What not to do when asking permission to MD..

[DiggityDiggity]

Hi there,
So I found this huge (3500 sq ft at least!) old house in my area, the walls made of creek stone, then later stucko'ed over. After some research, I found it was built in the mid 1800s. I pulled in to ask permission to MD the yard. Knocked on the door and no one answered. I went home that night and was just froathing at the prospective goodies in the lawn. It is a HUGE house so I think the people that have lived there would have been higher-class and in turn left better goodies than any other typical old home. The next morning I was just so excited to hunt there, I looked up the address on the net, got name of the person that lived there and gave them a ring. I said verbatim "Hi my name is ****. I live right down the road from you. I stopped by your home yesterday to talk to you but no one answered the door. I metal detect as a hobby and was wondering... -- at this point I was cut off and the person said "I think you need to find someone else. Good Day" CLICK.. NOOOOO OH GOD WHYYY. haha I think I scared them by saying I stopped in or something. Ugh! I totally should have just put it on the back burner and tried to get them in person another day. *feeling awkward and ******ed* lol

 

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[team sidewinder]

Maybe, Maybe not. You never know with some folks on what you say or how you ask if they are going to let you detect there. I think you were right though about asking in person. Any time they think you are going to need to dig to get something out of the ground they tend to say no or think it is an invasion or their privacy. Better luck next time and at least you asked which is something I am afraid to do for fear of being rejected so I don't get to hunt a lot of good places.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

Hi there,
So I found this huge (3500 sq ft at least!) old house in my area, the walls made of creek stone, then later stucko'ed over. After some research, I found it was built in the mid 1800s. I pulled in to ask permission to MD the yard. Knocked on the door and no one answered. I went home that night and was just froathing at the prospective goodies in the lawn. It is a HUGE house so I think the people that have lived there would have been higher-class and in turn left better goodies than any other typical old home. The next morning I was just so excited to hunt there, I looked up the address on the net, got name of the person that lived there and gave them a ring. I said verbatim "Hi my name is ****. I live right down the road from you. I stopped by your home yesterday to talk to you but no one answered the door. I metal detect as a hobby and was wondering... -- at this point I was cut off and the person said "I think you need to find someone else. Good Day" CLICK.. NOOOOO OH GOD WHYYY. haha I think I scared them by saying I stopped in or something. Ugh! I totally should have just put it on the back burner and tried to get them in person another day. *feeling awkward and ******ed* lol

good post, and good point. This just goes to show that in-person is always best. Never snail-mail or phone call them. Because think of it: What do we ALL do with junk mail ? Throw it away, right? And what do we ALL do when we get a phone solicitation from a total stranger? We hang up right? So why do we find it surprising when someone hangs up on us, or ignores snail-mailed letters? It's only natural. Thus its always best to catch them out on their front porch, or find someone who knows them, etc.....

 

[lookindown]

Too easy to say no over the phone...plus they might think its some kind of scam. They probably wouldn't have given you permission anyway since they cut you short...at least you asked. In person is your best chance but you know that now. Good luck with your next spot.

 

[CoilyGirl]

I'm in agreement that its best to show up in person and get a little camaraderie going with the person before you go in for the kill so to speak. We drove around one block about eight times a few weeks ago because we saw a leaf blower and gas can in a yard we wanted to detect,thinking someone must be coming out soon and they did and were glad to talk to us about the history in the area.

 

[Pointman]

I am an advocate for speaking to the person face-to-face. Gives them less of an inclination to say no.

You also want to be very careful at how you place your words. I get better luck at being fast and to the point instead of a long drawn out explanation. I will also get more "yeses" when I say "would you be open minded for me to hunt your property" rather then a "would it be ok to hunt your property". Kind of a play on words and leans the person to saying yes rather then a no.

Just last week I stopped at a business that was run in a 1920s house and was told to give the owner a call by the administrative assistant. Instead, I drove by after lunch and they still wasn't there and then was told again to just call. Yesterday, I stopped by and the administrative assistant had already asked the owner for permission and they allowed me to hunt. I think that stopping by and talking with the owner also shows persistence, but you don't want to be too annoying.

BTW, I probably run about a 80% success rate on gaining places to hunt when I am able to ask. The ones I hate is when I really go out of my way to a place, perhaps park up the street and walk a block and then I don't get an answer at the door. I've even had people be at home and not answer. Seems like it depends on the town/area when this happens.

 

[Argentium]

Diggity , Don't be to hard on yourself , what is life if not learning lessons ? One way you might go about it in the future - like you did with
this property - not only do some research- do a lot of research ! print up some of this history + historical photographs (a couple bucks !)
then take this information in a folder , dressed casually (but nicely ) knock on the door , after an introduction tell the homeowner that your
interest in the history of their property led you to do some research -briefly show the accumulated history and give it to them - Then ask
what they have found out about the property . If they seem willing to engage you in this conversation , you may find a natural place to
interject "the question" pertaining to recovering coins or other pieces relating to the "earlier history of the property " .

 

[TonyTiger]

Hi why don't you write them a nice letter and explain what you do,chances they may reply to you if you put in a self address envelope plus stamp.I did that a few years ago and wrote to a Lord in Scotland guy couldn't have been nicer and let me have the run of his estate.

 

[CincinnatiKid]

I go into every asked permission expecting the answer to be no. A "yes" is then a bonus. Property owners, especially w manicured lawns, are tuff. Rightly so with the rate of lawn care. Plus, we bother them at home. If time permits, kill them w kindness, explain what you do and the history of site. I always find if given a moment to present myself and actions, most folks are receptive. Good luck! Peace
P.S. Never call realtors. They will bombard you w insurance issues.

 

[Native Floridian]

I built a multi million dollar business via cold calling. From that experience I will tell you - don't read too much into getting rejected on the phone.

here are some numbers to look at -

6 hours - of cold calling

300 dials - number of calls placed

60 contacts - number of targeted people i reached

6 leads - number of targeted people who agreed to a called back and were financially qualified to move forward

Those numbers were pretty typical of my results back in the days i was building my financial services practice.

Seems like a lot of work to get to only 6 yeses. But, get 6 yeses every day come back and eventually do business with about half of those people and you can see that over time it can be very lucrative. Which is why we all get cold calls.

It also graphically illustrates to all here why when trying to obtain permission to hunt cold calling should not be used. As a professional, I could only get a 10% yes rate. That means 90% said no, hung up on me, told me to go crawl into a wet cave and die. You know, the typical responses. It also doesn't account for getting only 20% of the intended targets to the phone. The intended target in your case would be the property owner. Bottom line doing the math, cold calling will only get you a successful result 2% of the time. Which, if you work for Merrill Lynch will make you millions. But, if looking for permission to hunt will cause you to fail miserably.

Go knock on that door!