Case Story: Pynenburg-Collins Architects (PCA)
Building a Brilliant Business
The Client
Pynenburg-Collins Architects (PCA) is an architectural practice, with offices in Wellington and Christchurch. Their projects range from remote DOC huts, and office refurbishments through to homes and retirement villages.
PCA also has a sister practice, Lab-works Architecture (LWA) - New Zealand’s leading laboratory design firm, which focuses on technically complex environments for research and science organisations.
Check out their websites here and here.
Their Needs
This was a company that wanted to grow, but business development was new and at times, very confronting.
PCA had been in Christchurch for a decade, but had low awareness in the market; they wanted to grow the practice in its own right. To support the growth, Principal Joanne Kelly moved to Christchurch and was introduced to Helen through the Regional Business Partner (RBP). They wanted someone who knew the Christchurch market and who could help them develop in Christchurch. Helen seemed a perfect fit, as a well known face in the market and someone who knows the community well.
They had some of the building-blocks already in place including a website, Google Ads and a strapline (Build Your Brilliant), but there was no plan.
The team wanted help to create a market-growth strategy for Christchurch, and knew they needed help to develop specific growth foundations, including:
Clarifying target markets & developing understanding of ideal target customers
Messaging development - what should they be saying to these customers
Identifying marketing channels and approach
Develop an integrated marketing & sales plan
What We Did
We have been working together since 2023 and over this time we have moved from strategic decision-making to action planning and execution. Some of the key highlights include:
Help to identify and prioritise target markets. PCA had lots of ideas and could see many opportunities. Helen helped the team identify criteria to be able to make decisions on where to focus their energies
She facilitated PCA to conduct market research. The research complemented the internal validation work to give confidence to PCA leadership of the growth strategy
Developed messaging - once the markets were identified, she helped PCA review and tailor messaging for specific markets and customers
“We’re all introverts and thought - oh, my God, marketing.”
- Joanne Kelly
Building internal marketing capability and confidence - business had normally come through word of mouth through the networks of their founders who had both recently retired. Many team members were initially very uncomfortable with the idea of ‘sales’. We identified those who were confident and could lead by example and we reframed perceptions to focus on relationship-building and value
Encourage practical action - once the growth plan was agreed we created actionable plans with defined responsibilities, objectives and deadlines
Leverage tools - we introduced LinkedIn as a useful platform for PCA and implemented a CRM (Customer Relationship Management system) to support the business development activity
Results
Although the original brief focused on Christchurch, our work together expanded to support broader business transformation across the whole PCA business.
“We had no strategy. And I think that's the biggest bit… helping us to generate a strategy of where we would like to go, which areas do we want to get into. What do we have to do to get into that market?
You helped us develop actions and deadlines …that we can act on”
- Joanne Kelly, Principal
PCA now has a clear strategy with defined focus sectors and messaging. Prior to that they had no strategy - of where we would like to go, which areas to focus on or how to get into the market
The team has shifted from reactive to proactive, with consistent activity and shared accountability
Support internal engagement we have brought the wider team along on the journey, building shared ownership and momentum, from the Principals through to the rest of the team
First new client in Christchurch secured through targeted outreach and messaging
A CRM system has been adopted and integrated into the team workflow, improving visibility and collaboration
The team feels energised and aligned, with a shared understanding of goals and how to get there
Outside of marketing, they have seen broader benefits, including an openness to new approaches and the use of AI tools for meeting records and strategy support
We have now also gone through a process with Lab-Works Architecture, where the market has shifted, driving a need to become more proactive. Lab-Works now has their own business strategy, a clear roadmap and prioritised action plan.