Offer alternative products to meet a defined need

Sell & distribute | SD015

This activity is about providing alterntive options where a requested product is unavailable, based on existing published information e.g. if a product is out of stock and would take too long to order in. This activity is likely to be carried out by counter staff within a distributor.

Culture & behaviour

Core abilities

Culture & behaviour
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Effective working behaviours

You must:

  • Work within limits of defined capability and know when to seek advice from others
    • The individual understands what they are competent to do and what they are not competent to do. They seek advice from a supervisor if work they have been asked to do is outside their capability or if they are unsure about how to proceed. They practice the 'responsible no' and do not carry out work that they are not competent to do.
  • Work effectively individually and as part of a team
    • The individual takes responsibility for their own actions and works with the rest of their team to get the job done. They manage their own time effectively, keep their work area clean and tidy, comply with organisational requirements and procedures, and communicate effectively through oral, written or electronic means as appropriate.
  • Undertake defined personal development activities to maintain currency of competence
    • The individual keeps up to date with any personal development activities required, ensuring that their skills, knowledge and experience remain up to date.
Culture & behaviour
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Sales & distribution behaviours

You must:

  • Challenge unsafe behaviours and activities, and report where necessary
  • Work in accordance with quality requirements and challenge where they are not being met
  • Act ethically to ensure safe outcomes
  • Follow organisational processes for highlighting and resolving inaccurate or incomplete product information
    • The individual knows what the processes are, why they are important and follows the processes in place
Currency of competence
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Experience offering product alternatives

You must have:

  • Five instances of correctly offering product alternatives, per year
Core abilities
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Core passive fire knowledge

You must:

  • Understand the importance of passive fire protection in safeguarding buildings and people
    • To include: compartmentation; how PFP impedes fire to protect structures and people.
  • Know suitable vocabulary to discuss passive fire protection products

To provide evidence, you may complete:

  • IFE Level 2 Certificate in Passive Fire Protection
  • IFE Level 2 Award in Passive Fire Protection
    • Any one or more of the awards currently on offer
  • IFE Level 3 Certificate in Passive Fire Protection
Core abilities
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Limits of responsibility for answering product queries (b)

You must:

  • Know that you can offer a construction product choice, but not a substitution or recommendation
  • Understand the importance of not making a product substitution or recommendation
Specific abilities
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Find and relay basic information on passive fire protection products

You must:

  • Know where to find basic information on passive fire protection products
  • Know how to relay information on passive fire protection products
  • Know the impact of getting information wrong
Specific abilities
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Identify requirements for product alternatives

You must:

  • Know how to identify product alternatives
  • Understand the importance of escalating product queries where an alternative cannot be proposed
  • Know how to escalate product queries where an alternative cannot be proposed

You must be able to:

  • Identify when a product alternative is required
  • Question customers to clarify their needs
  • Collate information on customer requirements
    • To include: where and how the product is to be used; the type of building that the product is to be used in; required performance characteristics
  • Identify missing product information and seek guidance to resolve issues
  • Escalate product queries where an alternative cannot be proposed
Specific abilities
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Offer alternative products to meet a defined need

You must be able to:

  • Locate information about passive fire protection products
  • Recognise when there isn't enough information to provide a choice of alternative products and escalate the query accordingly
  • Identify potential alternative products with the same characteristics
  • Relay information on alternative products to customers accurately

Currency of competence

Specific abilities

Culture & behaviour

Core abilities

Currency of competence

Specific abilities

This is a newly defined activity profile. If you have any comments, please get in touch.
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