Initial Visits

[Tyrone Yang]

I have a question about presenting the needs and options review and about initial meetings. Sounds like a few people on the forum have advocated _not_ doing a site visit for the initial meeting, opting to meet at the office or at a neutral location like a cafe. That makes perfect sense to me. We’ve met potential clients at a cafe before and also have done an initial meeting by phone and that has worked to sell the NOR.

However, I just got contacted by a neighbor considering a home renovation, asking whether I could drop by. I agree that these initial visits without an NOR start to blur the line between free advice and paid consult, but we work virtually and don’t have an official office, and they are so close to where I live that it might seem silly to propose meeting at a nearby cafe or a phone meeting (it would be nice to meet them in person) instead of at their house.

I could suggest a smaller paid $250 or $350 initial site visit (no NOR report), but I think they would wonder what they are getting out of that paid visit that they couldn’t get from another architect for free.

Would you agree to that initial meeting just to have a chance to meet in person?

[Michelle Slinger]

I have a question about presenting the needs and options review and about initial meetings. Sounds like a few people on the forum have advocated _not_ doing a site visit for the initial meeting, opting to meet at the office or at a neutral location like a cafe. That makes perfect sense to me. We’ve met potential clients at a cafe before and also have done an initial meeting by phone and that has worked to sell the NOR.

However, I just got contacted by a neighbor considering a home renovation, asking whether I could drop by. I agree that these initial visits without an NOR start to blur the line between free advice and paid consult, but we work virtually and don’t have an official office, and they are so close to where I live that it might seem silly to propose meeting at a nearby cafe or a phone meeting (it would be nice to meet them in person) instead of at their house.

I could suggest a smaller paid $250 or $350 initial site visit (no NOR report), but I think they would wonder what they are getting out of that paid visit that they couldn’t get from another architect for free.

Would you agree to that initial meeting just to have a chance to meet in person?

[Michelle Slinger]

at the end of the first part of the LCC exercise , i received the retainer Cheque for the entire project. I can say, it was gratifying, because I focused on their needs, guided them and worked with them firs to set the sizes for the spaces they wanted, then compared that with current rates…it was a shocker…i think the wife was about to have an asthma attack. ut they were resilient and asked me to leave it up to them to reign themselves in. two dayd after they sent me back mre realistic sizes inline with their affordability.

[Melina Boukis]

I have always gone to “their” place/site for an initial visit. I work out of my home and it really isn’t conducive (ADA, etc) to have people come here. But mostly, it gives me the opportunity to see what I am getting into, so that when it comes to writing proposals & contracts, I can cover more bases (i.e. less surprises). I’ve also invested some time with the potential client at their location and so am a little further “in” with them and their project.

modern • simple • fresh

[DamianTrostinetzky]

Question,

Everyone talks about the NOR. there is any template in the website? or can someone share their?

Thanks

Damian

[UngwangBoiteto]

Hi I’m struggling to know how to ask for the LCC fee in my incoming Call Script.
I have drafted my script and my last few paragraphs are the ones below. Please advise because I am highly convinced on the need for the LCC, qualifying leads and “Romancing the Client” however it is still new to me and the only person who has paid so far is one who had no idea what development entails who was happy to get any information he could get.

Beow are the last few questions in my incoming call script based on info from The Petrie method meeting questions guide:

“I trust that you have gone through the information that I previously sent to you with regards to how we work, a short questionnaire & portfolio of the work we’ve done in the past? If you still don’t understand some parts of it you are more than welcome to ask me for clarity.

What is going to happen from here is that I am going to go away and write a detailed plan on how we can achieve your objectives. In the plan we will have an agreed start date, some different design options for you to choose and a fee proposal for each of the options. So I can set the start date are there any important events/trips scheduled that I need to be aware of?

Are you aware of the R4000.00 fee for the Needs and Options report?

OK is this a later or sooner project for you to get started with?

Great I will check our workflow schedule and put in a proposed start date of around date X . How does that work or you?

Great I’ll wait for your confirmation of the payment from your side and we will meet at your site at X o’clock on Date X. Will send you a meeting invite to confirm.“

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