For building product manufacturers, developing trust with architects is essential in getting specified. To do this effectively it is crucial you understand what architects want from your brand and how you can influence their decision throughout the specifier journey.
Read on to find out more...
Seeing your customers as statistics rather than human beings is detrimental to the building trust and the success of your business, view them instead as people trying to find a solution to a problem. You need to establish trust because:
Happy customers make your brand credible and trustworthy to other specifiers who are considering a building product solution. I know what you’re thinking, isn’t that standard? Let me delve a little deeper.
On all construction projects there will be a BOM created. A BOM (Bill Of Materials) breaks down every component needed to manufacture a product. Now, within that there are two sub-categories: Multilevel bill of materials, and single-level bill of materials.
If you assumed multilevel BOM is a fully comprehensive list of products and a single-level BOM is a rudimentary version, you’d be right.
A BOM outlines the quantity cost, product code, and other information. BOMs helps architects plan material purchases, estimate cost, and reduce waste.
The information in the BOM is then shared with all business systems involved in ordering and building the product… This is where you will receive information if you have been shortlisted. It’s here where you may need to propose the benefits of your product over that of your competitor.
So, how is trust and a BOM connected? Let me explain.
BOM’s are put together by architects and engineers… Most likely the people who specify building product brands like your own. When shortlisted for one, if your brand delivers in all aspects claimed by yourself and required by your customers then you’ll more than likely to receive more specifications from those architects in the future.
This is why some of your competitors may have unshakably loyal customers due this one factor. Trust.
There are many ways you can build trust between you and your customers, and not all are expensive... Most are completely free. The most useful ways to establish trust with your customers is as follows:
Do not assume your product is right for every architect or customer, this helps ensure your product is right for the project while building credibility and trust with the architect. You’ll occasionally find architects return with a better suited project for your business because of this transparency.
Ensure your business is as secure as possible. If you sell your products online you need to ensure your website offers secure payments, otherwise people will refuse to pay as well as spreading their negative experience with your brand.
Sign up to as many relevant social media accounts as possible. Try to ensure you social media accounts are authentic as well as helpful, active, and showcase your expertise. Nowadays 80% of the buying process in conducted online, so make certain your accounts are relevant and helpful to your customers needs. Think. What’s the first thing you do when you find an interesting brand? If you’re like me, you visit their website and social accounts then evaluate your options before even picking up the phone to call.
Have a professional website which caters to the needs of architects, customers and specifiers. 47% of visitors expect websites to load in less than 2 seconds, so in having a slow site you lose half of your visitors instantaneously. A few quick fixes for page load times are:
Let’s recap. Running a business isn’t solely about churning a profit and lifting your bottom line, building product success is based on your customers and how they perceive you: Listen to them, consider ways you can make their lives easier and in turn they’ll become brand cheerleaders promoting your brand far and wide.
About Insynth
At Insynth we deliver a predictable flow of leads, customers, and specifications for building product brands through our inbound marketing approach, proven to reach a technically demanding audience.
We use the latest marketing techniques such as construction inbound marketing, to equip building product companies to grow sustainability in this era of digital transformation.
As the only HubSpot certified agency to major in construction marketing. We have a proven formula of bringing a variety of functionalities together including CRM Implementation, Web Design, Sales Automation, SEO, and Email Marketing to achieve your ultimate aim: Growing your business and gaining new specifiers and customers.