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If over half of architects’ work comes from repeat business and referrals, why do practices invest in every tool except the one that wins work?

Every practice will tell you their work speaks for itself. But work only speaks to the people already in the room.

RIBA’s Business Benchmarking 2023 plainly states what most directors already know. Retaining an existing client can cost less than winning a new one, yet  practices that don’t track these costs can’t say what that  difference actually is.

A practice’s professional network does not automatically translate into client relationships. The challenge is recognising which connections can lead to future work

Consequently, people-management and relationship-building is often left to a single director, relying on their professional network.

For small and medium sized practices, some of which have established themselves  by winning competitions,  subsequent work often relies on existing clients and repeat commissions. Whilst building that initial client base is likely a major hurdle for solo practitioners who struggle with winning work due to size, professional indemnity (PI) insurance, scale of work and reputation, winning work can remain heavily dependent on word of mouth. Traditional networking often happens amongst peers rather than clients. Directors go to the same panel talks, sit on the same award juries, follow up with the same five people they trained with. It builds a peer network, not a client one, and the two get treated as interchangeable when they aren’t.

If the practice of architecture is centred around clients and their projects, of any scale and sector, then why is this not reflected in the direction of new business efforts?

在 RIBA’s Business Benchmarking 2024 report shows that, among practices with three or four staff, average annual spending on IT infrastructure, telecommunications, software and support increased from £5,143 in the 2023 results to £7,832 in 2024. This represents a 52% rise, taking IT expenditure to more than four times the same group’s average marketing spend of £1,884.

Average annual IT spend – Practices with 3-4 staff | Statistic from RIBA Business Benchmarking 2024

That investment can support project delivery, but does not necessarily improve a practice’s positioning or identify its next client. Meanwhile, RIBA’s separate 2026 AI survey found that 74% of practices use AI in at least some projects, up from 59% in 2025.

AI adoption is increasing rapidly, across practices of all sizes. Yet tools such as a customer relationship management (CRM) system seem to be missing from the entire equation.  Traditional sales CRMs can fall short for architects when they focus on individual deals. CRMs are typically framed for product-based business rather than service based. A CRM built for product sales tracks a deal until it closes. But architecture doesn’t work that way; the “close” is the start of a multi-year relationship that can produce further projects, and a pipeline view alone may not capture that. Managing client relationships is much more nuanced than simply turning a cold lead into a warm one.

For smaller practices, risks occur when pipeline management depends on one person. Much of the relationship remains with the director, which positively leads to referrals and repeat clientele, but makes it harder to manage in the long run.

Business development becomes a single individual’s responsibility and stays closed off to the rest of the practice.

When client knowledge sits with one director, the wider team has limited access. Recording and sharing it helps preserve relationships as the practice changes

This also makes it harder to pass down that network to the next generation of the practice. When that director leaves, retires, or simply gets busy, the relationships leave with them. The practice doesn’t just risk losing a pipeline; it risks losing institutional memory that was never written down or was buried in a spreadsheet.

Every practice will tell you their work speaks for itself. But work only speaks to the people already in the room. AI is already being used for design exploration and visualisation, parts of the job clients can see. Could more of that attention go into the part that decides whether there even is a next client to show it to? If AI is already trusted to help generate a concept, there’s no reason it can’t be trusted to remember who referred the last three clients, or flag which contact needs to be followed up with?

萨娜·塔巴苏姆 是 (to)scale 的创始总监，这是一个将建筑思维转化为品牌、媒体和平面设计的创意工作室。她建立了一个拥有 5万多名成员的全球社群，并通过 Open Studio 为新兴创意人才提供支持，同时还在建筑博物馆（Museum of Architecture）、Build The Way 和金斯顿大学（Kingston University）担任职务。.