The One Skill Every Architectural Firm Needs
I am not particularly good at the key skill that every architectural firm must have - BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (Sales and Marketing).
You might have the same problem that I do. I have always had to wear too many hats, and one of those other hats always seemed to 'need me' more than business development. Being an introvert doesn't help either. Nevertheless, I have learned tons about how you are supposed to do it; and I have a pretty good track record when it's crunch time.
My preferred strategy, which happens to fit my personality, is to:
research who I would like to work for
find a way to meet them
keep in touch at least every three weeks - by email primarily
find ways to help them (info, maybe a sketch or two)
rinse and repeat until a project idea comes along that I can help formalize
When it does, listen carefully to what it takes for their project to succeed. There's really no “selling” involved. Perfect for me.
One of our largest projects was a private high school that took 7 years to get to the point of getting hired. Then, I helped the Owner put together an RFP process to meet oversight requirements. Needless to say, with what I had learned about them and the project in 7 years, we were the obvious choice - even over a couple of alums.
There Isn't Any One Way To Go About Business Development
You can choose to be a contractor-oriented firm that does design work for builders. Or you can choose to develop a unique niche, say veterinarian laboratories, and work all over the country. There are many, many options that lie between these extremes.
Building a niche is the only strategy that is likely to require just modest sales effort. That's because your marketing, if done well, turns Sales into just answering the phone and taking the order. Brilliant!
Whatever you choose to do, somebody needs to wear the ‘BusDev’ Hat at least 75% of the time - every day. That is probably you or a partner/fellow principal, because business development is the hardest position to hire for in a design firm. But you can always find a way of doing business development to suit you. Here’s a sampling of some tactics you can consider:
Make contacts through a country club
Join a fitness club for contacts
Join the Chamber of Commerce
Volunteer for a non-profit board
Make cold calls
Use drop-in visits to meet potential clients
Join business clubs
Write a newsletter
Ask prospects for help (doesn't matter what) to build rapport
Meet prospects by doing a face-to-face survey,
Respond to RFPs
Master the government selection process (the one way you can hire for the bus dev role)
Just one article like this can’t cover the entire business development topic, so here are some additional resources to fill you in on some of the other considerations:
The Four Value Propositions
The 3 Ways Of Business Development
Choosing Your Clients
The Best Marketing Tactics
A Final Word
No amount of good reputation will keep you in work (unless you have a niche). Find the strategy that works for you and spend lots of time on it, consistently, so that your business development strategy brings you the opportunity to be a success.