Paul Scott has joined us to offer advice on marketing for the next few issues while Alan Gayle has a break from this column. Paul has worked in sales & marketing in construction for 20 years and now runs his own business called Front Elevation. This month he considers confidence.
What do we need to specify a product? Confidence.
Not many people have much sympathy for architects but let’s look at the predicament they face when specifying a product or service.
My Dad is 88 and I get the occasional ‘emergency’ call from him. Fortunately he lives locally and any catastrophe is usually resolved fairly quickly.
This time his TV had packed up and I was despatched to Aggros to get a new one.
Now, Dad is a bit ‘careful’, so I was had three options: A Tony at £500, an EG at £400 or a Trashco at £300.
I knew loads about the first option because I have one. The second option I had vaguely heard of. But Trashco… I couldn’t even find it on Google.
Thinking of Dad’s wallet, I took a risk on the third option and once it had been installed, I left Dad looking forward to watching the match later in the week.
I regaled the story to a few mates and we laughed about it in the pub a couple of nights later while we watched the game.
The mood quickly changed just before half time. A screech of brakes in the car park was quickly followed by the entry of Reg ‘The Ledge’ Skinner.
His beloved West Ham were on the box at home and suddenly the screen went blank. It was either asking the latest Mrs S (Ludmilla) to switch over from Master Chef Down Under (and even Reg is not that brave) or jump in the motor to the nearest pub.
Now, Reg gained his nickname due to his negotiating skills, which usually involved a study of natural stone paving, albeit from quite a distance.
As the half-time whistle blew he got up from one of several hastily vacated prime positions in front of the TV and walked towards us.
I thought this was a good time to go but my car was among five that a certain metallic blue Bentley Continental (registration RTL 9) happened to be blocking in.
He sat beside me and said: “I hear you know a bit about teles?”
I nodded in the affirmative. This didn’t seem the ideal opportunity to extol the virtues of Dad’s Trashco model as, however green and sustainable it might be, I really didn’t wish to be composted in Epping Forest if it went wrong.
I gave Reg a quick run-down on the Tony model I had and handed him my mobile with the maker’s website glowing from it.
Reg looked through the info. He said he had heard of them and one his contacts probably had one ‘in-stock’.
Reg returned to his seat and I returned to my natural colour.
Fortunately, the ‘Ammers won. As Reg left he told me if I was passing anytime to pop in for a cuppa.
What this shows is the importance of information.
As the brand was well known (which, after all, is what marketing is all about) I was happy to recommend it to someone I did not want to upset.
Not only that, but there was plenty of technical info plus – perhaps more importantly – loads of reviews from happy customers, (although when I last looked none signed RTL).
If we replace the word SPECIFY with RECOMMEND we can sympathise with the architect.
In a crisis we go with what we know and if we want to change that habit we need to provide plenty of armoury and ammunition to avoid anyone taking a complete step in the dark.
Downloadable technical information, reviews, images, case studies and satisfied customers make a decision to choose that product far easier.
Marketing is about instilling confidence in our products or services and the more information we can supply, the more confident potential customers will be in making that all important switch.