My name is Randy Daniels, I have been an ICF Regional Sales Manager for over ten years. My office is in my home in Southern California, the region I have been responsible for has been the Western US.

I have had some success. Major ICF projects have been built, first of their kind; incepted and in part sold by me along with a cast of others. Amazing feeling seeing a project going up in the air and knowing you had a hand in it.

A few days ago, my boss (Mike Kennaw – big guy, likes football, played in college, begins sentences with the word “So” and now so am I) flew into town with the express purpose of visiting our new manufacturing plant in McFarland CA.

The other reason he came down (he lives in Lynden, WA - you can’t go much farther north and not be in Canada) was to meet with the General Sales Manager of a large ready-mix concrete and aggregates company. The General Sales Manager’s name is Renee and she has organized and developed a solid and effective inside sales support department. Mike is revamping our inside sales processes and wanted to get a look at a good one.

So we were in her office, it was a little lunch meeting, I was chomping on a cheese and tomato sandwich (very good) when in pops Renee’s boss. His name is Brian. Brian says hello, he knows we are ICF folks. Mike says hello, and Brian says “This ICF thing…I believe in it. But what’s the deal? After 10 years solid of a guy like Randy working in this market I don’t understand why we don’t see project after project while driving down the road.”

There was a pause. I can’t remember what Mike said in return. I stopped chewing. I dropped into my own little world. That question. I have heard it before. Anybody that knows ICF has said or heard the same thing. “What a great way to build-why don’t we see it going up everywhere?”

So in my defense (I couldn’t help it, internally I had to run some numbers in my defense). If say, a guy averages one architect, designer, engineer, or major design build or GC firm presentation a week, (some weeks I have done 3 or 4) at say, 40 work weeks a year, by 10 years, that’s at least 400 times delivering (I am told I am good at this) the ICF message. A monkey can present the ICF message; the facts are so clear-cut, remarkable, and compelling.

My common answer to “the question” is that most architects (like the rest of us) do what they do and do not want to change what they do. They have stock details, like to replicate systems. If they have to get into something new it takes more time and effort and none of us are quick to do anything that takes more time and effort.

I don’t know if I am right about this or not. But I have seen ICF design manuals sitting on the shelf in architect’s offices, gathering dust…while project after project goes out their door designed with CMU walls - furred out and insulated. Ack.

So what’s the answer? I had a guy tell me once that there were no silver bullets; only a bunch of silver BB’s.

If you have a silver bullet…or one of the BB’s…plug into the blog. I’ve got a few architects we could aim at.