For the past year and a half, I have had the pleasure of working with an incredible group of AEC marketing and business development leaders as a member of the Board of Trustees for the SMPS Foundation, the nonprofit research arm of the Society for Marketing Professional Services.
The Foundation’s 2018 research project will explore the brain science behind client decision making behavior. That is, why do your clients—real estate developers, building owners, university leaders, school district officials, healthcare operators, etc.—make the decisions they do? And how, as an AEC firm, can you better tailor your services, marketing, and communications to more effectively influence your clients and better meet their needs?
Here’s a synopsis of the research project:
Within the AEC industries, our clients, both public (i.e., local, state, provincial, federal entities) and private, are responsible for making decisions regarding which companies they will hire to design and build their projects. As the market continues to become more competitive, we are interested in understanding and reacting to the science behind decision making—how brains work subconsciously and emotionally, and rationalize one service provider over another with stats and scoring, for example. The researcher(s) for this project should also explore and present any other components of decision-making and how service providers can affect the outcome of choices their clients make.
This is the type of important business research that is absent in our market. All AEC professionals could benefit from its findings and recommendations.
The Foundation has composed a formal FRP in search of research groups and neuroscience experts who are interesting in taking on this important study.
If you are interested in learning more or submitting an RFP for this funded research project, please email me at dbarista@sgcmail.com. Thanks!
Related Stories
| Feb 2, 2012
Call for Entries: 2012 Building Team Awards. Deadline March 2, 2012
Winning projects will be featured in the May issue of BD+C.
| Feb 2, 2012
VLK Architects selected for new Cypress, Texas elementary school
The Bridgeland Elementary School will be a new prototype school for the District. Designed to meet the requirements of The Collaborative for High Performance Schools.
| Feb 2, 2012
Mortenson Construction to build 2.4 MW solar project in North Carolina
Located on a 12 acre site in the Sandhills region, the 2.4 megawatt (MW) system is expected to generate approximately 3.5 million kilowatt hours (kWhs) of clean electricity on an annual basis.
| Feb 2, 2012
Shawmut Design and Construction launches sports venues division
Expansion caps year of growth for Shawmut.
| Feb 2, 2012
Fire rated glazing helps historic university preserve its past
When the University embarked on its first major addition since the opening of Hutchins Hall in 1933, preserving the Collegiate Gothic-style architecture was of utmost importance.
| Feb 2, 2012
Delk joins Gilbane Building Co.
Delk to focus on healthcare construction programs and highly complex higher education facilities for Gilbane Building Company’s Southwest region.
| Feb 2, 2012
Next phase of construction begins on Scripps Prebys Cardiovascular Institute
$456 million Institute will be comprehensive heart center for 21st Century.
| Feb 1, 2012
Increase notched in construction jobs, but unemployment rate still at 16%
AGC officials said that construction employment likely benefited from unseasonably warm weather across much of the country that extended the building season.
| Feb 1, 2012
Replacement windows eliminate weak link in the building envelope
Replacement or retrofit can help keep energy costs from going out the window.
| Feb 1, 2012
‘Augmented reality’ comes to the job site
A new software tool derived from virtual reality is helping Building Teams use the power of BIM models more effectively.
