PLSO The Oregon Surveor September/October 2021

5 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org From the PLSO Office How to Send Us Your Work Please email the editor, Vanessa Salvia, at vsalvia@gmail.com with submissions. Your submission should be in .doc format. Please send images separately (not embedded in the document) and at the highest file size avail - able (MB size range versus KB size range—larger sizes are encouraged). Please include the author’s name and email address or phone number for contact. First, it’s important to understand the difference between customer education and marketing. Marketing is about per- suading someone on an emotional level that they need your service and you’re the company that is best suited for the job. Example: avoid costly mistakes when adding on to your home or building a new fence. Hire a land surveyor. Customer education is the Joe Friday of Dragnet— it sticks to the facts of the project, giving the potential client all the information they need to make a proper decision, including ways they can possibly save money. Example: this is the time of year when land surveyors are contacted the most. I am currently five months out. If you want to get started and would like to save a little money, you can contact your county surveyor and ask for X document. Things that are going to affect the cost of your survey by taking the most time are the accessibility to your neighbor’s yard and the creek that that runs across the boundary on both your properties. I charge X per hour for my time. What are the benefits of customer education? Transparency Builds Trust People aremore apt to hire someone that feels they have their best interest at heart and will take the time to make sure they understand what’s at stake. Not return - ing phone calls or vague answers because you’re out in the field and can’t focus on their future project makes sense to you. To them, it just feels like you don’t want to take the time, and what does that say about the value of your work? Building Trust Reduces Complaints People like to know what’s going on. You’ve taken the time for them to un - derstand the difficult elements of the project, what can affect the price and the process you’re at. Are there a couple of solutions they can choose from? Giving them the decision to spend more mon- ey if something isn’t quite necessary puts the onus on them. If it’s not inherent to the project, but will 100% add to the val- ue and integrity, let them know that and why. If someone knows the information before hand, they aren’t surprised and don’t feel taken advantage of. In other words, they won’t think all you did was throw up a few markers and call it day. Trust Means Loyalty, Loyalty Brings Referrals When customers know and understand what went into themaking of your survey, realistic expectations are formed andmet. With these ideas in mind, what are some ways to educate your customer? Before the survey, make sure they have all the information that goes into building your quote and the basis for which you charge. Perhaps a check list is included: lacking municipal information, property terrain, foliage, water boundary, etc. Or perhaps putting the thought and time into a one sheet explaining what goes into building a quote, what you charge for your time, etc. During the survey, make sure to check in and provide a status after you’ve done a portion of work. If you charge by the hour, let them know howmuch time you’ve put in so far. After the survey, sum up the information you gave in the beginning of what could affect the price to what did. If you do get a bad review, use the same medium to address the situation through education. That means, leave the emotion out of it. In the example of the roofing company, thank them for their input and politely explain that they are unable to share in- formation with anyone but the person that hired them. In this case, the owner of the home. Would it have solved the prob- lem with that customer? Maybe not, but the real point was for future customers to see how you handle a disagreement. Some of these ideas may be adding work to an already overloaded schedule. Per- haps it’s just using your office staff in another way. The more they learn about this process, the more helpful they can be on the phone with a client. And that just may help you save time. x If you have more or much better ideas on this topic, please feel free to add to the conversation happening at www.plso.org/Discussion-Forum.