Educating the Young Professionals

Contributed by Cherise Lakeside

If you already know me, you know that young professional development is an area in AEC that is very important to me.  I have had mentors and guidance throughout my career that has helped me in my growth and success.  I still have amazing people helping and supporting me every day.  Because of that, I feel a burning need to give back what I have been given and help our younger professionals get ahead and succeed.

I have become more and more aware of an area where our young professionals are being neglected at an extremely critical time.  We need to fix this.

A few things happened recently that motivated me to write this blog:

1. I was having lunch with a product rep friend from my CSI Chapter.  I asked why I hadn’t seen him at our firm doing a lunch and learn.  He responded that his product was already in our specs and a product that is widely specified so he didn’t feel the need to come in very often.
2. I attended a conference last month in Miami geared toward pairing product manufacturers with PRINCIPALS in larger firms.
3. I met another product rep at a different conference.  I asked who their product rep was in my area and she told me.  I had never heard of him or seen him at our firm.  My firm has 3 offices and over 300 people, so I found that odd.
4. We get calls from product reps all the time who want to meet with the specifiers or the project managers, but rarely ask to include the designers in those meetings.
5. I have had product reps complain to me that they were disappointed after a lunch and learn because there were no Principals in attendance.
6. I often notice at my CSI Meetings that the product reps are only talking to the most experienced professionals in the room.

 
BREAKING NEWS: Manufacturers, you are missing the boat in a very big way.  You are missing the boat in marketing, you are missing the boat in risk management and you are missing the boat in educating the right people about your product.
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Consider This:

1. There are 75 million Baby Boomers in the workforce that are retiring or preparing to retire.  There are only 45 million Gen X’ers (that’s me) to fill their shoes.  There are 75 million Millennials coming right behind me.  This generational gap is even wider in AEC because we lost so many Gen X’ers during two recessions who never returned.
2. If we have this major gap, who is going to fill the Baby Boomers shoes?  We don’t have enough experienced Gen X’ers to do it.  Somebody is going to have to.
3. What does that leave?  It leaves Millennials.  Millennials have tools and resources that we did not have.  The best and the brightest are well equipped to learn faster and step up into major positions of responsibility 10, 15 and even 20 years earlier than ever before in the AEC industry.  I am already watching it happen, I love it and I embrace it.  I am excited to work side by side with this fresh and exciting group.

So, what does that have to do with Manufacturers?  Why am I writing this blog to you?

Because you are missing the boat!

The millennials don’t know who you are, they are not learning about your products and they are creating risk when they are not educated about your product when they design it into our projects. 

While you are chasing the Principal in any given firm, who by the way rarely choose the products on a project, these young professionals are learning about your few competitors that are smart enough to have a long-term vision and recognize that these young professionals WILL BE THE BOSS very, very soon.

Manufacturers and Product Reps – What do you need to do?

• You need to get out and hit the lunch and learn circuit hard and get our YP’s well versed in the products, how they work, when they should be used and when they should not.  We need this education for our YP’s and L&L’s are the best way to do it.  Most firms have billable time requirements.  Lunch hours are the only time they are given to learn from you.  They are smart enough to have a life after work.  You need to educate them when they can get there.

 

• You need to start including a contingent of these bright YP’s at your events, conferences, seminars and tours.  It may be next year that they are choosing your product over someone else’s.  That Principal that you just invited to the all-expenses paid retreat (who doesn’t choose products) is retiring next year.  Do you know who is taking his or her place?

 

• You need to stop being complacent that you are securely in a firm’s Master Specification and you don’t need to visit them so often.  If I get hit by a truck tomorrow, a younger professional who has never seen you may be taking my place because Gen X specifiers are super hard to find right now.  Have they ever heard of you?  They are bright and are not afraid of change.  It is very likely they will research something else and that comfortable spot you had in our office Master will be gone.

 

• You need to limit risk.  Both yours and mine.  If our YP’s have not had experience or education with your product and they make a mistake in the design or specs, we now have a big problem and we have it together.  We all know that profit-eating hours during construction due to errors, omissions or disputes are not good for anyone.  If there is a failure, it may hurt your product reputation.  If these YP’s are well versed in your product and proper procedures, the risk of failure is much less.

My friends, you not only need to stop ignoring the YP’s with the misguided notion that you can’t sell them anything for many years, but you need to be embracing them, teaching them, inviting them, courting them and supporting their success.  You will be dealing with them much, much sooner than you think. 

​Then again, maybe you won’t.  Your choice!