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Monday Morning Building Product Advisor

Neil Sutton

Connecting with architects should be simple. I'm a veteran architect (28+ years) who's been helping architectural product reps get even better at it for 11 years. So we're all working toward a stronger industry. Get the weekly insights by signing up here.

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🏛️ Are you responding to architects, or just reacting?

The Monday Morning Building Product AdvisorIssue #133 3 weeks into design development for a medical office building, we ran into a problem with the curtain wall at the northeast corner. The sill & jamb details weren’t clear. What we’d drawn so far was more hopeful than practical. That morning, I emailed two product reps to ask for cut sheets. The first rep got back to me in 30 minutes. He sent the PDF and wrote a friendly note: “Let me know if you need anything else.” It was quick, clear, and...

about 5 hours ago • 5 min read

The Monday Morning Building Product AdvisorIssue #132 Today's issue is a shorter one. But I thought you'd appreciate a little "insider baseball" about some architectural project stuff you probably don't always get to see or hear about. Last week, a rep called and said, “Whatever happened to that project we helped you out with? I’ve been watching for it so I can submit a quote, but I haven’t seen anything yet…” No it hasn't... but it feelz that way The project isn’t dead, and it hasn’t been...

7 days ago • 3 min read

The Monday Tuesday Morning Building Product AdvisorIssue #131 In the last few issues, I’ve given you tools to highlight the size of a problem. Today, we should probably talk about when to stop. And, come to think of it, I probably should have brought this up sooner. If you’ve taken sales or copywriting training, you’ve probably heard of the PAS (Problem-Agitate-Solve) framework. If not, this should help… A quick breakdown of the PAS framework: Problem: Identify a problem or pain point your...

13 days ago • 6 min read

The Monday Morning Building Product AdvisorIssue #130 Our old pal Frazzled Frank, the product rep, had another tough week. I’m sharing his story not to embarrass the fictional fella. But to show how he blamed the wrong thing. Last week, he met with two different firms and gave the same product presentation. He did a fine job both times. Monday’s meeting went swimmingly. The architects got interested, pulled up a project on their screen, and started asking about lead times and warranty...

21 days ago • 6 min read

The Monday Morning Building Product AdvisorIssue #129 A few weeks back, I pointed out that your product’s best fact is probably already in your technical documents, just waiting for someone to spot it. Today, I have even tougher news for your marketing team: The best sentence for your presentations is already out there. And your team didn’t write it. An architect did. OK, OK... easy now... Let me explain by sharing the most useful headline test I know. Joanna Wiebe, founder of Copyhackers,...

28 days ago • 5 min read

The Monday Morning Building Product AdvisorIssue #128 Let’s walk through a conversation. It’s based on over 100 meetings I’ve had over 29 years as an architect. I use this example to coach reps because the first few minutes show everything important about consultative selling. Our old friend “Frazzled Frank,” the product rep, meets with a project manager at a firm specializing in multi-family projects. Let’s call the PM “Marcus.” Frank has prepared for the meeting and believes balcony...

about 1 month ago • 4 min read

The Monday Morning Building Product AdvisorIssue #127 Last Friday, I said I’d share a story that begins in a jobsite trailer. It’s about a rep whose product was more expensive, but he still ended up winning (…kinda’). The project was an 8-story research building. The elevator and its shaft had glass on one side so people could enjoy the view and the building would look more dynamic. Our firm hadn’t detailed this before, and the elevator code required laminated glass for the shaft wall. We...

about 1 month ago • 3 min read

The Monday Morning Building Product AdvisorIssue #126 In 1958, David Ogilvy’s small agency landed the Rolls-Royce account. He knew this was his big chance. He didn’t brainstorm or gather his team around a whiteboard. Instead, he spent 3 weeks on a task that few in advertising did back then, and even fewer in sales do now. He read. Reading is hard... He read engineering documents, technical reports, and reviews in the motoring press. He did 3 weeks of homework before writing a single word. In...

about 2 months ago • 4 min read

The Monday Morning Building Product AdvisorIssue #125 Let me tell you about two architectural product reps and how each handled the same complaint. An architect who works as a PM at a mid-size firm shared that she had to repeatedly reject submittals in a specific product category. Sometimes, it took 3 or even 4 rounds. Both of the reps in our story sold products in that category. Product Rep #1 did everything by the book. He walked her through his company’s submittal checklist, promised...

2 months ago • 4 min read

The Monday Morning Building Product AdvisorIssue #124 About 15 years ago, I lost 40 pounds. I came in 2nd place in an online challenge that combined dieting and exercise. I was super proud of that… (and still am, a little.) Don’t cheer yet, though. I’ve gained most of it back. But still... stay with me! Because one of the tricks I learned back then lasted much longer than the weight loss. It’s the old, smaller-plate routine. Swap your regular 10- or 12-inch dinner plate for an 8-inch one, and...

2 months ago • 5 min read