Information is fundamental to everything we do, in business and all other walks of life. It underpins the opinions people have about us, our products and our businesses.
Quality information is one of the easiest ways to add value to timber and wood-based products. What defines quality is subjective, but may include inspirational promotional material to attract interest in the first place, comprehensive technical and environmental information to enable designers to specify with confidence, plus good after sales support to ensure repeat business. The aim is to ‘delight’ the customer. A recent survey of contractors carried out for Barbour Index showed that information offers the greatest area for improvement by construction product suppliers, interestingly rated significantly more important than price.
In addition to being relevant, it is essential that information is delivered at the time, place and in the format that suits those who want it. Here, the internet is incredibly powerful. Given the choice, architects, engineers and contractors prefer to conduct their product research online – the askTRADA website, for example, attracts 35,000 visitors every month, with more than 20,000 active users, two-thirds of whom are specifiers.
One architect told me that she spent more than half of her working week researching product information. While undertaking initial research, she preferred the ‘anonymity’ of the internet and wanted to engage with sales people only once her initial product selection had been made. Anyone wishing to influence these markets must have a professional online presence – sadly something which is not generally true of the timber industry.
A number of companies do already produce excellent and imaginative information products, however. In recognition of these forward thinkers TRADA is delighted to sponsor again the Best Technical Information Award in the TTJ Awards.
If you use information as a sales tool, whether online or in any other form, why not apply? Just e-mail rscott@trada.co.uk for an entry form. The closing date is July 29.
