How to win more sustainable projects for your architecture practice

Introduction

In this post you will learn a 5 step sales framework that will help you to win more projects for your architecture practice.

Architecture plays a critical role in creating a sustainable transition for our homes.  Sustainable homes rely on good design – great orientation, consideration of materials to optimise thermal performance, planning for cross ventilation, as well as creating amazing amenity for the occupants of the home.

But all of these great skills are meaningless if you don’t win projects to design in the first place.

One of the biggest challenges of running any professional services business like an architecture practice is is finding new work and sustaining an income.

You probably got into this business because you are passionate about what you do, but these days you find yourself spending more time chasing leads, trying to win work, and writing proposals just to keep your team employed.  You should be spending your time putting those great sustainable design skills to good use.

When was the last time you had a holiday without thinking about work? It’s hard to enjoy a holiday when you are worried about keeping the business financially sustainable because it feels like all of the revenue depends on you.

If everyone in your business was great at business development and sales then:

• You would spend less time chasing leads and you would have more time for creativity.
• You would take on less projects that make no money and work on more projects with quality clients and budgets.
• There would be less pressure on you to win all the work and more time for the things you love.
• You would worry less when you take a break because your business would thrive even when you are not there.

The problem is that in many businesses, like architectural practices, people are great at their technical profession but almost no one ever has any training in marketing or sales.

Putting together a sales process gives anyone on your team a simple framework for winning work that they can use at a friends BBQ, at a networking event, in a client meeting, or to close even the most complex deals.

It really is quite simple – the more people on your team with the right skills to win more projects the more projects you will win.

If you are in the business of designing sustainable homes then having a sales process is just as important because without sales and winning projects you can’t deliver the sustainability outcomes you are so passionate about.

The best validated sales process for your business

One of the best validated sales methods available today is based on the SPIN technique developed by Neil Rackham. It was developed from research studies of over 35,000 sales calls and has become one of the most popular sales methods for businesses today. Why? Because it really works!

This sales process allows you to identify the concerns of your prospective customer, letting you control the flow of the discussion and encourage them to open up about their problems, pain points, and the solutions they’re hoping for.

Recently we worked with a range of sustainability related businesses in the housing sector like architecture practices, engineering consultants, energy efficiency experts, and builders to adapt the SPIN technique for use in their businesses. We even added an ‘S’ to the end of the process to make it the SPINS technique.

We have also summarised this article and provided an example sales script that you can use to create a sales process for your team – click here to access the free download now.

The SPINS Selling Technique Explained

Ready to learn how to do SPINS selling yourself? Here’s the step-by-step technique plus a downloadable spin selling script.

To win sales, you must build value as a trusted advisor.

You can create trust by guiding customers through a sequence of questions to develop a deep understanding of their needs before pitching your service.

SPINS is an acronym for the five steps of the process.
Situation
Problem
Implication
Need/payoff, and the
Sustainability Solution

Now the first four steps refer to four types of questions that you ask in a sequence.

It’s a customer-centric approach grounded in empathy to better understand your customer’s problems, magnify them, build a desire for a solution, and then link that desire to the products that you offer.

It’s very simple and practical.

Best of all, it’s not salesy. It’s simply about treating each customer individually, listening intently with an open mind, that is without assumptions or preconceived notions about what they want or who they are, focusing on them and demonstrating a genuine interest in their circumstances.

Situation

Situation questions allow you to get a clearer picture of your buyer’s current situation. They are used to find out facts and background about your client. So these questions are designed to establish a context and build rapport.

Situation questions might include things like
What sort of home have you been looking for?
What’s the size of your family?
What’s your budget?
You know, what are your non-negotiables, in terms of rooms, layout, what do you want a double garage?
What type of kitchen are you looking for?
Are you looking for an outdoor entertaining area?

Problem

Next up you want to ask some problem questions. Problem questions are an important part of your SPIN selling script as they help you understand the different problems that your customer wants to solve with your product or service.

Here are some example questions to start building your spin selling script:

How satisfied are you with your current home?
How would you rate your home’s comfort?
How did your home perform in that last hot summer?
What don’t you love about your current home?

Bear in mind that many potential customers won’t have a full understanding of their problems. If they’re not familiar with the building design, they might have clear problems that seem obvious to you but that they haven’t been able to identify yet eg their home is really cold in winter because of poor insulation. It’s your job to draw those out.

Implication

The third step in your spin selling script builds on your problem questions. Implication questions hone in on the problems you’ve identified in the previous step. They also demonstrate to your customer why those problems are important and why they need to be solved.

Here are some questions you might like to ask:

What effect does that problem have on your lifestyle?
How might that affect your power bill?
Would that be difficult to retrofit down the track?

You can get really specific here, building on your customer’s pain points that they shared in the previous step.

What they do is they grow the problem into a clear statement of want, desires, or intention to act ie buy your services.

Need-Payoff

After you have completed the above steps in your spin selling script, you can move from active listening to a discussion. This is the stage where you repeat your potential customer’s issues back to them, along with possible solutions.

The purpose of this step is to make your client feel heard and validated. Now is your chance to express the payoff that this person needs – even if they don’t know what that is.

Crucially, this isn’t about telling your client how your product or service can help them. You want them to come to the conclusion on their own.

This step in your SPIN selling script might go something like this:

What would it mean to you if you can get this solved as soon as possible?
Let me read back all the most important points you’ve told me so far.
[Here you recite back what they have said to you in their words exactly]
How would you find this solution useful?
If you could reduce your energy bill to zero, what would you do with the savings?

Now what distinguishes this line of questioning from the problem and implication questions is that they are positive and solution-focused. This approach invites your client to visualise and explain the potential personal benefits of your solution in their own words.

When you’ve been through your customer’s needs, it’s time to move on to pitching your sustainability solution.

Sustainability Solution

This is a crucial stage in your SPINS selling script – now is the point where you have to show your client that you have something to offer them.

You reach a point in every sales call where you need to explain your offer in detail and remind them of the expertise you have which makes you uniquely qualified to help them.

The idea is to demonstrate how your product or service can help your potential client and solve their pain points by linking your solution to the benefits they described in the need/payoff questions. At the same time, you also want to give a brief outline of what makes you the person to help.

Obtaining commitment

The last stage of your spin selling script aims to get some sort of commitment from the person you are talking to.

This is the point where you explain your pricing structure and the options available to your client.

Bear in mind that there might not be a full sale yet. Larger sales often contain extra steps that are called ‘advances’. Advances are designed to move your customer gradually towards committing to their final decision and making a purchase eg get them to request a proposal and a follow up meeting to go through the proposal.

If you want to learn how to use the SPINS technique in more detail then check out our online course. Our new online sales course, Practcal Selling for Building Professionals, will teach you a simple, practical, non-salesy approach to selling so that you can win more clients and projects.