I am new to the world of selling to Architectural firms but not new to sales. Over the past 10+ years, my experience has been as a product rep in B2B sales to retailers.
So sales cycles, setting meetings, presentations, sales tactics and understanding who I should be selling to are incredibly different. With a retailer you could (not ideal) just show up and ask who buys whatever you are selling, a couple of emails, calls + more visits and you might get your product sold into their business. They can see your effort and that you arent lazy - I had great success with communicating and being present with my former customers and that made me successful (most reps are lazy).
The product I represent now is interior-based design elements. I make calls to set lunch and learns with interiors teams, so I have been instructed. I do a presentation, show samples and ask if there are any projects they are working on that I can help take a look at to potentially make their lives easier and hope to get spec'd.
What sets a top rep in this industry a part?
Calling firms and just asking for a lunch and learn seems lazy, is there a better way to communicate my product to buyers?
Should I also be targeting specifiers and not just ID or architects with lunch and learns? Or sending them emails?
What other tips could you suggest that could help a rep potentially get specified more often?
Main suggest is that you need to reply to all inquiries promptly. Like within 24 hours. Unresponsive reps are our biggest pain point. Second biggest is lack of product knowledge. Learn about what your selling enough to help the customers understand it or know who within your company can answer complex questions you can't.
Lunch and learns are really the standard way to get into a firm. It will be on you to discern who in the crowd actually has the power to get your product spec'd versus the people there just for the free food and/or a CEU. Just know the product selector often isn't the people with their names on the door.
Also treat the receptionists nicely. They can be major gatekeepers. Also know that today's young interns are tomorrow's specifiers.
Thank you for your insights. In my past, even if I couldnt answer them that day I would almost always email/text/call quickly to let them know by the end of the day I acknowledged their inquiry. PK is something I usually go over the top on, usually wanting to know way too much specifics but I nerd out on those details.
Jun 21, 24 4:13 pm ·
·
ACAB
I didnt realize the [enter] key would submit. So for the product selector, would that typically land on the specifier then? My couple of lunch and learns so far, I dont believe any have been included. Are they just left out?
I have already made some friends with the receptionist/office managers. Good to know that is a good strategy though.
Jun 21, 24 4:22 pm ·
·
reallynotmyname
See One Spec's comment below. I concur with them that, in my experience the person selecting the products varies tremendously from firm to firm or even project to project and is thus unpredictable. The best I can do is suggest watching at your lunch and learns who is paying close attention to your presentation and/or asking you intelligent questions.
Here are ten tips, some of which are probably within your control in sales, and some which may not be:
1. Make all your technical info and specs available on your website, without needing to create an account, or put in a password, or give you my project's info, or call you. I will move on to somebody else whose info can be gotten in under 5 minutes.
2. Have Revit families available, also with no access rigamarole, for every item. You might be surprised at the number of products that end up specified on our projects just because they were the one that the person working on the model found first to plug in as a "place holder".
3. Don’t assume that who you should target in one firm is the same in the next, or even from one project to the next within the same firm. Sometimes an interior designer is solely responsible for selecting interior products, but it’s just as often that anybody from the project architect to a spec writer to a junior designer might be the one with influence and responsibility on a particular project. Pay equal attention to and be respectful of everybody in the firms.
4. Understand that on public projects with regulations against proprietary specs your product's purported uniqueness or superiority will work against you. Be ready to cough up names of at least 2 or 3 of your competitors who can provide an equal thing. If you say yours is the only one of its kind then we can't use it.
5. If you email me and I respond that we don't do work that uses what you’re selling, please stop contacting me, or at least keep it to one annual check-in. I just blocked a product rep because he was following up weekly despite my initial response that we don't do any projects applicable to his products. If someday such a project happened to come along then I might have contacted him when it did, but now when that happens I'll contact somebody else.
6. Really know the laws of the states in which you're marketing and be prepared to provide documentation. Product reps come and do lunch and learns and assure us their products satisfy our state's energy standard or list of banned substances, and promise to send proof, and then we wait... and, if we hear from them at all, it's to say they were mistaken, or their legal department won't let them formalize that claim, or the required testing hasn’t even been done yet. If you don’t know then don’t claim it, and if you say you’ll get back to us then do that within days.
7. Be truly fluent with requirements of common sustainability certification programs. Your product is not "fully LEED compliant" just because it contains some recycled content or has an EPD or isn't on the LBC Red List. If I ask you for the indoor environmental quality testing results and you just keep sending me to the page on your website that says “sustainability is our motto” then we can’t spec your stuff.
9. Be transparent in the lunch and learns about true costs: don't tell us your custom graphic countertops cost $20 sf, but leave out that there's a $8000 set-up fee and a minimum order of 5000 sf.
10. Do the lunch and learn well: make sure ahead of time that you can get your PowerPoint show to work on your laptop; verify the lunch order is complete; don’t send the lunch to the wrong office; and don’t expect the firm’s staff to lay out the lunch or carry your samples from the parking lot (maybe they will offer, but don't assume). These are small things but trust me your company will be remembered negatively for years afterward by the architect who didn’t get his sandwich or the office manager who had to clean up after you.
Wow, thank you for the time and detailed list. Some of your ideas are great, but the nature of our product is custom and proprietary. So that gets us the axe with certain projects and firms, I am okay with that; realistically we cant win them all.
Thanks for the tips. What is the best swag you got that made you spec someone'
s product?
Jun 21, 24 4:14 pm ·
·
Almosthip
I cant think of anything specific that has made me spec a product. But this one lunch and learn the guy brought us vegetable lasagna. I live in Alberta, famous for beef. We have never spec'd any of his products.
So bringing beer to a lunch and learn is common place? I would assume bringing it for them to drink later... Is this acceptable with most firms?... Good tip on greenwashing, I love when people say "buy our product to help save the environment." Not buying your product is the best way to save the environment :).
For larger firms, get in touch with the product librarian if its an interior materials item, or the QAQC managers when its a more technical construction product (sometimes these are the same person). They are often my first go-to when we have a rough idea of what kind of product we want, but dont have the market knowledge to properly communicate it. They will often understand quickly what effect we are trying to achieve, and have a go-to of 2 or 3 manufacturers we can look at, with a product rep. From there i will email directly with a few very direct questions, and the answers will quickly tell me if i can use their product or need to move along to the next one.
Also, be able to understand and advise on proper usage of the product if i send over an early detail transition idea. Sounds like you may not have been in the architecture world before, so if you can't advise on that, have someone responsive on your team who can help you arrange a response. Know the most common other products you attach or transition your product next to, and have some good ideas for how we can draw it on our end. IE, if you sell custom millwork, know the 5 most typical wall finishes that would normally be installed above/below your own items, and tell me how you've done it in the past.
Jun 23, 24 4:11 pm ·
·
ACAB
You are correct in that I havent been in the architecture world before. I have a decent understanding of building trades but this is a bit different. Thank you for the tip on working with a colleague to help advise on challenging details and suggestions on commonality of other products.
Jun 24, 24 8:47 am ·
·
Bench
Realistically, we can tell in the room if the person giving the presentation has an architecture background or not - its fine if you don't, and its not even necessary to project that fact or lay it all out. But the technical aspect will be extremely important at some point down the line, and at that time have your guy ready in the wings as needed
Honestly it sounds like you're coming at this from the right angle, and i expect you'll have success the more you go down this route. Best of luck!
Like other people have said, who really selects your product depends a lot on the office and the product type. Interior designers, Architects, Librarians, and spec writers are all pretty critical. As an interiors person I'd expect a lot more interior designer/librarian interaction. Unless you're doing something like lighting, or more intensive flooring systems like tile assemblies rather than just finish tile products.
New Product Rep to Industry - Any Help Appreciated
I am new to the world of selling to Architectural firms but not new to sales. Over the past 10+ years, my experience has been as a product rep in B2B sales to retailers.
So sales cycles, setting meetings, presentations, sales tactics and understanding who I should be selling to are incredibly different. With a retailer you could (not ideal) just show up and ask who buys whatever you are selling, a couple of emails, calls + more visits and you might get your product sold into their business. They can see your effort and that you arent lazy - I had great success with communicating and being present with my former customers and that made me successful (most reps are lazy).
The product I represent now is interior-based design elements. I make calls to set lunch and learns with interiors teams, so I have been instructed. I do a presentation, show samples and ask if there are any projects they are working on that I can help take a look at to potentially make their lives easier and hope to get spec'd.
What sets a top rep in this industry a part?
Calling firms and just asking for a lunch and learn seems lazy, is there a better way to communicate my product to buyers?
Should I also be targeting specifiers and not just ID or architects with lunch and learns? Or sending them emails?
What other tips could you suggest that could help a rep potentially get specified more often?
Main suggest is that you need to reply to all inquiries promptly. Like within 24 hours. Unresponsive reps are our biggest pain point. Second biggest is lack of product knowledge. Learn about what your selling enough to help the customers understand it or know who within your company can answer complex questions you can't.
Lunch and learns are really the standard way to get into a firm. It will be on you to discern who in the crowd actually has the power to get your product spec'd versus the people there just for the free food and/or a CEU. Just know the product selector often isn't the people with their names on the door.
Also treat the receptionists nicely. They can be major gatekeepers. Also know that today's young interns are tomorrow's specifiers.
Thank you for your insights. In my past, even if I couldnt answer them that day I would almost always email/text/call quickly to let them know by the end of the day I acknowledged their inquiry. PK is something I usually go over the top on, usually wanting to know way too much specifics but I nerd out on those details.
I didnt realize the [enter] key would submit. So for the product selector, would that typically land on the specifier then? My couple of lunch and learns so far, I dont believe any have been included. Are they just left out?
I have already made some friends with the receptionist/office managers. Good to know that is a good strategy though.
See One Spec's comment below. I concur with them that, in my experience the person selecting the products varies tremendously from firm to firm or even project to project and is thus unpredictable. The best I can do is suggest watching at your lunch and learns who is paying close attention to your presentation and/or asking you intelligent questions.
Here are ten tips, some of which are probably within your control in sales, and some which may not be:
1. Make all your technical info and specs available on your website, without needing to create an account, or put in a password, or give you my project's info, or call you. I will move on to somebody else whose info can be gotten in under 5 minutes.
2. Have Revit families available, also with no access rigamarole, for every item. You might be surprised at the number of products that end up specified on our projects just because they were the one that the person working on the model found first to plug in as a "place holder".
3. Don’t assume that who you should target in one firm is the same in the next, or even from one project to the next within the same firm. Sometimes an interior designer is solely responsible for selecting interior products, but it’s just as often that anybody from the project architect to a spec writer to a junior designer might be the one with influence and responsibility on a particular project. Pay equal attention to and be respectful of everybody in the firms.
4. Understand that on public projects with regulations against proprietary specs your product's purported uniqueness or superiority will work against you. Be ready to cough up names of at least 2 or 3 of your competitors who can provide an equal thing. If you say yours is the only one of its kind then we can't use it.
5. If you email me and I respond that we don't do work that uses what you’re selling, please stop contacting me, or at least keep it to one annual check-in. I just blocked a product rep because he was following up weekly despite my initial response that we don't do any projects applicable to his products. If someday such a project happened to come along then I might have contacted him when it did, but now when that happens I'll contact somebody else.
6. Really know the laws of the states in which you're marketing and be prepared to provide documentation. Product reps come and do lunch and learns and assure us their products satisfy our state's energy standard or list of banned substances, and promise to send proof, and then we wait... and, if we hear from them at all, it's to say they were mistaken, or their legal department won't let them formalize that claim, or the required testing hasn’t even been done yet. If you don’t know then don’t claim it, and if you say you’ll get back to us then do that within days.
7. Be truly fluent with requirements of common sustainability certification programs. Your product is not "fully LEED compliant" just because it contains some recycled content or has an EPD or isn't on the LBC Red List. If I ask you for the indoor environmental quality testing results and you just keep sending me to the page on your website that says “sustainability is our motto” then we can’t spec your stuff.
9. Be transparent in the lunch and learns about true costs: don't tell us your custom graphic countertops cost $20 sf, but leave out that there's a $8000 set-up fee and a minimum order of 5000 sf.
10. Do the lunch and learn well: make sure ahead of time that you can get your PowerPoint show to work on your laptop; verify the lunch order is complete; don’t send the lunch to the wrong office; and don’t expect the firm’s staff to lay out the lunch or carry your samples from the parking lot (maybe they will offer, but don't assume). These are small things but trust me your company will be remembered negatively for years afterward by the architect who didn’t get his sandwich or the office manager who had to clean up after you.
Wow, thank you for the time and detailed list. Some of your ideas are great, but the nature of our product is custom and proprietary. So that gets us the axe with certain projects and firms, I am okay with that; realistically we cant win them all.
Damn this is even insanely useful for me as another architect who doesnt work in sales. Thanks!
swag...we love free things.
Thanks for the tips. What is the best swag you got that made you spec someone' s product?
I cant think of anything specific that has made me spec a product. But this one lunch and learn the guy brought us vegetable lasagna. I live in Alberta, famous for beef. We have never spec'd any of his products.
Bring beer and don't try to hawk non-sense over-hyped greenwash jive.
So bringing beer to a lunch and learn is common place? I would assume bringing it for them to drink later... Is this acceptable with most firms?... Good tip on greenwashing, I love when people say "buy our product to help save the environment." Not buying your product is the best way to save the environment :).
Beer is acceptable at any time in Canada
For larger firms, get in touch with the product librarian if its an interior materials item, or the QAQC managers when its a more technical construction product (sometimes these are the same person). They are often my first go-to when we have a rough idea of what kind of product we want, but dont have the market knowledge to properly communicate it. They will often understand quickly what effect we are trying to achieve, and have a go-to of 2 or 3 manufacturers we can look at, with a product rep. From there i will email directly with a few very direct questions, and the answers will quickly tell me if i can use their product or need to move along to the next one.
Also, be able to understand and advise on proper usage of the product if i send over an early detail transition idea. Sounds like you may not have been in the architecture world before, so if you can't advise on that, have someone responsive on your team who can help you arrange a response. Know the most common other products you attach or transition your product next to, and have some good ideas for how we can draw it on our end. IE, if you sell custom millwork, know the 5 most typical wall finishes that would normally be installed above/below your own items, and tell me how you've done it in the past.
You are correct in that I havent been in the architecture world before. I have a decent understanding of building trades but this is a bit different. Thank you for the tip on working with a colleague to help advise on challenging details and suggestions on commonality of other products.
Realistically, we can tell in the room if the person giving the presentation has an architecture background or not - its fine if you don't, and its not even necessary to project that fact or lay it all out. But the technical aspect will be extremely important at some point down the line, and at that time have your guy ready in the wings as needed
Honestly it sounds like you're coming at this from the right angle, and i expect you'll have success the more you go down this route. Best of luck!
Like other people have said, who really selects your product depends a lot on the office and the product type. Interior designers, Architects, Librarians, and spec writers are all pretty critical. As an interiors person I'd expect a lot more interior designer/librarian interaction. Unless you're doing something like lighting, or more intensive flooring systems like tile assemblies rather than just finish tile products.
Thank you for tips. Will make sure to pay attention and ask questions to learn who the right person is.
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.