August 2020 Newsletter
**** The 4specs Perspective
What are your plans to "Get Specified" and remain specified in the coming months and years of the post-COVID economy?
I consider the marketing of "specified construction products" to be one of the most difficult marketing tasks - due to uniqueness of each project, due to risk, relationships, multiple decision makers and three to five years from contact to shipping products.
From the SMPS Boston Newsletter by Ken Lambert:
Business Development Without Face-to-Face Interactions - [link removed]
"It is early June now, and for the most part I have had zero face-to-face/physical meetings with any client/prospect since the middle of March. A hallmark and requirement of typical business development processes have been- at least temporarily- taken away from those in the BD and sales role.
"I’ve talked to several people over the past week- some in the AEC field and some not- and most of them have said that they will be working from home for the remainder of the summer. Their companies have told them to plan on working from home until September. Some are in Boston, but not all. For those that have somehow managed to work in an outside sales type of role for 2 ½ months already, can we really make it another 2 ½ months under similar constraints and pressures?"
From the AbyssGlobal newsletter - Richard Nelson is a contact from CSI San Francisco days and is now based in Hertfordshire, north of London:
[Link no longer available]
"Social distancing due to COVID-19 has changed everyone in a business development or sales role from 'Road Warriors' into 'WFH Warriors' (working from home).
"It simply does not happen that way any more—if it ever did. Sales in this industry has become very complicated in the last several decades due to a number of factors [factors in the link above]
"These sales are complex for a reason: They are big, risky purchases, and clients do not want to make the wrong decision. That is why we have so many filters to get through and obstacles to overcome.
"You must build trust and credibility with the client, therefore empathy and authentic interest in the client are required. You must also build intelligent relationships across the client organisation in order to navigate and avoid the political pitfalls within it.
"No one wants to be ‘sold to’. However, everyone values relevant insights that lead them to making an informed decision."
There is an accompanying PowerPoint for this article found on LInkedin. This link goes to the pdf I saved for those not on Linkedin - about 6 megabytes.
Questions, comments and suggestions are always appreciated.
Colin
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Colin Gilboy
Publisher - 4specs
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