Altering architects' perceptions of your company

Do you know what specifiers think about your company? Are you their first point of contact for technical enquiries, or are they unaware of your company's many strengths? Chris Ashworth explains the value of measuring architects' and engineers' perceptions, and of using that information to develop your communications strategy.

It's now becoming common practice for companies to conduct annual customer satisfaction surveys, often to meet the requirements of their own quality management programmes. Unfortunately, this means that surveys are limited to direct customers. Only occasionally will manufacturers survey indirect customers. So if the latter includes say, specifiers, that's a potential opportunity for improvement missed. Instead, they may rely upon hearsay from the sales force, or disregard their views completely. Yet there's a wealth of information to be gained from such a customer perception study. Information collected can be used to inform and develop an effective communications strategy, which can then contribute to greater specification and use of your products and services.

The key word here is 'perception'. Just because you are good at something doesn't mean you're perceived as such – particularly by your indirect customer base. Because they have less contact with you they'll also know less about you. To counteract this you need to subtly remind them of your strengths on a regular basis.

When we conduct such research our clients are often surprised by the perceptions held about their business. In one case, the client was considered to be weak in areas of health and safety, yet they had a string of H&S awards – they just hadn't told their customers. Equally important is understanding what's considered good and bad about your competitors, so you can build on and improve your own position. It's important to identify the aspects of performance that are really important to your customers, and focus on your delivery of these. Typically, with architects and engineers this will include easy access to technical support, prompt responses to enquiries, availability of samples and competent specification salesmen.

Once you know what's important to your indirect customers, and what they think about you and your competitors, you can develop an action plan to improve their perceptions. This will probably involve some changes to the service you provide, but may also mean telling them about your strengths in those areas that really matter to them – via project stories, press articles, your website, and via direct contact with your sales team.

A perception study will identify key strengths which need to be built into all of your communications, creating and reinforcing the perceptions you want your indirect customers to hold about your company. In this way you can start to strengthen your position against competitors and improve your chances of getting products specified, and subsequently purchased.

Editor's note

RIBA Insight will soon be publishing the results of a survey into specification practice in the UK. The survey was conducted between late March and early April 2011 and has been devised to gain a fresh perspective into what specifiers are looking for from manufacturers. Register your interest to receive a free copy

 

Author Chris Ashworth is a member of the organising committee for CIMCIG and founder of Competitive Advantage Consultancy, which specialises in market research and training for the construction industry.

 

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