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A potential client who is browsing the Web in search of help with a particular problem will likely appreciate a well-designed site that provides detailed information, not just sales fluff. Such a client might be in the earliest stage of project definition and looking for help in understanding the problem and formulating a possible solution. When that client is ready to make a selection, your name will come readily to mind.

Just as architects are comparing faucets and roof drains on the Internet, clients are researching design firms. They are finding it a useful means of gathering information instead of having to rely entirely on referrals and recommendations from their professional networks. Like it or not, professional service firms have become part of the global electronic marketplace along with all other providers of goods and services.

"Intelligent" web agents that find sites based on user-established search criteria will become more sophisticated about collecting information. Clients will evaluate potential service providers from among all those whose past work and references are available on the Internet. This goes well beyond having the prettiest pictures on your home page. Every published fact about your firm, good and bad, will become available to all potential clients on the Web, whether you provide it yourself or it is gathered from other sources. Clients will certainly be better informed about firms, their work, and their history than they ever were before.

At the same time, designers and builders will become better consumers of the services they need: consultants, reprographics, CAD, equipment rentals. Architects and clients will be better informed about contractors, subcontractors, and material suppliers.

The free flow of information about producers and service providers is leading to a "frictionless" economy in which buyers and sellers can find each other much more easily. That inevitably means that long-term relationships anchored mainly in inertia are doomed.

As much as anyone in business likes to think that their customers keep coming back because of the great work they do, in truth, an element of client loyalty is based on avoiding what economists call switching costs.

For an architectural client, switching costs might consist of the time and effort it takes the client to research, interview, and select a new architect (not a small consideration for most business and institutional clients); the risk associated with trying someone new, including the credit risks of unknown partners; and the learning curve involved in any new professional relationship.

When switching costs are high, the customer is loathe to switch suppliers. Clients will resist changing suppliers even when they are convinced that the new supplier will offer superior service. Convincing a potential client to abandon your competitor and switch to you takes more than just showing them that you are able to do as good a job as your rival. With the networked economy, switching costs are going down, because the ease of finding new suppliers is increased.

Professional service firms have long known that many clients simply don't have the tools or sophistication to compare different providers of specialized services except by cost or reputation. If a potential client is shopping on price, and doesn't understand why Firm A is better than Firm B, the reduced switching costs afforded by the Internet may make this kind of client harder to hold onto.

Your marketing focus must adjust to this new environment. Effective marketing requires that you skillfully differentiate yourself from the competition and convince clients that your talents uniquely add value to their businesses. Your web site can help educate potential clients about your services.

The Web is not a mass medium. It is a powerful way to talk to clients and build relationships individually. In the Internet economy, the most successful companies will be the ones who use the Web not as advertising, but interactively. They will use their sites to gather information about existing and potential clients so that they can serve them better. The Web will be a tool to differentiate both themselves and their clients so that services can ultimately be tailored to the precise requirements of every project.

Jonathan Cohen is an architect and principal of the Berkeley, California firm of Jonathan Cohen and Associates. In July and September of this year, he will be offering seminars throughout the United States on "Expanding Your Practice with the Internet." He is author of: Communication and Design With the Internet: A Guide for Architects, Planners, and Building Professionals, from which this article was excerpted, courtesy W. W. Norton & Co.

The author's own web site includes papers on historic preservation and other issues that can provide useful information to potential clients. Image: Jonathan Cohen and Associates Computer rendering of the Great Court of the British Museum. Image: Foster and Partners Computer rendering of a section cut through the Great Court of the British Museum. Image: Foster and Partners   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.