In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast we look at seven key concepts that every building automation professional should know about information technology.

We are entering a retrofit market. Are you prepared to maintain your building automation sales pipelines in this new retrofit market?

I remember when capital work largely dried up in 2009 and the only thing that kept me employed was my retrofit projects. 

In this episode, we discuss how to sell retrofit work. 

In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast, we are going to discuss how to troubleshoot common issues that we experience out in the field. Over the past couple weeks I've been keeping an eye out for questions on Facebook, HVAC forums, and LinkedIn. 

In this episode I am going to discuss common issues related to:

• Inputs and outputs
• Communication bus
• Protocols
• Information Technology
• HVAC Systems

In this episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast, we discuss how to get a job in building automation. 

We discuss the essential skills for getting a job in the building automation space, the different types of roles and what each role requires, and how to transition into those roles.

In this episode, we take a deep dive into how to use the consultative sales process to identify solutions to problems impacting your customer's business. 

We cover:

• How to profile your customer
• How to identify business and process problems
• How to gain buy-in for problem resolution
• How to avoid common deal killers
• How to create and propose solutions

Tyson Soutter is an experienced smart buildings professional who has an extensive background in smart buildings technologies. Similar to myself, Tyson started as a technician and worked into more technical roles over the years. 

This enabled us to have a great conversation that went into the weeds on several topics. However, if you are not a technical person this podcast interview still has some great business and sales discussions as Tyson and I discussed the future state of the market, strategies for maintaining relevancy and growth, and ideas around actually implementing technology solutions in today's environment.

Are you a building owner trying to figure out what actions you should be taking during new construction or major retrofit projects? If so this week's episode is for you.

In this episode, we are going to discuss how to oversee a building automation project from the perspective of the owner.

As I see it there are four phase gates for an owner to focus on

1. Tender Phase
2. Specification Phase
3. Submittal Phase
4. Closeout Phase

Managing building automation projects is tough. There are so many nested tasks and expectations that you need to oversee!

In this week's episode, we discuss how to effectively manage Building Automation projects.

In this episode you will learn:

• How to manage multiple projects at once
• The key action you must take to ensure a successful project
• How to balance time, quality, and cost on projects
• How to ensure your projects are cash-flow positive as early as possible