147: Growthitect Founder Tyler Suomala: For Architects Who Want High-Quality Clients

Design Development

Tyler Suomala is a growth strategist and consultant specializing in helping architecture firms grow their businesses through effective marketing and sales strategies. He shares his insights on how architecture firms can enhance their growth by focusing on effective referral strategies, encouraging listeners to double down on methods that organically generate leads without significant financial investments. He emphasizes the importance of refining business development practices and the detrimental effects of undercutting fees due to a scarcity mindset.

Tyler delves into the critical need for firms to harness marketing actively, distinguishing between marketing and sales functions and shedding light on the misconceptions surrounding them within the design industry. Through personal anecdotes and professional insights, Tyler elucidates the necessity for architectural firms to adopt a client-centric approach, understand behavioral economics, and improve pricing strategies to thrive in a competitive marketplace.

Key Takeaways:

• Referrals as a Growth Strategy: Double down on referrals and word-of-mouth as an effective means of growing your architecture firm without incurring additional costs.
• Defining Marketing vs. Sales: Understand the distinctions between marketing and sales tasks within a firm to effectively leverage efforts and improve client engagement.
• Overcoming the Scarcity Mindset: Avoid reducing fees out of fear; instead, focus on creating a reliable stream of quality leads to ensure sustainable business growth.
• Continuous Business Development: Consistently invest time in business development, even during busy periods, to prevent reactive sales tactics and ensure long-term stability.

Notable Quotes:

• "Most people don't do it [referral strategy] because they're getting word of mouth and referrals passively."
• "Marketing to me is literally any activity that you're doing with an effort towards increasing awareness around your business."
• "You cannot have too many conversations, you cannot have a conversation that's below you if you're trying to improve your sales process."
• "If you don't have repeatable things... to continue bringing in leads even when you're busy, then your business is at significant risk."
• "Loss aversion... It's two times more emotionally painful to lose something of the same value rather than to win it."

Resources:

• Growthitect: Growthitect
• Monograph: Project management software for architects
• Books Mentioned:
  • "Pitch Anything" by Oren Klaff
  • "Never Split the Difference" by Chris Voss
  • George Saunders

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