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Article: Recognizing hidden treasure: mapping out a strategy for the selling of specifications.
- Article from:
- Doors and Hardware
- Article date:
- February 1, 1993
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1993 Door and Hardware Institute. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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For 30 years, my business life has been influenced by architectural specifications. Early on, as a factory salesman for a hardware manufacturer, this influence took the form of a defensive tactic to get approval to bid. My first territory had specifications dominated by one brand.
The accepted bidding practice was that the existing distributors could bid the specification as specified. I soon realized that if I was going to survive, I would have to influence the market specifications.
Over the years, through persistence in cold calling, I developed relationships with architects and was able to progress from getting approval on projects to ...