I’m not sure about you…

But I just can’t believe it’s already Mid-December…pretty much just two weeks before the end of 2010…where did the year go!!!

I have to say that I’m very happy with all the things have been able to achieve this year and I do hope you do to.  From publishing a book to moving across country from Seattle to Miami and with two dogs and a cat!  As you might guess, lots of good stories about that move!

Story sells and it sells at premium prices.  

Two good examples to prove my point.  The “Paul Harvey” heater has been on the market for a number of years.  The “Paul Harvey” heater has been on the market for a number of years.

The cost savings in heating bills of course comes, not by way of magic, but from good old fashioned closing off the heat to rooms you aren’t using and using the space heater in rooms you occupy.

There are plenty of $50 heaters at the local True-Value® and Home-Depot® that put out just as much heat.  But in both of these ads, it’s the story that entices the consumer to pay $399/$499 for “Paul” and $547 for the lovingly Amish made.  By the way, the Amish aren’t using the things, as they can’t have electricity in the house.  They’re being hired to build the wood frame that goes around the heating unit and to create story.

Application for an architect:  Client Success Stories need to bring tears to the reader, ’sales copy’ in your firm information (this can be in your firm brochure and/or on your website) needs to be strong and tell stories to not only help sell you as the architect but to help sell fees commensurate to your skill and training.          

Until next time—health and success,    
Christian

It’s pointless to brag about one’s traits oneself.  Usually, results in an opposite effect of what’s intended.  It’s human nature to roll one’s eyes anytime someone says “I’m the best” at just about anything.  Muhammad Ali being the exception that “makes” the rule.  Furthermore, a number of architectural boards prohibit you from saying you are better than anyone around you.  But there is Good News!  These limitations can all be overcome by having OTHER 3rd parties endorse and attest to your skill level and say all those things that you aren’t allowed to. 

Here are some examples; 

Classmates:  For those architects that studied with you and that are now in a different location that yours and/or with a different focus on their practice then yours, getting endorsements from your classmates is an option to gradually build your 3rd party message strength.  It’s not so important that they understand the reason for the endorsement but that you simply get them to trade endorsements so you can put it to good use. Your goal should be to have more colleague endorsements in your practice location than any other local competing architects.  That designation can be used throughout the practice and via external marketing to build credibility to clients.  As clients have in general no clue about credentials (unless they are written in ways that explain what they mean), endorsements are something that is simple to comprehend. 

“Gee, if this architect is endorsed by 57 of her colleagues and I don’t see any architects endorsing this other guy, why would I not go to the one that the other architects trust?”   [A few states prohibit you as the architect from giving your endorsement to another architect or product.  However, the language usually does not prohibit architects from outside your state, or country, endorsing you.] 

Engineers:  All the engineers that you work with, structural, electrical, mechanical, you name it are another method of gaining a 3rd party endorsement.  If you are used to working with a certain engineer on many of your projects, they will very likely write an endorsement for why clients should trust you (remember:  the engineers see’s all kinds of projects/results from other architects).  If you consistently show them good project to work on with you, they’ll be more than happy to write an endorsement for you.  They probably send you Holiday Cards to show you that they like you, now it’s time to ask for a bit more than a card at the end of the year.  Same goes for contractors that you have a good working relationship with.

Media Publications:  When a practice receives media exposure either by way of an interview in a local publication or by way of the purchase of print space for an “advertorial” style advertisement (those ads that actually look like an article), an opportunity is now present to turn the interview or the advertorial into an endorsement.  Remember the public believes what it sees in print to be “news” and news lends itself automatically to 3rd party credibility.     

Other Professionals:  The public looks highly to not just us as people in our field but to other professionals as well for guidance in who they should choose for a professional service (lawyers, accountants, physicians, and dentists for example).  Think of those as being pretty much the same as an endorsement from someone in our industry but done by someone who knows you as a professional.  For example, they can easily make some comparisons with people of their own industries with saying things about quality of work, professionalism, always on time and on schedule, reliable, etc.

All of these, in addition to all the testimonials from your actual clients will make you look like a rock star! And between you and me, you need to believe that you are one yourself to be able to convince others that you are the best architect for them to work with.  If you don’t believe in it, there is no way you’ll be able to convince someone that doesn’t know you.

Bonjour!

Christian here, getting ready for the weekend!  The last few weeks have been pretty busy with the new 6-Step Marketing Blueprint and working with new members and getting use to Always Sunny Miami!  What a change from Seattle!!! 

With that said, there is One thing we can all agree these days:  Each day we’re bombarded with more media clamoring for our attention.  Emails, website links, text messages, FaceBooks, electronic billboards, televisions in elevators (even in the restrooms), you name it…with the next invasion just around the corner.

Problem #1:  More distractions means ever-smaller attention spans on the part of your prospects. 

Problem #2:  Most architectural practices think in parallel while most prospects think serially.  Practices structure their websites with too many different type of services on a page and too many decisions for any one prospect.  At the same time, clients tend to have one dominant thought at a time:  “My project can’t be too expensive” or “I can’t decide what I really want” or “Can you do something about my house remodel?”

If you try to make one web page address all those needs (problems), you’re likely to address none of them adequately. At the other end of the spectrum, if you say nothing on your page, well you say nothing and it is a big waist of your prospect time. Unmotivated people who are merely browsing will think in general terms.  For instance, they may search for “architect”.  But motivated clients are more specific in their searches and already looked for ‘best architect for house remodel’.  They will have already Googled multiple websites and now want to know more about “alternative construction”, “new products and finishes”, and so on. 

The bottom line is you should not have a one-size-fits-all web page with every conceivable link on it.  You are better off having multiple, detailed pages on each aspect of your practice.  The first objective of your site should be to build trust in your experience, so prospects will give you their names. The concept of ‘Free Report’ in full speed here for those of you that decided to get your copy of the Blueprint. You can then expose them to the full array of your services once you have that critical piece of information. 

If you first attempt to expose them to all your services, you risk overwhelming them.  Overload leads to delay, which leads to indecision and the reflex of “I’ll come back here later.”  As soon as your anonymous visitors have left your page, there is an excellent chance they will not remember to return.  Even if they do remember a week or month later, the chances are not good that they’ll recall your exact website address.

To sum up:  It’s fine to have a website that covers many aspects of your services.  You’re much better off targeting that advertising to attract fewer tire-kickers and more solution-seekers.  Then deliver a targeted page that addresses one of the services you offer.  You’ll come across as a specialist and will stand out from all the distracting, general sites.

Your site can indeed become an island of professionalism and clarity in a sea of distraction.   

To your Success!

Christian

Ps. The holyday season is just around the corner, don’t wait to be the last one to send a card to your current clients and to your prospects…be sure to be The First One!

Most of our peers refuse to move or take action on items that are completely under their control related to marketing and sales and that will make real difference in the current and evolving new architectural economy.  They quite literally remain imprisoned by fences of their own making and that is if they have any sort of marketing in place.  Mentally and emotionally and personally and in business.  Ultimately, this results in a financial fence.

Reality:  For every service that you can provide from the lowliest remodel to a complete new building (put a new city here if you want), there are clients still buying.  It’s up to the architect to make sure that prospective clients still know they are in business, ready and willing to take care of them regardless of what is the particular tone of the news that day, month, or week.

Another good reality right now (at least for the ones taking action) is that most architects are panicking and retreating instead of taking action.  

Could there be a better time to be investing in yourself and your own business?

Here’s the difference between those who are successful now versus those who are terrified, paralyzed, drying up and practically blowing away in architecture.  They are willing to stick to their knitting, work on their business, able and willing to unearth and capitalize on the opportunities provided by adversity (cheaper media rates spring to attention), paying more attention to the person they face in the mirror every morning than people over which they have no influence, more attention to creating and delivering value to their customers.  Being less distracted and more determined to stay on good side of Darwin’s laws.

When you encounter that colleague who complain about how bad business is right now here’s what to ask—what are the 5 things you’ve done most recently to follow-up on current and past clients and prospective clients?

What are the five non-architectural books you’ve obtained and studied most recently to somehow improve your lot in practice and life?  To acquire new sales or communication skills, to make yourself more valuable to your clients, to find new opportunities in your local area?  The media you’ve negotiated with to make a better deal?

When they have no answer to these questions, tell them that they need to start working ON their practice.

By the way, you can find information on my new Marketing Blueprint right here (ok, click here…)

Yeap, I made my deadline!

To follow-up from my last post, today I want to reinforce that when you have a business, and yes architecture is a business, you should be suing direct response marketing as a primary means of advertising.

But before I go further, I don’t know about you, but I have to say that I always get an extra charge of energy at this time of year for the final sprint to get all my goals done by the end of the year.  And it does seem that it’s the same with many of you, considering the number of emails I’m getting in the last couple of weeks.

I’ve been getting a lot of requests to get a more information on the different products and programs that I have available and more important, how I can help more of you get more of me at a lower price.  Many of you want to take action but money is a problem.  So I’ve been working really hard and will have a brand new Marketing Blueprint available to you by next week (and I will meet that goal!!!) and at a much lower price…more to come on this one…

Direct Response Marketing as your primary means of advertising;

Most of what you see in everyday advertising is what is referred to as image advertising. In other words, all the advertising does is bring brand or company name recognition. We all love it ‘cause it usually looks good! The problem with this type of advertising or marketing is that it can’t be measured, so you never know if your marketing dollars are working or not. And like I just said earlier, the reality is that these days most solo architects and small firm owners don’t have that extra money to feel good about their marketing.  They need results.

With direct response marketing, you will always be able to measure the results of your programs so you know whether or not to continue spending money in those avenues or it you should move your advertising dollars somewhere else.

For example, if you are running a newspaper, or radio ad and there is no direct way to measure your response, you are doing image advertising. If your ad has a coupon the consumer had to cut out and bring to you for a free consult, or if you a specific phone number for them to call from the ad, then your advertising dollars can be tracked and you will know if your efforts are working or not.

Direct response advertising and marketing allows you to maximize your advertising and marketing dollars, because you know very quickly if what you’re spending money on is producing results or not. If it isn’t producing results, you can very quickly make adjustments, move your dollars elsewhere and test again.

Makes you wonder why everyone isn’t using direct response marketing, doesn’t it?

Ok, gotta run, need to finish my new Marketing Blueprint!!!

I’m sure some of you will agree with me, there is just not enough hours in a day and days in a week…at least when you just move to a new home, in a new city AND in a completely different climate.  The good thing is that after only 3 weeks, we are finally getting pretty much done with most everything.  I even had time to go for an 1hr swim early Sunday morning in the ocean and it was fantastic!

Ok, enough bragging about my new life!  Some of you asked me to give more information on my last post about Mass Media.  Today I would like to say a few words about the biggest concern I get with my new members when we start talking about doing ads in the actual world.  For some reason I don’t get much resistance from them to advertise in the online world…but it’s a different story when we talk about the ‘real world’…

Oh, and by the way, when I say ‘ads’, I mean ads in a very general term and you need to include in this- your postcards, direct-sales letter, radio ads, your marketing brochure, etc.  ok, that said, here are the biggest concern that I see most of the time with a new member of one of my program;

1.    I’m Concerned that my marketing will look “Too Different”.  Oh really, then please prepare to not be noticed, remembered, or get any real result. Your marketing’s first job is to get noticed and you can only get noticed by standing out. You stand out by differentiating yourself in frequency, message, or positioning. Notice that I didn’t say to make your ads weird. No, I said different. And by the way, don’t look at what your competition is doing, or I should probably say in this case, not doing since they probably don’t know what they’re doing.

Like I said, this is the same for your brochure, your website and the way you present yourself when dealing with new prospects.  If you’re only doing what your competition’s doing, you’re immediately replaceable, and you’re not going to be missed. This might hurt your feelings, but we are talking about business here… What you need to do is to pay attention to successful ads and marketing strategies even if they come from other industries.  Between you and me, try to look at small independent company as oppose to what Apple or Big Companies are doing since you probably don’t have the same budget that they have. 

2.    I’m afraid I Won’t Get Enough Leads – Well, you’ll never know if you don’t try. I know; that’s pretty straight forward for an answer but really- start small and then you can go for bigger once you get the results you want. I sometime see web postings like, “Who has tried newspaper ads? Did it work?” Or even worse, you can see responses from other architects who say, “I tried it and it didn’t work” not good to listen to people that don’t know what they are doing and why it didn’t work.

3.    I’m scared to lay out a plan since I might need to change it – Well, it’s not that it might change, it will change.  So the best way to deal with this is to have a plan of what you will do for the coming year and adjust along the way. The time that you will spend planning your ads (your mass media plan) and when you’ll be running your ads will save you a lot of time later, reduces your stress, and makes you “think” through your year instead of reacting to it, and that’s regardless of the economy. There is really no way around this, unless you want to keep fighting with your peers.

Then, the challenge you face is learning what advertising actually works versus just giving money to some other businesses, like newspapers and magazines. I’m not sure if all of you are fully aware of this, but they don’t make their money by selling the newspaper but really by selling spaces for ads in the newspaper.  Same goes for the magazines.  The main danger is that your money can be wasted on non-productive ads leaving your practice financially worse off than before any advertising was started. That’s why it’s so important to build a marketing system that’s based on the principle of “Test and Measure.”

And we are going to look at this in more details on my next post!

For a steady flow of clients who need your services, a variety of mass media (any form of media that reaches many multiples of thousands of potential clients…and NO, your website is Not Enough…) is necessary to deliver them to the front door on a more regular basis.  Otherwise, the refrain of ‘waiting in vain’ will be a familiar one.  Why is this the case?

Reason #1:
Unfortunately, most people don’t understand the importance of working with an architect and even fewer are actually thinking of working with one. There are a lot of misconceptions about our profession and most people don’t have a clear idea of the benefits of working with someone from our field. It is your responsibility to show them why they will benefit from working with you!

Reason #2:
Only a very small percentage of people needing the help of an architect will actually enter construction in a given year.  While finances are one major factor, especially these days, there are other readiness issues that prevent most from choosing ‘right now’ as the time to pursue major construction.  You won’t see these dismal statistics batted around in the architectural management or consulting world, because so few are willing to acknowledge them and when confronted, they have few answers to offer back to the inquiring architect who demands and needs tools to battle the odds and win.  This low number shows up in a variety of settings (urban, rural, US, non-US).

Reason #3:
If you combine the above two reasons and continue with just neighborhood-based marketing and regular networking, you won’t reach enough of a base of potential clients who are in the “ready” category in the immediate vicinity of your practice.

Need for a Sales Systems and Qualifying of Clients as Consequence of Mass Media:
While the good news is that mass media can generates enough response to create a steady flow of clients who are ready, it will also create a steady flow of potential clients who are NOT ready (at least right now).

Therefore the importance of a system with how one qualifies clients interacting with the practice for the first time and becomes critical to manage those clients who aren’t ready.  Otherwise, you’ll waste time, money, and mental energy and eventually give up and go back to hoping for the best because of those prospects that not ready to move forward at any time. 

Additionally, over a period of years, the ‘not-ready right now’ clients create their own source of more projects (another critical Architecture Marketing Systems Strategy—the creation of The New Project Annuity™).

Finally, one trap to avoid with mass media is to never forget the role it plays in the steady supply of projects.  If one starts believing that it can be eliminated as a practice expenditure, you’ll quickly find that once turned off, the projects dry up shortly thereafter.

Your Communication
You need to have a “sales” structure in place And in front of you so you can practice your communication skills on a regular basis to be sure you improve it over time.  People like to work with people they connect with and that they like.  If you go to the effort of making the client feel that you are more alike than different, they will like you more.  If you observe your own behavior you’ll find that you buy from those you like and not from those you dislike.
            Tools to use: The more comfortable you are at talking in everyday (non-architectural) language and mirroring the client’s behavior and language, the more projects you will get.  When you communicate in this fashion, as opposed to as if you were talking with another architect, you connect with them at a deeper level and the result is improved project acceptance and more people receiving the benefits of the expertise of an architect.  We’ve been trained to present our projects to our peers, no longer the case once you are talking with a prospect.  Sound simple? Yes it is- just ask more questions than you give answers.  Remember, it’s not about you…it’s about your prospect!

In today’s world, well over 50% of future prospect will either find their architect on the web or go to the web to check him/her out before making a first ‘live’ contact - and the number is constantly growing. That’s why any architect (especially solo architects and small firm owner) who wants to be part of the winners MUST be accessible to prospective clients on the web.

Every serious architectural web site should have at least one place where clients can ask for written information!  Otherwise – you will remain the best kept secret…and you site will be nothing more than a phone number somewhere in the yellow book.
 
Prospects searching an architect’s web site for the most part don’t make their decision to call for an appointment on-the-spot.  Instead, they want yet more info. That’s why a “web form” embedded into the site offering a “special report” or “detailed information” is a welcome option to them.
 
The web form captures prospect contact info, the office is notified by E-mail and sends out the info packet. The info packet is, in essence, a promotional piece assuring prospects that they have contacted the right office to solve their particular project. That’s why my 6-Step Marketing Program comes with a specific template for such info packets.
 
But, what next when the majority of prospects still delay contacting the office for the appointment? Read on….

The time-line for most architectural project is often protracted and follows the universal sales rule of taking multiple exposures to a service before a prospective client will take action.
 
For example, a person may look at your web site and even order that “Free Report” but still will not phone your office for an appointment. At that point the prospect either goes into hibernation only to emerge unexpectedly at a later time or perhaps will never follow up at all. In such cases, often estimated to be in 50% of instances or more, it’s what you do to “be there” when the prospect is ready to buy that makes all the difference. It is your responsibility to take action for your prospect.

Join me on my special call tomorrow, September 16, to find out how you can easily do this.  Just send me a note at info@architetcprofits.com to secure your seat and get the access information for this special call.

TOMORROW at 10AM EDT/ 1PM PDT.

CONSISTENTLY BRING THE CLIENTS YOU WANT TO YOUR FIRM
Thursday, September 16, 2010 at 1pm Eastern
Reserve your seat at info@architectprofits.com

Talk to you tomorrow!

Architecture is a big ticket item and therefore you have to provide more than good value. In other words, you need to provide more than just good design. Sorry if I burst your bubble, but it is not enough and anyway, why would your prospects expect less than the best design for their project?  Truthful comparison of the benefits of the services you are offering with other services or other type of construction, possible savings and increase in value of the project need to be pointed out throughout the process. From first contact, via the phone or website until the prospect say yes to working with you and only you.

Tools to use:

Show the additional value through simple and convincing comparisons with other services and make sure that what you are saying is true and that what you are claiming is substantial. Find out what other benefits that working with you can bring to the client at large. For example, how can you help them get more square footage to their building by choosing a critical type of tenants for their building (non-profits come to mind), or how you can help them get part of the construction cost covered by subventions from the government or independent agencies. You need to say what those are throughout the process (this means more than once!).