Freya Oxton-Grant
CPD stands for Continuing Professional Development and is the term used to describe the professional learning activities available in multiple industries to develop their learning and abilities.
Taking part in a CPD promotes proactive and conscious learning which is the most effective way to develop the skills of professionals in their careers. CPDs can be carried out in various formats from workshops to conferences, digital webinars to in-person training events. The main aim is to enable professional development and share best-practice techniques.
It’s widely known that, for architects and design professionals, CPD is a vital part of career development. Many professional institutes (such as RIBA) now require members to undertake a minimum number of CPD hours each year.
As a building products manufacturer, there are a variety of ways you can build relationships with your prospects through CPD. This article aims to highlight how you can effectively engage specifiers with your very own CPD.
Why is CPD Important for Architects?
The importance of CPD, according to RIBA, is to help architects “stay up to date, competent, professional, capable and resilient while also enabling them to learn new skills and specialisms.”
Because of this, it is often a requirement of being a member of such professional organisations and institutes. For example, RIBA architects are obliged to undertake a minimum of 35 hours of CPD a year (around 45 minutes a week).
This means CPD is incredibly important for architects to ensure they maintain their status as well as prove they are engaging and learning from the latest architectural advancements.
Why Should my Building Product Brand Produce a CPD?
Providing CPD training and seminars can benefit your building product business in numerous ways.
Firstly, it can generate increased recognition and improve your brand perception. This can effectively translate to greater sales and increased specifications from architects and construction professionals as they will turn to your brand as the trusted advisor in your sector.
Secondly, it can give you an opportunity to communicate the benefits of your products and showcase them in situ. This will be more memorable to architects than if they just read about you elsewhere as you have the floor to explain it as a solution in full.
Finally, CPD sessions are open to any architects who sign up, meaning your CPD might be the first time an architect interacts with your business. This means CPDs can open you up to a wider audience of specifiers so you can get in front of them and build a relationship that you can continue into the future.
What about Digital CPD’s?
Digital CPDs, whether online webinars or on-demand digital classes, are a great way for building product manufacturers to deliver CPD to their audience of architects and design professionals.
As we’re all aware, the recent upheaval of COVID-19 has forced many of us to change the way we work. In many cases, this has prompted us all to adopt a more ‘digital’ approach to how we work.
Signing up for a digital CPD can be an easier and more inclusive way to get your CPD in front of a wider audience than if you were travelling to architect’s practices and delivering it face to face.
Moreover, a CPD that can be accessed any time, any day, online is something that is greatly appealing to the modern-day architect. If they haven’t got time to complete the full CPD, they can come back to it at a later time. What’s more, hosting your CPD on your website is a great way to capture potential leads, enabling you to build and nurture relationships.
However, getting your Digital CPD right (and even approved) is not an easy task, and will require certain considerations. Fortunately, we have a variety of informative articles on how to develop an effective digital CPD. Click here to find out more.
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Technical Reports & Industry Literature as CPD
A technical report or some form of industry literature can also be classed as CPD for an architect or design professional. As experts within your field, you can put your knowledge together in one comprehensive technical guide for your prospects to benefit from.
However, when talking about your building product or solution within your CPD you should avoid turning it into a sales pitch. By doing so, you’re discrediting your entire seminar.
Construction professionals who attend CPDs aren’t there to be sold to; their main aims are to improve their professional practice.
How To Talk About Your Building Product Objectively
Sharing your industry knowledge and expertise on a specific topic may involve you referencing a key product that could help solve common problems/issues that your audience faces.
You must highlight a range of solutions available in the market and present a balanced overview. Yes, your product may be incorporated into these solutions, but you shouldn’t be overly biased towards it.
Being objective means highlighting the pros and cons of a range of solutions to common problems. It also means being transparent, too. Highlight what your product can’t do, as well as its benefits.
Sharing case studies towards the end of your CPD is an effective way to give context to your product/solution, without being pushy and biased.
When it comes to CPDs for architects, it all about educating and creating value for your audience.
How Can Insynth Help You With Your RIBA CPD?
At Insynth, we can help you to create a highly effective, well-structured digitised CPD for your building product business. If you’d like any more information on how we can transform your CPD, allowing you to gain trusting relationships, promote your expertise and ultimately – increase specification, talk to an expert at Insynth today or feel free to check out our CPD creation service.
We can also help you when it comes to gaining CPD approval from RIBA, a traditionally complex and complicated process.
Ensuring you have a clear execution plan will be key to getting the most out of your endeavours. Once you’ve agreed upon your goals and objectives, why not get Insynth to help you out with the heavy lifting? Our packages include scriptwriting, video conversion, voiceovers, online submission and much more. So, get in touch today to discuss your options further.
About Insynth
At Insynth we deliver a predictable flow of leads, customers, and specifications for building product brands through our inbound marketing approach, proven to reach a technically demanding audience.
We use the latest marketing techniques such as construction inbound marketing, to equip building product companies to grow sustainability in this era of digital transformation.
As the only HubSpot certified agency to major in construction marketing. We have a proven formula of bringing a variety of functionalities together including CRM Implementation, Web Design, Sales Automation, SEO, and Email Marketing to achieve your ultimate aim: Growing your business and gaining new specifiers and customers.