The market is big ? but the number of colleagues competing for the work is also huge. On top of this, quite a few projects never even come on the market but instead, bypass the Architect altogether. Many medium sized businesses go directly to building contractors, oblivious of what they lose by not utilizing an Architect in their project.
The nature of the industry is such that Architects seldom get to influence the initial decision process of upcoming projects. Especially in the commercial sector it is the final "to build or not to build" decision that has to be reached before there IS any project and need for proposals, quotes, or bids.
This is especially true in regards to the MILLIONS of projects in the corporate sector... the nonprofessional clients; mid-size businesses that intend to have their own office building, warehouse, a production plant, or annex built.
LUCK PLAYS NO PART IN COMPETITION, IF YOU KNOW THE FACTS
The competition that you get in any new project varies. There are several factors that govern how many Architects will be going after any particular project. Similarly, the outcome of any competition can be forecasted ? not with 100 percent accuracy ? with certain indicators concerning the project, existing competition and your own experience and references.
It's not an exact science. But by the same token, these things CAN be defined and predicted to a good degree.
The element of chance, luck or fate has really nothing to do with competition or who gets the project. The concept of luck or fate is merely the EXPLANATION we invent wherever the FACTS that lead to the result are NOT KNOWN.
Let me explain. First, let us take an example where you have carefully evaluated the project before investing all the work into getting it. You've checked it all and decided to go ahead ? and make the most of your chances.
Let's say your proposal is absolutely the best for the prospective client. Your ideas support his purpose and function for the future building, your material selections provide the best combination of cost efficiency, purpose of usage, endurance, and maintenance... and with your vision, respond accurately to the demands the client has set for function and corporate image. Let's further imagine your quote is among the lowest in cost ? and the solution would save the client a good deal of money both in the construction phase and in maintenance and energy.
You've done your homework, you've burned the midnight oil, you've put your very SOUL into this. You have researched the competitors, their references, previous projects and found that even there, you are very competitive. The prospective client LIKES your ideas and directly hints that the selection is really made... but that they have to go through the formalities...
You can taste the sweetness of success, you feel good about having put in so much work on this one...
And then ? another Architect gets the project!
WHY? What happened?
Here's the problem: You are not likely to be told WHAT happened. Once your proposal has been rejected, the client will usually not admit to the reason WHY your proposal ? the one so obviously best of the pack ? was still second to the winning one.
But you have an idea, right? I mean ? why would someone NOT tell you something, hmm?
Right. There's something there that, if told, would embarrass the prospective client one way or another. But what?
Well, there can be many things ? but mostly, it's one or another of two things.
BETTER NETWORKING ? THE "CHUM" -LINE
A usual cause for winning the project is that some other Architect simply had a bigger network potential that he put into use. This can mean anything from having a convincing number of "hits" with the prospective client (so many of his associates have heard about the Architect or used and vouch for him or her) to being a personal friend of the client.
If the winning Architect is a personal friend of the client, there's nothing you can do. This kind of deals are often decided in advance and the whole proposal thing is a charade. Naturally, the client is not going to confess to having played you ? so you get all kinds of weird explanations together with compliments. (Next time, find out if any of the other Architects are personal friends of the prospective client BEFORE you go into all this work.)
However, in most cases it's the networking part ? and there, you CAN start to increase your chances. See http://www.architectmarketingtips.com/networking.html to read an article on networking if the subject interests you.
THE PROSPECTIVE CLIENT DOESN'T UNDERSTAND
A very usual cause for strange selection criteria is the simplest of all reasons: He or she does not really understand Architecture and construction nor the consequences of Architects work.
It's very simple ? what you cannot understand, you cannot professionally evaluate. It requires understanding and experience to be able to adjudicate the RELATIVE IMPORTANCE of various solutions and the integral parts thereof.
It's the "amateur viewpoint." Selection is based on other things than technical merits or aesthetic values. It could be that one of the Architects is "cute" or "handsome" or "charming." Or, it could be that the winning proposal is picked because the client "likes it" ? without any evaluation of cost, efficiency, functionality, adaptability, and so on.
This would appear to leave the selection to logic equivalent to a lottery. Equally, it would seem to subject your hard work to a deciding element of chance. Yet it is the amateur decision-maker that is the easiest of all to close over to your proposal!
If you know what to do, that is.
The nonprofessional client is easy to educate with a correct presentation. He is WILLING to understand ? and nine times out of ten, will give the project to the Architect that HELPS HIM TO UNDERSTAND the project, the benefits, what to look out for and so on. There's an article on this site that explains this in much more detail, click here to read about it.
EFFECT CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT PRIOR CAUSE
The key to eliminating the element of chance from your marketing activities is through understanding the basic factors which govern competition and the decision-making of clients.
Any effect, negative or positive, is always found to have a prior cause. If you win a million dollars in the lottery, the prior cause is that you entered the lottery. SOMEBODY always wins... even if the odds are slight for each participant.
In marketing Architect services, the odds are much better. A few MILLION times better... if you have the advantage of understanding the basic causes behind decision processes.
If the cause of something is not understood ? if you don't know what factors influence the Architect selection process in projects ? then you cannot affect the outcome... and the causation is credited to elements such as luck, fate or mystery.
But the power that the mystery wields on you is totally superficial. Having the correct information on what causes these things and the tools to affect the outcome will IMMEDIATELY unveil the mystery ? and dramatically increase your ability to make things go your way!
EARLY PROJECT INVOLVEMENT
Speaking of competition, it is clear that the earlier you get in contact with the prospective client, the better your position to influence his thinking is. The more prepared you are ? the better planned the angle of your approach... the more understanding and realizations your presentation evokes in the prospective client ? the more the outcome is in YOUR hands.
It is a proven fact that the earlier you get involved in the project, the better for you.
Why not try to get there first, before everyone else? Why not find the project before it really IS a project in the public sense of the word... before it is publicly announced?
Marketing is really communication planned cleverly to INFLUENCE decisions. Consequently, it works just as well in influencing the final go-ahead decision of the project itself ? provided you can get into a working relationship with the client before other Architects are aware of the project!
If you could find new projects in a really EARLY stage, when the final decision on going ahead with the project is yet to be made... if you could get in there and become the prospect's entrusted expert on matters relating to the project, if you could GREATLY INFLUENCE THE DECISION ITSELF... can you see how valuable that could be?
INCREASING ACCEPTANCE RATIO BEYOND THE IMAGINABLE
There is a way to know what factors influence each individual project. There is a way to observe the competition in a project and apply a correct measure of well-targeted action to the right spots to affect the outcome favorably.
There is a way to find new projects before others ? and sign the client onto your services BEFORE there really is a project at all. Delivering this service you will get an overwhelming competitive edge once it's time to select the Architect for the launched project itself.
You can continue being upset about the unfairness of this world. You'd certainly be right about that. And you can also take action to ensure that it is YOU who has the advantage and upper hand in most of the projects you go after.
Competition, after all, is a process of elimination. No matter the professional conduct rules, regardless of social relationships... it's a major point of survival where you either win or lose. You might not like the alternatives. I can't say that I do, either. But ultimately, I use all the tools and knowledge and help that I ethically can to win.
