Robert L Young.net

This blog post was originally published at Trans Texas Surveying & Mapping.

If it was so easy, then why am I writing this post? Seems logical that a firm that has incredible skillsets, people, and a proven track record should be able to expand their scope and market share by teaming up with others who possess complimentary skillsets and there is no doubt a need for both types of services like (Civil Engineering and Land Surveying) and as projects progress, there is some surveying firm providing data to some civil firm and we all assume it is just the way things go. Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t. One thing as a land surveyor I have seen is the need to market our firm to Engineering Firms who do not have survey divisions. The best way I have found to market is to get to the decision makers which many of us fail to do, as we talk to “some guy” and tell him our story, expecting them to be as excited about our business as we are and for them to “spread the word,” thus getting work for our firm.
I have seen all kinds of magazine ads, internet advertising, pay per clicks, etc, as many of us strive to position ourselves as a good fit to team up with the other companies that have the work in our area.
When you have an audience with the decision maker, the next thing is to find out what his specific needs are as they relate to land surveying and mapping. Once you know what he thinks he needs, it is always best to restate what he or she said, to make sure they know you understand what they need. From there, an offer of a pilot project to see if there is a good fit between the personnel of each firm and the potential for synergy or not. Either win/win or no deal for sure is the rule here.
The same approach can work with other surveying companies that are overloaded with work in your market or geographic area. There are GIS firms that require boundary layers in the information, or as it is said, “the parcel fabric. They do their best, and based on the specs of the project, may or may not employ a surveying firm. My hope is that any boundary layers are created and managed by a PLS who has an understanding and working knowledge of GIS in addition to boundary surveying.
I am truly thankful for the relationships I have with other companies at this time, and plan to grow with them, and never give them a reason to hire another surveying firm. When you get a client, you service them in order to keep them and we all have stories of “the one that got away.”
When you get a new client, take care of them and make sure you keep a pulse and let them know what is going on. Communication on a consistent basis is a key to the relationship working. Optimism is also a good trait to possess. We are not gonna get all the work, let’s strive to get our share.

This week, I am proud to announce I hit the 300,000 mile mark on my vehicle that goes to the field most days and is still working, looks good, and a pleasure to drive.  It is a 2006 Toyota Land Cruiser.

Expensive?  Not really when you look at the awesome performance and the lack of repairs to date.  Just wanted to share that having a fleet of new trucks is something we may well do in the future, and for now, I am happy with my 2006.

Yesterday, I was in a very awesome meeting with other

land surveyors and GIS folks in Houston, Tx.  Most of

the presentations were outstanding, two of which, really

made me think.  The first, was a presentation about

the incredible use and integration of HDS laser scanned

point clouds with the data from high resolution sonar

that creates similar point clouds, regardless of the

visibility of the water.  This has many amazing applications

and as a surveyor who has worked both on the land and

in the bays along the Gulf of Mexico Coast line, the future

will help us even more in dealing with hard to see, not hard

to map opportunities for the integration of technologies

that help surveyors provide the highest quality 3D data so

the best decisions can be made. (see http://www.blueview.com/)

The HEADLINE dealt with another talk by Ellen Nodwell

of HESS.  This talk addressed Moores Law – see wiki, and

the huge amounts of data and processing speed and the

question was asked:  How are we as humans going to manage

and best utilize manage, and access the amounts of data that

are as staggering as the amount of money our country is presently

in debt.  Not nudging either political party, just a fact, that back

in grade school, considering, a billion or a trillion were topics

that we discussed for hours and I remember the teacher stating

that the only thing she could think of that would ever require

numbers of that size would be to count the stars as space travel

was a “new thing” back then in the early 1960s.  Just thinking

that we better organize now, or we will not be able to ever organize

our data as land surveyors.  I felt good that I had been thinking and

attempting to solve this issue internally with GIS and the personal

“Geospatial File Cabinet” approach with survey grade geo-referenced

data.  What do you think?

In my life, I have met many great people.  Many of them

have been friends.  The past 15 months has been a real

growing experience for me and my family.  We realize

just how lucky we really are.  If you know me, you have

not heard from me or seen me in over a year, I am alive

and well.  New company I am so glad to be a part of we

began in January of this year.  Surveying has been a tough

business to be in and I am thankful to have the skills, contacts,

and opportunities to pursue this profession like never in my

life.

Look forward to more posts and feedback from you that read this

blog.

Next post will be a plan on how to rebuild what was here.

This site is meant to be a resource for others to learn from those

who have served this profession before us, leaders in the profession

at this time, and future leaders of land surveying and mapping.

Must get to the field.

Robert