Specifiers write specifications under deadline and carry the risk if a product fails. Win them by giving five things: guide specification text, details and BIM objects, performance data with test standards, evidence held and linked, and fast technical help. Then track spec status project by project and support the design team when a substitution is proposed.
Advertising helps specifiers remember you; documents and help get you written in.
How specifications are organized
In North America, most commercial specifications are organized by the Construction Specifications Institute's MasterFormat, which gives each section a number and title. CSI's own MasterFormat FAQs make two points that matter to manufacturers: MasterFormat does not contain specifications or specification templates, and CSI avoids product or company names when assigning titles; if there is no place for your product, a revision can be proposed through CSIResources.org. MasterFormat is used under an end-user license, and CSI's numbers and titles lookup has been taken offline pending a new release, so work from the edition your specifiers use. The practical result: specifiers write their own section text, and a manufacturer who offers good guide text, organized the way their section is organized, saves them time.
Proprietary and performance specifications
A proprietary specification names products, sometimes one, sometimes several with "or equal" or substitution procedures. A performance specification states what the product must achieve and leaves the choice to the contractor within those limits. Manufacturers need both kinds of support: for proprietary specs, being named; for performance specs, making sure the performance criteria your product meets are the ones written down, with test standards that your data covers.
The five things specifiers need
Put all five in a specifier library on your website, one page per product line, with downloads that do not require a sales call:
- Guide specification text organized the way specification sections are organized, editable, with options and notes to the specifier.
- Details and BIM objects in the formats the design team uses, accurate to the products you sell today.
- Performance data with the test standards named, so the specifier can write criteria your product meets.
- Evidence held and linked: EPDs, evaluation reports, certifications and warranties, each dated.
- A technical person who answers questions about a specific project within a working day.
Evidence only as held
In the USA, an ICC-ES Evaluation Report presents the findings of a technical evaluation of a building product and verifies compliance with code requirements such as the International Building Code and International Residential Code. An Environmental Product Declaration is published through a program operator such as EPD International, against Product Category Rules. Name an evaluation report by number and link it, link a published EPD and state its scope and validity, and list certifications you hold today; never imply one you do not have.
Environmental claims in specification content follow the FTC's Green Guides, which treat general environmental benefit claims as hard to substantiate and set rules for recycled content, renewable materials and certifications. For EU projects, the European Commission's Construction Products Regulation page covers the declaration of performance and conformity and CE marking that specifiers there expect. If you sell in Canada, check which Canadian evaluation specifiers expect and state only what you hold.
Reaching specifiers
Specifiers find manufacturers through their own libraries, colleagues, product representatives, search and LinkedIn. Make the specifier library easy to find in search for the performance requirement it answers, with pages written by people who know the product; Google's helpful content guidance asks whether a page shows first-hand expertise. On LinkedIn, ad targeting reaches members by job title, company, industry and seniority, which suits specification writers and project architects at firms that design your building types. Your representatives' technical presentations to design firms remain one of the most direct routes, and the library is what they leave behind.
Substitution: holding the line
After a product is specified, a contractor may propose a substitution for price or availability. Specifiers decide whether to accept it, often under time pressure. Help them hold the specification with evidence: a clear comparison against the performance criteria, the documents that show your product meets them, availability and lead time for the project, and a technical person who can answer the design team quickly. Never disparage the substitute; show the specifier why the original choice was sound.
Track spec status, project by project
Keep a record of each project where your product is specified, named as an option, or under consideration, with the design firm, the specifier, the expected bid date and the contractor once known. Hand specified projects to sales and distributors before bid, so the contractor knows where to buy. Review substitutions won and lost each quarter, and the reasons.
How to measure it
Each quarter: projects specified, named as an option or lost, by product line and region; specifier library downloads by product and by firm where known; technical questions answered and response times; substitutions defended and lost; and orders traced to specified projects. Downloads are a leading signal; specifications and orders are the result.
If you want it built with you
PromotEdge International is an international strategy, technology, marketing and design company, and our delivery team is in India. Building products clients we have worked for include Viva Composite Panel and Crescent Foundry. That work was for their business in India and was delivered by our team there. Our building products marketing service and content marketing pages describe the work. This guide is general information, not legal advice; code and product rules in your markets apply.
Facts we rely on: see our company facts for what we state about ourselves and where each fact comes from.