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Marketing & Promotion...continued from previous page
When you’re talking to a general contractor or an architect, they
may not need survey services at that moment. But there’s a big
chance they’re interested in other services that your company may
offer.

You should also be able to speak to recent projects that your
company has completed.

“Having some of those examples in your back pocket to bring out it
goes a long way. I can honestly tell you that a lot of jobs I’ve picked
up as a surveyor is because I’ve cross-sold another department,
and it eventually came back around in a project and I was able to be
a part of it,” Jay says.
Educate the public

Cross-selling and internal marketing can be helpful when it comes
to large companies and clients. When it comes to the more general
public, your best bet is to hone your education skills.

“Surveying is just a different thing to try to market. Although we all understand what the product is, I still deal with a lot of
clients that do not understand table a or issues like that. So I do feel like I spend a fair amount of my time trying to educate the
public,” says Todd Bauer, the founder of Foresight Consulting in Indiana.

“A lot of the marketing material that I’ve done the last couple of years…has been about trying to give some insight to the
general public to the backside of what we do as surveyors, because other than showing up mark and corners, they have no idea
what we do.”
Even architects and engineers can benefit from increased awareness of what surveyors do, so don’t hesitate to take the time
to share your hard-won knowledge.

The true value of educating the public is generating goodwill. This means telling them when they need—and don’t need—your
services.

“I can’t tell you how many times someone has called and they don’t need a survey, or oh, just call this person at the county. All
you need is a permit,” says Jay.

Yes, you might lose the business, but you will leave a good impression.

“It could be educating someone so that you don’t even get the job,” Jay says. “But bringing it back to a marketing perspective,
that person’s going to say, Hey, you know what? I’m going to call this guy for my next survey, because I was about to drop
$10,000 on something that I didn’t even need to. He could have screwed me over, but he didn’t. He told me what I needed to
know. He educated me on some. So it builds that trust.”

Educate your employees
In addition to educating the public, you also need to take some time to educate your employees.
Marketing isn’t just the job of the company founder or the marketing team. In fact, it’s a group effort that comprises every
single employee at the company.

For Trent, this means starting with his field crew and providing them with attractive and branded company property.

“I let them treat their truck like it’s an extension of the office. So we drive the nicest trucks, they’re decked out with wheels and
logos and that kind of stuff.

So it’s the extension of the office,” he says. “The client gets the same treatment whether they’re coming in our front door or it’s
the truck showing up on the job site.”
But you can’t just give them a beautiful truck, you also have to teach them the responsibility that comes with it.

“Your field guys may not be some of the most sophisticated guys sometimes, but they’re out there working hard. I think it’s
the small things, the attention to detail. Is your truck clean? Are your tools clean? Are your chains oiled up? Is everything
organized?” Jay says.

14 The Nevada Traverse Vol.49, No.1, 2022