Growthitect

Tyler: 00:00

Hey, Growthitects! We are back. I'm Tyler Suomala, the creator of Growthitect . And today, we're addressing a big question on the minds of architecture leaders. What can you do to create a unique and memorable onboarding experience for your clients?

Tyler: 00:14

We're joined by Matt Forget, an amazing architect based in Florida.

Matt: 00:18

Well, I'm Matt Forget. I'm the co owner of 5 Architecture. My wife and I are business partners, and we're a team of five to seven, depending on the day. Our team is all remote. So we have, people spread out all over the country and actually a couple international as well.

Matt: 00:36

And our our main focus is, educational as well as, like, retail restaurants. So we're kind of in that, like, k through 12 private space, as well as that retail restaurant kind of assembly component.

Tyler: 00:48

In this episode, we'll be diving into what Matt's current sales and onboarding process looks like, why he thinks there's an opportunity for improvement, and what he can start doing right now to blow his clients away. But before we begin, a huge thanks to Gelt for sponsoring season two. They've made managing my business and personal taxes stress free, and I highly, highly, highly recommend that you check them out at joingelt.com. Plus, be sure to mention Growth Detect when you schedule a consultation to get 10% off your first year with Gelt. And if this is your first time listening to the Growth Detect podcast, here's the gist.

Tyler: 01:25

There are somewhere around 30000 architecture firm owners and leaders in The US today alone, but there's virtually no place for them to chat about the question that fuels their business. How do I find, attract, and win the best clients for my firm? So that's why I created this podcast to tackle your real questions so you can walk away with actionable insights. And if you like the podcast, then you'll love the studio, which is a private membership for architecture leaders with steps, strategies, and support to grow your business. And actually, everyone in season two is a member, which you'll hear about at the end of the episode.

Tyler: 02:03

If you want a taste of what's inside the studio, then be sure to join my free newsletter at growthdetect.com/join, where I share free sales and marketing growth hacks with more than 10000 architecture leaders every Sunday morning. So go and join right now and enjoy the show.

Tyler: 02:21

So I know that you gave me a little bit of a heads up on some of the challenges or things that you're thinking about trying to work through. And so what's the first thing that you wanna chat about today?

Matt: 02:29

Yeah. So part of the kind of where I've been in my mind and everything with our business is trying to really amp up our client kind of, like, onboarding our or the experience that our clients get, whether they be repeat clients or new clients in that early phase of meeting, kinda going through that, like, contracts phase, establishing work, establishing an agreement, and just kind of changing their experience. I read a book by Will Guardia called Unreasonable Hospitality. And he talks about just these moments, these experiences, these times when people remember being heard, remember being kind of like, you know, their their voice was heard and and and they were recognized in some fashion. So that has always stuck with me for the last year or so since, listening, reading, listening to the book.

Matt: 03:23

And, really wanna try to implement that in our practice, really kind of hard and heavy and try to be unique, so that people just say, oh, hey, you know, check out five architecture. They really made us feel heard. They they listened to us. They gave us this thing, and, you know, we just had this great beginning experience. Obviously, the the experience kind of of working with an architect has a lot of, like, really intense moments, really kinda quiet moments.

Matt: 03:48

It it just goes up and down just by nature. But making sure that both of those times are memorable for them, is something I really wanna work on for our company.

Tyler: 03:58

Yeah. And by both times, you mean the beginning and the end? Or

Matt: 04:04

you know, I think the end is yeah, like, well, like, what happens in between? Right? We we come in. We're excited. We're high.

Matt: 04:10

Everything is, like, great. We start to realize the dream. We start to put things on paper. We start to figure out everything. Then there are moments in there where it's like, oh, hey.

Matt: 04:19

This doesn't work, or we need to revisit this, or, hey. We got comments from the city, and they're asking for you to do x y z, which is gonna cost you more. Or the contractor says, hey. Instead of, you know, this much per square foot, it's gonna be this much. Like, trying to be there for them all the way through, in some fashion, I think, is important.

Matt: 04:41

And obviously, some people value that more than others. But for me right now, like, my main focus is, like, what's that beginning phase? Like, what's that that get to know you phase? And then from there, we can kind of build for those other moments for them to kind of have a really unique experience.

Tyler: 04:57

Cool. And just to get super specific, this is, like, they've signed the contract. They've decided that they wanna work with you. Boom. First meeting, getting started, this package, how how that process works.

Tyler: 05:08

That's what we're talking about here. Yeah?

Matt: 05:09

Yeah. Yeah. I think there's something nice about, like, receiving something. Is it is it, like, a is it a gift? Is it a thank you?

Matt: 05:15

Is it merch? Is it the agreement that we just formalized in a in a really nice printed format that just is like this, like, ceremonial beginning? I think often in in the remote setting as specifically, everything's digital. Right? There's like this send you an agreement.

Matt: 05:33

We review it together. We go over it. You sign it, and then, like, nothing. And I try to think about the other side. Like, we know what we're doing on our side.

Matt: 05:42

We're getting ready. We're making space on our schedule. But on the client side, they have maybe just one project, that project, and it's like, I haven't heard from you guys. Like, what's going on? Is it you know, is there some sort of expectation that's set?

Matt: 05:57

So they have a playbook for the whole process, because sometimes it's new. That's

Tyler: 06:02

right. It's it's it's new more often than not, probably. I guess maybe not not as much necessarily with with commercial projects, but, definitely definitely a fair share. At least new usually with that architect. But, but yeah.

Tyler: 06:15

And and being overly, ambitious, I guess, at the at the front and really doing a great job at setting expectations helps to minimize the disruptive communication that can happen otherwise. Right? And that disruptive communication is, like, getting a client call, like, once a day to check-in on the project and see how it's going and see how much it's going on. Whereas at that, I thought we were going to be here by now because they just weren't aware of the expectations and and the actual timeline. So can can definitely save you some heartache down the road as well.

Matt: 06:43

Yeah. It it it is. It's an investment. Right? Because at some point, they just know, oh, they gave me this, and that had a a I think there was a schedule in there, or I think there was this document that told me what to expect.

Matt: 06:54

Let me go check it out. And it's not just another thing lost in your emails and and whatnot. So

Tyler: 07:00

That's right. It's a it's a trust building exercise for one, but it's also just the series of, like, you saying you're going to do something and you doing it. You saying you're going to do something and then doing it without have them having to check-in. I think that really helps. Well, let me ask you this.

Tyler: 07:11

Before before we dive into what where you should be going, what's the current process look like today?

Matt: 07:16

Sure. So our current process, we'll do a usually, a discovery call kinda like, hey. I found you guys on right now, we're getting a lot of Google kind of traffic. So, hey. I found you guys online.

Matt: 07:30

You're a local architect. I have this restaurant that we want to design. Okay. Great. Sounds good.

Matt: 07:38

You know, we kinda talk a little bit, kinda vet them a little in in that phone call phase just to make sure that we're seeing eye to eye. Assuming they we could kinda get a good feeling about that that relationship. Normally, I'll set up a in person meeting. Just two days ago, had one in person at the space that the client was considering, just to kind of build some rapport, establish a relationship, and kind of hear where their challenges are. I think, you know, in that setting, it's worked well to understand what someone's difficulties are and also show some value, in that moment as well.

Matt: 08:16

Like, hey, you know, we've we've done this for many others. I understand that you, you know, have a a timeline that's kind of, you're up against. You have some maybe not enough TI dollars that you're getting. And these are some of the things that we see that might either be good or bad moving forward on this project. We wanna set some realistic expectations.

Matt: 08:38

Hey, that grease trap in the corner that was left over from the last tenant is not gonna work for you. We're gonna need to think about something new. And just really kind of just fact finding. That's kind of like that step two, I guess. And then, step three is really building out that proposal, which is based upon their needs.

Matt: 08:58

Lately we've been doing like three tiers. So like, you know, small, medium, large, whatever you wanna call it. We started playing around with different ideas on what they're called just to get creative, like the booster juice, the smoothie, and the super smoothie, or whatever.

Tyler: 09:15

So you change the name for each for each client, or you mean, like I have that. That's awesome. That that is so fun. I love that.

Matt: 09:21

I think the I have one on my desk. It's, what is it here? Quarter chicken platter, half chicken platter, big family dinner.

Tyler: 09:32

That is amazing. I love that. It's just a small touch and just showing a little bit of humor. That's awesome. Okay.

Tyler: 09:37

What? Like, why not? It's just a yeah. That's great. Yeah.

Tyler: 09:40

Nothing to lose. I mean, if they don't have a sense of humor around that, then they're probably not gonna be a fun client anyways. So

Matt: 09:45

And I think, like, bronze, silver, gold is just kind of like, it's the Olympics. Like, it's not, you know, packages for professional services.

Tyler: 09:53

Yeah. That's right.

Matt: 09:54

Yeah. It's fun. So, we'll establish that that, kind of fee matrix and then, schedule a good call. We're walking through it. Here are the phases that we follow in our process.

Matt: 10:07

These are the things we're going to do in each phase, and this is how we can grow on them. You know, we can do the base bare bones. We can give you a little more, give you a little more. You can take some risk. We can take some risk in different phases as we go through.

Matt: 10:20

And, we'll review that in person, kind of get their feelings on where they're at. Sometimes immediately, it's, okay, this sounds great. We're gonna go with the, you know, the quarter chicken platter and we're good to go. And then immediately we'll roll into preparing a formal agreement based upon those, kind of that outline of services, send it off digitally, sign it. And then with our our agreement, we have a billing information form, so we can skip a step in gathering, like, their entity information, that, like, legal kind of, like, documents.

Matt: 10:53

So that immediately goes into our back end, QuickBooks, and we're generating an invoice to send to them for our initial payment.

Tyler: 11:02

Okay.

Matt: 11:03

Initial payment gets received, and we work the project into our schedule and then start on those phases.

Tyler: 11:09

And then the communication process itself. Like, hey. You said, like, you you work the project into your schedule after after they submit their payment. Like, what happens right now in terms of is there, like, an email that you're sending to them? Is there another meeting that you have to to to start the project off?

Tyler: 11:24

Like, what does that first week or two yet? What's the kickoff look like?

Matt: 11:29

Yeah. So, we'll re once we receive their their payment for the terms of our agreement, we will reach out to do, like, the kickoff meeting. Normally well, not normally. Always, I'm on that call, as that you know, we're still continuing that relationship. And then at that point, we'll also bring in our team.

Matt: 11:46

So there may be at least one, maybe two other members of our team that will be their the client's main point of contact on that call. So, I'll leave the call usually as kind of like a conversation of this is where we're at, this is what you wanna do, these are the challenges we've identified, and here's how we're going to move forward with our process, which is going to be, you know, usually the first phase is is measuring the space. So we're gonna go out and verify the existing conditions. And then, you know, slowly, I will back off, and I will begin to let the team move in to be the main point of contact for that production phase of the project with check ins every once in a while where I am present to be part of a presentation, be part of a discussion about a challenge, whatever it is. So I'm kind of dabbling in there sprinkled throughout that process as well.

Tyler: 12:40

Cool. Okay. Alright. So then let's talk about you have this process in place. I noticed from our conversations in in the studio, right, that the that the, you know, the pricing options, these different things are working pretty well.

Tyler: 12:54

You're continuing to grow your business. Like, we're moving in the right direction. So what do you see as being, you know, wrong with the current and maybe wrong is isn't the right word. Right? But, like, what's wrong with it now so much that you feel, compelled to try to come up with a better way to do it?

Matt: 13:13

Okay. What's wrong with it now? I think right now, maybe it's not memorable.

Tyler: 13:19

Mhmm.

Matt: 13:20

I just I feel like there's an opportunity to change someone's experience and bring it up a little bit higher. This is something that some people don't do often. Some developers do, some repeat clients do it regularly, but lately we've had a lot of interest in kind of like first time or new clients into the world of architecture, and I feel like it's a good opportunity to, become someone's person. Hey, you know, we developed three locations with these guys and, you know, it was just a really great experience working with them. Like, you get what?

Matt: 13:58

What is the saying? You get one chance to make a first impression or whatever. Yeah. Maybe I butchered that.

Tyler: 14:04

It's like seven seconds, but, yeah, one chance works too.

Matt: 14:07

Yeah. Right? So, like, in in the in the time frame of of the process that we work with, like, we have this really small window of opportunity that I think really make a lasting impression, that sets the bar for the whole process. If we kinda go in, like, standard and it's, like, kinda intermittent, not quite, like, clear, a little bit of unknown. Like you said that, hey.

Matt: 14:30

What's happening with our project? And and my response is, oh, well, tomorrow we were gonna be ready to present something to you. They're ahead of us instead of us ahead of them. And that changes, you know, that kind of like, you know, you don't wanna be the one being called, you wanna be the one calling. So I just I feel like there's just a chance to, like, just change it a little bit.

Matt: 14:49

Like, what are things that other businesses do, other industries do that kinda like make things feel different for you? And, you know, it's just trying to like put a finger on that. I feel like it's something that as an industry we haven't really captured as something special. Like the Will Guardia book, he talks a lot about just listening to people and little moments like, you know, you come into the restaurant and the moment like a woman has her purse, there's someone there like placing a purse on the side of the table. Or they hear by way of something that you're coming in to celebrate something special or just there's, like, all these opportunities to just kinda change things a little bit.

Matt: 15:33

And that little bit of a change, I feel like, makes a big difference.

Tyler: 15:36

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Tyler: 16:16

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Matt: 16:30

Do you

Tyler: 16:30

know the peak end rule? Have you heard of that before?

Matt: 16:33

No. The peak end. Okay.

Tyler: 16:35

Yeah. Peak end rule. So you should you should check it out. I think it apply it kind of applies to what you're what you're talking about here because there's almost two there's two really important moments, I think in the process of of the client's experience that matter and hold more weight psychologically than anything else that happens in the process. And so you can consider it to be the end of the purchasing process, which is kind of what we're talking about, like, basically the beginning and the kickoff of of the of the relationship to Better or of of the relationship together.

Tyler: 17:05

And then you have the end of your working relationship altogether, right, where the project is finished and done again. So the peak end rule is basically, you know, it's a it's a cognitive bias. Right? But it's this I it's simply this idea that people wait and remember what happens at the end significantly more than anything that happens in between. Right?

Tyler: 17:26

So you're gonna go through these, like, long relationships with clients that are months and months long, and maybe there's disagreements here, disagreements there. But if it ends really well if it ends really well, then they walk away in general feeling significantly better about that. Then and it works the other way too. Right? You can have an amazing relationship the whole time, and then it's like maybe the the last conversation that you have together isn't a good one.

Tyler: 17:46

They're gonna remember that last conversation more

Matt: 17:48

Mhmm.

Tyler: 17:48

Than the 95% of all of the other amazing relationships that you had.

Matt: 17:53

Yeah. So so true.

Tyler: 17:55

So yeah. So this this peak end rule is kind of important to what you're talking about. It's like, you know, you you're you're building up that relationship as we're moving through the discovery process and the process of walking through the proposal and then getting them to to make their first payment. And then, boom, what we kind of have I know it's it's also the beginning, but it really is, like, the end. It's the end of that process for them to move into the full project.

Tyler: 18:20

And so for for that reason, I think it is. Like, it it makes it worth it to to invest in making that a lot better. And so I think there's a few things that sounds like that you're trying to address. Right? Because we don't wanna just like, we're not trying to make something better just for the sake of making it better.

Tyler: 18:37

Obviously, this is a huge opportunity for you to differentiate your firm because architects, they're just not so focused on client experience, like, throughout the process. Like, they're focused on end user experience. Right? You're You're focused on end user experience, but sometimes you forget about the client being in in the middle of that and and nurturing that relationship as well. So the better that you can make that relationship, the more referrals you get, the more likely you are to convert basically a client into an advocate for your business.

Tyler: 19:05

And anytime you can do that, you're just expanding your network dramatically. Right? You get an exponential, growth phase out of that.

Matt: 19:13

Right. Yeah. And and you've already been vetted. Right? At some point, your past client vetted you for your next client.

Matt: 19:20

And then there's, and I, you know, I know that this has happened to us having, like, service providers for the house. Like, it's like, hey, you know, time for a new air conditioning company, time for a new this. And at some point along the way you've found someone that's proven themselves, done good by you, ended their last time with you really, really perfectly, and then you don't need to call multiple people again, it's just one phone call to get something done because you already feel like you're take you're kinda heard, taken care of, and understood.

Tyler: 19:51

That's right. Yeah. Yeah. So, basically, this this is an effort for you, is is I'm understanding it. Make sure, tell me if I'm wrong.

Tyler: 19:58

But, like, this is an effort for you to both increase increase referrals and increase return customers or return customers. Is that true?

Matt: 20:05

Yeah. For sure. Yeah. And that's a lot of our business. 80% of our of our clients are repeats already.

Tyler: 20:11

Okay.

Matt: 20:13

So it's kinda like there are these new opportunities that align with our business model, align with our kind of typologies that we wanna grow in. And it's like, these are great chances to really grow the business even more. And, you know, the second, third, fourth time you do, like, a a similar project for the same client, they get easier and easier and more efficient. There's just, you know, definitely some benefits to that, from a business perspective as well.

Tyler: 20:36

Yeah. That's awesome. And so I took some notes when you were talking about like, you briefly kind of mentioned some of the ideas or some of the things that have been going through your mind about what this client onboarding process could be. But can you expand on that a little bit more? Like, what what have your thoughts been?

Tyler: 20:51

Where do you where are you kind of leaning toward right now?

Matt: 20:54

So I'm definitely leaning towards, like, a a I don't wanna say a surprise, but this, like, something unexpected. Like, I've, you know, we've we've figured out that we are aligned. We're starting this relationship. Like, is there a way to, you know and we don't get mail anymore other than, like, junk. I I feel like something, like, tangible, like, hand not necessarily handmade, but something that was, like, put together with care that's not just, like, another digital file sent through the ringer and it comes through and it gets lost, but something that's just not swag.

Matt: 21:29

I just, I don't know. Like, I just want something that you just like have that's like, hey, these guys really thought about me. These, you know, they really understand what it feels like to like just have a lasting impression and and start, like you said, the end of that purchase phase, the beginning of the creative phase, like, it's just it's like a good kickoff. It could be it could be, you know, just paper copies of what we agreed to digitally. Could it be some nice gift?

Matt: 21:57

Is it, some sort of knowledge? Is it some sort of architectural knowledge? Is it some sort of thinking? Is it like, hey, you know, we're really inspired by this book, by this person in our business, and while it may not specifically relate to your restaurant or your school, we just feel like it's something we wanna share. And there's like this intellect or this kind of just, I mean, usually we're dealing with owners, CEOs, principals.

Matt: 22:25

You know, is there this opportunity to just share something with someone that maybe has no relevance to the project, but just something that we enjoy? Is it a personal touch? You know?

Tyler: 22:33

I do think that, you know, you you met you kind of said, like, oh, handmade. Maybe not really handmade. Like, I do think that there's something to that though. Like, to see to to telling that something was, like, obviously very intentionally put together that could be powerful. And as you were writing so I was writing on a few things.

Tyler: 22:50

So one, I think instead of thinking about, oh, like, here's a really nice printout of the agreement that we just made. Like, rather than thinking about the past, right, think about moving forward and how you can also advance, advance that relationship and get them thinking about what's going to be happening. Right? Because this the outcome at the end that that they're in this for. So how can you help them see how that's going to come together?

Tyler: 23:16

And so to me, it's like, you know, instead of that, what they instead of, like, a really nice printout of the agreement that you just made, I'm guessing what they would probably enjoy more is, like, a really great schedule. You know? Mhmm. Like, here's and then maybe it's visual. Right?

Tyler: 23:28

It's kinda it is, like, in the Gantt chart style or something like that. But these are when these things are going to happen. Hey. Here's Mhmm. Here's a rough lookout at when we're going to be meeting with each other when we expect these things to happen.

Tyler: 23:39

Hang this up

Matt: 23:39

and put it

Tyler: 23:40

in there. Just so you always have something to look forward to and you have a rough idea of where we're at in the process whenever you're looking at it. Like, this is the same thing that we're going to be looking back at a team as a team. Right? So because I know you're doing that in the first meeting, but there's kind of there's a few components here.

Tyler: 23:53

Right? There's the informational component, right, which is just like the client just they just wanna know what's happening. Right? And the more that you can let them know what's happening without actively telling them what's happening, the better it's going to be for you, like, the more free you're going to be to actually just continue on and, like, you know, the more productive, essentially. You'll be able to be on the project without being too bogged down or bothered by that.

Tyler: 24:16

So if it's like, you know, we're going to send you an email or give you a call every single week, at least once a week so we can address any of your questions too. And, here's the rough schedule, and we hope to have you in there, you know, by That's when that that's when that should be done and, like, all these different things so that they can actually see it, like, come together and even maybe, like, a little explanation of what the process is. Because, you know, we speak in terms of concept development and schematic design and design development and construction documentation, but they generally don't know what that means, even though they're going to be hearing it a lot. Like, they're about to figure it out, but giving any any sort of education you can give them around that, around questions that you already know they're going to have. So if you think back to every single client that you've worked with, you know, where do they get confused in the process?

Tyler: 25:02

Where do they get frustrated? Where do they feel the most stress? How can you help them anticipate that and work with them through that so that it's a softer landing and so that it's easier for them for the so that it's easier for them to get through that? So I think about that in terms of informationally, what you want to give to the client at the beginning. Right?

Tyler: 25:21

Things that are going to make it easier for them to basically get through the process. But then I think something that's really there was there was two things. Right? It's almost like, hey. Something something for them that's personal based on what you know about them.

Tyler: 25:33

And then something, like, from you that's, like, you like it and you think they might like it too. And so I thought I I wrote this down when you were when you were talking about, oh, you know, someone someone comes into the restaurant and they set down their purse and, you know, they're having conversations or they're celebrating something with their family and these, like, different things that you're noticing. You know, I think that's one component. Like, hey. They're you're noticing different things when you're in their space and in their environment that might help them, you know, that that could be beneficial to them.

Tyler: 26:00

But But I think there's other things, like, if you if you are really having these great and intentional discovery conversations with them. Right? Understanding what their challenges are, what their problems are. If you're spending time at the beginning of those meetings and at the proposal meetings, building a little bit of rapport, You know, talking about something other than business, what's going on in their lives. You know?

Tyler: 26:18

They have kids. They love dogs. So these do these different things. Like, try to listen really intentionally or look back at those notes and think like, what is that what's that one personal thing? Like, maybe they're a big, you know, Florida Gators fan.

Tyler: 26:30

And so in that picture in the package, like, you're giving them a Florida Gators hat or you're giving them a Florida Gators jersey or something like that. Right? Or you you notice something around the restaurant and you just happen to see that, like, you know I don't know. One of their speakers were broken, and so you got them a new speaker or I mean, just like, you know, just like little things like that. They were like, woah.

Tyler: 26:49

I can't believe, like, you remembered that or you were really intentional about that. I think that that makes them, like, sit up because it's about them, and it can even come with a note. Like, you know, really excited to work with you. I noticed this. You know, you you told me that you were a Florida Gators fan, so here's here's a way to get our, you know, get our, relationship off on the right foot.

Tyler: 27:07

Hope the football season turns out better than it is right now because it's a little bit of a rough run at the moment. Uh-huh. You know? So I think something like that. And then what you were saying, you know, a lot of the people that you're working with, right, they're they're business owners, they're CEOs, they're they're kind of executive types.

Tyler: 27:25

So maybe you yourself as also one of those, you have a couple of business books or things or resources that you've really found to be helpful. And that's just something that's like a standard. Right? Pretty much, you're you're giving that to every single client. So in a way, you know, you have you probably have, like, a rough template of what this schedule and layout is and what the expectations are to set in terms of informationally, what they're going to be getting, what the how this process works.

Tyler: 27:49

Right? So that's one. And then you already know that you're you, like, always give this book or this resource every single time you're meeting with a leader because you just found it to be so helpful. And here's a couple of things that I thought were useful, and I think you would like it too. And then third, there's always this just this personal piece, this personal touch.

Tyler: 28:06

Something that you heard, something that they mentioned that they like, that you are, like, returning back to them.

Matt: 28:11

Yeah. Yeah. That feels, like, holistic too. Right? There's, like, you're kinda touching on different layers of the relationship with care.

Matt: 28:20

And, and like you said, some of them are for us standard, for them, almost like proprietary information that is special to their project. And you know, there are adjustments that go in there, but for all intents and purposes, we do the same thing over and over and over again for all of our different clients. So like you said, we know it, we know the terms, we know what's gonna happen, But maybe painting that picture in a way that they can really understand it. Like, how does it impact me?

Tyler: 28:49

That's right.

Matt: 28:50

Right?

Tyler: 28:51

And that's that's the shift. That is that is the shift in perspective that I think every architect probably needs to to to really think about. It's that it's that yeah. We know what it is. It's familiar to us.

Tyler: 29:01

We do it every single day. We do it over and over. We do it on every single project. But this is a this is a once every five year situation for them, if not a once in a lifetime thing that they're doing. Right?

Tyler: 29:12

And so, yeah, how can you how can you shift that language to be about what they're going to be seeing and experiencing? Right? Like, there's a ton of work that happens in the construction document phase, probably the most intense intense work, but there's very little communication that needs to happen, like, with the client at that point versus, you know, the concept phase is, like, they probably feel like there's a bunch of things happening, and then they get confused when it gets to the construction document phase because they're like, why is this taking four weeks for you guys to put together a drawing center? Like, well, this it's a big deal. Yeah.

Tyler: 29:41

That's funny you

Matt: 29:42

say that. It's funny you say that because I've told some of our clients, I said, you know, in explaining construction documents, I'm like, this is the phase where we do most of our work and you hear the least from us.

Tyler: 29:51

Mhmm. Yeah. That's funny.

Matt: 29:52

We're heads down. We're heads down. We're doing and doing and doing on all the things that we've decided already before. And I think that starts to click because they say, I'm probably not gonna hear from them as much as I did before. Okay.

Matt: 30:05

That's fine. Right? The updates are smaller. They're not as intense. We don't need as much from them.

Matt: 30:12

Just having that picture painted in your mind, you know what to expect.

Tyler: 30:16

Yeah. And then the the last thing I would think about on this on this client onboarding front is the delivery of what that package is. Right? So, yeah, you can do it in the mail. But if all of your projects do happen to be local, like, maybe that's a personal drop off.

Tyler: 30:29

Like, almost like a casual personal drop off. It's just like, hey. I'm over here on this side of town. Here's here's a package, like, a welcome package that I put together for you guys. It's got some things in it.

Tyler: 30:37

But, looking forward to seeing you at the kickoff meeting. Or it's something that you give them at the kickoff meeting. I'm not totally sure. But I could see that being, yeah, I could see that being powerful. And maybe it's like when they if if the kickoff meeting is happening in your office, like, maybe they can also pick out some swag too.

Tyler: 30:51

It's scalable and it fits into your existing process. Like, if you're already doing discovery, just take a little bit of a mental note when you hear something like that. The you know, you you're already putting together a schedule, so just have, like, one of the designers on your team, like, create a nice design template that you can kind of plug in the different information to. And, obviously, whatever books, you like to read or have you found really useful as as a, you know, as a c suite, share that with them too. So it's it's like it's scalable.

Tyler: 31:17

Right? It doesn't take that much manual effort, really.

Matt: 31:19

Right. But the impact is potentially large, I think.

Tyler: 31:22

That's right. Yeah. Ten ten ten one to 100 x, I would think. Yeah. As setting the thing.

Tyler: 31:27

And then also, you know, then that's you know, we we didn't talk about it, but, like, the end, right, the end is almost something similar. It's like maybe maybe it does make sense to save some more swag for the end, and maybe that's when you're giving them a framed professional photo that you've taken of their project or things like that. And, and maybe something else personal that you learned about them along the way. Like, I think those things make a difference because then at the end, you earn the right to say, you know, I really enjoyed working with you. Do you happen to know anyone else that's looking to do a project like this?

Tyler: 31:56

Like, do that at the end. Do that at the peak end for sure. Right? Because that's when they're feeling it the most. That's when they're they're most excited.

Tyler: 32:05

And so, you know, getting getting any leads you can out of that is a great idea.

Matt: 32:10

Yeah. And, actually, we've we've we're waiting for the chance to do this. We've been saving our kind of like first iteration sketches of people's projects to become that like memorable gift. Like, it could just be our first floor plan that may not even match what we did or whatever. Just this like hand drawn framed drawing with lines and pencil and eraser and just stuff like

Tyler: 32:34

Yeah.

Matt: 32:35

Just like that working drawing, as maybe a a way to do that. So we have we've saved them for this opportunity to do that. So That was awesome.

Tyler: 32:42

I love that idea. Yeah. I love that idea. Yeah. Do that.

Tyler: 32:45

Do send include a little note with it. Email? Yeah. And just ask if they happen to know anyone else that you think they should talk to or that they think you should talk to. Just a soft Yeah.

Matt: 32:55

That's when we'll do our Google reviews. That's kind of that all that that all happens in that kind of that one trigger.

Tyler: 33:02

Yep. Yep. Yeah. That's great.

Matt: 33:04

Awesome. Love that. Perfect. Cool. Sounds amazing.

Matt: 33:08

Ready to get started.

Tyler: 33:10

Yeah. Go go get it done. I'm excited. So you'll have to keep keep us updated because this is season two, but it'd be kind of fun. I don't I don't know exactly how this is gonna map out.

Tyler: 33:16

But whether I end up sharing about it in the newsletter or Mhmm. We do another season later on down the road that's like, so how did it go when we implemented these new things? So keep me updated. I do know so you're a member. You're a member of the studio, and the studio is the the premium membership for architecture leaders, that are looking to grow their business and attract high quality clients.

Tyler: 33:36

But I'd just love to ask you, what what's your experience been so far?

Matt: 33:39

Oh, I think that the the community that you've created is great. I think your tactics are so useful. I think that there's so many places to just, like, go and resources to go and grab and do. I feel like a lot of the kind of the resources we have as architects are like, here's an idea, but like we're missing that like implementation phase. And obviously, like we are short on time, like there's just like all these like things, right?

Matt: 34:08

It's just the nature of who we are, but when there's an idea and this is how you can execute it, I feel like that part is missing in so many places, and I feel like your tips and tactics and all your hacks and everything are just so helpful to really, like, really move the needle forward and not get stalled. So I definitely feel like there's so much value there. So, definitely appreciate that.

Tyler: 34:33

Yeah. I appreciate that. That is that was the goal. That was also my frustration that I saw with architecture was, like, there's just not enough focus on taking action. Like, we can talk about it all day, but at the end of the day, like, we need to walk them through the actual steps that they need to take if they want to make this change.

Tyler: 34:50

So that makes me really happy to hear it in your words. That that's what you've been experiencing too. Yeah. What would you say to other architecture leaders that are thinking about, the studio or whether they wanna join a community like that?

Matt: 35:00

I think it's it's so valuable. I think that we owe it to ourselves to utilize shared knowledge, to our benefit. And if something works for someone, like, let's share it. Let's say, hey, you know, this is what I did. This is how I did it.

Matt: 35:15

And these are the results I had. And maybe I would have done it a little bit differently to maybe change the results, but, like, we're all going through the same stuff.

Tyler: 35:23

So,

Matt: 35:23

like, if we can, like, surround ourselves with people that are doing the same thing and are willing to share, willing to kind of update others, I think there's just so much value there. It's I don't think you can kind of quantify it. It's just, especially when you're juggling, you know, discovery calls and drawing review and project management and team management and schedules and finances and everything else. Like it's, it's nice to have that, like, kind of shortcut. Right?

Matt: 35:48

That, like, quick pass to make some sort of move. So I really see that that that value is is definitely there and and available. So

Tyler: 35:57

Yeah. That's awesome. I really appreciate how much of your own knowledge you've been willing to share in the studio so far. I know, like, even in our first live session for everyone listening here, Matt completely came in and dropped his knowledge on these different pricing, strategies that he's been using and been seeing a lot of success with, and that session was recorded. But that was just so helpful, and I know we all got so much out of that.

Tyler: 36:18

So, yeah, I really appreciate how much you've been willing to share as well.

Matt: 36:20

Yeah. No. Glad glad to be part of it. Thank you.

Tyler: 36:23

Cool. Well, thanks, Matt. Thanks for being here. Any final questions before we before we wrap it up?

Matt: 36:28

No. I don't think so. I I really enjoyed this opportunity and, look forward to hearing what some of the other others in the group have to share as well because it's always always good to kinda get those little tidbits from others and latch on to the ones that really speak to us. So That's

Tyler: 36:43

right. Yeah.

Matt: 36:44

Yeah. Cool boy.

Tyler: 36:45

Thanks, Matt. Alright. Thank you so much for being a growth detect and and listening in on this actionable episode. Be sure to subscribe so you can continue to learn exactly how to overcome the business challenges that every architect faces. And if you want a taste of what's inside the studio, then go to growthotech.com slash join to subscribe to the Growth to Tech newsletter read by more than 10000 architecture leaders every Sunday morning.

Tyler: 37:12

I'll see you in the next episode.