The Monday Morning Building Product Advisor
​Issue #124

About 15 years ago, I lost 40 pounds.

I came in 2nd place in an online challenge that combined dieting and exercise. I was super proud of that… (and still am, a little.)

Don’t cheer yet, though. I’ve gained most of it back.

But still... stay with me! Because one of the tricks I learned back then lasted much longer than the weight loss. It’s the old, smaller-plate routine. Swap your regular 10- or 12-inch dinner plate for an 8-inch one, and you’ll eat less. Not because you’re white-knuckling it at every meal… It's because the plate does the work for you. You fill what you have, and then you’re done.

And it really worked well.

Even after I quit exercising and returned to my old eating habits (that’s a whole other Oprah episode), I still used the small plate. I even went smaller and started using small bowls for cereal.

And that’s where it all fell apart.

The small bowl was too small for both cereal and milk. I kept overfilling it, and one morning, I filled it so much that it spilled on the carpet. And nobody likes spilled milk on the carpet...

So I made a “smart” adjustment. I got a bigger bowl, but I’d only fill it 3/4 full. Still eating less, but no more spills. Problem solved, right?

You probably already know what happened.

I started adding a little more to the bowl each morning. It just kinda snuck up on me. 3/4 became 13/16, then 7/8, and on and on. Now, I fill that big bowl as high as I can without spilling, and I can’t really point to exactly when I made that choice.

Because I never did. I failed one reasonable-sounding step at a time.

Now, hold onto that thought, because it’s what we’re talking about today.

Now picture your Monday morning

You open the CRM. Or the spreadsheet. Or that legal pad with the firm list you’ve been meaning to type up.

Whatever! Your tracking method isn't that important right now. But someone gave you a territory when you started this job. Maybe it’s 200 firms, maybe 400. I’d guess that at some point, probably without ever realizing it, you decided the whole list was your responsibility. Every firm on it became someone you felt you had to work with.

That list is your "big bowl."

Nobody told you to fill it to the top. They just gave it to you. And you did what I did with my cereal: you filled it up simply because there was space.

So now your week looks like this:

• You call a firm you barely know
• Drop in at one that’s never shown interest
• And then send emails to twenty more new ones

And those emails have to be generic because you can’t know 20 new firms well enough to say something unique to each.

And by Friday, you’ve contacted a lot of names but made almost no real progress.

Meanwhile, the 25 firms that actually fit you (right project types, right size, a real door in) got the same thin slice of your week as the 175 that never will.

That’s the trade-off, right there.

Your hours don’t increase when your list gets bigger; they just get spread out. You end up stretched thinner across more firms, so no single architect gets enough of your attention to make a difference.

Picking your firms is the easy part

I'm sure you’ll do the hard work of narrowing your list, feel good about it, and maybe even write it down somewhere official-looking.

And then you’ll quietly un-narrow it without noticing.

It happens just like it did with my bowl. A firm you weren’t targeting sends an inquiry, and it seems reasonable to go after it. A friend mentions a firm that might be worth checking out, so it feels reasonable to add it. If your numbers dip one quarter, suddenly chasing volume feels safer than focusing.

Reasonable. Reasonable. Reasonable.

6 months later, you’re spread across your entire region again, wondering why all your connections feel so shallow.

It wasn’t a conscious decision to chase every architect in your market.

You just filled the bowl a little higher each time.

We can tell which bowl you’re eating from

When you're stretched across too many firms, it shows in everything that lands on an architect’s desk.

The outreach is generic. You pitch us products for building types we don’t work on. You forget we’re a healthcare firm and you lead with a retail case study [this happens more than you’d think]. You open with “just checking in” because you’ve got nothing specific to say…

…and you’ve got nothing specific to say because we’re one of 80 firms you’re half-tracking.

But if you make me part of your “small bowl”? That starts to feel different. You remember the project I mentioned last time. You know our work before you walk in. You send the one thing that’s actually relevant instead of the blast you sent to everyone else.

A small-bowl rep never has to tell me they specialize in firms like ours.

I already know, because it’s in every single touch.

So what do you actually do?

It’s really just a two-step process. That’s it. [I don’t want to bury you in another 10-step system this week.]

1) Leave room on purpose.

Remember, I only filled that bigger bowl 3/4 of the way for a reason… to leave slack. Do the same with your list. Don’t run it at 100% capacity. Make sure to leave room. That way, when a firm heats up around a live project, or a great-fit architect comes your way, you’ll have the hours to handle it well.

A maxed-out list has no room for the opportunity that matters.

2) Weigh your "bowl" regularly

I never noticed my bowl filling because I never measured it. You won’t notice your list bloating either unless you count it. Tally your active targets twice a year and ask yourself one question:

"Did I decide to be here… or did I slowly drift here?"

If you set out to focus on 25 firms and you’re all of a sudden tracking 70, that’s a spill waiting to happen.

A few tells to watch for:

• If you notice you have a firm you keep “just checking in” with, it’s usually a sign your bowl’s too full. Fewer firms mean you’d actually have something to say.

• Slack isn’t laziness. The 3/4 rule lets you go all in when a real project window opens.

• Saying ‘I need volume’ comes from the same instinct as wanting a bigger bowl. So, be honest with yourself. Has it ever actually made you feel more satisfied?

🔔 RESOURCE ALERT: I built you a one-page worksheet for defining your target market (your “bowl”). It covers project types, firm size, geography, and how you actually get in the door. It’s how you decide who belongs on your list before scope creep sets in.

Reply with BOWL, and I’ll send it over.​
​That's it for this week!

Here's to building more than just buildings, and see you next week,

Neil "still-overfillin-and-spillin-it"Sutton
​Architect | Speaker | The Product Rep Coach

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P.S. Do you really want inside an architect's head?

When you’re ready, there are 3 ways you can start working with me:

• Product reps: If you want to be better at connecting with architects, reply, and let's chat.
• Business owners or Team Leaders: You can book an Architect Connections Training for your team. Reply, and I'll send you the details.
• Speaking: If you need me to present at an upcoming group meeting, get in touch, and let’s talk!

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