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The Practice Management Knowledge Community (PMKC) identifies and develops information on the business of architecture for use by the profession to maintain and improve the quality of the professional and business environment.  The PMKC initiates programs, provides content and serves as a resource to other knowledge communities, and acts as experts on AIA Institute programs and policies that pertain to a wide variety of business practices and trends.

    

Differentiating with Consultants: The Power of Strategic Collaboration

By Craig E. Park Assoc. AIA posted 05-05-2016 12:54 PM

  

By Craig Park, FSMPS, Assoc. AIA, Principal, The Sextant Group

 

Most architectural firms rely on principals or their marketing and business development staff to identify and build relationships with key decision makers in the markets where they choose to serve. Whether your firm is a generalist or works primarily in one or two market niches, developing a market research and outreach plan is the first step to building business. The implementation of the plan ― the business development effort ― identifies opportunities that firms can pursue. As much as we would like the decision process to be objective, the success of any pursuit effort is contingent on a number of subjective factors.

In the public sector, the near ubiquitous qualifications-based selection (QBS) request for qualifications (RFQ) process purports to address differentiation by establishing baseline metrics or qualities that substantiates each firm's relevance through the long-list, short-list, interview, to selection process. Alignment of firm history, portfolio, expert resumes and documented approach form the primary criteria for sorting through the selection progression. In the private sector, the request for proposal (RFP) process includes some elements of basic service experience, though it tends to favor established relationships and lowest cost, often at the expense of differentiated expertise.

One of the most important of these factors is differentiation. Differentiation may be one of the most over-used term in marketing professional services. Differentiation, often defined as a "unique value proposition" is cited as the Holy Grail for the architectural professional. This is primarily due to the difficulty in establishing substantive differentiators between like focused firms.

With the ability to research on the Internet, most clients looking to hire an architect for a specific project type ― say an academic building ― find the websites, portfolios, resumes, and even "thought leadership" content of many firms look, not surprisingly, alike. How can a client differentiate one firm from another?

This differential ― more often than not ― is not the design practice's own portfolio of experience, but the expertise and experience of key consultants on the design team that client sees as critical to the success of the project. How can your firm leverage its consultant relationships to better build relationships, identify new opportunities, and successfully win more work?

In most cases, the clients soliciting new work identify the technical strengths required or expected of the prime architecture firm to complete the project. This list often includes the typical basic services consultants ― civil, structural, mechanical, electrical ― necessary to round out the design team. Increasingly, specialists ― geotechnical, landscape, interiors, food service, technology, acoustics, lighting, etc. ― are also flagged as important participants in the process.

It is with these consultants and niche specialists that many architects are finding increased value to their business development efforts.
  

Experience-Based Strategy

Many consultants have direct contract relationships with the facilities teams within public and private clients. These can be related to ongoing maintenance, service or advising on planning and design for moves, adds and changes or for the renovations and remodels that reflect the ongoing evolution of most workplace facilities. When targeting new, potential clients, these consultants should be the first points of contact for building your network.

As firms build portfolio depth, the on-going, long-term relationships with consultants can also be an element highlighted by the client. The shortened learning curve of prior experience working together is often cited by clients as the most important factor in team selection. This sometimes poses a challenging dilemma: whether to choose a firm with a strong working  history, or opt for a new relationship with strong client contacts. Each case will be different, but this highlights the importance of understanding the strengths of the consulting options you have.
  

Scouting for Leads

Like most architectural firms, the marketing departments of consultants are also scouting for new work. Because their focus tends to be more market-sector driven, they track those client types that best fit their expertise. The proactive consultants will share these findings with the architects they trust and enjoy working with. Recognizing this attribute, architects can build a network of consultants who can help identify pipeline opportunities.
  

Collaboration Benefits

"Great buildings are designed by great architects who use great consultants," said Michael Wagner, a former editor at Architectural Record. The best consultants bring a collaborative approach that starts at programming and continues through construction administration. The complexity of projects today makes the "master builder" history of architectural practice much less relevant. Finding and developing strong consultant relationships brings the benefit of expertise, experience, and ultimately, project excellence to the practice.
  

Exclusivity

Loyalty begs for exclusivity. When a consultant provides a truly unique benefit to a project pursuit ― because of strong client history or specialized expertise ― it is a good strategy to get them to commit to being exclusive. However, many niche consultants (especially the premier ones) are so well known for their expertise that they are the default selection for many firms, often without pre-knowledge. A good practice --- as with all teaming --- is to discuss exclusivity early in the pursuit timeline and verify whether or not the consultant can commit to being exclusive to just one team.  
  

Strategic Partnerships

In the end, building strategic partnerships with consultants that have similar business and cultural values can help differentiate your firm from the competition. Building a long-term cooperative and collaborative relationship can bring the best of both worlds: more and better project opportunities, and higher quality and greater innovation in project delivery.

 

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Craig Park, FSMPS, Assoc. AIA, is managing principal of the Omaha office of national independent technology consultants, The Sextant Group. Park is a Fellow and past national president of the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS). He can be reached at cpark@thesextantgroup.com.

  

(Return to the cover of the 2016 PM Digest: Business Development)

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