Providing technical sales and marketing support for engineering activities
Overview
This standard identifies the competences you need to provide technical sales and marketing support for engineering activities, in accordance with approved procedures. This will require you to prepare sales and marketing material in a variety of forms, such as technical manuals, bulletins, sales leaflets and specifications, audio, visual and electronic presentations, customer reports and media advertisements, billboard, website and formal presentation materials. You will also be expected to convey technical sales and marketing information directly to customers, within agreed timescales, ensuring that the information used conforms to organisational and legal requirements.
Your responsibilities will require you to comply with organisational policy and procedures for producing and conveying sales and marketing materials. You will report any problems that you cannot personally resolve, or that are outside your permitted authority, to the relevant people. You will be expected to work with a minimum of supervision, taking personal responsibility for your own actions and for the quality and accuracy of the work that you carry out.
Your underpinning knowledge will provide a good understanding of your work, and will provide an informed approach to gathering relevant information, determining the technical information required, and presenting the required details in the appropriate formats. You will understand your organisation's methods of operation, in sufficient detail to enable you to make informed decisions. You will also understand your organisations ethical and legal obligations to the customer.
You will be aware of any health, safety and environmental requirements applicable to your area of responsibility. You will be required to demonstrate safe working practices throughout, and will understand the responsibility you owe to yourself and others in the workplace.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
- work safely at all times, complying with health and safety legislation and other relevant regulations, directives and guidelines
- produce technical details that contain all the relevant and necessary data for the engineering activity to be carried out
- present the technical details in the appropriate formats
- make sure that codes and other references used in the technical details follow agreed conventions
- pass on the technical details to the appropriate people within agreed timescales
- record technical details and store them securely in accordance with organisational requirements
- undertake changes to technical details within agreed control procedures
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
- how to access information on health and safety regulations and guidelines relating to the technical material being produced
- the implications of not taking account of legislation, regulations, standards and guidelines when specifying the technical details
- how to obtain information on the engineering activity or service (such as product specification, service information, availability)
- how to obtain information from data and documentation and related specifications in relation to work being undertaken
- the media, formats, codes and conventions that are used in preparing the technical sales and marketing materials
- the types of information that should be included in the material you are producing
- the factors to be taken into account when determining the content of technical sales and marketing materials
- the advantages and disadvantages of different methods of presenting sales and marketing materials
- how to prepare the technical sales and marketing material (to include the structure, style, clarity and compliance with relevant standards)
- the control procedure for ensuring that the published information is maintained up to date
- your organisation's procedures and practices for communicating with customers
- why these methods and techniques have been selected
- how to review and adjust the communication methods used for customers, in the light of any feedback received
- the strengths and weaknesses of using a range of presentation methods, in appropriate combinations (such as verbal, written, visual, audio, interactive)
- the importance of obtaining feedback; recording this information, and evaluating it in order to make improvements
- the factors to take into account different ways of presenting information to different people
- the importance of providing the right information at the right time
- problems that can occur with providing technical sales and marketing materials, and how they can be minimised
- the extent of your own responsibility, and to whom you should report if you have problems that you cannot resolve
- the sources of technical expertise if you have problems that you cannot resolve
- the organisational procedures for providing information to different people
- the value of a brand in the context of marketing a product or service
- the importance of understanding key competitors' products and services in the market
- the primary factors that contribute to customer loyalty
- the role innovation plays in differentiating a product from the competition
Scope/range
Carry out all of the following when developing and disseminating technical sales and marketing information:
- use the correct issue of company information
- check that all essential information and data needed to devise the technical sales and marketing material is available and up to date
- produce sales and marketing material which is in keeping with company/organisational policy
- ensure that health and safety regulations and safe working practices are taken into account
- present the technical and marketing materials in the appropriate formats
- contact potential and existing customers
- resolve any problems as they occur, within your level of responsibility
- identify improvements in content and methods of dissemination of information
Produce technical sales and marketing material for one of the following engineering activities:
- drawing/design activities (such as mechanical, electrical/electronic, motor vehicle, aerospace, marine)
- manufacturing activities (such as conventional machining, CNC machining, detail fitting, pressing)
- fabrication activities (such as sheet metal, pipe and tube, structural steel, welding, riveting, adhering)
- material processing activities (such as heat treatment, casting, injection moulding, purification)
- composite manufacture (such as wet lay-up, pre-preg laminating, resin infusion, blow moulding)
- finishing activities (such as stripping finishes, painting, plating, anodising, veneering, lacquering)
- assembly activities (such as mechanical, structural, fluid power, electrical/electronic, woodworking)
- installation activities (such as mechanical, electrical/electronic, avionic, structural, environmental equipment)
- plant and equipment (such as site preparation, plant layout, equipment changeover, equipment replacement)
- equipment capability studies/performance measurement
- maintenance activities (such as preventative maintenance, condition monitoring)
- movement/storage of materials, components, finished goods or waste
- commissioning and decommissioning
- quality control/quality assurance
- testing and trialling
- business improvement activities
- research and development services
- engineering support services
- modification and repair activities
- service/component supply
- engineering safety audits or risk assessments
- new product introduction to the business operation
- launch of an engineered product to the market
- logistic operations
Produce or contribute to the production of technical sales and marketing material, in three of the following forms:
- technical bulletins
- specification sheets
- website
- technical manuals
- audio visual presentation
- billboard presentation
- sales flyer/leaflets
- media advertisement
- promotional items
- Apps/social media
Carry out all of the following on completion of the technical support activities:
- validation and evaluation of the technical support systems and procedures used
- suggested improvements to the method used to provide the technical sales and marketing support
- recommendations for improvements or changes to the technical support systems and procedures that are in place
Ensure that the technical sales and marketing materials comply with one of the following:
- organisational guidelines and procedures
- recognised compliance agency body standards, directive or codes of practice
- relevant standards or directives
- customer standards and requirements
- health, safety and environmental requirements
- variations in regional/global product specification and compliance (such as language, units of measure and currency)