Marketing to Engineers
When we talk of specification selling there is a tendency to think of just the architect, but the engineer is an equally important specifier, who’s role is increase in importance. This is because of the growing complexity of the legislation which is pushing almost every aspect of a building’s design, causing the architects to rely even more on the engineer.
There are two principal stages of a building’s construction when an engineer can become involved. In many cases an engineer, or engineers, will be involved at the concept stage of a building’s design. This could be a Fire Safety Engineer defining the requirements for fire protection, a Structural Engineer looking at wind loading, Building Services Engineer running SAP or SBEM calculations, a Sustainability Consultant for BREEAM calculations or a number of other specialist engineers. At this early stage they tend to focus on concept and do not specify. However, when thinking through that concept, they inevitable have products in mind.
The exception to this is some of the specialist aspects, such as fire or if the building needs to meet special performance criteria to achieve planning approval. Then a nominated product might be involved, which is increasingly the case with sustainability.
Once the engineers have defined the performance specifications for the building it is then the architect’s job to get on with the design, until the engineer becomes involved with the detailed performance of components. This is generally in a support role to the architect, but is still very influential. An Acoustic Engineer might be proposing ways to achieve sound reduction between rooms, or a Facade Engineer selecting a type of cladding. Most involved is the Building Services Engineer who’s role is to design the heating, ventilation and mechanical services. As part of this he will be considering the heating and cooling load on the building and how it will be controlled.
In some cases there is overlap between roles, for example many Building Services Engineer are also Sustainability Consultants. But this is not always the case.
In general, the engineer will write a performance specification. But where there are challenging problems he may well nominate a product, and if this does happen it is much more likely to stay firm. The engineer can also influence the selection of specialist sub-contractors. He may well propose suitable sub-contractors to the main contractor and could also be a member of the team appointing the sub-contractor.
If you manufacture an electrical or mechanical component you have probably been promoting your products to engineers for many years. But many manufacturers have not had the need to contact this important group of specifiers – until now with the advent of sustainability.
Many engineers work in dedicated practices but they will also be based in the larger architect’s practices to provide a comprehensive range of services. Sustainability consultants, who are not required to have a formal qualification, are generally either accredited by CIBSE members or the Carbon Trust.
Engineers obtain product information in much the same way as architects. Using Google, manufacturers websites and product directories. They also rely on journals, although many of these are specialist. CPD is also an important opportunity both for engineers to gain information and for manufacturers to introduce their products and build relationships. Like architects, what engineers want is good quality technical advice. They want to deal with companies who can provide this through technical help desks and competent representatives. When they find a company that meets that need they will stay with it until let down.