Online Distance Learning: An Effective Marketing Tool?

Michael D. Chambers FCSI, FAIA

I recently attended the CSI and AIA national conventions. As an educator and marketer of design professionals, I was amazed by the number of product manufacturers that are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars developing online continuing education. While this is not a bad thing in its own right it appears to me that sales management has lost touch with reality of getting products specified.

Construction product manufacturers are in the business of creating products, bringing them to market, getting them specified, and finally selling and installing the products. In this sales process, what possible good can online education be to the manufacturers and the selling process? I believe that construction product manufacturers are making a strategic mistake in thinking that online continuing education is an effective marketing and sales tool in the specification sales process. It may be an effective educational process but is a total loss when it comes to getting products specified.

Online education is, at best, a branding opportunity for manufacturers. However, the generally poor quality and strongly biased content of the online education currently available to design professionals can not be seen as a positive branding opportunity. Online programs may bring professionals to internet websites but there is no interface or any effective way of measuring how design professionals spend their time at the site when in search of education. A number of online education providers develop and provide education on their websites but that negates any chance that the design professionals might explore the manufacturers website.

In my experience, the most effective marketing to design professionals are sales calls and product exhibits. Face-to-face marketing is, in my opinion, the most powerful and focused way to reach design professionals and the only way to effectively get products specified. Design professionals use and specify products based on relationship and knowledge. Relationship with the manufacturer’s representative and knowledge gained from specific, hands-on education. This is how products get specified and how specifications are held against non-competitive substitutions.

If manufacturers would spend less money on advertising, sales management, and online education and put their money where it would help design professionals there would be a lot less bogus substitutions and poorly crafted specifications. Effectively marketing to design professionals is a ‘boots on the ground’ sales process not the result of expensive ad campaigns and distance education. Even the title says it all, “distance”. Effective construction product marketing is a hands-on, face-to-face sales process.

Now do not misunderstand, I acknowledge the “useful” role of effective advertising and I suppose that sales managers are a necessary adjunct to the sales process but the only thing that helps me do my job is a knowledgeable sales representative, a website where I can find information, and effective marketing tools. Effective marketing tools are guide specifications, technical data sheets, CAD details, case histories, and white papers. Online distance education is of no earthly use to a specifier actively trying to write a project specification section. None, zero, nada...the bottom line is getting specified not educating design professionals.

Professional development continuing education programs provided by knowledgeable product representatives in a design professional’s office or at professional meetings are, in my opinion, the most effective venues for presenting continuing education. Continuing education can be an incredibly powerful marketing tool because it educates design professionals about critical industry issues, is an effective mode of transferring specification knowledge, and most importantly, showcases the product representative’s skills and industry expertise. When I was marketing wood doors it was my industry expertise that got my products specified and my educational and presentation skills that established and showcased those skills.

Woody Allen is quoted as saying, “80% of success is showing up!”. Who shows up with distance education? How does distance education establish relationship? Can a distance education program effectively respond to questions? How does a distance education program effectively assess the level of understanding reflected in the eyes of the audience or in the questions they ask? How does distance education find out what projects are being worked on in the office? How does distance education minimize or prevent substitutions?

In the final analysis, why do so many design professionals attend the AIA and CSI conventions? If the quality and effectiveness of online distance education was any good they would just do that. A single one hour program offered at AIA or CSI is significantly more effective than a dozen online programs. Firm principles attend conventions to get their continuing education credits. I strongly suspect they do not get them online and if they do, who knows, who follows up, who gets specified?

Online distance education is a fact of life in the construction industry education arena. I urge product manufacturers to take a critical look at the effectiveness of online programs in terms of actual specifications obtained and products sold vs. cost of implementation and maintenance. The numbers game that sales management plays with website page hits and the number of subscribers in advertising campaigns have no relationship to how products get specified and if substitutions are prevented. Give me knowledgeable product representatives and effective education presentations and I will guaranty solid specifications that can be held against non-competitive substitutions.

Are you in the construction product manufacturing business to provide professional education or to sell products? It is often hard to tell. My job as a design professional is to specify the appropriate products to satisfy my client’s building program and to protect the public health, safety, and welfare. Continuing education is a minor, but necessary element in my day-to-day professional duties. I need education to be an integral part of the specification process to effective do my job not something in the distance.

Michael D. Chambers, FCSI, CCS, FAIA is Technical Director for SB Architects, San Francisco (415-673-8990) and principal of MCA Specifications, Construction Product Marketing Group (415-239-6566), www.mcaspecs.com