What They Did Not Teach You At Architecture School:

The 5 (Non-Salesy) Selling Secrets For Architects That Gain Trust And Win Projects

They lied!

Yes, that sounds harsh but think back to architecture school.

Weren't you told that the best type of marketing was...

'Doing great work?'

Well how is that working out now that you are in business for yourself?

If the 'great work' marketing strategy were true then why do you spend so many sleepless nights rolling around the bed in a cold sweat stressing about where your project is coming from.

Because even if that ostrich strategy should work, you and I live in the real world.

In the real world:

• Pizza Hut doesn't make the best pizza
• McDonald's doesn't make the best burgers
• Microsoft  doesn't make the best software.

But they all have one thing in common:

They all sell the most in their respective markets, BY FAR.
(You can look it up and see.)

And not because of a great product (and not through referrals either) but through superior selling systems.

Here is the real truth 'they' SHOULD have told you at architecture school (heck they had many years to confess)...

Your number 1 job as an architect is... (drum roll please) SELLING ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES.

Your number 2 job is DOING ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES.

Please read that again.

Your number 1 job as an architect is SELLING ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES.
Your number 2 job is DOING ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES

If you do not master job #1
then there is no job #2!

If you do not get that then the rest of this page won't make a single bit of sense to you. But I guess since you have read this far then you are on board.

Maybe if they told you the harsh truth upfront you'd have stayed put in the big firm... but then again we both know that you'd never be truly happy working for someone else.

You needed the freedom and the challenge of working for yourself.

So you are a tiger for punishment? That is OK as long as we sort out your #1 job for you now...

SELLING ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES

You are probably OK when face to face with a potential client.

But is OK good enough?

Do you ever lose deals you know you should have won to someone else who is less skilled than you?

Do you ever worry that you said the wrong thing?

Do you ever have a client procrastinate and go cold and wonder if there is anything you can say to get them back on track - but not know what to say?

Of course.

In my experience the biggest obstacle architects have is that you are too smart.

Yes, too smart - you know too much.

You have forgotten more about design than your clients will ever learn, but that is not an advantage.

It is a lot more helpful to be
a little dumb like me!

You see I am not an architect, I could never do what you do. But I do see and hear things that you do not hear or see.

I have trained architects almost every day for three years (it seems) to win projects by choosing their words and positioning themselves as the experts that they are.

Sadly I watch architects, who know too much, say the wrong thing, all the time.

They try to impress clients with their knowledge and end up confusing or overloading them.

The problem is...

Most architects love design and hate selling.

Most architects design with vision and emotion but communicate and sell with logic and analytical thinking. People don't live their lives using logic and they don't hire architects that way either.

People are confusing. Selling is confusing.

Accept the fact that selling is essential. But here's the next problem...

The dreaded sales training courses.

Most sales courses were NOT designed for selling
high-priced complex services, like architecture.

They sound corny and their 'closing techniques' and manipulative questioning would have your clients running for the door. That is if you did not shrivel up in embarrassment first.

Most traditional selling courses preach lines that sound like they have been pulled straight from the original snake oil salesman manual. They should come with a top hat and a brown bottle for the oil.

Your clients do not appreciate this approach. They see through manipulative tactics.

Yes, architects need to sell... but in a non salesy way.

This is the great contradiction.

'How do I sell without being salesy?'

As soon as you are seen as a salesperson you lose.

As soon as you are seen as the trusted adviser then the client can move ahead with you in confidence.

Selling architecture services needs to be
more of a consultative process.

Your client needs to see you more like a doctor doing a full diagnosis rather than making your considered prescription. Where the client respects and acts on your opinion because they trust you 100%.

There are 5 secrets that make this happen every time.

As you listen to the testimonials from real architects on this page - notice the relief on their voices as they finally find a way to gain trust and remove obstacles without being salesy.

These are 5 modules specifically designed to help you sell architecture services. Not ice creams or timeshare units or insurance but architecture services - that's all.

That is why these 5 secrets work so well.

They were designed for people like you.

- Richard Petrie