Richard Petrie, World's Leading Architect Marketing Coach

My marketing approach of providing educational material is very good at generating ‘leads’.

For example most offer their services in a way similar to this:

Richard Petrie Architects
25 Years Experience
Call 555-123-4567

This does not work very well. Very few people who see it actually make the call.

So I suggest you offer a ‘Free guide to hiring an architect’ with a call to action like ‘go to www.whatever.com and enter your email address for instant access’

This allows us to get names and email addresses in return for the educational content. Typically we can get ten times more leads using this two step process than a typical architect can get using the one step ‘pick me’ advertising.

So far so good.

We now need a good reason to get face to face or at least on the phone. No one will buy expensive services based on a report or book alone.

Consider selling this first meeting like selling a first date to a girl, it pays to make the offer as attractive as possible,

Maybe she does not much like the look of you much yet but if the event you took her to was something she really wanted then you have a second chance to get her to say ‘yes’.

Taking a girl to a bar might not be much of an offer but if you suggested that you both went to a new upmarket restaurant she may say ‘yes’ to get to the restaurant. From there you have a chance to win her over with your charismatic personality and maybe she will forgive you for your ‘rugged’ looks.

That is like saying do you want to come back to my hotel room and I won’t charge you. To many this feels like a wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing.

So the challenge is can we create a ‘first date’ that sounds more attractive. Let’s face it, it won't be hard. There is not much romance in the ‘Free consultation’.

People don’t know where to start, they get overwhelmed and confused, so an offer that would reduce confusion and uncertainty seems a good idea.

We need something that does not offer to give away too much IP but is genuinely useful to the client.

Architect Marketing Academy member Mark Siddall and I had discussed the idea of offering a One Page Action Plan (OPAP) as a nice helpful service way to provide direction and certainty for people.

What is a One Page Action Plan? Read on soldier...

You may have received my emails. The idea was to meet with me for one hour and we would identify where you are now, where you want to go to and then develop a one page action plan to get you started.

This is a genuinely valuable offer. Getting that level of expert focus and direction can transform a business.

Obviously this is not much different from what an architect could offer. A one page plan from you that outlines what to do to get started is hugely valuable.

In my case I got 7 people requesting a one hour OPAP for a small fee of $150. Probably a couple will end up becoming clients with me after they get their OPAP. So $1,050 in upfront fees from a simple test because the offer was going to be valuable.

Two smart architects took me up on this and I genuinely know they will be delighted with what they get for $150.

Remember these people were not a hot as someone who had just requested a guide to renovating so you could easily get more. If your offer was free then obviously you'd get more again.

I deliberately set a fee to reduce the response but depending on what you sell if you have a high conversion rate then free might be a good idea.

You need a strong 'Here's what you will get' and 'here's why you should do this' and maybe even a 'Here's what can go wrong if you don’t do an OPAP'.

Here’s how we might ‘sell’ the concept of doing a One Page Action Plan session with you.

1) Problem: Many are confused and don’t know what they don’t know. They procrastinate because they lack direction and certainty.

The solution is doing your research and homework before you start to spend money. The OPAP is designed to help you know where to start and make sure you do things right from the start before you meet a builder or architect.

We can also say…

2) Problem: Costs blow out when too many assumptions are made.

Solution: Your OPAP will tell you what to research so you can eliminate assumptions (and costly mistakes) before you head to a builder or architect.

Doing an OPAP does not guarantee a sale but positioned right makes it easier to ‘sell’ the ‘first date’. Make the first date so good that they want more. The rest is up to you my friend.

- Richard

Over the coming weeks, you’ll be receiving additional emails from us with more resources to help you attract more of the right clients. Watch your email inbox for these additional resources.

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