Bringing in new work while handling the daily ins and outs of running a company requires a combination of talent, skill, team effort, a great business plan and smart organization. Particularly in the moments that call for scaling up, it becomes apparent that architecture is an industry in which technical knowledge, management, and business understanding are as important as good design.

The Hinge Research Institute recently released their new their 2018 High Growth Study which took an in-depth look at AEC firms in order to determine why some grow faster than others. More than 1,000 companies participated in the study and architecture, engineering and construction services firms made up more than 21 percent of the sample.

The study showed that the habits and priorities that drive higher than average growth numbers can be broken down into three categories. High growth firms are:

• Focused on understanding the marketplace and are nearly four times more likely to perform regular research on their target markets.
• More likely to specialize and recognize skills that set them apart from the competition.
• Quicker to adopt digital marketing tactics and content marketing. They also attend more conferences and events.

#1 – Develop Policies and Procedures

In today’s competitive market, effective strategic management is paramount for sustaining a business. Committing to a new strategy can be daunting and seem at risk of somehow cutting off possibilities and options. To avoid this, firms are advised to develop a structure that will increase the odds of success. To start, create a list of shared, general goals which are then broken down to specific, measurable objectives with precise targets. These decision-making processes should relate to organizational structure, staff recruitment, sales message, pricing, management, leadership and marketing approach. By setting office standards, you make the onboarding process for new hires faster and more efficient. This will save time, cost and avoid the frustration of training simple processes and answering repeated questions.

#2– Research Markets for Growth Opportunities

In an interview with Architect Magazine, new HOK CEO Bill Hellmuth explained the firm’s recent foray into sport and hospitality: “We re-established our sport practice a little over a year ago when we merged with 360 Architecture, which had some original HOK-ers in it. So, we’re back in the sport practice. Where growth opportunities occur is not just in sport but the intersection of sport and master planning and what happens when you add a sport venue to an urban district… We also recently merged with a [global] hospitality firm [BBG-BBGM] and we’re now looking at the intersection between hospitality and healthcare.”

Don’t be afraid to enter a new sector. Architectural thinking and project experience can be valuable across various building markets and you may surprise yourself by offering more than you think.

#3 – Work on Your Brand and Market Positioning

In order to differentiate themselves from the competition, business owners need to understand what they do and where they want to go. What will naturally emerge from this understanding is an idea of marketing as a natural extension of their company’s work ethics, company culture and service quality. Sheela Maini Søgaard, CEO and Partner AT Bjarke Ingels Group, confirms this stance in her piece for Design Intelligence: “As long as we continue to create stories from the way we genuinely approach design, our marketing will be organically derived rather than contrived. Once you have originality and integrity in your communication it is simply a question of finding the right tools and outlets.”

#4 – Strike a Balance between Exploitation and Exploration

In a popular TED Talk business strategist Knut Haanaes identifies the main reasons why companies fail. According to Haanaes successful companies create a balance between exploration and exploitation, competently doing more of the same as well as doing what’s new. Focusing only on exploitation–providing the same proven services or product–may not be risky in the short-term, but it is a risky strategy in the long-term. Investing in research and development is crucial, as it will allow you to stay on top of business, technology and marketing trends.

#5 – Hire Smart

Once in position to take on larger projects, hiring new people can make a huge impact on the stability of the firm. If the firm plans to work on several larger projects simultaneously, it needs reliable employees who understand the company culture and project managers that can help come up with realistic goals and set achievable deadlines. It could be useful to create a list of essential competencies for new hires and a set of responsibilities for each position within the firm. The way you select new hires will have an impact on whether your firm’s culture thrives or crumbles. In fact, CB Insights found that among the top three reasons why startups fail is not having the right team.

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It’s important to remember that there is no one-size-fits-all strategy for scaling up. Read up on the experiences of successful archipreneurs, talk to experts in scaling up, friends and colleagues who have done it before, and come up with a solution custom-tailored for your business.

The post 5 Tips to Make Your Architecture Firm Ready for Growth appeared first on Archipreneur.

Fortunately, it’s not the only path to attracting new projects. In fact, the most effective business development strategies for architects involve more time spent on proactive relationship-building (before the project is made public), and less time on responding to RFPs and RFQs, which are available to anyone.

Below are 9 strategies that can help you define a good business development approach to get you ahead of the competition and win more clients and projects:

#1 – Identify the ideal project, and then work backwards

What are the ideal projects for your firm? Who are the people who can lead you to them? Do some research into their social environments and find ways to meet them there. The best projects or partnerships occur through direct commissions via a personal contact. Make the personal connection by networking in the same places that your ideal client spends time in. If you haven’t already, start thinking of everyone in your rolodex as a potential client, collaborator, or lead to new information; it may just be that the person who may lead you to the next job is someone you already know.

#2 – Export your design as portable, and shareable objects

Several companies design books that showcase their projects. Rather than make the book simply a portfolio, make the book a design object itself. Your design philosophy should be manifested in any tangible object (books, business cards, etc) your company produces, so that whenever you meet a potential client, you can offer them a small sample of what makes your firm so great. Follow up with well-designed emails, and be sure that your website is clear and easy to understand. The worst is for a client to be turned off by a slow or complicated website.

#3 – Follow up

Always make sure to have business cards on hand. And after you receive a handful of business cards at networking events, be sure to enter them into your email list. Additionally, stay in contact through periodic, personal emails. If you want to send out occasional updates with a mass mailing service, be sure to ask if they’d like to be included in the mailing list.

#4 – Turn your firm into a brand

Become an expert in a specific area of design. Determine the expertise available in the office, and the kind of projects your firm would like to be known for. Perhaps it’s environmental (like SITE and HOK) or urban design (Gehl Studio), master plans, residential, cultural, or civic. There needs to be something that potential clients can associate with your firm’s name. If you want to be more of a generalist, then make “process” and “philosophy” your brand (like Grimshaw). This way you will be known for creative solutions and high quality design. What can you provide that’s unique to only your firm? Figure that out and use to brand yourself. Then you will successfully promote and market your firm.

#5 – Create brand ambassadors at your company

Create a company culture that reflects your firm as approachable and fun to work with. Make sure there is fluid communication within the office so that when architects are traveling, they are comfortable discussing information about the firm , spreading the company’s vision, and creating new business contacts.

#6 – Organize an open lecture series at your firm

Organize an open lecture series at your firm where you can invite anyone to your office and provide an opportunity to introduce your firm to a new audience. Better yet, make the lectures have nothing to do with architecture, but about something your firm believes in. This will make your firm more approachable and will also show a different facet to the practice.

#7 – Book as many speaking opportunities as possible

You never know who is in the audience. It’s a great way of reaching multitudes of people at the same time. At a school, you may find that you’ve attracted more students who want to work for you, but you may also catch the attention of a developer who is teaching a class at that school who may want to speak with you about a potential opportunity.

#8 – Grow your online presence

More so than booking lectures, it’s one of the best ways to reach large audiences and catch the attention of many potential clients around the world at the same time. Think about maintaining a blog on your website to publish frequent updates and also use Instagram and Twitter to boost your online presence. Instagram especially is quick and visual, so architects can “seduce” clients with beautiful images. Especially when that relates to their design aesthetic without having to spend so much time. The ROI (Return on Investment) on that is better than on any other platform. Because it reaches so many people without much effort. With Twitter, you can retweet articles about your firm, drive people to your blog, or post updates and images as well.

#9 – Network with colleagues

Other firms and industry professionals are great resources for staying on top of trends and new developments. Rather than considering other firms as competition, consider them as potential partners on future projects; the combined, complementary expertise from each firm can only help to strengthen a business proposal. Additionally, keeping good relations with other firms may also lead to information. For example, about new projects that you might not have known about before.

Generating new business opportunities involves both marketing and communications, but most of all it involves nurturing relationships. As long as you can continue networking effectively and keep your contacts talking about you, then your firm will most likely pop up during conversations about new projects. And as long as your name continues to pop up, and you proactively pursue new information, the more likely it is that you will be included in shortlists and be receiving direct commissions.

What other effective business development strategies for architects would you recommend?

The post 9 Creative Business Development Strategies for Architects and Designers appeared first on Archipreneur.