Assisting in providing technical sales and marketing support for engineering activities
Overview
This standard identifies the competences you need to support colleagues in providing technical sales and marketing support for engineering activities, in accordance with approved procedures. This will require you to assist in preparing sales and marketing material in a variety of formats, 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 assist in conveying technical sales and marketing information directly to customers, within agreed timescales.
Your responsibilities will require you to comply with organisational policy and procedures for producing and conveying the sales and marketing materials, and to 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 to instructions, either alone or in conjunction with others, taking personal responsibility for your own actions and for the quality and accuracy of the work that you carry out.
Your underpinning knowledge will be sufficient to provide a sound basis for your work, and will enable you to adopt an informed approach to gathering appropriate information, extracting the technical information required and presenting the required details in the appropriate formats. You will have an understanding of your organisation's sales and marketing methods and procedures, in sufficient detail to enable you to carry out the activities to the required standards.
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:
P1 obtain all the required technical information relating to the engineering activities for which sales and marketing materials are to be produced
P2 extract all the relevant and necessary information for the sales and marketing activities being carried out
P3 provide the technical information in an appropriate format, using recognised and accepted conventions
P4 produce the required sales and marketing information, within agreed timescales
P5 complete and store all relevant documentation in accordance with organisational requirements
P6 undertake changes to sales and marketing materials, within agreed control procedures
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
K1 how to access information on health and safety regulations and guidelines relating to the sales and marketing material being produced
K2 the implications of not taking account of legislation, regulations, standards and guidelines when producing the sales and marketing materials
K3 how to obtain technical information on the engineering activity or service
K4 how to obtain information from drawings, documents and related specifications in relation to work being undertaken
K5 the media, formats, codes and conventions that are used in preparing the technical sales and marketing materials
K6 the types of information that should be included in the materials you are producing
K7 the factors to be taken into account when determining the content of technical sales and marketing materials
K8 the different methods of presenting sales and marketing materials, and the advantages and disadvantages of each method
K9 how to prepare the technical sales and marketing materials
K10 the control procedure for ensuring that the published information is maintained up to date
K11 your organisation's procedures and practices for communicating with customers
K12 how to use a variety of presentation methods, in appropriate combination
K13 the importance of obtaining feedback; the need to record this information, and where records are kept
K14 the importance of providing the right information at the right time
K15 the types of issues that can occur with technical sales and marketing materials, and how they can be minimised
K16 the extent of your own responsibility and to whom you should report if you have problems that you cannot resolve
Scope/range
Scope Performance
- Carry out all of the following when developing and disseminating technical sales and marketing 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
- present the sales and marketing materials, in the appropriate formats
- resolve any issues as they occur, within your level of responsibility
- 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 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
- 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 flyers/leaflets
- media advertisement
- promotional items
- other specific form
- Ensure that the technical sales and marketing materials comply with all of the following:
- organisational guidelines and codes of practice
- correct and accurate specification/range
- recognised compliance agency/body's requirements
- BS and/or ISO standards
- advertising codes of practice
- health, safety and environmental requirements