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
| Aug 11, 2010
Potomac Valley Brick launches brick design competition with $10,000 grand prize
Potomac Valley Brick presents Brick-stainable: Re-Thinking Brick a design competition seeking integrative solutions for a building using clay masonry units (brick) as a primary material.
| Aug 11, 2010
HDR, Perkins+Will top BD+C's ranking of the nation's 100 largest healthcare design firms
A ranking of the Top 100 Healthcare Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
29 Great Solutions for the AEC Industry
AEC firms are hotbeds of invention and innovation to meet client needs in today's highly competitive environment. The editors of Building Design+Construction are pleased to present 29 "Great Solutions" to some of the most complex problems and issues facing Building Teams today. Our solutions cover eight key areas: Design, BIM + IT, Collaboration, Healthcare, Products, Technology, Business Management, and Green Building.
| Aug 11, 2010
Permanent tribute to Daniel Burnham and his Plan of Chicago proposed for Grant Park Museum Campus
The first-place winner of a design competition for a public memorial celebrating Daniel Burnham's impact on Chicago will be announced at a news conference Wednesday, July 8, at 10am CDT. The proposed site for the memorial is on the Museum Campus just north of The Field Museum. The announcement comes after nearly two years of planning by Chicago's architecture, design and urban planning community about how to best honor the legacy of Burnham and the Plan of Chicago he co-wrote with Edward Bennett.
| Aug 11, 2010
Arup, SOM top BD+C's ranking of the country's largest mixed-use design firms
A ranking of the Top 75 Mixed-Use Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Populous selected to design 'crystalline skin' stadium for 2014 Winter Olympics
Russian officials have selected global architect Populous to design the main stadium for the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia. The 40,000-seat stadium will feature a crystalline skin that "engages with its surroundings by day and provides an iconic representation of the color and spectacle of the games when illuminated at night," said Populous senior principal John Barrow.