get noticed for your design work, not gifts

 

build something yourself

or work on competitions

or collaborate with other professionals on pro bono projects (connections beyond the profession are always good)

 

raw marketing is very tough if there's no there there

In the realm of professional services, clients do business with:
a) people they know;
b) people they like, and
c) people they trust.

If your marketing efforts are not focused on addressing all three of those elements in some meaningful way, then "business cards with small gifts" become irrelevant.

I would also add a fourth to quizzical's list (and probably move it to the top of the list):

d) people who do good work

All four make for a good consultant.

won - I take your point, but (without trying to be argumentative) would suggest that your point d) is inherent in my point c) - subtle, I know, but think about it.

Not to belabor this, and I certainly hear your point, quiz, but I think you are using the word trust in its broadest meaning where a finer distinction is important. I know many firms that I trust in that they are honest, ethical, and hard working, but the design is not what I would want it to be, and there are other firms that are conniving, duplicitous, and ego-driven that deliver a very high quality product. I can see an occasion to hire both types of firms.

I'd actually put doing good work towards the bottom of the list.  I've met quite a few firms at architecture functions and interviews and I'd say that a firm can be prosperous doing banal architecture.  Most of the firms that are doing well are helmed by people who go to social events (pro bono, socialite, ect) and able to gain trust of potential clients.  There are some good (work-wise) architecture firms in the area that are flailing and after meeting the partners, they are generally despicable people.  My previous firm won a good deal of architecture awards but most potential clients had no idea when initiating the first contact.  The awards were used to re-enforce that they did "good" work.   

won: also, not to belabor this, but as I said, it's subtle - especially since everyone's view of what constitutes "good work" is so subjective.  SpatialSojourner seems to have a good take on what I intended.

Try to put yourself in social situations where you can meet people who might become clients.  Volunteer for the board of directors for charities, or professional organizations, or arts organizations, or volunteer at your church if you belong to one.  

Get your work up on Facebook, houzz and Pinterest.

Okay, quiz, you can take your 3; I'll take my 4.

so, i thought about letting this one go, but perhaps there's actually 2 different (though intimately related) questions on the re-reading of this thread:

quizz is answering the op's question: how do i focus on bringing in new clients (regardless of our in-house design 'ability')? and those 3 are perfectly sound answers. 

i think the latent question in won's answer is: how do i focus on bringing in the clients that i really want? you know, the ones that want the creative, fresh ideas i'd like to serve up? quizz's 3 still hold true, but there is (at least in my experience) a lot of different ways to go about sussing out the kind of clients we'd all like to have. 

this seem like a reasonable distinction? 

Thanks Greg -- that's a useful clarification.

Business of Architecture is a good site with interviews of solo practitioners and with design marketing types who talk about this subject.

I made the switch from the architect's side of the table to client's side about a year ago. Quiz's three points will bring you to the interview; the proven ability to deliver a high quality product is what will win you the job. Already I've had to turn down a firm I previously worked for, because even though I knew them, I liked them, and I trusted them, there was a better firm for the project.

We live in a profession of tangible results, i.e. the built environment; while networking, etc. is important, I would not underestimate the importance of being able to not only deliver high quality work, but present it effectively. 

Bump

Looking for stories on how others have brought new work into the office.  Specifically, what systems were in place so that both the employee and the firm benefited. 

Currently, our small office is fed by work that is 99% directly related to the owner and his 40 year career of design services and networking efforts.  This has served us well and will most likely continue to do so until he is out of the picture. 

As we begin to think about the next chapter of the firm (beyond the current owner) several of us 'middle managers' have been trying to determine a method for pursuing new clients.  Many of the items discussed above tackle which clients to go after, but I'm struggling with developing a plan for how to deal with this internally.

I know that much of this stems from structure and hierarchy within each office.  But, I'm curious on items like: project ownership (did you sign the contracts, hire the consultants, and do the invoicing), did you establish the fees, if the project was profitable did you get a direct cut? etc etc

Ultimately, I'm trying to develop (on paper) a strategy for giving incentives to employees to go out and pimp the firm--all the while, maintaining the financial integrity and reputation of the office.

Cheers!

I think you are hitting the main chords of why the architecture industry is so fux'd up.

Ultimately, I'm trying to develop (on paper) a strategy for giving incentives to employees to go out and pimp the firm--all the while, maintaining the financial integrity and reputation of the office.

It is called actually paying ppl a decent wage and  avoid trapping them in a small wooden box (cubicle CAD monkeys, drowned out work environments).

You'd be surprised how much integrity ppl have if you actually respect them and compensate appropriately.

have a "small projects" division - allow junior/ mid level staff to bring in and manage small projects. Let them do all the work and only have senior people do design/ technical review at the end of each phase. 

Don't market the projects or market them under a different name to keep the main brand "pure." When these clients bring big projects, kick it over to the main firm and let the person who brought them in originally manage the big projects.

 

If you set it up as a separate entity that can share employees, you can have different benchmarks, overhead, profitability, etc.