Specification Sales to Architects G#1325 N#1313

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Specification Sales to Architects

Specification Sales to Architects
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REPRESENTATIVES

• Architects don’t want to meet sales representative on a speculative basis.
• They can do that at Exhibitions.
• Librarians will meet a representative to update the office library.
• Architects do want to meet technical representatives on a project requirement, in their office at their convenience.
• They will be ‘reliant upon’ the information sought from the representative and they will scrutinize the details and want the facts.
• So don’t send a salesman, send a technical specification representative.

ARCHITECTS CPD

• You can get to speak to a lot of Architects in an office by providing CPD seminars
• They are ideally RIBA CPD Accredited (Costs: £1000 or more per 2 years) they are listed on RIBA website
• They have to be educational: setting the technical regulator context explaining the science, chemistry, technical aspects and with minimum promotional sales content.
• The presentations must be geared to Architects and you need to speak their language.
• You will have the lunch break to show and tell and discuss.
• You will be expected to pay for Buffet Lunch for say 20 staff.
• If the CPD organizer in the office is bright they will arrange your CPD to coincide with projects in the office that need your product and some of the delegates will ask more details for their project.

DEFECTS AVOIDANCE SEMINARS

• Architects will turn up to hear about defects to avoid falling foul themselves.
• Explain the defects in detail and offer a technically sound solution explained in as much detail.

EXHIBITIONS (Fig. 3)

• Keep displays graphic, large scale and bold, snappy graphics
• use iconography to graphically highlight issues
• Explain with bulleted text, to draw readers in, few words, large font,
• They need to get the message and be drawn in to the stand
• Consider cardboard displays avoiding PVC

INFORMATION

• Architects want your information when they need it for a project and not before.
• They want to access it on a Sunday night whilst writing the specification for the tender on Monday.
• Your website must be up to date and have all the information and it must be easily found.
• They like hard copy literature to have but call a representative to explain it face to face.
• ‘Architects can’t read’ or find long text too uninteresting and want lots of illustrations diagrams tables, charts etc. so they learn from diagrams without reading the words.
• Recommendation: a picture per paragraph and a paragraph per picture.
• Architects use stackapile filing yours could be at the bottom of the stack.
• It should be classified and labeled to enable the librarian to locate it correctly in the system.
• Librarians use CI/SfB or CAWS or UNICLASS classification and organize it in subject boxes on shelves.
• Literature should have all three classification systems included.
• Everything is ideally A4, don’t make it any other size so that it will stand out, it might end up in the bin.
• Literature should follow the guidance of the British Standard in Technical Literature.

ARCHITECT’S INFORMATION LIBRARIES

• Consist of Technical Regulatory Glossy and Product Promotional and Technical Information
• Historically they were held centrally and had a librarian organizing it.
• Cut backs meant central libraries were abandoned to avoid employing librarians
• Architects Librarians are fewer in number because websites provide current information.
• If your rep visits they need to be capable to understanding the library and know where to file it.
• If you send information by post it may find its way into libraries
• Individual libraries became common.
• Quality Assurance suggested we should not keep information that might become out of date
• But project libraries became popular which may be archived with the project on completion

SAMPLES

• They want samples the next day.
• Some want them to a bespoke size
• Normal Foster wants samples A4 size or it will not be added to their samples library.
• Make sure there is a label on the back, that it will remain attached
• Assume the sample lives in a box with many others and nobody owns it.
• Make sure labels tell everything they need to get back to you and to specify it on a second job
• QR Codes back to a page on your website may be very useful.
• Many want your samples to be collected after the project is complete
• A really good lable could make it more useful to keep the sample for future reference
• GBE Classify N#1440
• Service to classify literature developed to Samples Box labelling N#1441

INTERIOR DESIGNERS

• Interior Designers want to pick products for looks
• And let the technical representative to steer them away from technically unsound choices.
• You need to know the Regulations, Codes and Standards better then they do.
• If you meet a young architects the same may apply.

© GBE NGS ASWS BrianSpecMan aka Brian Murphy
14th December 2013 – 25th June 2016

Specification Sales to Architects
Images: 

Fig. 1 NGS Specification Sales to Architects

Fig. 2 Cover of CAP’EM guide

Fig. 3 Exhibitions Keep it Big Bold Graphic

© NGS BrianSpecMan aka Brian Murphy
21st September 2013 – 14th December 2013

Specification Sales to Architects
See Also:

GBE Jargon Buster

• GreenWash
• GBE LitAudit Literature Audits
• GBE Echo
• GBE DoEM Declaration of Excluded materials
• GBE DoRR Declaration of REACH Requirements
• GBE Compare Product Group Comparison
• Specification Sales

GBE MARKETING

• Specification Sales to Architects (This Page)
• Specification Sales to Architects (Word DOCX)

GBE CPD

GBE Disciplines

CAP’EM MARKETING