STAGE 5 – PART 2
Winning Work 
Getting noticed and shortlisted by potential clients is possibly half the battle, but you still have to win the appointment, potentially beating several equally well-qualified competitors. The appointment process is rarely immediate and usually involves a period and process of negotiation, sometimes including a decision on how much work to do at risk and without a proper agreement. It can also be a time to decide whether the client is one you would prefer not to become further involved with, and to make your excuses and back away.
The ability to convince complete strangers that you are the right architect for them and their project is a skill that some appear to have naturally and others struggle with, but it is critical for the success of your business. If you are not a natural then it may be wise to seek training in presentation, interview and negotiation techniques.
Working at risk
Many clients will expect you to work for them for free – at least initially. How much is expected will vary from a first discussion about a project, when they will want to hear your preliminary ideas, to taking a project right up to planning consent – with many different degrees between. How far you are prepared to go along with this is a business decision, and so is up to you. Clients, not unreasonably, will accept what is on offer. You may feel that you have no choice and that all your competitors are doing it, but you may also find that many clients respect the value of a service that is charged for more than one that is given away for nothing.
Consider in advance how much you are prepared to offer at risk to get started on a project. Ideally have a firm practice position on unpaid work. You will find it much easier to stick with and to explain to clients if it is an across-the-board policy, and they will feel that they are being treated the same as everyone else. Many practices charge for all preliminary work at a flat hourly rate and do not find it a problem. Certainly it may not do your bid a lot of good if you are seen as too desperate to get the job or too much of a pushover in a negotiation.
Competitions, although popular with new practices, should be seen as being in this category, although some practices have built very successful businesses on the back of them. Calculate your reasons for and the benefits of entering competitions before putting often considerable resources into them. The reasons for entering may extend well beyond the prize of winning an important job – the practice may also benefit from the potential publicity and exposure, experience and team-building that undertaking such projects brings. But be certain why you are doing it, over and above the excitement of gambling on the competition itself.
Success in interviews
Make sure that you can perform at introductory meetings and formal interviews – practise if necessary. Consider issues such as:
- background research/knowing your stuff
- dress
- punctuality
- establishing rapport – charisma is important
- picking the right approach for the interviewer(s)
- body language, handshakes, smiling, eye contact, posture, etc.
- maintaining a positive attitude – self-belief and confidence are essential
- communication skills – be honest and no waffling
- clarity about what you are offering
- presentations – keep them brief and to the point
- project portfolios – maintain them in good order and tailor them appropriately
- brochures, etc. – have something specific to leave behind which includes all contact details
- ensure it is a two-way interview – and listen to any responses
- impromptu sketching – can be effective, but only do it if you are good at it.
Negotiation
Securing work at any price is inevitably not good business for either side and you need the skills to negotiate good deals for your company while keeping your client happy. The negotiation will not only be about price, but will also include the nature and extent of the service, programme and delivery, quality and client expectations. Both sides may have established rules of engagement that need to be understood and reconciled. The aim is to ensure that both sides end up with a clear understanding of what they are to both provide and receive, whether it is services or fees, and that no surprises appear later on that might derail the relationship. This understanding needs to be expressed in writing, partly in the form of an appointment document (see Stage 5, Part 3) and partly as an exchange of letters or memoranda that spell out the terms of the deal.
See: Appointment, page 113.
You need skill and skills to conduct the delicate dance of negotiation well. As with marketing ability and interview technique, getting professional training may prove to be an extremely valuable investment.
Negotiation techniques
Negotiation is a vital skill for running a successful practice. The following techniques will give you confidence in your position and will help you to negotiate successfully:
Set objectives in advance:
- Put your objectives in writing.
- Identify all the issues to be agreed.
- Establish your preferred outcome(s) and priorities:
- scope of services
- your terms and conditions
- design and quality standards
- time required
- principles to be adhered to
- fees
- warranties, etc.
- Know where and how far you are prepared to compromise.
Understand the other side:
- Know what is of importance to them.
- Know how keen they are to use you and therefore your relative bargaining power.
- Match their negotiating team with your own.
- Anticipate their offers with considered responses.
- Get your timing right.
Conduct:
- Set the terms of the negotiation.
- Get points of agreement established.
- Clarify and record points of agreement as you proceed.
- Avoid negotiating in a climate of hostility – if necessary delay or postpone.
Tactics:
- Recognise and anticipate common negotiating tricks designed to apply pressure, including:
- the ‘nibble’
- adding additional requirements just after a deal is concluded
- the ‘flinch’
- deliberately ridiculing an offer using body language
- deferring to a higher authority
- apparently being unable to agree further
- good cop, bad cop
- ‘take it or leave it’
- ‘company policy says…’
- appeals to moral authority
- splitting the difference
- deadlines.
- Take a break if necessary.
- Avoid or use with caution similar pressure tactics.
- Do not accept the first offer.
- If a lower price is offered, offer a lower level of service.
- Consider breaking the offer/price down element by element.
Know your own value:
- Communicate it confidently.
- Be unemotional in weighing it against the offer from the other side.
- Be prepared to walk away.
Remember:
- Use fairness and even-handedness as a measure.
- Both sides should emerge feeling happy and with honour satisfied.
- You are going to have to work closely together so a good relationship is important.
- A successful long-term relationship may be worth more that a short-term gain.
- Put a value on goodwill.
Saying ‘No’
Architects tell many stories about the money and effort they would have saved if they had declined a commission from a prospective client at their first meeting. These situations are often clear at the time, but a combination of a desire to please, the challenge of the problem and a hunger for work frequently gets in the way of better judgement. Resist the temptation to do all and any work that crosses your path, and maintain your focus on what you set out to do.
When to think twice
- The budget is too small to contain the client’s ambitions.
- There is not enough money available to pay for the project.
- Credit checks are less than satisfactory.
- The client is talking to large numbers of possible architects (and others).
- The client has already hired (and fired) other architects or has a reputation for litigation.
- The proposed fees are too small for you to properly resource the job.
- There is an expectation of considerable work prior to appointment (possibly in competition with others).
- Payment of fees is contingent on achieving planning consent.
- The programme for the work is too short or you cannot provide the necessary resources for the proposed timetable.
- The appointment is for only one or two stages at a time.
- The appointment requires skills that you do not possess or cannot obtain.
- The nature of the work conflicts with your principles, preferred style or working approach, etc.
- You will be expected to work or act in an unprofessional manner.
- You do not think that you will be able to work happily or satisfactorily with the client.
- You struggle to get payment on your first invoice.
- The risks attached to being involved outweigh the likely benefits.
Generating your own work
The alternative to persuading others to hire you is to set up projects yourself. This usually involves finding and identifying sites and assessing the building opportunities, possibly talking to planning officers and discovering site owners. Good local knowledge helps with this, as does knowing where funding and grants might be accessed and who would be interested in taking on the risk of developing it.
Introducing a project to a developer or others who are keen to build (possibly including housing associations and certain private clients) should bring with it an introduction fee (to be negotiated) and the strong likelihood of being taken on as the architect. Some architects have become very good at this and can provide clients very rapidly with option appraisals, feasibility studies and development economics for projects. The ability to do effective appraisals requires a developer’s understanding of how particular projects can create a profit or fit within available funding envelopes, even if it does not require the developer’s willingness to take the financial risk.
If you are willing to carry that risk, you might choose to act as the developer yourself and take the project forward (although not necessarily through all the development stages before selling) using investment funding from banks and others. A number of architects have found that this is a very effective way to design and build what they believe is the right solution, as well as usefully cutting out the developer and gaining (or potentially massively losing) the real profits to be made on a development project. Some architects do this in a more controlled way by developing and then selling their own homes or offices, while others have set up separate development companies and taken a fully commercial approach.
It is beyond the scope of this guide to discuss development in any detail. It should not be attempted without appropriate knowledge, skill and advice, but having some of that skill and the ability to understand and find projects that will attract a developer’s entrepreneurial spirit can be a great strength to an architectural practice, and may keep it in work when other sources have run dry.
CHECKLIST
Stage 5 – Part 2: Winning Work
- Ensure that you have the skills to convert a lead into a deal. Get training if necessary.
- Go into interviews practised, confident and well prepared.
- Know your value and how much you are prepared to give to win the job.
- Know how much you are prepared to work at risk for a particular job and client. Beware of being taken for a ride.
- Research your potential client and what matters to them.
- Make yourself familiar with negotiation techniques. Actively consider a training course. Understand the rules and apply them as unemotionally as possible.
- Match a lower offer with a lower level of service.
- Consider setting up and generating projects yourself.
- Always be prepared to say no if the costs and risks outweigh the potential benefits.