Marketing...

Personal Résumé in PDF Format

Marketing Structural Engineering Services - the Architectural Market...

Foreword:

Armed with thirty four years of practice marketing has always been for me an opportunity to revisit with the question “how structural engineering services are best offered and which industry these services should be targeted to?” - This being the single most difficult thing to determine. Market studies can sometimes help but these are mostly fluent and in constant change. The structural engineer and for that matter engineers in general are poor marketers. For the most part the general engineering populous thinks that marketing is a selection of brochures and advertising materials…"just mail them and wait!" Sadly, this is where sales failure discourages the most motivated.

I learned the process of marketing engineering services from Mr. Irwin G. Cantor, PE. Mr. Cantor Principal of The Office of Irwin G. Cantor in New York was an accomplished businessman and structural engineer and indeed the type of mentor that books are written about. He broke the mold when it came to sales. He seemed to be aware of the problems of the industry and always had a clever solution. This was his tool to convince prominent architectural firm in the Manhattan downtown area to give us their business.

I have mimicked his approach with great success. The area of Light-Gauge Engineering was born out of this very simple but effective philosophy after a careful analysis of the problems plaguing the industry… “Provide the service that your prospective clients don’t even realize they need but when the benefits are enjoyed they suddenly realize they cannot progress without it” I call this “back-door marketing”. Light-Gauge gave way to other areas of service and at the end…I eventually got what I was after in the first place! - The big and glamorous projects that would give me the portfolio from which to grow the business.

My approach to marketing architectural services capitalized on my own design philosophy. The architectural envelop is as important as the skeleton that supports it. While I give it strength the architect gives it function…and my job is to integrate these economically, innovatively, and when the work is done we are both winners! Knowledge is the vehicle of our relationship for it is knowledge that I sell to match the concept of a design’s functionality…that is how our combined efforts produce for the Owners a project that can bring prosperity for the investments made – Simple?…of course it is!

Armed with four and a half years of architectural studies at The University of Miami, before I switched careers to engineering, I have capitalized on my sensitivity to fully understand the values that a creative structural engineer brings to an architectural firm. The added value of engineering technology when carried out innovatively helps mold the architectural signature and enhances the image of the group’s service; very basic but often forgotten. My knowledge of Architectural History and my understanding of design have created a “body” where the “skeleton” resides…knowing the physiology of these two very demanding professions I have developed a natural intuition for structural design…therefore marketing these services has become second nature for me and each new sales still brings the same excitement as the very first... Shown here is the front cover of a proposal that we put together to present our services to the "Crow Indian Reservation in Montana" for the design of The Plains Indian Buffalo Culture Museum in Big Horn County Montana, USA...I am the artist that created the artwork in the front of our package shown here.

Marketing Crane Engineering Services to Companies in Latin America...

My bilingual abilities has played an important role in helping me with the efforts of marketing engineering services abroad. I am completely fluent in both conversational and technical Spanish. I speak, read, and write this language proficiently. During my employ with WECO in Illinois, we needed to extend our crane engineering services to a new growing geographical area – Monterey, México. Shown here is the first slide in a power point presentation that I gave Caterpillar, Inc. in Cancún…the audience was composed of high officials of the company’s representatiing that area of the country.

Marketing Crane Engineering Services to Companies in North America...

Following the same efforts as in México we put together a comprehensive marketing effort to service North America. We targeted the manufacturing, power, mining and heavy machinery industry. Our capabilities reached across all aspects of services, which included, engineering, service and maintenace, fabrication and installation. Shown here are some of the material developed to address the market.

Marketing Light-Gauge Engineering Services to Manufacturing Companies in North America...

Light-Gauge Engineering became a very new market and its viability as an economic resource reached high standing with The Farach Group. We became experts sought after my general contractors throughout the US. The notes on design documents requiring “Signed and Sealed” shop-drawings nailed our required involvement as specialists. This service expanded to the construction industry as an integral part of the contractor’s pre-bid efforts to establish cost of design and materials. The Farach Group extended this service by providing preliminary designs which created possible solutions and their respective steel tonnage for purposes of creating not only a bidding cost but also a viable engineering solution that became the premise of final designs. Our success was extraordinary and our account receivables were happy!

Upon request and for evaluation of marketing efforts this write-up was prepared for WR&A to communicate the current market issues and the opportunities inherent in marketing these services. The engineering of light-gauge cold formed framing as an integral part of the contractual design or as a specialty is being recognized by government agencies as vital for the success of the project's budget. Too often this area of engineering goes unchecked and is simply handled as a commodity in the specifications assuming that others would take care of its design. The ultimate responsibility would then be shifted to the contractor and this almost always culminates in problems in the field now having to be shouldered by the owner…not a smart thing to do for it always reflect poorly on the professionals of record providing for bad feeling with the client, not exactly a good marketing strategy.

Note: I created all of the marketing material shown here...