From cold call to major contract , Ayres ’ future is bright in the Tar Heel State
By Jennifer Schmidt
As the old adage goes , “ timing is everything .” For Karen Shank , a geospatial business development strategist at Ayres , this simple saying couldn ’ t be more accurate . With a prideful grin , she recounted the fortuitous tale of a cold call that changed the course of her career – and put the pedal to the floor on Ayres ’ North Carolina expansion efforts .
She and a colleague had been discussing the emergence of several mega projects around North Carolina , and they noted Ames Construction ’ s involvement in one of them . Little did they know that their seemingly routine conversation would trigger a pivotal moment for their team .
“ It was purely timing in this instance ,” Shank said . “ We made a phone call and asked if we could have lunch with them . We made that lunch date very quickly – within a week – and met up with the project manager on the site . It wasn ’ t but two days later I got a phone call from that gentleman asking if we could give them pricing on some staking and drone work . We did that , and the rest is history .”
14 | TRENDS Ingenuity , Integrity , and Intelligence .