Your reputation is growing because you are talented and in high demand. Your incredible design skills sometimes translate into something other than a professional at managing a sustainable and profitable architecture practice that expands.

You can improve a few things when trying to manage a busy practice and client projects.

These are six common pitfalls of practice management that you can avoid.

Manage the “Our great design reputation suffices.”

Your reputation as an architect will help you position your practice as a market leader. Being an architect is one thing. Being a business owner is quite another. You’ll be a complete nightmare to work for if you don’t effectively manage the process of your clients, staff, and contractors.

Remember your process, methodology, and timeframes when pitching for work. This will help your clients see that you are well-prepared to handle their projects from both an organizational perspective and a skill perspective. Point two will help if you feel your organizational skills could be improved.

Our architecture practice needs a job-management system.

You need a system that allows you to scale your business as required before you can grow. You and your team will be able to manage daily tasks in your practice with greater ease, accuracy, and efficiency. This includes working leads, time tracking, invoicing, and quotes.

This doesn’t necessarily have to be a custom-built solution. WorkflowMax is a cloud-based software solution that allows you to manage all these essential tasks in one system. The best part is that it can be accessed anywhere you have an internet connection. This means you can stay up-to-date with who is doing what, no matter where you are.

Spreadsheets are all we use for everything.”

Spreadsheets may have worked well when you were just one person in the company, but as your business grows and your need for precise data increases, your spreadsheet system will need help.

Data analysis and collection are critical for the success of your practice. WorkflowMax, a job management software, makes it easy to create customized reports. Reporting lets you instantly collect data about whatever is critical to your business. For example, you can see who is most profitable, what your inefficiencies are, and whether or not your pricing structure is correct.

Our document filing system works well for us.”

Is that true? Have you ever wondered if you are using the most recent version of a document? How much time do email attachments take up? What if your colleague is out of town, and you need access to the record they have saved?

A cloud-based document management system such as Dropbox or Google Drive allows everyone to access the most recent version of a document. This also means you won’t have to worry about losing or damaging documents due to unforeseeable disasters or technological mishaps.

“We don’t have any CRM system.”

You can’t assume that your client list will be the same as it was when you started your practice.

Integrating a CRM system (customer relationship management) allows you to recall important client and project information instantly. You can customize the fields to include any relevant information to your business. A CRM system will enable you to deliver customers consistent, more personal service. It also helps you nurture leads and maintain professional relationships.

We don’t track project progress.”

When pitching for a project, architects will usually provide a quote. What are you basing this number on? You’ll be able to provide more precise quotes to clients if you track how much time you spend on specific tasks. You can also monitor a project’s progress relative to your client’s budget to ensure that you stay within your target and inform your client if you need more time or resources.