor Affinity Program Spotlight: Sherwin Williams

by Alana Quartuccio

Sherwin-Williams may be one of the largest and most recognizable brands in the automotive coatings space; yet despite its massive global presence, the company strives to deliver nothing but personal service to its customers.

As Regional Manager Stephen P. Haney puts it, “The organization is over 160 years old. Although we are a large corporate entity, we deliver that very intimate interaction with our customers.”

Sherwin-Williams’ offering goes much deeper than the automotive coatings they have been delivering for more than 100 years. They recognize the challenges in the industry and therefore set out to best serve customers by being a valuable vendor partner.

“We’ve continued to reinvest in technology and in our people and that translates to better customer support and better customer interactions,” Haney highlights.

One of the most prominent things on the minds of shop owners and operators today – and an area where Sherwin-Williams excels in assisting their customers – is shop performance, which transcends far beyond the mixing room. “That does not stop with paint,” Haney notes. “It translates to touch time, cycle time and gross materials. Bringing visibility and control to those operators who really need to understand that piece of business is what we do. We find ourselves in a great position to absolutely be one of the best vendor partners in meeting that need.”

Sherwin-Williams helps fulfill this mission via their Collision Core technology, a cloud-based digital management suite that helps shops optimize operations, inventory and color-matching. “It’s one of the most fundamental valuable additions we bring to shops. It gives shops visibility on how their collision center is really performing,” Haney states.

“We focus on the back end of the shop to make sure we are performing from a coatings standpoint, but today our focus really is on the front end, business side,” he continues. “Business performance may not have been as important 10 or 15 years ago. Today, you have to analyze your business, adopt and be agile. You have to focus on making sure you can compete and continue to stay in business. This industry is not getting any easier. It is becoming more complex. We understand that complexity really and truly. I believe the value and focus we bring to the shop from the front end to the back end is second to none.”

Sherwin-Williams has a strong presence in Massachusetts, with four brick and mortar factory stores in West Springfield, Worcester, Randolph and Medford. Each branch is led by both a field and tech representative. To Haney, that is “the secret sauce” in their specialty. “Shops can be directly connected with the people who are manufacturing the paint, putting the paint in the can and bringing that to your doorstep.”

A longtime supporter of MABA, Sherwin-Williams is a Platinum level sponsor in the association’s Vendor Affinity Program. “Having that engagement is paramount,” Haney says of their support of MABA. The company is always looking for ways to better serve their customers and listening to their needs is key. “Having the customer’s ear is critical and MABA provides a great arena to do that,” he says.

Not only do MABA events give the company an opportunity to interact with collision repair shop owners face-to-face, but Sherwin-Williams’ engagement with association members also opens the door for them to have conversations with shops about their successes. “We like to listen. It’s important to us so we can better understand. Recoverables have been a big part of conversation over the past year. A lot of what we can do to enhance the experience for our customers can be extracted from those meetings. Having the ear of the customer is critical.”

Sherwin-Williams aims to serve all customers. “No matter how large- or small-volume a shop is, everyone shares the same issues,” Haney says. “I’m a big believer that every problem has a solution. It starts with listening to the customer and understanding how we can better align ourselves to assist them.”

Want more? Check out the October 2026 issue of New England Automotive Report!