www.cadvantage.co.uk

What we do

Working with you to develop and Implement a winning business strategy

Implementing the marketing mix

Support services

Sustainability strategy

Developing new channels to market

Developing export markets

Tailored training or open coursesSelling to Specifiers

Key Account Management

Marketing in the construction industry

Industry overview

Industry sales skills

Tailored projects or a range of off-the-shelf reportsCustomer perception measurement

Customer satisfaction

Customer profiling

Market and product evaluation

Bespoke or ‘off the shelf’ reports

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How we do it

Helping you grow profitability through customer focus by:

facilitating improvements in your sales and marketing activities

researching your customer needs

training and mentoring your commercial team

helping you develop and implement strategy

We aim to provide high quality information at an affordable cost.

www.cadvantage.co.uk

www.cadvantage.co.uk

Founded in 1999 by Chris Ashworth, Competitive Advantage specialises in providing marketing and sales services for the construction sector.

Our specialist team all come from within the construction sector with experience in sales, marketing or engineering.

Their commercial experience means that we are informed about current issues, familiar with the industry's language and practices and understand the challenges you and your customers face.

We aim to provide high quality information at an affordable cost.

Who we are

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Over 30 years experience in construction sector

Held senior sales & marketing positions with Blue Chip companies

UK and International experience

Founded Competitive Advantage in 1999

Member of the Promotional Working Group of the government’s Green Construction Board

Committee member of CIMCIG, Chartered Institute of Marketing Construction Industry Group

Formally Associate Lecturer in Marketing at Oxford Brookes University

Regular contributor to industry journals

BSc (Hons) DipM FCIM Chartered Marketer

Chris Ashworth

www.cadvantage.co.uk

Construction Marketing

Construction Research

Specification Sales

Sustainability

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Specialist Competencies

Industry Knowledge

Our on-going research activities give us an extensive and up-to-date understanding of industry issues.

This can help us to quickly assimilate a client’s challenges and propose an effective solution.

www.cadvantage.co.uk

Although UK based, we have a number of international partners we work with. These can support us with international research projects as well as providing local knowledge

Members of our team have worked overseas during their careers giving them an understanding of international practices

Countries in which Competitive Advantage has conducted research or delivered training include:

Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Latvia, Netherlands, USA

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International Experience

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Bricks & BlocksCeramic TilesCladdingElec. ComponentsCladdingEnergy CablesFibre CementFire AlarmsFire Resistant BoardsGlazingMirrorHeating SystemsPlumbingRoof TilesSuspended CeilingsThermal InsulationThermoplasticsTimber JoistsWall Boards

Product Experience

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www.cadvantage.co.uk

Competitive Advantage has several core strengths which it applies to the projects it works on.

Key to this is recognising what contributes to customer value and delivering this.

Helping you grow profitability through customer focus.

Invest in relationships

Maintain and develop relationships

Minimum effort and high prices

Maintenance and Consistency

Customer Attractiveness

Customer Relationship

Low

Low

High

High

Key Customers

Core Strengths

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A thorough understanding of the specification process

Understanding the changing role of influencers in the project process

Understanding the different buyer/seller relationships

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Client ArchitectConsultant

Engineer

Contractor Subcontractor

Defined aesthetic and

functional needs, may

define product requirement

Assesses risk or need and then defines performance requirement

Will focus on his specialism

and may disregard other performance requirements

Advised by specialist

consultants and sub-

contractors. May define

performance specification

or list products.

Selects sub-contractor based on capability,

availability and price.

Interprets requirement of

the design team.

May influence selection of

product.

Decides product based

on specification

and installation factors. May

be responsible for design. Will select supplier

based on delivery,

locality and price.

Core Strengths

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Practical approach with support in implementation – if required

Can be one-off project or on-going support

Mentoring can be used as part of implementation to reduce costs and transfer skills in-house

Activities include:Project managementBusiness re-brandingKey account managementSpecification & technical salesInterim marketingChannel managementMarketing audit

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Consultancy

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Researching and writing project stories and case studiesUp to date examples of company success are important in demonstrating capability and competence to potential customers.

Maintaining web and blog sitesYour website should act as the face of your company to the market. It needs to be kept up to date to avoid giving the impression of a tired organisation and ensure you have good search engine rankings, reducing the chance of potential customers finding your company.Publishing regular blog articles presents your company as a Though Leader as well as feeding enquiries to your website.

NewsletterA ideal way of communicating with your customers, it needs to have worthwhile content and to be published on a regular basis. As use of social media increases the current form of newsletter will need to evolve to allow permission marketing.

ForecastingBy analysing the nature of your business and correlating this with industry forecasts we can provide a tailored quarterly forecast to show where your business opportunities are.

Small and medium sized organisations cannot justify a full time marketing resource to achieve effective marketing. The Competitive Advantage team can work with your team to provide these services on an ongoing basis, providing you with top quality marketing expertise while avoiding the cost of a full time employee.

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Support Services

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Customer Satisfaction Surveys- one off or on a regular basis to measure KPIs

Customer issues- What are their problems and how can we solve them?

Perception studies

Customer profiling

Identification of potential customers

Evaluate new product opportunities

Drawing on our experience Competitive Advantage interprets results and makes practical recommendations

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Customer Research

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Competitive Advantage offers many standard reports, click images for more details:

Research Reports

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Industry Reports

Sustainability• CIMCIG• TRADA

BIM• TRADA

2021 Vision• ECA and NICEIC

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Delivered by course leaders who are regularly working on consultancy and research projects ensuring they are up to date with current issues.

Workshop sessions can incorporate subjects relevant to your business.

Standard packages or bespoke.

Available from half a day to two days.

Most training courses are CPD Certified

Bespoke Training and Development

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Construction Industry Overview

Marketing in the Construction Industry

Construction Industry Sales Skills

Key Account Management

Effective Specification Selling

See website for dates www.cadvantage.co.uk

Seminars

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Chris Ashworth

chris@cadvantage.co.uk

Mobile: 07747 626095

Fax: 01252 836850

Competitive Advantage Consultancy Limited Growth through customer focus

@CompetitiveA

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