"The information you shared stimulated thought, encouraged discussion and gave us all tools to be more productive in our jobs." - Neal Drell, CCPR Building Product Sales Rep & CSI Chapter President

Seminars: Mr. Chusid is a widely-recognized
speaker and seminar facilitator. Included in his purview are lectures, workshops and keynote addresses on industry trends, architectural technology, and building product marketing.

Sales training: Chusid Associates offers sales training programs geared toward improving the performance of building product sales representatives. More than five thousand sales reps have attended our exclusive program, Spĕkt: The Language of Building Product Marketing™. Sales training programs can be customized to meet your specific objectives and the requirements of your sales team.

Freelance Spokesman for Your Company or Industry:  Chusid Associates is available to speak on your behalf at conferences, public relations events and continuing education programs. For example, one of Chusid Associates’ clients has used our services to speak on their behalf at industry conventions and trade association and professional society meetings, and to make continuing education presentations in architectural and engineering offices. In addition to benefiting from his dynamic presence on the speaker’s platform, your message will carry greater credibility when delivered from a third party with the bona fide credentials Chusid Associates provides.

Some of Chusid Associates’ Seminar, Lecture and Presentation topics

Spĕkt: The Language of Building Product Marketing™
The ultimate sales training program for building product sales professionals.

More than two thousand building product sales and marketing professionals have already benefited from Michael Chusid’s insights into the specification selling process. This program hands you the keys to unlock the profit potential of getting into the architect’s, engineer’s, or building owner’s specifications. It also gives you the tools you need to guard against (or make) substitutions.  Stressing a consultative selling approach and the importance of relationships, Chusid demystifies the specification process and shows you how to turn design professionals into your allies and customers.
See the Spĕkt Curriculum to select from among a wide range of topics to meet your specific training objectives. Presentations can range from a one-hour overview of the specification selling process to a full week of non-stop training.

New Media in Building Product Marketing and Sales
Manage and grow your online brand.

New communication and collaboration tools can increase the reach and effectiveness of your sales and marketing, reduce the environmental impact of sales travel, and help control cost of sales. There is now a critical mass of A/E/C firms using these media, and as more tech-savvy architects enter the profession this trend will continue, making these social media powerful B2B tools. Integrating new media into your marketing efforts helps you become a stronger part of your customer’s network and build and protect your online brand.

Specific technologies discussed in this workshop include:

• Making your message go viral
• Networking using LinkedIn, Facebook, and others
• Market research using Twitter
• E-mail blasts and newsletters
• Blogs and Wikia
• Building information modeling (BIM)
• Desktop-to-desktop video conferencing and webinars
• Effective use of cell phone-level internet
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

The workshop will present best practices in online marketing and a technology overview, including specific features and applications useful to sales managers and marketers. Participants will explore current trends and get a preview of where the industry’s headed next.

Online technologies move very quickly, but the construction industry is traditionally a slow adopter of new technology. Understanding these technologies gives building product manufacturers and sales reps a chance to get ahead of the curve.

Marketing with MasterFormat 2004
Understanding the new CSI Format and Making it Work for You.

CSI’s MasterFormat system for organizing construction information has undergone the most drastic revisions in its four decades of use. Instead of 16 Divisions of work, there are now 50, and the five digit section numbers are now up to 10 digits in length. While many building product manufacturers focus on the expense of revising and reprinting product literature, others see sales opportunities and exciting new marketing strategies.

Michael Chusid is on CSI’s MasterFormat Implementation Task Team and train your sales and customer service staff to understand and use the new MasterFormat to open doors at customer offices, and offer tips on powerful ways to mine MasterFormat for new marketing positioning and promotional opportunities. Click here for a preview of what you will learn.

Click here to listen to one of Michael's presentations on MasterFormat to the American Society of Plumbing Engineers.

Heroes of Building Product Sales™
If you come, they will build it.

Architects and engineers win the accolades for their designs, and contractors get to play with the big toys. But nothing gets built without the dedication and hard work of the men and women in the building products industry. From their leading role in the development of new construction materials and methods, to their training and hand-holding of the project team, they are the unsung heroes of today’s construction industry. In this entertaining and inspiring presentation, Michael Chusid introduces us to some of the building product reps and manufacturers who have made a difference in his own life and who have helped build industries and communities as well as construction projects. Along the way, he also shares their strategies and tips for winning more sales and improving your top line. The presentation can be customized to your requirements, and typically requires forty to sixty minutes. Heroes is an ideal after-dinner speech or keynote address for your next conference or sales meeting, and will challenge your team and their guests to make the most of their talents and discover new satisfaction in the work they perform.

Substitution Abuse™
Sounding the alarm about substitutions — and what you can do about them.

Substitutions occur when a different building product is used instead of the product indicated in the construction specifications. While substitutions are a special problem for building product manufacturers, they are also costly to design professionals, building owners, and even contractors. Michael Chusid’s presentation is suitable for everybody in the construction industry and has been presented to the American Institute of Architects and construction trade associations. It delivers an urgent message about the sources of the problem and offers suggestions for what you can do about preventing abuses. And, when substitutions are necessary, it explains the “right” way to handle them to protect the integrity of the bidding process. (40 to 60 minutes recommended.)

Building Product and Construction Industry Trends
Fearless predictions about where the construction industry and your markets are heading.

Drawing upon twenty five years experience monitoring trends in the building industry, Michael Chusid dares to prognosticate about architectural design, the material sciences, construction methodology, business strategy, and the forces that will shape your industry and your marketplace. Sometimes controversial and always thought provoking, this program is a must-attend session for business owners and marketing managers in the building product industry. (30 to 90 minutes recommended.)

Triviafications — The Construction Trivia Game™
Build camaraderie as you kick-back after a long day at a sales meeting or conference.

While Triviafications is patterned after a popular trivia game, it uses the building industry’s Three-Part Specification Format (General, Products and Execution) as its categories?  Typical questions include: “How high is a sump cone?”; “Who ‘shall’ and who ‘will’?”; and “What trade avoids holidays?”. Or questions can be specially modified to your industry. Triviafications is available in a tabletop version (complete with blueprints and project manual instead of a game board) for informal mixers. And its game-show format, staring Michael Chusid as your host, allows regional or departmental teams to compete. Or, for a really exciting evening, pit the home office managers against the field sales reps to see who really knows their stuff. (30 to 60 minutes recommended.)

Winning your Share of North America’s Building Products Market
A postcard from a more than casual tourist on the American scene.

North America remains the largest market for building materials, and presents many opportunities for export, joint ventures, and technology transfer programs. It is, however, a fiercely competitive market and is surrounded by a maze of regulatory and cultural barriers to penetration by foreign manufacturers. Michael Chusid will share insights gleaned from 20 years as a marketing consultant to the North American construction materials industry, and will discuss the opportunities and risks of entering North America and the most successful ways to win your share of the business.

Speak and Be Yourself:  The Art of Communication

The #1 fear in America is speaking in front of a group (dying is #2).

Do you know who you are and how you come across? What personality characteristics do you have that work for/against you? Peel away the layers and explore your true nature to discover what ignites you. Bring together the physical, mental, emotional and social characteristics that make up your personality to create a powerful and persuasive presence.

This training goes beyond teaching competitive communications skills. Emphasizing human performance concepts such as acting skills, we support people in stretching their limits, acknowledging their fears and weaknesses and going beyond their comfort zone in order to rediscover and build on their strengths. Ultimately, we strive to define personal communication with tools that will forever change the way people approach their careers.

We use videotape in a safe, supportive environment to review and enhance the impression you make and to demonstrate dramatic improvement.

Focus areas include:

 Introductions, taking "center stage" and "holding" a room
 Tension & Anxiety: the presenter/speaker’s nightmare
 Instant techniques for alignment and relaxation
 The "Energy Factor": connecting body, emotions and words
 The "Expressiveness Toolbox"
 How you see yourself - how others see you
 In-depth, practical work on your presentation

When giving a command performance
You must be in command of your performance