Business development tips from an expert
Yesterday I attended a small session on business development for architects, hosted by Richard Pollack. Richard Pollack founded Pollack Architecture in 1985, and recently sold his ownership shares. Now he’s founded a consulting firm to help businesses in the building industry make more money.
Here are the things that stood out for me during his talk:
Common misunderstanding between “Marketing” and “Sales/Business Development:” Marketing is doing the research to determine who to sell to, what to sell them, how to sell it to them, and at what price. Sales is the actual process of trying to get the customer to buy the product. In our industry, we usually use “Business Development” instead of sales.
The first step of a new project: The first step isn’t reviewing the program requirements, or even negotiating the contract. The first step is selling the client on you. You are the product. And throughout the life of the project, you continue selling yourself for the next project that client will have.
Your biggest effort should go toward current clients: It is far more expensive to capture a new client than it is to turn a current client into repeat business. You should track what % of your revenue is from repeat business. If it isn’t at least 60%, then you may have a serious quality problem that is driving your clients away.
Mr. Pollack’s company researched all the large businesses in the Bay Area who have ongoing building projects (that step is “marketing”), and then targeted them (that’s “Business Development”). Once they landed such clients and pleased them, they got lots of repeat business. Salesforce, one of their biggest clients, has offices all over the world that require about ten people from Pollack Architecture who continuously serve them.
Even residential clients can be repeat clients. People who have the money to build a house in the Bay Area probably have successful businesses. If your firm does both residential and commercial work, try to leverage a successful residential client into a commercial client. Also, wealthy people have wealthy friends. You can think of a referral client as a repeat client.
Ask everyone you interact with for work: Think of all consultants, vendors, builders, and real estate agents as potential clients. Treat them with that respect. Then, periodically ask them, “Do you know of any projects starting up? Do you know anyone who’s unhappy with their architect and might be looking?”
“I’ll make you look good to your boss:” When speaking to clients, remember that their interests aren’t the same as yours. They’re people with bosses. Often they just want the project to come in on time and on budget so they don’t get fired, and they don’t really care if it is the finest creation since the Grand Canyon.
When you lose a project to a competitor, this is an opportunity: Whenever you get shortlisted but fail to capture the project, don’t let your wounded pride stop you from doing a hard de-brief on why you lost. They won’t want to tell you the truth at first, so you have to really dig. ”I want to improve for the next time, so could you tell me what the deciding factor was?” ”Yes, but why exactly?” They feel bad for giving you bad news, so they’re more willing to help you out with some tips at this point than at any other point. Do this on the phone or in person, not email.
Also, keep in mind that just because they chose the other team doesn’t mean some work can’t come out of it. Offer peer review services. Keep in touch, checking in to see if they are happy. It’s possible the other team will perform so badly that they’ll actually fire the architect and hire you if you were the second choice. If the other architect turned out to be hard to work with or insensitive to the budget, and you keep in touch, the client may steer the next project your way.
The small courtesies are key: For the people in your professional network, keep track of information like their kids ages and the things they like (in your CRM software). Send articles you think they’d enjoy. Send flowers or cards on special occasions.
Become a trusted advisor: The first time you are showing drawings to your client, take time to explain the drawing conventions you take for granted. They probably don’t know what a dashed line vs a straight line means, or why a door is drawn with an arch, or why the casework has lines showing the door swing direction.
Also, try to give advice and be known to them before there is a project on the horizon. Do you have expertise in some area that you can present to potential clients?
Everyone in the firm is doing business development: Every single employee should know what the company is about, and what the elevator speech is. Each of them should receive training on the issues above, so they can start thinking of each of their consultants as potential clients.
Finally, this is a full time job. You can’t do this well and also be a full-time designer. Do you have any other tips to share?
