Purple Cows and Magic Pills

The good news is that the whole AEC marketing world is looking for the magic pill that will attract clients to their firm, differentiate themselves from the competition, and load the firm up with great projects. The bad news is that the magic pill simply doesn’t and will never exist. Marketers everywhere are looking for the easy way out. Responding to RFPs where you have no relationship with the client is one good example of playing the long shot.

Some will have you think otherwise. One national speaker scheduled to talk at the SMPS national convention, Seth Godwin, is saying you should “Transform your business by being “Purple Cow” remarkable. He says that when the three Ps-Pricing, Promotion and Publicity- aren’t working for a firm, then it’s time to throw a new “P” into the mix: The Purple Cow. “Purple Cow describes something phenomenal, counterintuitive, exciting, unbelievable. He urges you to put a Purple Cow into everything you do, to create something really noticeable. His message is a manifesto for professionals who want to create services worth selling in the first place.

There’s nothing wrong with trying to be different and to stand out from the crowd but simplistic solutions are not the answer. They may be cute and inspirational, but If you see yourself as a seller of professional services as he suggests, you’ve got it all wrong. If you see yourselves as selling professional services, then you are doomed to look like all the other firms who think likewise, and that’s a deadly trap. Highly successful firms don’t see themselves as selling design or construction services. They see themselves as problem solvers and solution providers. They view themselves as consultants solving their client’s business problems and providing exceptional value.

Another good example of practical, effective differentiation is outlined in the book, Beyond Strategic Planning, Developing and Implementing Winning Strategies for Engineers, Architects and Construction Companies. It’s about a West Coast architect, James Nakaoka. I first met Jas Nakaoka at a PSMA meeting helping to organize the Los Angeles chapter. When he introduced himself, I asked him what did for a living. He replied that he was an architect specializing in the design of retail facilities. My first response as my eyes rolled back in my head was.... Aoh, that work with the buck and a quarter per square foot design fees.@ He said, Anot at all, in fact we usually get fees two to three times higher than our competition.@ With that, my ears perked up and I said, "tell me more."
He said that a major upscale retailer approached him to see if he would be interested in designing a new retail store . The client also stated that he already had a proposal from another architect who would do the job for a fee of $500,000. Jas said that he would take a look at it and get back to the client with his answer. Before he did, he probed the client for more information about customer demographics, the kinds of merchandise handled , the store's average transaction size, gross margins, net margins, etc.
After analyzing the client's business and financial data, Nakaoka concluded that there was no way that this client could make a profit in the new store given its average transaction size, gross margins, and the number of transactions needed. In fact the store was likely to lose money and that he wasn’t interested in designing a project that was destined to fail.. 
Nakaoka was hired at a fee of $1,500,000 to design the new facility. This was three times the fee proposal submitted by another architect.
Based on this information, the client made the decision to contract for additional space and focused store design and marketing on increasing the average transaction size of its customers. 
. He knows how good design can impact the client=s bottom line. Nakaoka told me that he doesn't sell design services, he helps his clients make money. This is how he differentiates his firm from his competition. He focuses on improving his client=s bottom line. 
It’s not Pricing, Promotion and Publicity or even Purple Cows, that won him the job. It was a clear understanding of the client’s business and how he could add tangible value to it. He saved this client from certain failure. Now that’s differentiation! Clare G. Ross CMC

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