Seminars: Mr. Chusid is a widely-recognized speaker and seminar facilitator. Included in his purview are lectures, workshops and keynote addresses on industry trends, architectural technology, and building product marketing.

Sales training: Chusid Associates offers sales training programs geared toward improving the performance of building product sales representatives. More than five thousand sales reps have attended our exclusive program, S*P*E*C*S — Selling Products Effectively to Construction Specifiers™. Sales training programs can be customized to meet your specific objectives and the requirements of your sales team.

Freelance Spokesman for Your Company or Industry:  Michael Chusid is available to speak on your behalf at conferences, public relations events and continuing education programs. For example, one of Chusid Associates’ clients has used our services to speak on their behalf at industry conventions and trade association and professional society meetings, and to make continuing education presentations in architectural and engineering offices. In addition to benefiting from his dynamic presence on the speaker’s platform, your message will carry greater credibility when delivered from a third party with the bona fide credentials Michael Chusid provides.

Some of Michael Chusid’s Seminar, Lecture and Presentation topics

S*P*E*C*S — Selling Products Effectively to Construction Specifiers™
The ultimate sales training program for building product sales professionals.

More than two thousand building product sales and marketing professionals have already benefited from Michael Chusid’s insights into the specification selling process. This program hands you the keys to unlock the profit potential of getting into the architect’s, engineer’s, or building owner’s specifications. It also gives you the tools you need to guard against (or make) substitutions.  Stressing a consultative selling approach and the importance of relationships, Chusid demystifies the specification process and shows you how to turn design professionals into your allies and customers.
See the S*P*E*C*S Curriculum to select from among a wide range of topics to meet your specific training objectives. Presentations can range from a one-hour overview of the specification selling process to a full week of non-stop training.

Marketing with MasterFormat 2004
Understanding the new CSI Format and Making it Work for You.

CSI’s MasterFormat system for organizing construction information has undergone the most drastic revisions in its four decades of use. Instead of 16 Divisions of work, there are now 50, and the five digit section numbers are now up to 10 digits in length. While many building product manufacturers focus on the expense of revising and reprinting product literature, others see sales opportunities and exciting new marketing strategies.

Michael Chusid is on CSI’s MasterFormat Implementation Task Team and train your sales and customer service staff to understand and use the new MasterFormat to open doors at customer offices, and offer tips on powerful ways to mine MasterFormat for new marketing positioning and promotional opportunities. Click here for a preview of what you will learn.

Heroes of Building Product Sales™
If you come, they will build it.

Architects and engineers win the accolades for their designs, and contractors get to play with the big toys. But nothing gets built without the dedication and hard work of the men and women in the building products industry. From their leading role in the development of new construction materials and methods, to their training and hand-holding of the project team, they are the unsung heroes of today’s construction industry. In this entertaining and inspiring presentation, Michael Chusid introduces us to some of the building product reps and manufacturers who have made a difference in his own life and who have helped build industries and communities as well as construction projects. Along the way, he also shares their strategies and tips for winning more sales and improving your top line. The presentation can be customized to your requirements, and typically requires forty to sixty minutes. Heroes is an ideal after-dinner speech or keynote address for your next conference or sales meeting, and will challenge your team and their guests to make the most of their talents and discover new satisfaction in the work they perform.

Substitution Abuse™
Sounding the alarm about substitutions — and what you can do about them.

Substitutions occur when a different building product is used instead of the product indicated in the construction specifications. While substitutions are a special problem for building product manufacturers, they are also costly to design professionals, building owners, and even contractors. Michael Chusid’s presentation is suitable for everybody in the construction industry and has been presented to the American Institute of Architects and construction trade associations. It delivers an urgent message about the sources of the problem and offers suggestions for what you can do about preventing abuses. And, when substitutions are necessary, it explains the “right” way to handle them to protect the integrity of the bidding process. (40 to 60 minutes recommended.)

Building Product and Construction Industry Trends
Fearless predictions about where the construction industry and your markets are heading.

Drawing upon twenty five years experience monitoring trends in the building industry, Michael Chusid dares to prognosticate about architectural design, the material sciences, construction methodology, business strategy, and the forces that will shape your industry and your marketplace. Sometimes controversial and always thought provoking, this program is a must-attend session for business owners and marketing managers in the building product industry. (30 to 90 minutes recommended.)

Triviafications — The Construction Trivia Game™
Build camaraderie as you kick-back after a long day at a sales meeting or conference.

While Triviafications is patterned after a popular trivia game, it uses the building industry’s Three-Part Specification Format (General, Products and Execution) as its categories?  Typical questions include: “How high is a sump cone?”; “Who ‘shall’ and who ‘will’?”; and “What trade avoids holidays?”. Or questions can be specially modified to your industry. Triviafications is available in a tabletop version (complete with blueprints and project manual instead of a game board) for informal mixers. And its game-show format, staring Michael Chusid as your host, allows regional or departmental teams to compete. Or, for a really exciting evening, pit the home office managers against the field sales reps to see who really knows their stuff. (30 to 60 minutes recommended.)

Concrete — What Color do you Want?™
Highly recommended for professional society meetings.

This program is a detailed overview of the architectural aesthetics and practical considerations of designing and building with integrally colored concrete. This program is beautifully illustrated with nearly 100 high-quality photographs explaining the technical merits of colored concretes and showcasing a wide variety of buildings and structures. Special attention will be given to explain the construction and quality control techniques used in the concrete work of the recently completed Our Lady of the Angeles Cathedral in Los Angeles, California, the largest structure ever built of colored concrete. Based upon a program first presented to the American Concrete Institute, it has also been well received at meetings of the American Institute of Architects, Construction Specifications Institute. (Qualifies for one hour of continuing education credit.) Presented in cooperation with Davis Colors.

Better and Brighter Concrete
Recent Advances in Concrete Admixtures

Looking for a way to make concrete stronger, more durable, and better looking? This seminar explores the use of high reactivity metakaolin, a new type of supplementary cementitious material that improves the performance and appearance of portland cement concrete and portland cement-based products. Metakaolin is a pozzolanic supplementary cementitious material that provides all the benefits of other pozzolans like fly ash and silica fume, but without any of the drawbacks such as inconsistent coloration and stickiness. Bright white in color, metakaolin enhances the appearance of concrete. And it equals or outperforms even silica fume in producing high strength concrete with low porosity and outstanding durability. Presented in cooperation with Engelhard Corporation.

Photocatalysis: A New Nanotechnology for Building Products
New self-cleaning materials also reduce air pollution.

Imagine buildings that don’t get dirty and even help to reduce odors and freshen the air. Photocatalysis uses the energy in ultraviolet light to activate small particles of titanium dioxide to accelerate the decomposition of organic grime and volatile organic compounds. You will learn how this amazing technology works, review case studies of projects where it has already been used, and get an update on the latest research and market trends. Presented in cooperation with Essroc Italcementi.

Winning your Share of North America’s Building Products Market
A postcard from a more than casual tourist on the American scene.

North America remains the largest market for building materials, and presents many opportunities for export, joint ventures, and technology transfer programs. It is, however, a fiercely competitive market and is surrounded by a maze of regulatory and cultural barriers to penetration by foreign manufacturers. Michael Chusid will share insights gleaned from 20 years as a marketing consultant to the North American construction materials industry, and will discuss the opportunities and risks of entering North America and the most successful ways to win your share of the business.