Architect Archive

So as the Subject Title suggests, how about some success stories. Maybe a few of you can enlighten us with some of your trade secrets that have led to your success in this great profession?

( Please keep this post free of thewhine )

Career growth success

I am building structures as fast as I can and I am only 3 boxes from master. I am excited that I should complete my goal of being a master architect before player cities come out. I sell every structure to my PA for a bit of profit. We aren't a huge PA, but they do loan me lots. Right now I run 4 solar, 11 med min, 1 personal gas, 1 personal chem.

Financial success

I have about 400k on me. I made the most money selling structural mods to a master architect for 800-1000 per. This provided about 200k of my wealth. Right now I sell to my PA for 5k small house, 35k medium house, 65k large house. Since I collect all my own resources my profit margins are sufficient to increase my wealth.

I am waiting for Player Cities to come out and hope to be an Urban Planner/Arch, Politician, Pistoleer. I hope urban planner isn't too heavy on skill points, I want some medic if I can keep it.

/signed

Weake

My success came about primarily due to two factors. First and most important I saw myself as a service provider of building services rather than a seller of buildings. The emphasis on personalized service helped to build up a word of mouth advertising campaign better than anything I might have tried on my own. I get orders from folks I've never met on planets I've never visted based on previous customers comments about my service.

The other major factor was that I recognized the added value of the service I provided and never tried to compete with those folks who are merely selling buildings. Rather than waste time trying to beat some mythical price I'm told "everyone" is selling for, I've told customers who clearly valued credits more than service to seek out someone else as I'm not a discount architect. I've gone days without a sale, at first running missions to keep afloat, but after just a few weeks, by sticking to my business plan, I found that I had credit reserves which would hold me over till the next batch of orders came in.

Now don't get me wrong, there has been an awful lot of work thats gone into my success. Endless hours of wall building and harvester running, as well as a good bit of planning were required, but ultimately I think I could have done all of those and still failed miserably if I'd tried to compete with the discount market. I won't say how many millions of credits I've managed to save up, but suffice to say that I'm not running missions to keep my machines running any more.

i'm sucessfully selling 800k in harvesters today and another 800k next week...

My success came from setting my prices & sticking to my guns. My success at prices between 4.5-6.5 has helped to cause other archs on server to raise their prices to match. I have also gained success from NOT selling housing, and instead, concentrating on Harvesters, which have much more value to players. Harvesters create resources, which in turn creates profit. Houses don't create profit. There's also much more demand for harvesters. Between my friends & I, we have 2 houses, 2 factories, & 40 odd harvesters.

Twohead if you could elaborate more without totally divulging all your trade secrets?

I find your comments on providing a service fascinating. If one looks at it from this perspective would it not seem likely that amedium furnished house could sell for upwards of 150k to the serious buyer, and a large furnished house substantially more.. maybe 300k and up?

Areyou in a position that allows you to take a potential buyer on a tour of all the known housing layouts and planets along with providing the time to the buyer toassistwtih theinterior design? That's what service implies to me and I'm curious if you are getting those kinds of requests. If I were in the market to buy a large house I would consider it to be a serious investment. I would want to look at the exterior designs available along withestablished communities where the houses could be found. A walk thru of each type of home would be the most impressive. After choosing a house I would very much appreciate if the builder or a furniture maker would take the time to work with me to find the most fitting interior design.

That is what service means to me and but I am not sure that I am on the right track.

Success in any MMO as a crafter/seller comes from a few things, regardless of the game. It's worked in EQ, DAoC, and now SWG for me:

1) Customer service and attitude. Be nice, be professional, and be honest with people.

2) Underpromise and overdeliver. Let people know if there are going to be possible difficulties in filling their order, and then if there are and they had to wait, give them a small discount. Things like that build good will.

You'd be surprised how many people tell me "I'd rather buy from you than someone else" because I've built a rapport with them. It kills me to have to turn away business because there's no freaking decent ore on Gorath for two weeks and I can't build any more harvesters.

I hit my first million this week. I was stuck at 850k for a week, then started selling high-quality crafting stations and that pushed me over

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Acanis wrote:

Twohead if you could elaborate more without totally divulging all your trade secrets?

I find your comments on providing a service fascinating. If one looks at it from this perspective would it not seem likely that a medium furnished house could sell for upwards of 150k to the serious buyer, and a large furnished house substantially more.. maybe 300k and up?

Are you in a position that allows you to take a potential buyer on a tour of all the known housing layouts and planets along with providing the time to the buyer to assist wtih the interior design? That's what service implies to me and I'm curious if you are getting those kinds of requests. If I were in the market to buy a large house I would consider it to be a serious investment. I would want to look at the exterior designs available along with established communities where the houses could be found. A walk thru of each type of home would be the most impressive. After choosing a house I would very much appreciate if the builder or a furniture maker would take the time to work with me to find the most fitting interior design.

That is what service means to me and but I am not sure that I am on the right track.

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No need for me to detail exactly how I operate, you have some great ideas here of your own. Philomorph's post also has that great concept of underpromising and overdelivering. Service is all a matter of perception. That doesn't make it meaningless, in fact for my target customers its the most important thing. So the key is to have your customers realize the advantage of dealing with you instead of a discount vendor. How you go about doing that is going to vary for each customer. Find out what they need to be happy and give it to them and not only will they return, but they'll send their friends to you as well.

Tued the Master Builder

I think I'm begining to get the idea. If someone just wants a place to call home, you might offer a torch and wooden chair as a house warming gift (after the sale of course).... maybe a ballot/bank box since they require almost no resources. Someone who is a crafter you might offer to make the best and complete crafting station for that profession. If they are seriously considering furniture you might demo your stock so they can find the most appealing. Perhaps with someone just starting out with a small house and little furniture you might offer a future trade-in package.