Resources
Resources
Free guides and research from Old Plank Group for precast suppliers and producers, architecture firms, contractors and associations. Nothing is behind a sign-up. Each guide shows the date we last reviewed it, with sources linked next to the claims they support. Tools are added one at a time, and each works in your browser.
Tools
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Website check for precast suppliers and producers
A self-check of your website that ends in a short list of what to fix first. Your answers stay in your browser.
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How to choose an association management firm
A board guide with an editable comparison rubric that prints for a board meeting.
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Membership retention worksheet
Measure member retention the same way every year from your own counts, with the arithmetic shown.
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Product information checklist for building product suppliers
What a supplier website should give architects and specifiers, and what it should give plant buyers.
Precast industry
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How precast concrete gets specified
The six steps from the owner's brief to contract award, and what a precast producer or supplier needs in place at each one.
Reviewed
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Email marketing for building product manufacturers
A five-part email program that keeps a manufacturer familiar to specifiers between projects.
Reviewed
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Trade show marketing for precast and building product exhibitors
A schedule for the six weeks before the show and the week after it, with what to do on the floor.
Reviewed
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The State of Precast Marketing
Our report on precast websites: the eight checks we grade, drawn from what architects need, and how every site is graded the same way.
Architects
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Marketing for architects, with a 20-point self-audit
A 20-point self-audit for an architecture firm's marketing, what to build at each firm size, and how to build the website yourself.
Reviewed
Contractors
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The general contractor website checklist
Fifteen checks an owner's representative runs before the interview, and the order to fix what fails.
Reviewed
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How subcontractors get on the bid list
The five checks an estimator runs before inviting a subcontractor to bid, and the two web pages that pass them.
Reviewed
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A guide to jobsite and plant photography
A standing shot list for the jobsite and the plant, and when to hire a professional photographer.
Reviewed
Associations
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Why members leave associations, and a renewal calendar that keeps them
Five reasons renewals lapse, how to measure retention, and a twelve-month calendar that addresses each reason before the invoice goes out.
Reviewed
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Association sponsorship programs that sponsors renew
How to build sponsorship tiers around what a supplier's sales team wants, and how to deliver them through the year.
Reviewed
The same guides, newest first, are on the guides page. How we research, check and correct them is on our About page.