Just as architects are comparing
faucets and roof drains on the Internet, clients are researching
design firms. They are finding it a useful means of gathering
information instead of having to rely entirely on referrals
and recommendations from their professional networks. Like
it or not, professional service firms have become part
of the global electronic marketplace along with all other
providers of goods and services.
"Intelligent" web
agents that find sites based on user-established search
criteria will become more sophisticated about collecting
information. Clients will evaluate potential service providers
from among all those whose past work and references are
available on the Internet. This goes well beyond having
the prettiest pictures on your home page. Every published
fact about your firm, good and bad, will become available
to all potential clients on the Web, whether you provide
it yourself or it is gathered from other sources. Clients
will certainly be better informed about firms, their work,
and their history than they ever were before.
At the same time, designers
and builders will become better consumers of the services
they need: consultants, reprographics, CAD, equipment rentals.
Architects and clients will be better informed about contractors,
subcontractors, and material suppliers.
The free flow of information
about producers and service providers is leading to a "frictionless" economy
in which buyers and sellers can find each other much more
easily. That inevitably means that long-term relationships
anchored mainly in inertia are doomed.
As much as anyone in business
likes to think that their customers keep coming back because
of the great work they do, in truth, an element of client
loyalty is based on avoiding what economists call switching
costs.
For an architectural client,
switching costs might consist of the time and effort it
takes the client to research, interview, and select a new
architect (not a small consideration for most business
and institutional clients); the risk associated with trying
someone new, including the credit risks of unknown partners;
and the learning curve involved in any new professional
relationship.
When switching costs are
high, the customer is loathe to switch suppliers. Clients
will resist changing suppliers even when they are convinced
that the new supplier will offer superior service. Convincing
a potential client to abandon your competitor and switch
to you takes more than just showing them that you are able
to do as good a job as your rival. With the networked economy,
switching costs are going down, because the ease of finding
new suppliers is increased.
Professional service firms
have long known that many clients simply don't have the
tools or sophistication to compare different providers
of specialized services except by cost or reputation. If
a potential client is shopping on price, and doesn't understand
why Firm A is better than Firm B, the reduced switching
costs afforded by the Internet may make this kind of client
harder to hold onto.
Your marketing focus must
adjust to this new environment. Effective marketing requires
that you skillfully differentiate yourself from the competition
and convince clients that your talents uniquely add value
to their businesses. Your web site can help educate potential
clients about your services.
The Web is not a mass medium.
It is a powerful way to talk to clients and build relationships
individually. In the Internet economy, the most successful
companies will be the ones who use the Web not as advertising,
but interactively. They will use their sites to gather
information about existing and potential clients so that
they can serve them better. The Web will be a tool to differentiate
both themselves and their clients so that services can
ultimately be tailored to the precise requirements of every
project.
