Top 5 Tips for Getting Permissions

Intro: 

Hey Everybody. Welcome! To Episode 73 of the metal detecting show podcast. My Name is Ciaran and I have been Metal Detecting for nearly 30 Years. This week I want to talk about my recent mistakes in looking for permissions, I some ways in how to get permissions and my top 5 tips for doing it efficiently.  I also give some updates from my world of metal detecting.

Hey everyone before we start I want to thank you for listening to the podcast and I hope you enjoy the episode this week  If you want to support the show there are many options available from the links in the episode notes below and if you want to interact with me and the show that information is there too.  

but most importantly If you like this content please don’t hesitate to tell your friends and don’t forget to hit that subscribe button.

Content:

Hey Everyone welcome to the podcast, Well did you hit it big this week I see that Joan Allen had another Hoard found at one of their events, it looks to be a bronze age hoard so well done to whomever found it and well done to Joan allen for creating  such events that have the possibility of hoards. 

I myself got out for a good old fashioned beach hunt which was very enjoyable with enough coinage to cover a coffee and the diesel home plus a few old coins to booth also this week I started work on the benchmark test bed with several iterations during the week with regular updates hitting my patreon blog so check it out.

This week I want to talk about my Top 5 tips on getting permissions now I did cover this briefly in a tech time out all the way back in episode 4 but that discussion was more about running the numbers on getting permission check it out if you’re interested but this week I want to deep dive on the topic, 

This may have been prompted by my want to get back on the fields as my history nipples have been tweaked with some of my great frame worthy finds from my pebble beach near my house 

so I think I need to scratch that itch 

realistically I wanted to get back to the fields last year but covid made that very hard and put a stall on that, right now it looks like we are nearly through it so its time to start getting my stuff together and get door knocking. 

Just before we get into it I do refer to farmers here a lot but farmers can be interchanged with garden owners public park committees and land owner really. Ok back to our regular broadcast.

I did have an opportunity to get permission near home a few months ago but i made a mess of that one which I will elaborate on in a bit but i want to address the top mistake people make when looking for permission

 that is to leaflet spam the locality sending out 100’s of leaflets looking for permission. 

This doesn’t work, it puts the responsibility on the farmer to respond to you and why would he do that you might get maybe a 1-2% return on that activity so think about it unless you know the address of 100’s of landowners it’s not going to work unless you get very lucky which as we discussed in episode 72 sometimes needs to happen for success 

but you can do some things to maximise the luck or opportunity for success and I will get onto those in a sec but before I get into the top 5 tips lets talk about the mistakes I made this year looking for permission. 

Starting with not understanding the difference between public liability insurance and personnel injury insurance. 

In Ireland A farmer/business owner needs public liability insurance to protect themselves from joe public injuring themselves on the Farm or in the business premises. 

a person  cannot get public liability insurance they cannot be insured to protect the farmer against themselves getting injured on the farmers land even if you could, your own public liability insurance wont cover that, your own insurance cant protect you from someone else liability so what you need is personnel injury insurance which covers you if you get injured during your metal detecting. 

Why am I going on about this well as long time listeners might know at the start of the year I was chatting to a local farmer and everything seemed to be going well till I said I had public liability insurance when infact what I had was personnel injury insurance, 

Saying I had public liability insurance resulted in the Farmer wanting to see my policy details which when checking resulted in me having to contradict myself and point out that it is actually personnel injury insurance which gave the farmer an out saying well if you had public liability I would let you on the land bom bam baaaammmmm 

so obviously I spent some time figuring out the difference and even tried to get public liability insurance but it just doesn’t exist in the form that allows me to indemnify the farmer against anything that may befall me on his farm. 

So that was mistake one the next mistake was just a few weeks ago I was driving home from the office when I saw a farmer out on his field and I said impulsively you know what lets chance my arm here what’s the worst that can happen he can only say no. 

Well there I go and pull up in my bright Red VW van looking like an indigenous person of the travelling type rocking across the field interrupting the farmer when he was mid job. 

so to him I looked like some mad lad jumping out of a Van asking permission to dig on his land I didn’t have any proof of who I was or where I came from nothing so im not surprised I got a big fat no. 

These are just some of my mistakes but what can you do to set your self up for success. I think the first and biggest thing you can do is never ask for permission to dig on their land ask can you metal detect and let them put two and two together. 

If you say you are going to dig on their land immediately you have to fight against the tide of perceived damage and distribution so just don’t bring it up. Its not a shady thing to do but maybe a sin of omission.

Next you need to make some form of connection either through social proof or credibility social proof involves elaborating on any connections you may have locally that may tie you in some way to the farmer 

for example are you involved in the local sports team or local club or church do you have any connection to any farmer or landowner they might know it is a well known fact  that it is easier to get permission when you already have one as you can leverage that connection to generate another potential permission. 

Credibility proof is proof that shows the farmer that your are and do as you say you do like bringing a small box of find that are typical for you,  proof of any articles you may have wrote or even just photos of finds you have dug up. 

For me it would be this podcast, a box of finds, and a photo book of the stuff I have found even proof of address to show you are local. 

I would advise that you create a flyer or a little pack that you can give to the farmer when your looking for permission that includes your contact details examples of stuff you have found and links to any articles  or podcasts or websites that you may have even your facebook. 

You could even generate QR codes for the farmer to use his phone to navigate to these sites of credibility but make sure they don’t find your weird doll collection photos. 

Next is a no brainer but  think about how you will present yourself don’t just rock up jumping out of a van what was I thinking put on a collar take the time to look tidy and respectable run a comb through your hair if your lucky to have hair ye bastards. 

You get the idea it’s never too late to make a good first impression and to be honest I run people away from my door if they look dodgy purly based on what they look like and im sure you do it also so put yourself in the farmers shoes.

Another great way of getting a permission is by maintaining one you already have like I said it builds social connection for the farmer to leverage and give you credibility. 

Don’t just get permission rock up to the site anytime you want and never show the farmer what you found all this is a recipe for a disaster. 

Maintain the connection by letting the farmer know when your there  how long you expect to be hunting and let him see what you find every time. 

At Christmas or when you want to gift the farmer maybe frame up some of the better finds for the farmer with some explanation of what it is and where it was found. 

The finds providence is worth more to the farmer more than it could ever be for you so remember that. 

Giving up a few silver coins every now and again will be worth more to you in the long run. 

And Finally the only way you will get permission is by asking. 

We have all been gripped with fear at times to think that they will refuse your request and most will but what happens if they say yes it’ll make all those refusals and no’s worth it.

 Don’t be frozen into inaction with what if they say no, they  will say no No No No get of my land I love archaeologists see its not that bad. 

When asking ask face to face although it is potentially more uncomfortable it makes it more likely for success as most people don’t feel comfortable saying no faced with a reasonable request from someone who has social proof and credibility.

And that’s it that’s my top 5 tips to help you getting permissions but to recap quickly

1. Don’t mention digging you want to metal detect.

2. Call out any social proof or credibility to grease the wheels

3. Present yourself well this is like a job interview. First impressions are made in the first 10 seconds even before you open your mouth.

4. Maintain your permissions like you would a with a close friend you will do anything for the farmer. Farmers have friends and permissions breed permissions.

5. Ask don’t be afraid to be rejected you’re a metal detectorist your made of tougher stuff than that.

Wrap Up 

That’s it for this week’s I hope you liked this episode of the metal detecting show podcast.

Check out our website www.themetaldetectingshow.com for this episode show notes. 

Check out our Patreon page if you want to help the podcast stay alive or just want to buy me a coffee. Actually if you want to buy me a coffee you can do so at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/metaldetecting also

If you would like to leave me a voice mail please do so on speakpipe.com/themetaldetectingshow the link will be in the show notes.

If you feel like taking your appreciation to the next level feel free to leave me a positive review on any podcast directory of your choice. 

If you like this content and would like more please don’t hesitate to tell your friends and don’t forget to hit that subscribe button.

Once again, I hope you have enjoyed this episode and we will chat to you all again next week. 

Get out there eyes down and Happy Hunting.