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This
article is excerpted from a presentation the author gave at the AIA Sole
Practitioner's Breakfast at the AIA national convention in Charlotte
in May. The entire presentation currently is featured on the PIA Gateway.
Check it out!
Today's turbulent business environment is
unique in that it allows the architect to build on his or her skills and
create a new connected partnership between practitioner and client. Architects
need to transition from the commodity architecture market to the value-based
consulting environment, where value is not in the deliverables but in
what the service does for the client.
I recently attended the International Management
Consultants (the people who work 20 hours per week and make $300,000$500,000
per year) conference, which focused on this subject. I came away with
some key findings.
Consulting is a different biz than the design biz. It requires a different
mind set in which you transition by 1) identifying opportunities, 2) identifying
resources, and 3) capturing and leveraging your intellectual capital.
Architects think clients are price sensitive, but clients are really
value sensitive.
To transition to higher fees, you need to transition from a "vendor
mentality" to a "peer mentality." The five-step process to higher fees
involves 1) identifying the economic buyer, 2) developing a relationship
with the economic buyer, 3) developing an economic outcome based on business
objectives, 4) establishing a measure of success for the project, 5) identifying
your economic value.
Collaboration is the next business trend. New practice areas require
a significant learning curve, and self-education, collaboration, and mentoring
are methods to build your practice. Look to networking groups that have
social network (such as the conference at which I got these points).
Outsourcing will continue.
You need to sell your intellectual capital. Consultants are taking
their specialty and breaking it down into incremental pieces that can
be sold over the Web or are training and licensing other people in the
consultants' specialties.
The new trend is to be a "category authority," not a "boutique
consultant."
Clients spend 90 seconds to 4 minutes to make a decision about
your proposal! You need to hit them with the value proposition up front.
Learning to operate in a "value-added" mode is difficult because
there is no easy path, however the networking opportunities available
at conferences like this are a tremendous opportunity to take back practical
building blocks that will continually build your confidence in communicating
with business executives.
Credibility
tips for dealing with business executives:
Look up their stock price and PE ratio.
Talk to employees/customers casually.
Visit the competition.
Find a unique fit.
Buy the product or service.
Talk to the receptionist.
Drop a prior engagement and meet with the client.
Figure out in advance what you would add.
One way to market value-added services is to present
proposals in a "value package" that offers a smorgasbord of
options. You can list them from lowest to highest cost and list the scope
and value differences among the services offered. For example, from my
own experience, value proposition for strategic facilities planning is
not identifying the space, but translating that into earnings per share
impact, then working with the client to manage and control costs over
time. This is easier to sell to clients than you telling them how much
space to build. You really get the client's attention when you toss out
a comment like "this proposal will save you $100 million in operating-cost
increases and capital expenditures over the next 10 years."
What
a time of opportunity!
If you wanted to develop a management consulting practice right now, I
could put you in touch with several management consultants who would like
to train you and license their practice and tools for you to use. There
has never been a better time for getting into a new field, because the
mechanism for knowledge transferthe Webis in place and fully
operational. Likewise, the new era of collaboration and the ability to
break down and sell expertise to other consultants is a tremendous opportunity
for value experts.
The greatest opportunities for consulting include:
The blending of two professions (i.e., architecture and business)
Planning
Process improvement
Marketing and image improvement
Generation blending
Human resources and finance controls (space standards can be a
means of financial control; if you do a value analysis of a client's
hypothetical growth with and without space standards and convert it to
a Net Present Value, you would probably have an easy sell).
Think of your PIA as your portal to new business
opportunities and reach out and talk to people. I think you will be glad
you did.
Copyright 2002 The American Institute of Architects.
All rights reserved.
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Reference |
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Lynch Consulting is based
in Pfafftown, N.C., near Winston-Salem.
The complete presentation of Sole Practitioners and Expanded Services:
Your Future's So Bright You'll Hafta Wear Shades currently is featured
on the
PIA Gateway.
The PIA
Gateway contains numerous other articles and presentations you
will find useful to your practice. Check it out.
Lynch was the first architect interviewed about redefining the
profession in Richard Hobbs' Resident Fellow's Column in AIArchitect,
April 2000 (page 14).
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