Why Some Architects, Interior Designers get more customers then Others

 

Lead generation is one big challenge for Architects, Interior Designers or construction firm owners.

It’s that curse of the industry we work in that sometimes makes us think what the hell have we done wrong that we only get leads through referral.

While it may not be true for some architectural, interior design firm but it’s true for most of them.

Where getting leads through referral is the only hope left in your arsenal.

My friends Sumeet and Shreyas always say this, “Hope is a good thing, the best of things.”

While they are right but leaving the probability of your business generating new leads in the hands of God isn’t the wisest choice.

Remember the dialogue Nawazuddin Siddiqui said in his film Manjhi- The Mountain Man?

"Bhagwan Ke Bharose Mat Baithiye, Kaa Pata Bhagwan Humre Bharose Baitha Ho!"

Translation: “Don’t sit idle depending upon God, who knows, maybe God is sitting there depending on us!”

But isn’t that exactly what the most are doing just waiting and waiting in the hopes of getting a lead from somewhere, that somewhere is the referral for the most.

Now, I’m not saying that having a referral system in your business isn’t good.

But merely depending on hope vs having a sure-shot way of generating leads are two different things.

And if you want a type two system instead of relying on hope, there are things that you can do, that you should do.

Now for generating leads, you can do a lot of things like:

• Social media marketing (argh, enough with this shit, what is it exactly you may think)
• Lead Generation Ads (Maybe I have heard about it)
• A beautiful website (Ooh, sexy)
• Instagram marketing (The new name in the world of social media networks)
• LinkedIn marketing (Seriously?!?)
• Getting featured (Oh I know that, I have been featured before)

And what not…the list goes on.

Let me in you on a little secret

THE ONE THING

None of the above methods of lead generation matter if you can’t this one thing right.

You’ll brain will start blowing up after doing the hard work and not getting the results if you ignore The One Thing.

I know I know, your patience might be running out so let me just say it out loud without further ado.

Nobody cares about your firm. Everyone cares about themselves.

There, I said it, let me say it again after reading it let it sink in.

Nobody cares about your firm or the projects that you do, everyone cares about themselves.

It doesn’t matter who you are, what your firm does or how good it is, what matters is can you make the customer understand What’s in it for them, in the words that resonate with them and not in the typical jargon (please stop doing this) that you use to describe your projects.

Please stop saying things like,

• An award-winning architectural firm based in Mumbai
• A leading firm of architects in Mumbai
• A firm of architects, interior designers based in India since 1990.
• One of the best interior design firms of India
• XYZ Architects is a global architecture & interior design firm that unites a diverse team of strategists, planners, architects & interior designers
• A well known international architecture firm in Delhi

There are more examples of it but you get the idea.

By the way, these are real sentences I found while searching for architects online.

What’s wrong with the above sentences?

They all talk about how good, best, leading they are, but none of them talks about What’s in it for the customer.

You may think, so what, they are saying the truth, they have won the awards, they are leading they are international. Hold on.

Remember the rule, nobody gives 2 cents about you. And I’m being very generous, there are other ways of saying it.

Everyone wants the best for them, everyone is selfish while buying a product or a service, and telling them that you are really good(me me me concept) will push them away if not attract them to you.

Bottom line, it doesn’t help to boast about your success to attract new clients.

What you should be doing is, thinking about what you can offer to them, articulate it in the form of a benefit that they are looking for and then present it to them.

And let me tell you.

One of the highest lead generating interior design businesses with mind blowing revenues in the industry is not even run by an interior designer.

There, what a shocker right? Well let it sink in, think, think.

Ramakant Sharma founder of Livspace was vice president of engineering at Myntra.

Anuj S, CEO of Livspace is an ex-Googler.

Srikanth Iyer, CEO of Homelane has done graduation and post-graduation in the field of Computer Science.

Are you getting the point, guys? It doesn’t matter who you are, nobody cares, what they care about is themselves.

This is what Homelane communicates to its customers

This is what Livspace does, notice how cleverly they talk about the benefits that customers get instead of just talking about how good they are.

What are the benefits, that the customer gets while working with you?

Ask yourself, when a potential customer compares projects of multiple architects and interior designers and all are good, how can you influence him/her to contact you instead of contacting others?

How do you influence them to choose you over others before even meeting you?

You do this by influencing them with your words, by making it about them.

When you start talking in these terms you start attracting the right kind of customers

Remember to use this principle of The One Thing everywhere. Try to inculcate it in everyday life.

• While posting a project on Instagram or LinkedIn explain the challenge that customer was facing, what you did to solve it, how it benefitted them, what was the result.
• While talking to potential customers
• In your Instagram bio.
• In your LinkedIn profile About section and also in the one-liner below your name.
• On your website
• On the ads that you run

Use this psychology everywhere, every day and you’ll start noticing the results.

Always remember The One Thing.

Figure it out, find it.

I hope this was valuable, please comment below to share your opinions and let me know what you have to say about this.

And if you liked reading this post, I request you to share it with other Architects, Interior Designers or Construction firm owners.

Need help? Want to not leave the chances to God and instead do something about it?

Then reach out to me for a site audit.

You can also schedule a call with me by going to the link bit.ly/vlinkcalendly and we’ll figure things out together for your business.

Or visit https://kreativbricks.com/

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