Accelerate Your Entry Into an Exciting Market

And I can help. In fact I enjoy launching new products and systems by collaborating with you on strategy and marketing targeted at this region, and accelerating sales efforts.

This site lays out

• The case for Why Ontario.
• The high level of building quality as a differentiator.
• Why FSI for C-Suite strategy and facade expertise.
• FSI as an agent.
• Next steps. 

If you want to jump to conversation, email blair@facadesystemsinc.com or call 001 647 923 8967

In fact one client said this:

We contracted Blair to evaluate market opportunity and develop a market readiness plan for a new product launch. Blair acted like one of us, putting the company’s interests at the forefront like he is an employee, not a consultant. In this way he was thorough, fact based, specific and committed to the recommendations and gave our project the high priority we needed. I would be pleased to recommend Blair for strategic product planning for any future projects.

It’s big, there is a lot of architecture and construction, and elevating building codes favour quality products and systems. If you are interested in manufacturing or distributing, there is a good case for Ontario there too.

Ontario, Canada is a fast growing, architecturally rich, building environment. With a population of 15 million people, half of that hugging the shores of Lake Ontario, what we call the Golden Horseshoe. The population has doubled in 25 years, and is projected to do that again. 

In context, as some think the US is the best market here are a few surprising statistics. Illinois is about the same size as Ontario, but shrinking in population. Chicago is 1/3 the population of the Golden Horseshoe. Boston is 1/4 the size of the Golden Horseshoe and has only added 100,000 people in the last 10 years. I was also surprised to find out New York City has 9 million people in a state population of 20 million. And growth has been flat. I expected NY to be 2x, did you not? Texas and California are big, but also spread out geographically. 

And oh by the way, everything we create for Ontario is applicable to the US, and I know the people with whom to work on a US launch.

Half of Canada’s Architects are in Ontario, and more than half of those are in the Golden Horseshoe. This area is in my backyard and I have built an excellent database and reputation.

Barriers exist which limit entry of US or other architects to this region. Local status and relationships matter.

If you look at a map you will see Ontario is nicely centrally located to the home market, and the states from Massachusetts to Illinois and as far south as DC. It is for that reason many curtain wall, metal fabricators, structural steel providers, and others have set up shop here.

Ontario is one of the top 5 construction market places in North America and in some years, closer to 2 or 3. It has been reported that half of the continent’s tower cranes are in Ontario. 

Something more important though. Building codes are stringent and becoming more stringent. The combination of hot summers and cold winters mean buildings need to stand up. Quality manufacturer’s thrive, and others do not. Codes like the Toronto Green Standard continue to raise the bar. So of course my targets are those with high standards.

Passive House will be a standard in the near future. 

If you are considering manufacturing or distributing there is a good case for Ontario too, just like the automotive industry figured out decades ago.

If you look at a map you will see Ontario is nicely centrally located to the home market, and the states from Massachusetts to Illinois and as far south as DC. It is for that reason many curtain wall, metal fabricators, structural steel providers, and others have set up shop here.

I can provide information from the Ontario government. For example excellent STEM education, a social and health care system, and a diverse population. Currency differences don’t hurt either. 

The basic answer is I have been in the facade space as an engineer and agent since 2007. I have launched many products across Canada. I know how to pick the right ones, get the message out and win business. There are others who can do this, but…

Prior to the building industry, I was in tech…

From 1998 - 2001 I was Director of Corporate Strategy for a tech company called Celestica, (formerly IBM) working under a former McKinsey executive, a two time graduate of MIT. Genius: smart, empathetic, thoughtful, strategic. He is still a good friend. What Art taught me through several collaborations is just not heard of in this industry. There is a proper process. And I know it. It might be that you are already along the way, and we can start there. For the purpose of this letter let's start at the beginning.

My network is diverse, far, wide and deep. If I cannot find someone, I know the person who can. My acumen from seeing how and who to bring people together is proven in 3 different industries over 25+ years.

Excellence in education with Engineering and MBA degrees.

The process is custom to every situation because no situation is the same.

But let me put it in three buckets.

• Situation and Expectations.
• Facts lead to Options process
• Plan including Get The Word Out [GTWO]

In McKinsey parley we generate a set of hypotheses, build a story and go out and prove or disprove it. Facts are the way, and they always correlate. We are defining something that works, not reinventing the wheel. Facade products are here, we are just trying to figure out how your systems might.

Options are devised from these facts. Full Porter Analysis. Price, value, supply chain, which products of yours to lead with, target clients or construction types, regulations (a big one! and I know them), competitors, substitutions and so on. The whole picture.

The Plan is a set of actions, owners and dates. I can be that person, we can collaborate with your team, or bring in third parties I know and trust. 

GTWO is the easiest process. I know that very well, and have the resources to accelerate your visibility. I have an interesting comment here. Social media came along and everyone thinks they are a marketer. When I ran marketing before the internet we spent excruciating time getting the strategy right because going out in the press, trade publications or shows was very, very expensive. Now people spend 10 minutes and post a ‘look at me’ message. I know how to put strategy first and GTWO second. 

If you are already at the stage of recruiting an agent, and do not need strategy services, that is fine too. 

I have been in the ventilated facade agency business for 15 years, first growing one of Canada’s largest firms, and then launching my own in 2016. As second in charge at the first firm I led the growth of systems from Belgium and Spain to launch to >$14m in sales in 4 years, through a global recession in 2008. In the early days I personally conducted efforts to educate the market about ventilated rainscreen facades, and now prosper from that reputation. 

My current portfolio is a nice blend of claddings of different price points and a subsystem that leads the way in performance. This subsystem is suitable for all claddings, so I have become the go to for more and more projects of all types of ventilated facades. 

Marketing is a backbone process to FSI’s success. Webinars, lunch and learns, educational emails and posts are all very well attended and gain great traction. In the past year 500+ attended FSI Webinars, and 900+ registered. Open rates on eblasts >20% consistently.

I hope I have enticed you enough to have that discussion. I am offering a one hour consultation free. If you see enough we can set up a contract of several different sorts. I am flexible but know very much the value I can bring you.

As far as Facade Systems Inc, our work will determine if I would like to market your products and systems as one of mine under my agency. I do drive a lot of traffic to my site, am well represented on Linked In, and locally as an expert. So it is obvious that one of our steps would be for me to become an agent.

I look forward to discussing this further.

Be well. Greetings from Toronto!

Best regards

Blair Davies, P.Eng.

President
Facade Systems Inc.