The Monday Morning Building Product AdvisorIssue #89 $@#%&*!!! Well, that sucked! I was just finishing editing todayās newsletter in Notion when there was a glitch, and I lost the whole thing. Just like that. I tried a few things and couldnāt resurrect the text. So, since it was already 5:00 AM, I had to decide whether I skip today, or come up with something valuable fast. After I kicked my keyboard across the room, crossed my eyes for 5 minutes, slammed the rest of my coffee, I decided Iād...
11 days agoĀ ā¢Ā 4 min read
The Monday Morning Building Product AdvisorIssue #88 You could see it in her body language. She wasnāt typing. Wasnāt taking notes. Wasnāt even pretending to care. Just that glazed-over stare architects reserve for presentations that feel like code compliance checklists. This first product rep had been talking for 6 minutes. Still no mention of the project. No hint he understood the design intent. Just kindaā stuck on thermal bridging coefficients. So I leaned back and watched the inevitable...
18 days agoĀ ā¢Ā 3 min read
The Monday Morning Building Product AdvisorIssue #87 When āgetting it wrongā was the best part When my son was younger, weād read Redwall together at bedtime. If youāve read it, you know the vibe: castles... medieval miceā¦ warrior badgers with the bloodlustā¦ epic battles. But in our house, Redwall was a full-blown performance. Every character had a different voice [ā¦whether it made sense or not!] The hare spoke like a pompous British colonel. The mole mumbled in some mix of Yorkshire farmer...
25 days agoĀ ā¢Ā 3 min read
The Monday Morning Building Product AdvisorIssue #86 Iām sure you know this feelingā¦ I got off the Zoom call with the prospect on a high. The meeting was great, the connection was real, and they loved my ideas. They promised to review my stuff and get back to me about that big project. Seven days later: My polite follow-up met the majestic sound ofā¦ Nothing. [Ah, they must be busyā¦] Another week: I left a friendly voicemail. Crickets. [Cāmon! Not ghosted againā¦] Thatās when I realized I...
about 1 month agoĀ ā¢Ā 6 min read
The Monday Morning Building Product AdvisorIssue #85 Happy Labor Day (if you're in the US or Canada)! Since I'll be relaxing & spending time with my family this weekend (and I'm guessing many of you will be, too), I'll keep today's post short. So, I'll share a handful of links to some things you may have missed. But first, some context: Over the past several months, I've been sharing my thoughts on several psychological triggers from Joe Sugarman's classic book, Triggers. And how you can use...
about 1 month agoĀ ā¢Ā 1 min read
The Monday Morning Building Product AdvisorIssue #84 About 35 years ago, high above the Big Piney River in the Ozarks, I learned how to see in the dark. No night vision goggles. No ninja training. Not a single magic mushroom! Just a strange skill we picked up in Army Basic Trainingā¦ Oblique Visionā¦ Youāve probably done it. You try to see something in the dark (like a coffee tableā¦ a chairā¦ the catā¦). But when you focus on where you think it is, you still canāt see it. ::: stub toeā¦ see redā¦...
about 2 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 3 min read
The Monday Morning Building Product AdvisorIssue #83 In 1997, during my last year of college, I worked for the Iowa Department of Transportation in Ames. One of the projects I worked on didnāt look all that exciting on the surface, but it turned out to be a pretty smart move. I was doing data entry for a new database they created. The facilities department surveyed crews across the state about their construction skills. Not just the job they were hired for. But everything they knew how to doā¦...
about 2 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 5 min read
The Monday Morning Building Product AdvisorIssue #82 A curtain wall rep called me last month, frustrated about losing a project spec heād been working on for 8 months. The product was good, and the price was competitive. He thought he had a solid relationship with the architect. Then, during value engineering, the contractor mentioned they could āprobably find something comparable for less.ā The owner nodded, and that was it. Goodbye spec. Goodbye, project. I call this the Straight-Line Death...
2 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 7 min read
The Monday Morning Building Product AdvisorIssue #81 Last year, I heard Perry Marshall tell a story that made me think of every rep whoās ever called me. He was speaking at a seminar. He asked the audience to stand if they owned shoes. Everyone stood (obviously). Then he started eliminating people: āIf you own five pairs or less, sit down.ā Then 10ā¦ 20ā¦ 40ā¦ 80ā¦ By the time he got to 320 pairs, only one woman was left standing. āHow many do you own?ā he asked. She said: āEight hundred.ā The...
2 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 4 min read