Paul Scott has worked in construction sales and marketing for more than 20 years, forming his own company, Front Elevation, in 2011. Here he offers his insights into how you can grow your business.
I want to complete the idea I started in last month’s issue of this magazine about responding to the enquiries our carefully thought out and precisely targeted marketing campaign has produced.
In the previous issue we covered the construction of a one page, A4 template, with its layout for images and set amount of text.
But how do we decide what information to include in the template?
I will use a construction project as an example but the process is very similar regardless of your speciality.
Ideally, you should go through your past projects and pick out maybe 20 or 30 of the best examples of your work. Diversity is more important than size or date.
And if you have something unique or outstanding from three or four years ago it is likely to make more of an impact and be more relevant to potential customers than a more mundane project completed last month.
Don't forget: in our industry we are really selling solutions. People want evidence of your ability to provide them.
The easiest way of preparing your projects is in a spreadsheet. Keep everything in columns, including one for the ‘Sector’ the project fits into. ‘Sector’ is a particularly important heading. Others would tend to be categories such as: Main Contractor; Architect; Location.
Under ‘Sector’ I would suggest probably six. Education, Health, Commercial, Retail, Leisure and Housing, perhaps. Possibly Transport, Infrastructure, Defence, if these are areas you work in. Perhaps New Build and Conservation would be relevant.
This is why the age or size of a project is not so important. It is more about relevance.
So, we have your respondee, as we might call him or her. What do we know about them? You probably have their name and their company name plus an email address. Perhaps a web address.
If they are a Main Contractor, have you worked for them before? If so, your chosen case study should be one based on that company. If they are an architect, ditto.
If you have not worked with them before, locate them and try to include projects you have completed in their vicinity – London, Manchester, Liverpool.
They might be familiar with the project. Maybe they pass it on their way to work. If not, they might go and have a look at it.
If you have not worked for them before nor worked in their geographical area, a quick browse on their website will probably identify the areas they are interested in and any specialities they have (it is why your marketing should try to illicit their website address as well as their name and email address).
If your respondee is particularly active in, for example, hotels, they are far more likely to engage with a case study about a hotel than a stately home.
As I said last time, keep the descriptions brief and try to let photographs tell the story. That means the photographs have to be good. Really good if you want to make an impact.
My company, Front Elevation, is established as the ‘go-to’ photographer for many of the leading building envelope product suppliers, so I have a bit of a 'thing' about images. As our friends across the pond say: “If it doesn't make you proud, don’t show it to the crowd.”
When we take pictures we use about £10,000 worth of equipment. But digital photography has made it easier for anyone to get an acceptable quality photo, not least because you can take a large number easily and inexpensively.
An image says a lot about YOUR IMAGE, so let’s have upright walls and level horizons. Your computer probably has some basic photo editing software on it. If not, there is freeware online. It can enhance a good picture but don’t expect miracles.
Having put your best quality images into your template with the prepared text, you now have a TAILORED RESPONSE to your enquirer. This will increase exponentially your chances of capturing that potential client.