How She Tells It:
Catherine Smith Architect, LLC (CSA) provides professional residential architectural services to middle income homeowners. Catherine Smith, a Spartanburgnative and two-time Clemson Graduate, has over a dozen years of architectural experience ranging from large scale historic preservation to weekend getaway cottages from Virginia to New Orleans. In November 2009, Catherine began CSA to focus on what matters most to her and to many homeowners: home and family.
CSA offers a full spectrum of services from assistance with site/house selection and architectural design phase services to the selection of colors, finishes and accessories. We will utilize your budget resourcefully to generate a healthy and efficient designed solution. As the homeowner, you will be engaged as much as you desire, or require, with personalized attention.
While very detail oriented, CSA uses a holistic approach to generate a plan that improves the quality of life by providing the best fit for a family’s lifestyle. The added value is a creative, integrated design best described as crafted, simple and honest.
______________________________________________________________________________
“Offering a full spectrum of services is really the unique aspect that CSA is offering its clients over other competitors and could be highlighted more effectively in the pitch. I think the most successful pitches are ones in which the personality of the firm shines through—and while there are some personal touches to her pitch with regard to home and family, I don’t get a real sense of who Catherine is. I found one of the most interesting aspects of the pitch was the idea that her approach is “best described as crafted, simple and honest.” This idea is something that could help build the foundation of her holistic approach—and its resulting full spectrum of services—and really set her apart from the stiff competition in architectural services.
Pernille Christensen
Research Associate, Richard H. Pennell Center for Real Estate Development, Clemson University
______________________________________________________________________________
“My first thought was, “Wow, you’ve chosen a target market (middle income homeowners) that understands little of the value of architectural services and is the least capable of paying for them.”
You will have to clearly set yourself apart from the nonarchitect home designers that compete for the same clients but typically offer less design at a lower cost.
You may want to talk about helping your clients make informed decisions about products and materials to get more value for their construction dollars. Targeting middle income clients may require you to price your services as a “menu of services” so your potential clients can clearly understand what professional services they are paying for. Explain your “holistic approach” and how it will “improve the quality of life.” Your terminology is meaningful to people familiar with an architect’s services, but remember who your audience is—most people don’t understand the value that the
architect brings to the building process. Your challenge is to educate them, then convert them to clients.
Joel VanDyke
Partner, Freeman & Major Architects
______________________________________________________________________________
We want to hear from you. Give us your thoughts, ideas, and feedback. Post your comments below.
