Industry insights
Michael Smith is the consulting architect for Built Environment Channel and lead consultant of Spec Up.
The golden rule for marketing to architects and specifiers
Creating great architecture is a highly complex process that requires a very broad knowledge base across hundreds of subject areas. The reality of these projects is that it takes a big team all working to their own strengths in order to deliver a quality result for the clients and end users.
As a product supplier, once your product has been specified, you are part of this team. So it is vitally important that you remember the golden rule of marketing to architects.
You must be transparent and accountable when it comes to building code compliance and testing.
It sounds obvious, and yet even after the tragic events of the Grenfell Tower disaster, some suppliers continue to be evasive around the performance of their product. Suppliers must be up front about exactly what tests their product needs, what tests they have done, and in which circumstances their product should (or should not) be used.
Failure to follow the golden rule can lead to all sorts of disasters for a supplier and the whole project team. It can lead to tarnished reputations, black listings and in the worst case scenarios it can be part of a chain of events that leads to fatalities. No sale is ever worth that.
In the last few weeks, social media posts from professionals within the industry, have highlighted that even well-resourced multinational companies still have representatives breaking this rule.
So make sure that your product testing is correct, up to date and that your representatives are well trained in compliance requirements.
Your long term success depends upon it.