Behr announced this week that it has selected Grounded (T27-01) as its 2027 Color of the Year. 

Grounded sits between olive and moss, with subtle brown undertones, and was designed for a wide range of environments across interior and exterior, residential and commercial. It anchors Behr’s 2027 Color Trends Palette and dovetails with the company’s broader effort to emphasize natural materials, warmth, versatility, and colors that feel enduring rather than trendy. 

But for contractors, the most useful question isn’t necessarily why or how Behr selected a particular color — it’s how you can talk about its selection, and the context around it, in ways that enhance conversations with customers and prospects. 

For instance, let’s say a customer mentions Grounded or shows you an image on Pinterest or Instagram with similar earthy colors. What next? It’s always nice to agree with a customer, support their selection, or compliment their taste. But you can also use that moment as an opportunity to demonstrate your expertise and help the customer make a more thoughtful and informed decision. 

Sometimes, the key is to simply add a new element to the conversation. If you’re talking about an exterior project, you might point out how nature-inspired palettes tend to complement elements of the surrounding landscape like trees, grass, and rock, which contributes to their overall reliability and versatility. 

Or, if it’s an interior environment, you might talk about the growing interest in bringing colors and materials associated with nature indoors. Behr’s survey research suggests that when the world feels chaotic and unpredictable, over 75% of Americans report seeking a stronger connection to the natural world. 

It’s never a bad idea to simply focus on asking good, thoughtful questions. What does the customer like about the color or palette? Is it the green itself? Or the warmth of the brown undertones? Or the way it works alongside wood finishes?

If you’re talking with a customer who wants to dig a little deeper, you might lean into the technical side. Behr describes Grounded as a dimensional color that can appear fresher and more energizing in bright light, but richer and more enveloping in dim environments. That creates an opportunity to talk about how lighting, undertones and surrounding finishes can affect the way a color actually appears — and why it might be worth sampling a selection in the space before making a final decision.

Trends come and go, but customers appreciate when contractors are able to contribute to the entire process, from early color conversations and planning through the finished job, and you don’t have to be an interior designer or color expert to play that role. By staying up on what manufacturers are promoting, and thinking ahead about how to translate those trends into practical talking points, you can open up new avenues for building trust and establishing strong relationships with customers.