|
Dear
Welcome to this month's edition of the Marketing Newsletter. Once again the uncertainty over construction's future continues, with the ONS revising down its previous output statistics.
This month we give details of ways that Competitive Advantage can help your business as well as a reminder of the importance of the contractor in product specification.
|
| Construction Marketing Activity |
|
Having reported growth in construction for Q2 which many of the industry commentators did not believe, the Office for National Statistics, when issuing its quarter 3 report, has also downgraded Q2. This now shows growth in Q2 of 6.8% rather than the 9.6% they had previously reported. The reported growth for Q3 was 4%, up on the equivalent quarter in 2009. The report shows that new work has increased at about twice the rate of repair and maintenance.
Despite the publication of the government's Comprehensive Spending Review in October there is still a great deal of uncertainty in the sector. As individual departments publish their plans it is becoming apparent that the picture painted by the CSR is more rosy than the reality. The Construction Products Association's most recent trade survey indicates that prospects for construction for the remainder of 2010 are looking increasingly unsure.
In 2011 it is expected that housing will be one of the worst hit sectors. In their latest monthly UK Housing Market survey RICS reported that activity in October had dropped for the fifth consecutive month. Lack of mortgage finance and buyer caution were blamed for this. A view which was supported by Barratt, Bovis and Redrow all of whom reported their performance in the last week or so. Each developer also reported improved revenue or margins and said that they had seen their mix of homes move away from apartments towards increased sales of larger family homes. This reflects the problems first and second time buyers are having securing mortgages, while those with greater equity in their homes can still borrow.
|
| Let us do your Forecasting |
|
When people from the construction industry get together, regardless of the role or sector, a common statement is "I've never been so busy, since we cut back our staff numbers I've twice as much work to do." As the industry starts to recover this problem will become an increasing threat to your business. Opportunities will present themselves and no one will have the time to either see the opportunity or take advantage of it.
To help companies overcome this Competitive Advantage is planning a number of new services for 2011, allowing us to undertake some of these more repetitive - but vitally important tasks.
One of these is a forecasting service. This will take the industry statistics and apply them to a set of factors which relate to your sectors, providing a personalised forecast for your business. This could be done on a monthly, quarterly or even annual basis. We think it will be ideal for the small company that does not have the expertise to do this or the medium to large company which, by sub-contracting this role, can free up resource.
We are still at the product development stage but would like to talk to interested companies. If you think this could be of use to you email chris@cadvantage.co.uk for an initial, no obligation, discussion.
|
| The Expanding Role of Contractors |
The following article by Chris Ashworth was published in the last edition of RIBA Insights Bulletin.
When marketing to specifiers there's sometimes a tendency to focus on architectural and engineering practices and forget about the contractor. But on D&B and PFI projects the architect often works for the main contractor, making them responsible for product decisions. Continued
|
| Sales & Marketing Training in 2011 |
|
We have now scheduled our popular programme of open training courses for 2011. These are ideal for the company with just a few people requiring training and cover a range of sales and marketing subjects. They are held at the Building Centre in London and prices have been held at £295 + VAT. Follow the links for full details of those running next Spring:
Construction Industry Overview: 8th March 2011
The inter-relationships and drivers that make up the construction industry are extremely complex. This course is designed for those new to the construction industry. Providing an industry overview it explains the drivers, influences and structure, the role of Professionals, Contractors and Suppliers and the different marketing segments.
Effective Specification Selling: 15th March 2011
Specification selling has become an extremely complex process with many influences on final product selection. The company which understands who the different specifiers are, what is important to them and the circumstances when they are most important has the greatest chance of sales success.
Key Account Management: 22nd March 2011
As pressures on profitability increase companies need to develop new and imaginative methods of retaining customers. Key account identification and management is a process which does this, while using internal resources effectively.
Each of these courses can also be run as an in-house programme. |
