How Do You Pitch Your Drone Services to a Construction Company?
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We are hey everyone and welcome to another awesome episode of ask drone you. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for listening. If it weren’t for you well, we wouldn’t, be here. My name is Paul and I’m Rob and you’re absolutely right, and this is episode 856.
Some of you have been with us since the episode number one was just it blows my mind, so thankful so humble appreciate it appreciate all the questions. Keep them coming. Ask groan, you did, I say groan.
You didn’t, ask Jerome, you calm. We’d love to hear from you right now get on there go do it if you have a question, send it in business questions today, I’m sort of business related in terms of how to reach a certain market that this Particular caller is interested in, I presume I don’t think he’s asking generally.
I think it’s, something that he’s interested in and I think it’s, probably something the lobby are interested in, because there’s, something that you can do all across the country. These kind of companies so yeah.
Definitely I’m very interested to pay close attention to this question guys and you’ll pick up on something that I’m not going to talk about, but no I don’t think this is the One that you’re thinking, I think it is.
I think it is. I’m, not gonna say what it is. Okay, I’m curious. What if it’s? Not this question, then it’s, one of the next sin to the question and go wait a minute. Anyway. We’re answering this question on this.
Show: hey guys, love the podcast Shane here from southern New Mexico, and you asked for more business questions so here’s, a multi-part er! First, when you go to pitch your services to a construction company, what are the things you want to show them? Like the deliverables etc, and what, if you’re, just getting started and really don’t have a portfolio yet.
Secondly, who is a person you want to talk to it? These companies like, if you call them who do you, ask for, is it the project, manager or someone else thanks again, and I look forward to more podcasts awesome machine.
So we and glad that you have joined us, and so you want to do work for construction companies. There’s, probably actually quite a few deliverables that you can offer to a construction company. Oh yeah, there are significant deliverables and the deliverables can differ between construction companies.
It’s, not always like one particular deliverable. Some people can be going just after marketing stuff. Some people can be looking at. They want a 3d model. Some people actually want a 3d model and you to provide the Picts 40 file so that if they want to inspect a certain area of that model, they can click the individual photo and blow it up 10x.
So they can see what they’re. Looking at I mean there, there’s, a lot of different deliverables, everything from radiometric thermography mapping to mapping to ortho mosaics for measurements, to volumetric measurements.
With things like you know, pix 40 drone deploy. There is so much and oftentimes it’s very difficult to gauge what they’re interested. In I mean I’ve run into, for example, the last big company that we trained was a construction firm, and the CEO had absolutely no idea why this was valuable at all.
It had just come from the investors that the investors wanted marketing pictures and permanent record of installation. That was it mm-hmm when I told them that they can actually measure volumetrically that they can measure.
You know laterally as well. Everyone’s, ears, perked up in the room and that’s. When I showed them my construction presentation, I think that you ‘ Ve actually seen it before, but it’s, a 15 minute long presentation and it goes through everything that construction company could use as undeliverable.
So I talked about the history of drones. Actually I think the most recent one was a roofing one. I talk about the history of drones. I talk about. You know I ate them on what the initial uses of drones were.
Then I kind of talk about as I’m watching this right now see drone history. We show Fort Huachuca Arizona, show examples of imagery in construction right now, solar panels, that was a roofing inspection.
I did in 2012 2012 with a GoPro and a phantom 2, and I got 150 bucks for that big bucks. So long story short there’s, a lot that you can do. Then I talked about pilot requirements. What a pilot has to do to fly legally? I think that’s, really important.
And then I discuss judging flight skill and I show the same motions of a drone pilot three different ways: a very simple version, more advanced version and then a version that utilizes all the flight services of the drone.
To create an buttery silky, smooth perspective that makes sense to the eye more than the other two perspectives. So when I do that, I show them. I say: hey you, don’t notice, the difference, and I show them those three Clips again and I mean Rob I can sit here and hopefully it’ll play.
So this is the first clip. I remember this yeah, just very simple: you just write through the trees up to reveal big Vista in Colorado Springs. Second, one good drone Vista tilt down; okay, but the next one we’re going to fly through the trees.
We’re gonna roll left. We’re, going to yaw right and tilt the camera down, so it creates this nice, like as if it were a natural motion as a human looking over the edge like whoa, that’s, really high up yeah.
You know, and that shows yeah it shows so much better. So then people go oh like oh, I can see the smoothness and shots now like, oh man, that makes sense. So this is also important, and I was really thinking about some of the things I’ve been saying about educating our clients in that book.
How to be a Rainmaker educating clients with this presentation is how I’ve, gotten a lot of trainings I by the way. This is really important to note. So the question was specifically saying: I want to go talk to a construction company who do I talk to there and you know certainly project managers.
I mean anybody that you know in that construction company is a good gateway or a good door to go through. So you know that questions tough to answer it’s based on relationships, but what’s interesting about this, as you actually did this to like a construction industry group play yeah, so that’s.
The answer, because you’re gonna, have several construction companies there yep, I imagine, want to do that’s. The best best best best way to sell ever because now the onus is on them. They’re competing as soon as one person is interested.
The next person goes out, bradbury stam is interested and they’re like number two. So if we don’t get on the bandwagon, where are we gonna? Be in three years, so you’re, very real, keeping up with the Jones yeah.
I love it. Perception is reality, oh yeah, you know, and just and that’s. Why sometimes I drop names like? Oh, you know. We worked with bla bla, bla bla, and our construction instructor worked for Amazon and IKEA, you know, and they’re like what you know about this particular group that you were in front of me before I go into that.
I just want to say the last couple: things were in this video and I can put this up in the Facebook group. So if you’re a drone, you member, you’ll, be able to see this video. I did take clips from other videos and just stack it together, because sometimes picks 4d does a much better job.
Explaining of how ortho mosaics work than I do hey. Look it’s, your house yeah. I put that in there. I remember you sure. So we also showcase thermal radiometric 3d meshes. So if they’re trying to see issues with if they’re doing anything that’s lead or what is lead for those that don’t know building yeah.
I mean it’s, it’s. I don’t know it stands for man, its environmental, environmentally advanced. I guess you’d, say it’s, it’s high-efficiency, and so it’s, a certification that that a building can get.
I don’t. Remember what the what yes Lee! I know I’m, trying to remember my self Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. So if you’re trying to get a LEED certification, their radiometric thermography maps are really powerful for doing that, then I show them.
You know photogrammetry benefits. I show them that old video that I did for track, man about measuring points in places and interference and creating models, and then I show how to use inspections with zoom.
So if they have bad pilots and they want to fly from super high up, they still you know get zoom. Then I talked about drone you a little bit in just the classes that we have and end with that. So, yes, I think that leads us to the question is which Association yeah yeah so recently? I actually did this for the American Association of general contractors and then did in an association for the roofing inspectors of America.
I forget what it was by the way there’s, a lot more of those kinds of groups than you realize. Oh yeah, there’s a lot. So but again you know you want to do your due diligence and a couple of these people were members of drone.
You and I like please, come speak for us and if it’s local, I typically do it for free because it’s also lead generation for drone. You and I mean you know, people do charge for these things, but I don’t.
Think a majority of our listenership is there to charge for these. Think of these as a fantastic way to generate leads, but here’s, the thing guys you can get people super excited, but if you don’t follow up afterwards, you’re gonna lose all all interest.
So if you do do an association talk, you show a video on all these different things. Then what you should do after that is to follow up, set coffee, do a demo, okay and then get get your foot in the door.
In fact, it reminds me our last construction class that we did. They want me to go back out there and show them some basic mapping. They wan na do a mapping training here. So anyway, I mean it certain.
There is a domino effect to these things as they get comfortable with one vertical or one use of the drones and their company. They’re gonna want to know okay, what’s next? How can we use it beyond that, but he asked about what, if I don’t have a real.
Yet what I would say to that is no excuse to try to get into this without having a real yeah. Why aren’t? You out there just filming the things that you want to work in anyway, why aren’t and getting better at it better at it better at it.
I mean we just heard Gary Vee, I you know, I’ve, really loved how he’s kind of become more humble as well. It’s, good leadership for me, but one of the things that he said is that you know you are only as good as your last interaction you’re only as good as your last up to bat, you’re.
Only as good as your last job and if you go out there and you get some sample data for you know doing these inspections or working in construction or doing these things, do it over and over again offer to work with someone for free.
Because you want to do discovery and you want information from them on what’s important? What data are they looking at? What matters to them? All of those things are just critical in really understanding what the client desires or remember, dig down.
Ask questions. Ask questions ask questions because you really need to figure out what is the black swan? What are they really after and I hate clients who try to and I’ve had one of these who try to be deceptive in what they’re, trying to figure out because they’re secretly.
They’re secretly, paying you, because, with the intent of them learning from you to do it themselves, I’ve had a couple of those and those people are always evident because at the end of the job you like, can you just Send me the original photos and might be no, that’s, typically, how my email response? Actually, what you would say is well, as you’ll notice in the contract right that’s, not what we agreed to or something along those lines, but anyways Shayne.
I think there’s. A tremendous amount of opportunity in that space and it’s, just a matter of figuring out kind of the kind of construction companies that you want to work with or who do you know? What is your circle of influence include as far as people that are involved in that industry? You’d, be surprised at who your gateway into that particular company can be.
It can be one of the construction workers who knows you well and is willing to speak highly of you and does a good job for the company and it just kind of gets the thinking going with somebody who’s. A decision maker in the company so and ultimately, if you’re, going to go after a specific construction company and not go this route which number one I think a minimum do both.
But yes, project managers, you can go ask and you can ask for the office manager. Somebody who kind of has an idea of what’s going on in the entire company. Various people that you can talk to and if you don’t get the answer from the person that you try.
First, try somebody else: don’t give up don’t give up persistence. I mean I’m, going to read this just one more time and I’m gonna end. The show with this quote so thank you guys for listening very much by the way I love reading your new reviews.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. If you’re listening on stitcher, Apple, podcasts or overcast, please leave us a review. We we really really appreciate it, but anyway, on the bombshell of ending the class.
This is what I finish. Every email with nothing in this world can take place of persistence. Talent will not. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not unrewarded. Genius is almost a proverb: education will not.
The world is full of educated failures, persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. President Calvin Coolidge, mm-hmm yeah well said thanks guys for listening. You