Power Pyramid

Okay, so just to recap very quickly on the 80-20 principle, we know that in many situations, 20% of the inputs generate 80% of the results, and 80% of the inputs generate 20% of the outputs or results. We are looking for the vital few things that we can do that produce nearly all of our results. When it comes to projects and markets, it might not be exactly 80-20, but we know that there are a few projects in any particular market that will generate 80% of the results or give you 80% of the success you want.

For example, 20% of the projects in a particular niche might generate 80% of the fees. These projects are much bigger, and 20% of them might give you 80% of your fulfillment. Similarly, 20% of the projects in a market might be worthy of being in your portfolio.

In architecture, most projects aren't worth winning. It might be more than 20%, but the idea is to target the top end of the market. The decent money is in the top end of the market, and the better buyers appreciate great design and have a decent budget. There's a small number of these projects, about 20%, while many other projects aren't as good.

The best projects will get you to success faster. The next level, the next 30%, isn't as good as the top 20% but still generates a reasonable amount of income and is worth doing. Ideally, you'd only win the top 20% of projects, whether defined by fees, project worthiness, or other factors.

The bottom 50% of projects aren't worth following through on. Of every 10 calls or inquiries, half of them probably aren't worth pursuing. The money generated from them isn't worth it, and they don't make your portfolio look good or bring enjoyment. Many construction projects aren't worth winning because the client isn't good, the project isn't worthy, or the budget is inadequate. These projects should be done by a drafts person or design student, not by someone looking for top-tier work.

Targeting the top half of the market is crucial because that's where the money, fulfillment, and portfolio worthiness lie.

Now, let's move to the concept of the power pyramid. This is important because it reflects what goes on in people's minds. When a client looks to hire an architect, they mentally position you on the power pyramid. High-end clients want high-end architects. They value great design, have a great budget, and are looking to do something worthy. They are not looking to hire someone at the bottom or middle of the spectrum.

This pyramid represents where architects might fit within the spectrum, and your goal is to position yourself at the top, where the most powerful clients will want to work with you. Less powerful clients will be price-driven and have inadequate budgets, seeking someone cheap. The power pyramid is about positioning yourself to attract clients prepared to pay a higher price for great work.

At the very bottom of the power pyramid is the salesperson. A business development manager for a company doesn't have much power since they're not doing the job themselves but selling architectural services. This is why the owner of a firm, speaking directly to a client, is more likely to win the project than a business development manager.

Next up is the generalist architect. Many architects claim they can do anything, wearing the badge of a generalist as something prized. However, clients don't see being capable of any type of project as a positive trait. They view generalists as "jack of all trades, master of none." Generalists are replaceable, much like general practitioners in the medical field.

The next level up is the specialist. Even if your whole practice isn't specialized, your marketing system should position you as a specialist in the niche you're targeting. A specialist is perceived as more valuable than a generalist.

The authority expert is a level higher. An architect positioned as an authority or expert on a particular topic has more power. At the very top is the celebrity. In Western culture, having a celebrity endorse your firm would position you higher than having a professor of architecture do so. The higher you go up the power pyramid, the more power you have, attracting the high-end market and allowing you to charge higher fees.

Now, how do we move up the power pyramid? We use symbols of power. These are clues that clients use to place you on the power pyramid. They might look at your house, car, clothes, relationships, and the clients you have. For example, if you have famous clients, people will assume you're near the top of the power pyramid.

Your mindset, hobbies, and how you speak also provide clues. The stories you tell about your background, clients, and projects give away clues about your place on the power pyramid. Professional cues include your portfolio, office, content produced, and where your content is available. Salespeople have brochures, while experts have books.

Your fees also indicate your position. If you're expensive, it's assumed you must be very good. Labels, such as "Baltimore's leading architect," also help position you. When on Zoom, the background in your video calls provides clues about your status.

In the next video, I'll show you examples of authority expert websites and celebrity expert websites to illustrate these symbols of power.

See you in the next video.

Alright, I said we’re going to go through and have a look at some websites to see symbols of power and how it gets done by a few different architects. I picked out three. Okay, so remember, there are personal clues that tell people where you are on the power pyramid and the stories that you tell—these professional clues.

Alright, let’s have a look at the first one here. This is Peter Twohy. He’s an architect in Baltimore. When he first came into the program, he jokes but says it was true that he was being asked by people, “Are you qualified to do my porch or my dormer?” He said, “Oh no, that would take me another five years to be able to do that.” So, jokingly, but the point was he wasn’t getting great projects.

He’s been around for eight years and is a really good marketer now. Let’s have a look at his website. As we look through these websites, identify some of the symbols of power that you can see he is using. Now, Peter is very conscious of giving a good impression. He thinks about these symbols of power in everything he does, including the way he talks and dresses. He mentions he wears very expensive shirts because it’s part of his high-end architect costume.

He talks about the fact that his clients are often Audi drivers. He knows what they’re like. He wants clients in the $1,000,000 to $4,000,000 range. He doesn’t want the $10,000,000 to $20,000,000 clients because he doesn’t resonate with those people. He knows his market. Audi drivers for him appreciate great design and sometimes have sacked a couple of architects already. He loves them because their discernment means they’re a good fit for him.

So he knows his audience. Anyway, the first thing we notice on the website is probably this: “Twohy Architects voted best overall home in 2023.” Read his choice. There’s an award, okay? A bit of credibility up the top. He is straight into his portfolio page. Sorry, I want to go straight to the home page here.

Okay, right, he’s got the big impressive opening, beautiful timeline, and portfolio. If you’ve got them, flaunt them and show some of his work. Okay, fair enough. Right, first word: award-winning. Custom Maryland residential design firm. Straight to the point. Best architect in Baltimore from Baltimore magazine. Well, if you’ve got it, use it. There’s an award thing there. Some statement, signature.

Okay, then he hits them with his portfolio. There you go, and he’s very big on virtual reality. He’s got his goggles. You can see it all here: virtual before actual. So if I was to say there’s one thing about this website, there’s probably not one, there’s probably three. One, he features the fact he’s an award winner. Two, he features the fact that he does virtual reality and that type of stuff.

The third one is education. He does a lot of education. You can see here there’s a video of him talking people through the design process. He does really well. You can see even in the thumbnail here, it’s very educational. Whoever educates the market owns the market. Learn more about the Twohy home design process. He uses his design process as a selling tool. He doesn’t just say it’s like everyone else’s; this is a special sales process.

Look at all the resources down the bottom, resources that he provides. I’ll just keep going down without jumping into those. Then a whole lot of house awards. He teaches other architects virtual reality. You can go through there and see the fact that he teaches other architects. Well, he must be good. He must be higher on the power pyramid if he’s the teacher. He doesn’t hide this. You can join it. You know, if you’re an architect you can pay $299 to get the training.

So if he trains other architects, he must be good. And okay, so that’s not bad for a client to see. You’d say, well, does a client need to see that? Oh yes, they do. They do need to see that. It’s actually a different website. I think that’s one we’ve built. Let’s go back to his main website and have a quick look at his educational area, then we’ll jump on to the next website.

In fact, we can do it that way. Alright, so pretty good, you can go and have a look at this in your own time. You can see the URL there. Let’s have a quick look at resources. He does have them on the front page but if you’re into education and being taught on how to manage your process, he’s got all the steps to planning, the inside guide, how to select the right architect for your home, how to select the right contractor. Here’s a place to come to if you want to learn how to do it right.

Okay, resources. Lots of resources and there’s plenty of other stuff here that would come. But okay, what I take away from this website: one, he’s an educator, he’s a teacher so therefore he’s respected, he’s an expert. Two, he’s an award winner. Three, he’s into virtual reality. Okay, he gets that across pretty quickly.

Okay, let’s have a look at the next website, Sarcoat, not a million miles dissimilar. This guy is also Roderick Anderson based in Costa Rica. He does a lot of very high-end modern homes for Americans and Europeans and people who want a sanctuary in Costa Rica. Roderick’s about one thing: it’s really about his awards. He enters a lot of awards and wins a lot of awards and he certainly plays that up, rightly so.

Right, so if we go down here, it’s quite elegant, the website. He’s got some stunning projects. Once again, if you’ve got them, flaunt them. He goes through the process. He has a video here from someone, the president of the awards, talking about how Roderick’s won this award, International Property Awards. Then he’s got his educational material down at the bottom similar to Peter.

So not a million miles dissimilar to Peter in that it’s awards and education. You can get on board and there’s lots more to look at in this. I won’t go through it, but the key thing is you can see very quickly, awards. Okay, so if you’ve got it, now you may be sitting there thinking, well I don’t have a lot of awards necessarily. Or if you want to see something higher than the authority, remember the power pyramid, we’ve got generalist, specialist, you’ve got the expert authority, and then above that, you’ve got the celebrity.

Right, so here’s a guy who doesn’t, he probably does, he does have awards actually. He’s not actually an architect but he does a lot of great projects. But what do you think about when you look at this? The first thing you see is listen to Adrian Ramsay’s talk design podcast. Oh, he does a podcast. There’s a big photo of him. Not a site. There we are. You can ask questions to the smiling Adrian. Adrian again, there we go, Adrian Ramsay, House Design.

Oh, as seen on here, here, here, here, here. This is very much more of a celebrity-type branding approach, right? He’s positioning himself as a bit of a celebrity and he can pull it off, right? He’s not an introvert, he’s friendly, he’s a good-looking guy. And you might say, well, I don’t have it. You know, he is on TV now. He has his own TV show, but he was doing this before he had his TV shows. You would have looked at him. I called him, you know, my nickname for him was Hollywood.

Well, it’s because he projected himself that way before he had any TV shows. Now he does have, he is a host on a TV show in Australia. But he projected that before he got the TV show. Once again, like all the other guys, the project planning pack, there’s certainly decent amounts of here’s our process, here’s how we work, here are some testimonials, here’s some educational materials. Now you know there’s photos of Adrian everywhere here, right?

And some people would look at this and go, oh well, that’s not me, I’m not, I’m an introvert. You know, you are the business, right? You are the business. When they’re hiring your firm, they’re probably hiring you. So he’s everywhere. He’s everywhere. Meet the design team, right? Great photos. He looks friendly, looks fun. He has a team. Projects there. He’s got blogs. Once again, let’s have a quick look at the podcast. What does that look like if I click on here? The talk design show.

He does tours, he does podcasts. So very different from the other two guys who are very high-end and Adrian does high-end projects as well. But he has a completely different approach. Now you don’t have to, I’m not saying you have to do it this way or you have to do the other guy’s way. There’s a lot of different ways, but I’m just showing you how some of these guys drop the symbols of power.

So he’s connecting with some famous people. And you can reach almost anyone if you’re doing a podcast or you’re creating content. If you’re interviewing people, then it’s very easy to reach out to and connect with almost anyone. And you can see his podcast has all been laid out.

He’s got a whole lot of interesting people. The assumption is, same as with Oprah, you know, the more well-known people you can connect with, and some of these people are well-known, some of them not. But the more people in the industry you can connect with, then you must be someone yourself for them to want to be interviewed by you.

That would be the assumption. Alright, so he’s done a fantastic job here of positioning himself as a bit of a celebrity in the design world in his area. There we go, he’s interviewed me. He must be good, right? And Eric. So, alright, very different.

Like I say, just some examples of people integrating some of the symbols of power into their websites. Obviously, a website is not the only place you would want to integrate and drop your symbols of power, but it’s one of them, right? You need to think about your car, your clothes, how you turn up, where you speak, what documents and reports you have, who you hang out with. All these things point to where you fit on that tree, and you’ve got to think about where do I want to fit on the power pyramid, not the tree.

But where do I want to fit on the power pyramid, and what are the things I need to do to lead people to assume and believe that I am at that level? A great example here is this guy, old Hollywood. I would call him Hollywood, but he was like this before he met me. Right? So, you know, he was doing all this type of stuff. But this works for him.

Alright, hopefully, that is a good example, as we can see, from just looking at a few websites.