Permission seeking help please.

[Bigmike2334]

Hi guys I've been enjoying this wonderful hobby for 5 years now and am blessed to have a good group of guys that make up our team, unfortunately land and properties are becoming scarce and I would like to try and master the tricks of the trade to obtaining permissions, especially properties that are owned and well manicured. I've made a flyer explaining our hobby, group, and what we do with our full names and numbers and our logo. Unfortunately it's been hard sometimes to approach a door never mind get the typical no were all set line. I'm just looking for some advice and tips from the more experienced guys on here to learn and maybe get better at this technique and hopefully continue to uncover history. Thanks a lot guys I truly appreciate any help I'm advance! HH!!

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

Join every single museum and historical society in your area. Attend meetings and get involved. Docent to help out. That would be things like manning the desk, sorting archives, etc.. And might require something like 6 hr. p/month, for example. Once you get the museum ID badge , and get to know people there on a first name basis, it will open lots of doors. In addition to having carte-blanche to back-room resources

I find this to be helpful when getting permission. It's quite an ice-breaker to say "Hi, I work for such & such museum. I'm writing at article on the history of a stage stop said to have been in the back 40 of this property. Do you mind if I take some pictures?" blah blah. Then morph it into permission.

Also: knocking on doors almost always leads nowhere anyhow. They will just treat you like a door-to-door solicitor. And after all, you've just interrupted their time, etc... Best to catch them "out and about". If I'm canvassing a neighborhood of old yards, I'd do it on a Saturday (as that tends to be yard-work day, or the day people are out on their front porch having an ice-tea, garage sales, etc....). If you see someone out and about, start there. Once you're working that one, you keep an eye on other houses, for people coming and going, to "catch them on their porch" too.

And always have your detector in hand, & a few coins in your apron that you "just found down the street at their neighbor's yard" (even if you had to bring them from home as prop's). Because that too is an ice-breaker for them to envision your goal. Most people are intrigued by a buffalo or a mercury dime, etc.... And introduce yourself "as their neighbor from a few blocks down" (even if in, reality, you're a mile away, that still makes you their 'neighbor', right ? That puts people at ease.

 

[Loco-Digger]

I continually take different routes home from work driving past many prospective sites hoping to see a resident outside. I then pull up and strike up a conversation to gauge their mood. If the conversation is going good and they are friendly I soon pop the question. If they are doing some work I offer a little free labor (especially to senior citizens). I do cold knock, but not often. I also offer to gear them up so they can hunt their property with me. I keep a Fisher F2 on hand for this. With as little as 5 minutes of instructions I can have them finding treasure. Everyone of them has offered to buy the F2 from me before I leave their property for the day. If the house is owned by a lady I offer her a broach or some other cool relic I dug from their yard. Most people only want to see what you have found. If I dug a couple IHP's or other old coins I offer one up to the owner as a thank you.

 

[Bigmike2334]

Thanks a lot pals, it's been a learning process for sure but with these tips and hopefully more I will be on my way to obtaining much more good ground. Thanks again for your help!

 

[Tpmetal]

I've found if you have kids bring them along....its really hard to say no when you have hopeful little eyes staring at you.

 

[dirtdigginfool]

Ask and you shall receive...I was going to chine on and offer my .02 worth...but Tom-in-CA and Loco both took the words right out of my...fingers. Great advice, I HATE approaching anybody...I have a huge fear of rejection lol..I'll keep an eye on a juicy place and wait until I see them in the yard, pull in and introduce myself..much better than cold-knocking but that is also a viable option, some are much better at it than others. The advice on joining/volunteering at the museum, historical society was priceless and has my own gears turning (thx Tom!)...I currently have an awesome permission in my back pocket, an early 1800's house smack dab in the middle of our Heritage District downtown, and am waiting for the perfect time, as I want to try to score as many of their neighbors as possible. So good luck, happy hunting, and let us know how u get along...Ddf