When traveling I like to catch up with our members.
So in Melbourne, I arranged to meet up with Cathi and Melissa at a nice restaurant near the Flinders River.
We ordered dinner and while I was buttering my bread roll Cathi said to Melissa that the LCC does not work for her. Because I have big ears I often hear comments not meant for my consumption.
The LCC is the ‘Low Commitment Consultation’ we had created for architects as a pre design consulting offer. The idea is to reverse the truck and sell a packaged advice service, not rush clients into your design services (like everyone else). This reduces the commitment for the client who is, in many cases, only looking for options. This approach gets you paid and gets you ‘inside the gates’ like a Trojan horse into the city of Troy.
I had to bite my bun hard not to say anything. I let the moment pass without comment (so unlike me).
Harness the power of this pre-design consulting offer
The next day I delivered some CDs to Cathi’s office and sat down for a chat. I asked, ‘What did you mean when you said the LCC does not work for you?’
Cathi explained that in her market a lot of architects would provide advice for free so she was confident that no one would pay her?
On the surface that sounds reasonable enough but I had seen too many members successful even when they had free competition.
We sat and watched the LCC training video together and Cathi agreed to try the approach on a client that afternoon.
There was no harm because Cathi did not want the project.
That afternoon I was in the underground station when I got an excited call from Cathi. The clients accepted her $750 offer for a ‘Needs and Options Review.’
Now Cathi does not need to continue with the client after the N&O review if she is truly not suited … but now she is being paid to find out.
When positioned, packaged and presented right, you WILL be paid to provide a valuable service even when others provide free advice.