Episode 164 - Tips on How to Win Work

This week we will be sharing tips on how to win work. This episode content meets PC4 - Practice & Management of the Part 3 Criteria.

Resources from today's episode:

Book: How to Win Work by Jan Knikker

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Transcript

Episode 164:

Hello and Welcome to the Part3 with me podcast. 

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I am your host Maria Skoutari and this week we will be talking about tips on How to Win Work. Todays episode meets PC4 of the Part 3 Criteria.

And make sure to stay until the end for todays scenario.

In todays episode the key tips we will be focusing on includes:

• Managing unpaid work
• Specialisation
• Marketing
• Mission & Vision of the practice 
• Branding
• Business Development

So, the profession is notoriously known for not being paid for work they have undertaken or being undercut by other fellow architects that are willing to do the work for free. 

Some tips on how this can be managed when it comes to unpaid work:

• Practices should take time to calculate their chances. Consider how much of a loss they are prepared to suffer and make a probability calculation. If practices feel they should enter into a competition for example that may not pay them for their efforts but boosts their publicity, then maybe it is a risk worth taking. Practices should, therefore, commit to a clear and decisive strategy which facilitates impartial decision making, leaving less to chance and more to choice. 
• Another strategy could be requesting a symbolic fee instead of working without a fee, meaning providing a figure of in the region of which can be used to serve as an effective means of testing if a particular client has serious intentions and whether they value the architectural service.
• Practices could also try and reduce the scope of work for unpaid services by providing fast hand sketches, or volume studies enticing a client’s imagination with a few strategic images and figures to acquire a full commission.
• Or negotiate follow up conditions whereby the practice accepts the unpaid work only on the condition that the client retains the practice should the project continue or negotiate the next project by confirming with the client if they will commission the practices services for other projects should the initial one not be successful. 
• Another approach could be to take the risk and provide an initial unpaid idea or sketch and negotiate a success fee or bonus that the practice can be paid if the project continues. 
• Always emphasise to clients that free work is an exception and will not always be provided as an option. But practices should ensure they solicit their work by approaching the right parties in the first place, for example a practice could identify a vacant site with potential, they carry out a concept sketch for its revitalisation and approach a developer. This kind of active acquisition works for some architects but not all, so practices should balance such opportunities with fee paying work and strategically allocate time to such work.

Now a way to sometimes improve a practices cashflow, reputation and win more work is by specialising in a certain sector. Specialisation can be considered a positive approach and offers the opportunity for architects to become experts in a particular building typology and create an extremely profitable business. However, this does present some risks, specifically if the market in the selected sector collapses. 

In such cases it is, therefore, recommended to:

• Select more than one specialism by strategically selecting a small number of specialisations that the practice is interested in pursuing to ensure business resilience
• Assemble a complementary team or consortium to create a more attractive team when tendering. For example a new small local firm partnering with a large experienced practice can be highly attractive to local councils or client who want to encourage small and local enterprises. 
• Adapt proposal presentations to address the unique qualities of the tender showing a practices experience and knowledge.

Now, practices wouldn’t be able to win work in general if they didn’t market their practice appropriately. Appropriately marketing a business through master sales, public relations and acquisitions can create a significant impact. This can start through writing the vision and mission statement of the practice and then explaining it plainly and simple to staff and clients making it the signature pitch of the practice. With this everyone in the practice will be able to tell anyone very clearly what the practice does and what drives the business. The mission statement relates to what the practice is doing today and the vision statement is about the future and the businesses goals. The mission leads to the vision. 

So in short:

• The statements should be kept clear and short so people can remember them.
• Be realistic.
• Ask staff what they think of the statement and whether they support them. 
• As mentioned, turn the statements into an elevator pitch and practice this with staff so they can reproduce it in chance encounters.
• Publish and present the statements to encourage others to adopt them. 
• Keep assessing them and checking they are still in agreement with the practices initial mission and vision, if not then adapt them.

Another key part of marketing is Public Relations and Business Development. Public Relations is the long term structuring of a practice’s reputation, whereas Business Development is the short term acquisition of projects. Public Relations is a longterm investment in reputation development and Business Development yields the projects. Some practices only utilise one of the two, however, best results come from the effective combination of both. 

Practices should start by writing a marketing strategy so that there is a road map in place. It should include:

• The practices unique selling point and what makes it stand out from all other practices around
• Write a business plan to assist with giving direction and focus to the path the practice is seeking to follow 
• Share the marketing and business plans with trusted person and get advice wherever possible 
• Business shouldn’t waste time in theory but actually getting down to the practical activity of trying to acquire projects 

Now hand in hand with marketing, is branding and setting the company’s culture. The key is to have a holistic approach on all graphic products of the practice and consider their physical appearance as a total package. As well as the synergy between the architectural design style, branding, mission, vision and company culture. The trick to a successful branding and company culture is:

• Being authentic and demonstrating cohesion between the branding and company culture
• Articulating the business’s identity and ensuring the values are authentic and in line with the architecture
• Hiring a Graphic Designer to assist with refining the brand identity 
• Once the identity has been defined, it should be used in everything the practice does such as the website, business cards, social media, print media, office and company culture. The website is key in getting right to appropriately enhance and expand the practices reputation which is associated with Public Relations and also helps to sell the product, contributing to Business Development. The business’s social media should ensure there is a direct link to the website as social media may gain more traction that will then lead them to the website. 
• In terms of the company culture, this should considered and developed relating to what type of individuals are to be targeted and attracted in support of the business’s goals and values 
• Decide on an appropriate dress code that matches the practices philosophy and discuss and agree it with staff to ensure everyone is happy and agrees with the approach. 

A key item practices should also consider alongside their general marketing plan is a strategy for the worst case scenario if a media storm strikes! Meaning having a crisis strategy in place should something be published that puts the practice and its owners in a bad spotlight. Ways to mitigate this include:

• Being prepared by thinking about any possible problems a project may present and formulate answers to them. 
• Connect with Public Relations experts and a lawyer in advance that can be consulted in the case of an urgent crisis.
• Make sure to engage the public by discussing with clients and/or the city the project is located in whether a project is going to be difficult for the local community to accept and evaluate whether a public consultation is required and implement a public participation strategy. 

The general key approach with winning work is setting priorities. Practices should start with the things they do easily and they enjoy by:

• Defining what peaks their interest and develop it
• Hire a Public Relations agency and discuss the common goal and impact to be made and articulated through publications.
• Also practices should take time and investigate firstly all the potential ways they can do Public Relations and follow the most appealing route to them
• Divide the work between the practice partners and ensure they contribute equally to the exposure of the practice by agreeing on what their strengths are and divide tasks accordingly. 

Now, just following and developing Public Relation strategies, marketing and so on, won’t bring enough work. Often the more direct approach to winning new work is through business development. 

The simplest form of this is directly calling a potential client, securing a meeting, presenting the practice and the work and then winning the project. Some practices, therefore, have dedicated partners or directors that they actively meet clients and maintain relationships and is a key part of their role.

Another means of obtaining new business is by responding to public or commercial tenders and receiving the award of the work through an arduous public procedure. Or it can be through direct commissions that come about through the reputation established by the practice. This route can be great or it may lead the practice down a route they weren’t seeking to follow, in which case the practice will need to strategically think if they want to take the project and client on and how it would benefit the business on the long and short term. 

Another route to follow could be through practice creating their own projects, meaning finding spaces or sites and developing them and then selling on building a multidisciplinary team around them to mobilise projects. 

But first and foremost, in order to be successful in any of these routes, the practice must first spend the time to better understand and serve the character and needs of their customers which will ultimately lead to more sales through first defining their customer target group profiles. 

For example if the practice is dealing with real estate clients, they tend to be more business-oriented, dominant and competitive. As such, by identifying these characteristics, the practice can then tailor how to approach and pitch to them accordingly. Speaking the client’s language and addressing their unique needs in the sales approach is an integral part of a strong strategy. Key things to remember is:

• Being prepared and researching the client beforehand to ensure the sales conversation matches their aspirations and projects they tend to deliver
• Trying to predict their interests and prepare the presentation accordingly
• Be flexible, in case the client throws a new sector they want to expand in during a meeting. Practices should be prepared to change everything on the spot. 

So to conclude, the pitch is the most critical part when presenting projects and the business itself to prospective clients. Practices should always aim to:

• Make contact with each person in the room during the presentation ensuring they are engaged and present 
• As mentioned, speak the clients language, if the client is commercial, explain the project in commercial terms.
• Discuss the clients explicit interests and demonstrate how they are met through the design.
• Lastly and most importantly, practices must ensure they build trust with their clients by demonstrating they are capable, experienced, skilled and will expertly manage the design challenge on behalf of the client in the best possible way. 

To sum up what I discussed today:

• Be Strategic with Unpaid Work - Architects often face pressure to work for free or enter unpaid competitions. Instead of saying yes by default, evaluate the potential return—whether that’s exposure, future work, or relationship-building. Use tools like symbolic fees, limited-scope sketches, or success-based agreements. Set boundaries and make it clear that free work is the exception, not the rule.
• Specialise Smartly - Specialisation can boost credibility, efficiency, and profitability. By focusing on one or two key sectors, a practice can position itself as an expert. But avoid overreliance—diversify across a few areas to remain adaptable. Collaborate with other firms when needed, and tailor proposals to show a deep understanding of the sector.
• Define and Share the Mission & Vision - A clear mission and vision statements help align the team and communicate the purpose externally. The mission explains what the practice does today and the vision describes where they are heading. Keep them short, authentic, and memorable. Use them in pitches, marketing, and conversations to ensure consistency and clarity across the practice.
• Align Branding with Culture - A practices’ branding should reflect who they are, not just what they look like. That means consistency across the website, business cards, presentations, office environment, and social media—visually and culturally. A designer should be hired if needed, and make sure the brand values match the company culture and the type of people they want to attract.
• Prioritise Business Development - Winning work requires more than good design. Understanding target clients, their needs, and how they make decisions is crucial and tailoring the pitch to their language—whether commercial, community-based, or design-focused. A mix of networking, tenders, PR, and direct outreach should be used. But most importantly, practices should build trust and show that they can deliver confidently and professionally.