TECHNOLOGY & EQUIPMENT
assistant to technologist , practice to practice , because he was useful .
Now there are thousands of people like Richard Gay in construction product companies . We need to maintain valuable relationships with useful people like Richard Gay , and today as well as keeping his email address and phone number , we can connect with such useful people on LinkedIn .
Using LinkedIn LinkedIn is an online directory of people we know , which stays with us throughout our career ; whether we move practice , change address or move into a different sector . Using
LinkedIn we can also recommend useful people in public or in private by forwarding their profiles to our contacts , for example . We can keep in touch with the useful product rep even if he moves to another company , and he can keep in touch with us without having to interrupt our busy day .
But what if you don ’ t know someone
useful who can help you with your complex cladding challenge or finding a responsibly sourced light fitting ? Talking to manufacturers directly can be useful , but we need to find the right person with the right technical knowledge . We don ’ t want to end up hanging on the phone or giving our email address away to a load of useless contacts .
Using Twitter Some architects are using Twitter to ask specific questions from manufacturers and get introduced directly to the right person or the right information . One of these is Ming Cheng who works for Burrell Foley Fischer Architects in London . Like many architects of his generation , Ming frequently asks questions of product companies on Twitter – why ? Because it ’ s easy , safe and doesn ’ t take him long . The question sits there in the air , sometimes for days , sometimes for a few minutes . Then someone replies , and their reply tells us all so much about the company he ’ s contacted .
Ming recently contacted two
12 January 2016