“When someone hires you to do a $50 million project, they kinda have to trust ya…”

“When someone hires you to do a $50 million project, they kinda have to trust ya…” an architect friend once told me. So, how do you build trust?

Foster trust by demonstrating your expertise and by anticipating and addressing your clients’ needs. Address their questions or concerns and empathize with their mindset. You know your clients’ experience as well as anyone: what they typically ask or want to know when they’re considering working with your firm, or when they’re in the beginning stage of a big project. Meet them there and show off.

And, for other ways to position your firm for growth…

Let’s Start With…

Video

Firms that use videos in their marketing grow revenue 49% faster year-over-year than those that don’t. They also enjoy 27% higher click-through rates and 34% higher web conversion rates, compared to non-users. (Aberdeen Group, 2015)

Video of what, you say? Let’s be smart about it. Use this as an opportunity to address your customers’ questions or concerns, or to empathize with their mindset. You know your customers’ experience as well as anyone. You know what they typically ask or want to know when they’re considering working with your firm, or when they’re in the beginning stage of a big project. As an architect once told me, “When someone hires you to do a $50 million project, they kinda have to trust ya…” You know what helps to build trust. Use this video to establish trust, expertise, and to anticipate and address your customers’ needs.

Video is a function of your user experience. Where the video appears on your website and what the video is make a difference, and are influenced by the customer/user flow of or path to your website.

Website UX (User Experience)

We can and will spend a lot more time on this in later posts. For now, we’ll suffice it to say that it’s important to look at your customer touchpoints (a topic that we’ll also go into greater detail about in later posts) along your user path.

So, let’s say, if a person looking for architecture services types the service they’re looking for (that you provide) into Google, will they see your firm? And, if they do, where will they land on your page once they click on the result that they found via the search.  Is that place where they land what we call customer-ready?

Reviews

If a potential client comes across your firm via Google or Houzz, or stumbles across your firm via Yelp, they might as well see something good about your firm when they get there.

Ask your current clients to leave ratings and reviews for you on the sites that you know are popular for your firm. Encourage them to share the experience they’ve had, along with the rating, to give depth and relevance to the rating.

Ask your previous clients to leave reviews as well.

You can do this through your Email List (another area of opportunity).  Do you have one? You most likely do, whether or not you call it that or have it organized as such.  You most likely have kept the contact information you used for the clients you’ve worked with in the past and can reach out to them to ask them to share their experience with the firm.

And, if you have yet to organize this contact info and evolve it into an email list for your firm, now may be a good time to do that. More on how to do that in a later post, as well.

Which brings us to what to do with those stellar reviews, once you’ve gathered them.

Testimonials

Put those shining reviews on your website, displayed prominently. Past and current clients will most likely say something that will help a potential client make the decision to work with you. Keep up with and showcase these testimonials that highlight how your firm helped make your client’s project a success.

These are some ideas to get you started.

Remember the growth that you identified earlier that you want for your firm? We’re here to help you see it through.

Book a call with us, and we’ll help you get there sooner rather than later.

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