Resistance to change is a common challenge in construction, with professionals at all levels often unwilling or unable to innovate. To get insight into the factors that may be driving this reluctance, we spoke with Zulqernain (Zulq) Malik, founder of SMARTBUILD Construction Solutions.
Malik has worked in various aspects of the construction industry for over 30 years. He thinks that, at its core, the issue comes down to a fundamental mistake in the way companies market their products to construction professionals.
“Contractors’ reluctance to change is not because they’re resistant. It’s just that they haven’t been communicated with effectively about why change is necessary or how change will benefit them,” Malik explains. “It’s really about language and communication—style and technique… the industry has been largely treating people in construction as dumb when in reality they’re not.”
Malik has observed a persistent disconnect between how companies market their products and the communication style of the audience they’re trying to convert to customers. He points to the tactile learning style that led many tradespeople to pursue careers in construction and how incompatible it is with most traditional marketing techniques—the slick PowerPoints, glossy brochures, and sales pitches full of indecipherable jargon. For those who excel in a hands-on environment, the typical sales presentation often falls flat and fails to effectively demonstrate a product’s return on investment.
As a result, many marketers mistakenly believe that their sales pitch isn’t landing because of a lack of understanding or intelligence instead of recognizing the different style of intelligence and adapting their messaging accordingly. Malik explains that this is because, across the board, there’s a tendency to think of those working in the construction industry as “blue-collar workers,” a term he finds derogatory.
“What they forget to take into consideration,” he says, “is that these guys are highly skilled and technical individuals who chose to take a different trajectory than a traditional student who would end up in an office… The construction industry has to stop being perceived as a blue-collar industry. It’s not. It’s an industry made up of a lot of different skilled professionals, including a lot of skilled tactile tradespeople… But the marketing and the messaging has been less sophisticated towards the concept of a ‘blue collar’ market.”
Malik believes this communication breakdown is a significant factor in the reluctance to embrace change.
“The majority of contractors are complacent—they’re not seeking innovation. And if innovation does intersect with what they’re seeking, they’re resistant because of the messaging…. It’s not because they’re resistant to buying. They’re resistant to how the marketing and the information has been portrayed to them and how it’s relevant to them. The messaging hasn’t been clear. And when the messaging isn’t clear and concise, you ignore it. You move on.”
If companies want to convince construction professionals to adopt new technologies and try new tools, Malik says they must change how they market their products.
Ditch the jargon, avoid acronyms and buzzwords, and “talk like a normal person.” Provide free, hands-on, try-before-you-buy demos of products to satisfy the tactile learning style of many construction pros. Basically, just cut to the chase. “They want genuineness,” he says. “They want sincerity.”
Malik believes doing so is crucial to help the construction industry catch up with the speed of innovation. “We have to understand that [we in the construction industry] are far behind on a technological scale of evolution—and technology doesn’t just mean software. Technology also means tools and equipment that we’re utilizing in our day-to-day. And the reason is that [marketers] don’t speak to us in our English. We don’t ask them to, we tell them to get lost, and we just move on and continue doing the same thing over and over again.”
While companies must improve how they market to a construction audience, Malik also admits that the construction industry is equally responsible for shifting how it receives feedback within its ranks.
“Our ecosystem is not bred to create innovation,” he explains, “It’s dictatorial, and because it’s dictatorial, people feel that their voice is not going to be heard. [Communication] comes from the top down, and the person who’s at the top doesn’t have time to see everyone at the bottom.”
To create a culture of innovation, Malik says companies must be willing and open to ideas from all levels. Even at construction trade events, where tradespeople have the opportunity to share best practices and learn from each other, this hierarchy prevents new ideas from taking hold.
“The wrong people go to those events,” Malik says. “When you look at these opportunities to cross-pollinate, you typically send the same C&V suites all the time. And they’re so busy running operations or dealing with fires they never have the time to translate and disseminate that information down. I’m a firm believer that for all these trade shows and opportunities, we should be sending up and aspiring foremen. Never even the foreman, you want to change in the generation below them so that they’re going to bring innovative ideas to you.”
With a combination of fresh minds eager to innovate and marketing messaging that’s tailored for construction professionals, perhaps the industry can finally shake off its reputation for stagnation and embrace an innovation revolution instead
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