The Monday Morning Building Product Advisor
Issue #133

3 weeks into design development for a medical office building, we ran into a problem with the curtain wall at the northeast corner.

The sill & jamb details weren’t clear. What we’d drawn so far was more hopeful than practical. That morning, I emailed two product reps to ask for cut sheets.

The first rep got back to me in 30 minutes.

He sent the PDF and wrote a friendly note: “Let me know if you need anything else.” It was quick, clear, and exactly what I asked for.

The second rep replied around lunchtime with a similar PDF. He also wrote, “Is this the corner at the north entry? If the thermal performance is what’s bugging you, we ran into the same thing on a clinic in Michigan, and I’ve got the detail our engineer ended up with.”

You can probably guess which rep I called the next time I had a problem.

I bet you’re thinking the first rep didn’t do anything wrong. He was quick [30 minutes!]. He’d probably say that’s his strength, and his inbox would prove it.

But he was just reacting. I asked, and he answered without thinking beyond my request.

When you only react, the architect is the one deciding what happens next.

Reacting is automatic.

You get a request, you answer it as it comes, and then move on. Speed can seem like good service, so it’s easy to mix them up. You could reply to every email in 30 minutes and still be seen as just an order-taker for years.

Responding means you take a moment to think before you act.

In that pause, you figure out what’s really needed, instead of letting the email decide for you. Viktor Frankl is often credited with the idea of a space between stimulus and response. Even if he didn’t say it exactly that way, the idea still makes sense.

The version people usually share is:

“Between stimulus and response lies a space. In that space lie our freedom and power to choose a response. In our response lies our growth and our happiness.”

For most product reps, this difference shows up more often than you might expect.

Where the difference shows up

Cut sheet requests: When architects ask for a cut sheet, it’s rarely just about the document. There’s usually something else dancing around in our head.

• The reacting rep just sends the file.
• The responding rep sends the file & checks to see what’s really going on.

Losing a spec: If your competitor gets specified and you don’t, there could be a few reasons why.

• Reacting might mean saying, “Keep me in mind for the next one,” or lowering your price on the next bid to make up for it.
• Responding means making a quick call to ask what made the difference.

Maybe it was the lead time, or maybe their BIM files worked better than yours.

You don’t know until you ask. But make sure you ask the right way…

I had one case where the owner decided who to accept. One reacting rep emailed me in all caps and exclamation points, something like, “WHY DID YOU SPECIFY THEM AND NOT US ON THE XYZ PROJECT!!!”

His tone annoyed me, but I responded to his reaction by taking the weekend before replying. I let him know our firm still liked his product and would keep specifying it. A 5-minute phone call would’ve told him it wasn’t my decision.

We don’t often see a rep handle a loss by responding, but we remember you when you do.

Substitution requests: When the GC calls you asking for a cheaper option.

• Reacting means just giving them the downgrade because a sale is still a sale.
• Responding means calling the architect before the substitution request even comes in and saying something like, “The contractor’s asking about swapping this. Here’s what you’d lose in the design, and here’s an option that keeps most of it.”

I’ve seen a single phone call turn a vendor into our go-to rep for future projects. You protected our design intent when no one else was paying attention.

Field issues: When something goes wrong on site.

• Reacting means waiting until we hear about it from the contractor, then explaining why it wasn’t your fault.
• Responding means telling us first, with a solution already in progress.

We can forgive problems, but we’re not as quick to forgive surprises.

The real test comes during quiet weeks

All those examples are about moments that someone else starts.

The real trap of being an order-taker happens when nothing is happening. When no architect is calling, the reacting rep just waits. They might chase contractors, quote anything that comes in, and call it a slow month.

But if you’re a responding rep, you use that downtime to give architects a reason to call you later.

You check ConstructConnect for projects coming up, and notice which firms just hired project architects, since that usually means new work. Or you send a helpful detail or resource without asking for anything in return.

That’s what really makes the difference. Responding isn’t just about handling a moment well. It’s about being ready so you know what to do when the moment comes.

The 20-second version

If you take one habit from this, make it this one:

Before you send anything to an architect, ask yourself, “What might this person need that they didn’t ask for?”

That’s all it takes. About 20 seconds. That’s the gap between reacting and responding.

Some days, the honest answer is that they just need the PDF, so send the PDF. But more often than you’d think, the answer is a question you can ask or a detail you already have from another project.

The rep who replied in 30 minutes is still in my contacts. I just don’t think to call him anymore.

Here’s a 5-question checklist you can use before you answer an architect:

1. Which project is this for? If you don’t know, that’s your first question to ask. A cut sheet request without a project attached is an opportunity you haven’t explored yet.
2. What phase is it in? A request during schematic design means the architect is still deciding. The same request during construction documents usually means something’s broken and the drawings are due next Friday.
3. What’s probably bothering them? Make your best guess at the real problem behind the request. Is it a sill detail, thermal break, lead time, or budget? You’ll be right more often than you think, and even if you’re wrong, asking shows you care about their project.
4. What do I already have that would help? Maybe a detail from another job, a photo of a tricky install, or your installer’s notes on that exact condition. It’s probably in a folder you haven’t opened for a year or two.
5. Who else is about to get involved? The general contractor, the owner, the installer. If the architect is going to hear about a substitution, a lead time change, or a site problem, they should hear it from you first.

If you only do one of these, make it #3. That’s the one the rep who replied in 30 minutes missed.

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That's it for this week!

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

Neil 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 would like me to present at an upcoming group meeting, get in touch, and let’s talk!

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