Customer Success: Living the American Dream

They made the decision over dinner one evening. “I think we should start our own business,” Dusty Schroeder said to his wife, Kim, with their three small children at the table. “I know we can do this.”  And they did!

Less than three years after making that decision, Dusty and Kim took delivery of their second Geoprobe^® rig for their company, Midwestern Drilling, LLC, in Holloway, MN.  Lee Shaw, Geoprobe^® Customer Service, drove the shiny new black truck on to the Holloway property late in July with a brand new 7800 mounted on the back. “There’s been a lot of planning, a lot of long hours, and a lot of hard work getting to this point,” Dusty said after the delivery, “but we knew we wanted more for our kids and their futures.” The new 7800, in addition to the 6610DT they started out with, will allow the company to take on more work and help them achieve their dream. “We’ve been turning away jobs with just one rig because we couldn’t meet our clients’ busy schedules for drilling,” he added. “The geotechnical drop hammer on the 7800 will also allow us to broaden our client base. We’re excited to have both rigs ready for both environmental and geotechnical field work now!”

To help get Midwestern Drilling off to a flying start, Lee spent the day of delivery with the Field Team to make sure they became familiar with the new rig’s features and the greater capabilities it presents for the company. “It’s really important for everyone involved to have a clear understanding of what the machine is capable of,” Lee said. “They don’t know what they don’t know. And one of my jobs is to explain to them and show them what all this awesome rig can do and how they can use it to make money.”

The Geoprobe^® engineering group never stands still, so improvements and changes to rigs and tooling are happening everyday. “Tools are more than just probe rods and drive caps these days,” Lee explained. “That makes it even more important that the rig operator understands the process of how the systems work and how to best utilize the accessories. The end result is to help them increase production and reduce the workload on the field team.”

Although the day of training took the Midwestern Drilling team away from a paying job, they believed their investment in time was well worth it. Dusty said they were more than willing to invest the day in training. “We work with over 40 consultants, and we know their reputations are at stake whenever we are drilling for them. We need to know how to best use our equipment, and how to get the best results from it.”

“A day or two of training can put a company miles ahead of others,” Lee added, “and it will help increase efficiency and production from the first job and beyond.”

This is one of the things Lee enjoys most about his job. “Getting to spend the day with our customers, especially a young family like this, is awesome. They seem to be organized for efficiency and production in the field, and they’re backed by knowledge and professionalism,” Lee said. “They’re living the American dream. It doesn’t get much better than this!”