Seminars and Sales Training

"You stimulated thought, encouraged discussion and gave us tools to be more productive in our jobs." - Neal Drell, CCPR, Sales Rep & CSI Chapter President

Seminars: Mr. Chusid is a widely-recognized speaker and seminar facilitator. His lectures, workshops and keynote addresses focus on industry trends, building sciences, and business development. In addition to presentations for your own team, consider sponsoring Mr. Chusid to speak to professional societies or at promotional events.

Sales Training: More than two thousand sales reps and marketing professionals have attended our exclusive program, Spĕkt: The Language of Building Product Marketing™. Training programs are customized to meet your specific objectives and requirements.

Spokesman for Your Company or Industry: Chusid and his associates are available to speak on your behalf at conferences, public relations events, continuing education programs and even sales presentations. In addition to benefiting from our dynamic presence on the speaker’s platform, your message will carry greater credibility when delivered from a third party with Chusid's bona fide credentials.

Click here to listen to Michael speaking to the American Society of Plumbing Engineers about changes to MasterFormat.

Presentation for Sales and Marketing Professionals

Spĕkt: The Language of Building Product Marketing™
The ultimate sales training for building product sales professionals.

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 Spĕkt Curriculum to select topics to meet your specific training objectives. Presentations range from a one-hour overview of the specification selling process to a full week of in-depth training.

Winning in North America’s Building Products Market
A postcard for tourists on the American business landscape.

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 30 years as the leading marketing consultant to the North American construction materials industry, explaining the opportunities and risks of entering North America and the most successful ways to win your share of the business.

Presentation for all A/E/C Audiences

Mis-Underestimating the Future™
A light-hearted yet thought-provoking keynote talk about construction and chaos.

It’s been said, “We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next five years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten.” With that in mind, Michael Chusid fearlessly prognosticates a decade into the future to help us imagine how construction may change. He interprets auguries about design and construction, material science, and product trends, and whether designers and specifiers will, at last, find true love and commitment with producers and installers. During his 30 years in the construction industry, Michael has seen untold numbers of innovations crash and burn, yet is adamant that his predictions will be just as wrong as those of anyone else.

As a result of attending this presentation, your audience will be able to:

  1. Cope with DESPAIR that most of what you thought you knew isn’t so anymore.
  2. Justify RISK of using new materials that lack proven track record.
  3. Identify emerging business opportunities that will probably BANKRUPT you.
  4. Appreciate humor as alternative to FEAR of “progress”.

Promote Yourself: Building on PR
Everybodyknows something worth sharing.

Getting publicity is a great way to enhance your own or your company's reputation, promote a product or service, and contribute to the advancement of the construction industry. At the same time, design and construction magazines and online media depend on industry insiders like you for stories, analysis, and content. This course, presented by experienced construction writers and publicists, will explain how you can translate your industry knowledge, experience, and projects into content that others will want to read and that editors will want to publish.

As a result of attending this presentation, your audience will be able to:

  1. Translate what you already know into stories others will want to read.
  2. Find editors and media outlets that want to use what you offer.
  3. Use photography to enhance your message.
  4. Prepare effective articles and press releases even if you don't know your semicolen from your ellipsis.

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 is an ideal after-dinner speech or keynote address for your next conference or sales meeting. It will challenge youraudience 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.

Triviafications™ — The Construction Trivia Game
Build camaraderie & 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?”. Questions can be specially matched to your industry. 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.

Speak and Be Yourself:  The Art of Communication
To give a command performance, you must be in command of your performance.

This training goes beyond teaching competitive communications skills. Emphasizing humanperformance concepts such as acting skills, we support people in stretching their limits, acknowledging their fears and weaknesses and going beyond their comfort zone in order to rediscover and build on their strengths. Ultimately, we strive to define personal communication with tools that will forever change the way people approach their work and careers.

We use videotape in a safe, supportive environment to review and enhance the impression you make and to demonstrate dramatic improvement. Focus areas include:

  • Introductions, taking "center stage" and "holding" a room
  • Tension & Anxiety: the presenter/speaker’s nightmare
  • Instant techniques for alignment and relaxation
  • The "Energy Factor": connecting body, emotions and words
  • The "Expressiveness Toolbox"
  • How you see yourself - how others see you
  • In-depth, practical work on your presentation.

Technical Presentations

These are just a few of the topics Michael Chusid has presented at industry conferences:

  • Architectural acoustics
  • Architectural woodwork
  • High performance, corrosion-resistant fasteners
  • Ceiling design trends and technology
  • Environmental design and construction
  • Concrete: decorative, high performance, and special purpose
  • Construction Document Technologist (CDT) training.
  • Plaster and drywall finishing techniques

School and University Programs

Michael Chusid is available as presenter, critic, or scholar-in-residence for academic and student organizations. He enjoys working with students from elementary school through university and was an advisor to an Explorer Scout group with an architectural career focus.