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Target Marketing of Landowners

Started by Hale87, April 11, 2015, 08:26:15 AM

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Hale87

Trying to figure out where I can buy a list of landowners with ten or more acres of ground? I know they're out there because occasionally I have received solicitation from foresters myself. I did find one company but they showed less than a hundred people with ten or more acres in my county and five hundred in the next county. I'm hoping to find someone that can do better than that because the county I'm in is bigger than the other so I think they're missing a bunch.

Thanks for your help!
2002 LT40HD sawmill, WM single blade edger, 23hp Kubota tractor, 2011 Kawasaki Mule, 2002 Honda Foreman, 1983 Case 480D backhoe

curdog

I don't know how good your county gis is or if yall have one, but that information can be found there. I've stopped by the gis office and made friends with the guys over there. I've had them pull up number of parcels in a particular fire district,  number of structures in a development.  All of that info is pretty easy for them to pull up. I'm not sure if your local forestry office can or would give you that info, but with arcmap that's a few minutes find as well. But as far as buying the info I have no idea.  But I've ran reports similar to that for my county through arcmap.

breederman

I may be odd , but if anyone ever cold called me or sent mail soliciting my timber , when the time came they for sure would not be called. ::)
Together we got this !

treeslayer2003

you should be able to do property search online. it is public information.

breederman, why would that upset you? many land owners have no clue there is any value in their woods.

thenorthman

Round here its forbidden to use the online gis maps to contact land owners or make lists with contact info from the gis maps...

You can look all you want and do some research whatever, but contacting owner is no good.

Somehow there is a way to contact them legally, just haven't figured it out yet, probably have to go into the county building and ask a lot of stupid questions... Phone is about useless anymore... press 1 for engrish, press 2 for ukrainiun, press 3 for spanglish, press 4 for ethopian... I'm sorry I didn't understand you... Press 1 for... and zero doesn't work anymore.
well that didn't work

WV Sawmiller

Guess I'm the oddball. I would not have any problem with someone contacting me about my timber. I have 42 acres mostly wooded. I would most likely say no. I might agree to let them thin some target trees I'd be willing to sell if their timing and procedures did not interfere with my deer or turkey hunting schedules or equipment was going to mess up my property.

If I was not ready to sell I'd keep his name and number and if I ever changed my mind I'd call him. I see nothing wrong with a man trying to make an honest living. I've left business cards on log piles where I saw people clearing land or stopped to talk where they had a few logs piled up around their homes. I figure I offer a service they may want but just didn't know who to contact.

I have had a couple companies contact me about leasing gas rights to my place and I did so. When I discussed with the company's reps their procedures were well in line with my land use plans.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Hale87

My goal is to send out magnetic business cards to landowners with ten or more acres. Nobody likes telemarketing, but there's a reason they still do it.... it works!!! Plus if you put something in front of them that shows your local and not big city, it works even better. Hand written envelopes help even more.
2002 LT40HD sawmill, WM single blade edger, 23hp Kubota tractor, 2011 Kawasaki Mule, 2002 Honda Foreman, 1983 Case 480D backhoe

Straightgrain

Forget the government,

I would recommend gaining visibility through a small woodlot association.

Preliminary Inoculation to support my premise: 1. I do not belong to a woodlot association, 2. I do not belong to a senior association, 3. I'm not in business any more, and 4. Extra information alert.

1. There are a lot of people who belong to private organizations; primarily for the passing of information, much of which is passed through their monthly flyers; the back page of many flyers has sponsors (much like our forum). The information they pass can lead to a call.

2. When I had my construction business, I posted my company information on the various association bulletin boards and organization flyers; one was at the local senior center and they rang my phone "off the hook". They are a tough segment of the population to make a profit from; witty, keen, and little respect for a younger person's (today's overhead) )costs.

3. I targeted the wrong population(s) and my company suffered a slow death that took me 5 years to pay-off (instead of filing for bankruptcy). By the time I figured-out that unoccupied-residential or commercial was the solution, it was 2008 and the rest is history.

4. Perform a Market Segmentation Exercise and create a Scatter Plot before you spend any money or effort; finding the right type of client and primarily targeting them will increase your bottom line in the long run. Example, working for a person(s) selling something probably means they only want the minimum standard accomplished to preserve their bottom line; NOT my kind of client.

I know I blabbed too much, but I hope it helps.
"We fight for and against not men and things as they are, but for and against the caricatures we make of them". Joseph Schumpeter

SwampDonkey

Everything is online up here as public information including tax assessment on every parcel. $10/month subscription get's all you need to know. What moves most people is cash. If your advertising something that's  going to cost, in this area where I live it won't fly. Plus you can't compete with government subsidies or cost shares.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

luvmexfood

I, as well as some of the neighbors, got a letter about 5 years ago from a timber broker wanting to sell our timber for us. This was way before I even thought about cutting it myself. He was in an adjoining state and stressed in his letter that his money would come from the logger and not from the landowner. I trashed it.

I figured the more hands in the pot the less for everyone. Course he may have gotten a better offer than I could have gotten but now I know how much of each load of logs delivered to the log yard. All of it.
Give me a new saw chain and I can find you a rock in a heartbeat.

Texas Ranger

Every jake leg in the state has a copy of county land records, most land owners in the know ignore the letters and phone calls.  They have been burned, or their neighbors, in the past.
The Ranger, home of Texas Forestry

submarinesailor

This happens to me about twice per year and I don't like it. :-[ :-[ :-[

Bruce

Hans1

In Iowa we can buy these lists it comes in a software that will go right to a printer for labels. The Realestate office I work for uses this all the time. Not sure if you can sort by size of tract but I would bet that you can.

jocco

I agree on the form letters and most people hate snail mail now.  Use a forester or put an ad in papers and so on. That way the people who are interested will contact you. If you do a mass mailing you can get tied up with lots of people that have little better to do than waste your time!!!! If its a certain lot your interested in contact the owner by whatever means.
You may check out but you will never leave

Hale87

I'm surprised by the amount of negative comments. I've done some form of marketing for a long time, and without a doubt it's the way to go. I don't know how many times someone has come up to me and told me they wished they had known I had a portable mill. I simply don't have the cash for a lot of print or radio adds, and that's what it takes if you're going to be successful with that type of advertising.  If you send out a non-intrusive letter to someone simply letting them know you're in the area, in general it's well received. I've received solicitations for my timber, so I'm trying to figure out how to acquire those list?

Thanks for the help so far, you guys have given me some ideas on where to start!!
2002 LT40HD sawmill, WM single blade edger, 23hp Kubota tractor, 2011 Kawasaki Mule, 2002 Honda Foreman, 1983 Case 480D backhoe

Straightgrain

It wouldn't hurt to dial-in your marketing "radar" to show timbered land for sale either; outright speculating is good hedging for some logging companies.

Buying timbered land, waiting/prepping for a year (tax reasons in some states), then harvesting the timber to pay off the debt works in many cases. The real estate agents might have the listings; simply under "land".

If you fine-tune your search for non-build-able land, most of the value will be tied up into the timber and you should be able to end up in the "black".
"We fight for and against not men and things as they are, but for and against the caricatures we make of them". Joseph Schumpeter

Jeff

The good loggers around here are busy. They don't need to market. The ones that try to contact you are the ones that can't get work through referrals, which is what drives the work for the guys that know what they are doing and do a good job.  If I got a cold call on my property, or a letter wanting to buy my timber, It would go in file 13 and there after I would have a negative opinion on that company.

One thing that is common here, and there is nothing wrong with, is to have a standing ad in the surrounding local papers and buyers guides for buying standing timber. if someone needs you, they can find you.  My opinion is that is is just plain tacky to cold contact someone on their timber.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

ga jones

Cold contact is a standard practice here. Mills do it foresters do it loggers do it. Gis mapping and deed office.
380c timberjack c4 treefarmer international trucks jonsered saws. Sugi hara bars d31 komatsu 350 tj grapple

Joe Hillmann

If your county doesn't have online GSI mapping they must at least sell plat books?  It won't give you phone numbers but it will tell you the owners.

Hale87

Quote from: Jeff on April 13, 2015, 10:45:23 AM
The good loggers around here are busy. They don't need to market. The ones that try to contact you are the ones that can't get work through referrals, which is what drives the work for the guys that know what they are doing and do a good job.  If I got a cold call on my property, or a letter wanting to buy my timber, It would go in file 13 and there after I would have a negative opinion on that company.

I've never had a solicitation from a logger but I have had a couple from foresters. A while back I received one from the largest sawmill in the county that ships most of their lumber internationally.
2002 LT40HD sawmill, WM single blade edger, 23hp Kubota tractor, 2011 Kawasaki Mule, 2002 Honda Foreman, 1983 Case 480D backhoe

SwampDonkey

We have a different situation up my way. We have forest products marketing boards. Anyone cutting on private land markets wood through the boards because they have the 'contracts' and mill specs, they know who trucks (load slip legislation for chain of custody) plus they pay the truckers, and they have a list pretty much of the 'wood producers' that cut wood. Woodlot owners deal with marketing boards directly or indirectly through this network. So for my instance I just call so and so to cut wood and the ball starts rolling. The only ad for forestry consultants around here either, yellow pages or advertising that is constant is from the marketing boards. Very few around here can afford to look after a harvest for $3 or $4 a cord  and management plans for $400. They can because of volumes, whether they look after a lot or not they get a 0.5% cheque-off on sales. They might look after 3 lots, but get revenues from say 200 others they aren't involved in. You can not compete.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

SwampDonkey

Hale we have lots of foresters and forest technicians that are loggers. You tend to get a few when mills upgrade or close, shedding jobs,  and someone would still like to stick around in the woods business. Some fellas were actual supervisors looking after company harvesters, then were all the sudden harvesting contractors when all harvesting became contracted. But we also have a few loggers that are someone's 'forester' to and not by diploma or degree.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

ga jones

It's all by region.Its like everything else in this industry. Different regions different  regulations different techniques in harvesting.its all different disciplines.Your in south central pa.It may be a widely accepted practice there or not. Don't be discouraged by other regional ideology.
380c timberjack c4 treefarmer international trucks jonsered saws. Sugi hara bars d31 komatsu 350 tj grapple

Jeff

Absolutely so.

One thing I would want to add though, is that you need to think like the landowner thinks in those regions. If you send me a letter letting me know how valuable my timber potentially is, and hint towards knowing what I have, I'd think you were already slinking around my property uninvited. Many people consider google maps or other type of technological advances as an intrusion, so that is not necessarily the approach either. Though shalt not covet your neighbors woodlot. ;) :)
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Hale87

I'm not a forester trying to buy anything, just want landowners to know I offer a portable sawmill service for those people that don't want the bother of trying to transfer their logs to a stationary sawmill. I put my post over here because of solicitations I've received through the mail from foresters, hoping someone might know where they are getting their info? Sorry for any confusion,,, my bad.
2002 LT40HD sawmill, WM single blade edger, 23hp Kubota tractor, 2011 Kawasaki Mule, 2002 Honda Foreman, 1983 Case 480D backhoe

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