I've recently started working for an environmental services company. I've been asked to come up with some ideas to get our boundary surveying services known in the community. Any ideas guys and gals? Thanks...
I'm going to monitor this thread
🙂
Good luck, Ms or Mr intern
Don
I'm going to monitor this thread
Thanks Don! If there's no surveying to do, I'm out sampling wells and whatever else they find to keep me busy. With my former employer I had bushes to cut everyday haha. I'd much rather be in the woods looking for pine knots!!
I'm going to monitor this thread
I was being a little facetious, Intern. I don't doubt your sincerity for a minute, but I was concerned that the sometimes rough crowd here might treat you poorly. I probably over reacted. They're really a group of good people usually.
Apologies to all,
Don
> I've recently started working for an environmental services company. I've been asked to come up with some ideas to get our boundary surveying services known in the community. Any ideas guys and gals? Thanks...
One way that usually won't go bad is to start attending chapter meetings of the state society. Never hurts to network. Often other surveyors make good referrals.
I don't know what state you're in but many states require a PLS as a principle in order to market any surveying services. Not just an employee, but named somewhere in the company structure as the responsible registrant.
Years ago I got the idea to put on 1 or 2 hr information sessions for realtors, lenders, title companies. It got me some work, but eventually it blew up because all it did was teach them about recorded surveys. Tough crowd anyway, not real loyal for the most part.
Good luck, tough economy to be starting anything along those lines.
Find the local bank/ attorney relationships that deal with the Trust Accounts and Estates. Larger tracts of land that winds up becoming prime development are often owned by a trust, or the 'kids' (who probably live out-of-state) got it after mom and pop passed away. Someone in town is taking care of it. Go drop a card off and chat with them. Land attorneys love to have lunch bought for them.;-)
They don't generate a great number of surveys, but can often lead to good steady work over a period of time. Appraisals and surveys are needed to sell them off. If you can get your title block on this type of property early on in the process it can turn into a good 'vertical' return of work as the parcels get smaller and develop.
I tried ambulance chasing those estate lawyers. They pay real slow
and draw out the estate process to their advantage. The heirs
are typically old folks who are used to 1960 prices.
Billboards
I have tried everything and nothing seems to work anymore
Dittos on the surveyors meeting. In my first year in business, I
calculated how much I got from clients I learned about at the
chapter meetings. The figure, after one year, was about $2k
per new client per year.
Surveyors should get more respect from realtors because often
the surveyor is the first one to go to the site. The surveyor
will recommend a realtor, sometimes.
Get to know the locals working in the County offices. Many people go there seeking help about their real estate. This would cover more than just boundary surveys in your case.
Get to know the locals working in significant City offices. Same general idea as above.
Figure out which local real estate companyies seem to be the most active. Get to know a few of the busier brokers. Even if the don't steer any business your way, they will probably tell you who they normally use and why. That bit of information can be very helpful in shaping your own advertising spiel.
How about some 30 second or 60 second ads on PBS?
You could also have a booth at the conventions of appropriate organizations.
Your company should be hitting the due diligence folks and be sure that the marketing info covers surveying the way it should.
Maybe being a speaker at some local or state meetings?
This will help establish you as a leader and can get you great mileage.
Teaching a class in the LS Review course will do the same but to a smaller audience.
I also got good mileage out of presentations to the Young Engineers club of ASCE.
The current things that a surveyor needs to get his/her hand in has to do with BIM and GIS.
You should be presenting on the concepts about how the surveyor supports the needs of these groups.
Of course you will have to know this first, but it can be done.
When you hear a current buzz word, you should be all over that with the connection to your surveys.
Your claim to fame will be the efficiency that you employ to give the client exactly what they need and it fits perfectly!
If you don't have that you need to get it.
We are talking georefferenced and the CAD Layers just the way they need them.
You have to be on top of the game to each client.
Merry Christmas and Good Luck!
> I've recently started working for an environmental services company. I've been asked to come up with some ideas to get our boundary surveying services known in the community. Any ideas guys and gals? Thanks...
Welcome to Beerleg...what state are you in if I can ask? Its highly relevant to any marketing ideas.
I've been an NPR underwriter for about 6 years now and it's brought one job that i ma aware of and we do ask when strangers calls, "How did you get our names?".
I would say that to break into the "boundary survey' market you have to have a good reputation and client referrals. Word of mouth works best, it's a market that requires experience before success.
As you are with an environmental firm already I would focus on pre-design surveys (you're probably doing that now anyway) and use that experience to beef up your boundary skills.
Also, you're already doing boundaries if you're doing any kind of surveying for environmental projects, so I am assuming that you are trying to branch out into the more difficult boundaries or disputes?
Here are a few non-traditinal ideas..
- Tatoo the company name on your forehead and when people ask about it, approach them about a survey stating that you are the best surveyor in town.
- Put a sign on your truck that says " two surveys for the price of one!"
- Hire only hot chicks like Hooters for field crew, or you could go even further advertise topless survey crew & CAD tech.
> I've recently started working for an environmental services company. I've been asked to come up with some ideas to get our boundary surveying services known in the community. Any ideas guys and gals? Thanks...
Like so many other things in life, what you do depends on what you want.
Advertising is like hunting. (I know the analogy isn't perfect but bare with me.)
If you want squirrels, your odds of success are greatly improved if you take a squirrel gun and go where there are squirrels.
You must first clearly and in detail decide what you want from your advertising. Set out very specific goals. Identify your target market. Who are they, where do they shop, where do they live, what magazines do they read, what tv and radio shows do they enjoy, what websites do they visit regularly?
If you want an example of a group that has these concepts clearly in hand, look across the street from virtually every court house in almost any town in this country. You will find the same type business located there. Bail Bondsmen. They know that when they are needed, the need is urgent and the client will be near the courthouse (and usually jail).
Don't get me wrong. I am not saying you should open an office next to bail bondsmen. I am saying they know their clientèle.
You need to know yours before you have any hope to reach them on a consistent basis. After you know who you want to reach, then you can develop a plan to reach them. Until you know who you are trying to reach you might as well be going out in your yard and shooting up into the sky with an elephant gun. A squirrel might fall at your feet once in awhile, but the odds aren't very good.
Larry P
Hey Daryl...I'm in Mississippi. I appreciate all the responses from everybody. I am a member of the state association.
Thanks for the response. We do a good bit of boundary surveying as it is. What I want to happen is get our name out into the more rural areas. When farmer John opens the phone book to find a surveyor, he's more likely to pick Smith's Surveying than an environmental management company.
Thanks Larry
