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"Economic Development Marketing Letter"
A Blane, Canada Ltd. Publication
Nationally Recognized Experts On Economic Development Marketing and Retention
August 2001, Volume 4, Issue e/8, ISBN 1527-5175 ~~~PANIC!... That was the way we started the day following our last e-mail ED Marketing Letter transmission. A virus was introduced as the newsletter went out. We had calls, e-mails, and faxes alerting us. For those of you who didn't know about it until too late, we send our apologies. Signs of a probable virus: a strange subject line, an attachment with the ending of ".exe", an unexpected attachment, or gobble-gook in strange looking letters and signs. Simply delete. DO NOT OPEN such communications. You're better off deleting a transmission if ever in question. We understand that http://www.nai.com is a good site for checking on the newest viruses. But your best defense is to install an anti-virus detector. ~~~Opportunity knocking... Stream International, a Canton, MA firm that operates tech-support lines (inbound call centers) for PC-makers is expanding this year according to Forbes magazine ("Second Coming," 7/23/01). Stream plans to build several 200-person call centers in small towns. If call centers are on your target list - happy hunting! ~~~Trends collide... A cooling economy will test the skills of ED professionals because of the convergence of four trends: During the recent "hot" economy, many EDO's 1. Increased their qualification criteria: higher dollar/job average, and/or specific type of business or jobs acceptable. 2. Reduced their marketing mix and marketing expenditures because of abundant prospect flows. 3. New community and business leadership took control, leaving communities with little or no down cycle experience. Now, 4. The number of prospects has tumbled everywhere. Result: Frustrated economic development marketers and confused leadership. Not a pretty picture. How can we help you get your marketing back on track? Call Eric 630.462.9222 ~~~Worth repeating... "I just finished your article titled: 'Locked in the Twilight Zone: Business Retention Fails the Strategic Value Test!' I want to commend you on raising an issue that greatly needs to be addressed in the economic development profession. I have worked with many ecodevo's who have expressed frustration with the poor results of the r/e interview program. Finally, someone has created an awareness of where the weaknesses are occurring and how those weaknesses can be addressed. "I especially like the following aspects of your article: 1) The fact that economic developers are not using the retention interview to gain true market intelligence. You are so right!! Most of the meetings I have seen merely confirm the obvious. It's no wonder so many development professionals wonder why their credibility is questioned in the community. "2) The encouragement of gathering "busy work" in a pre-interview phone conversation. Great idea! It is disappointing to see the expression of the CEO fall when you ask these basic questions. By getting this information completed before hand, the interviewer will be better prepared to ask the direct, pertinent questions and the CEO will leave the meeting feeling much better about the quality and caliber of the economic developer in the community. "3) Your emphasis on economic development and its value in being a comprehensive strategic information system. Economic development is a service business whose competitive strengths lie in accurate and detailed information delivered quickly and concisely. Your assistance with helping the profession becoming better attuned to this fact is one of the reasons that Blane, Canada Ltd. leads in the field of economic development consulting. Leave it to Blane, Canada to identify the critical issues in economic development, bring them to the profession's attention while offering a logical, functional solution to the issue." Source: Jim Mooney, CED, formerly NIPSCO Economic Development To read the full article http://www.blanecanada.com/frameset_locked.html Editor's Note: In 1996, when "Locked in the Twilight Zone" was researched and written, the concepts and structure proposed were untested. Today, after extensive research and development, more than 100 communities/regions/states are using a business retention tool built exclusively for economic development professionals on the principles described in this article and the follow-up article, "Rocketing Out of the Twilight Zone: Gaining Strategic Insights from Business detention." The software and NEW web-based tool is the Synchronist Business Information System(R). http://www.synchronist.com ~~~Sage advice... "What is interesting to me... is that many of the sales techniques and much of the proverbial "how to sell" knowledge has not really changed; the tools have changed. Because of technology, information is available quicker (whether by e-mail, telephone, or document), and presentations are flashier. However, the same steps in selling seem to be around: qualify the prospect, be sure the decision-maker is in the meeting, try to help the prospect solve a problem, & so on. The difference as I have gotten older is that, when I was young, I constantly reviewed my selling techniques to improve them. I am not now complacent, but it is harder to have the same degree of aggressiveness. I must work on it." Are you working hard enough on being aggressive? Source: Stew Bailenson, IL ~~~"Latte" towns... another interesting term coined by Richard Florida at Carnegie Mellon Univ. The term refers to: Austin, TX; Seattle, WA; and Boulder, CO. (youth, tech-oriented, and diverse positive life styles) ~~~Incentives: other views... "I do think a counter point on incentives is in line. Our community, Columbia, MO, has the lowest unemployment rate in the country, has a steady 1 1/2 to 2% annual population growth and obviously a strong local economy. We also have never provided a local incentive. We do use state training and the like. We do use IRBs but only with a full in-lieu-of tax payment if the authority owns the building. We do extend infrastructure as provided in our normal policies that is quite generous but not free. Not saying the no incentives policy works for every community, but I do think a reasonably successful program can be put in place without incentives." William Watkins A Canadian perspective... "The City of Toronto (as does every municipality in Ontario) falls within jurisprudence of a Provincial Statute entitled "The Municipal Act." Embedded in this act is a restriction on what is referred to as "bonusing." It says that any Ontario municipality cannot undertake any form of bonusing whatsoever and tax abatements are included in this metric. Therefore, Ontario cities, towns and villages would be breaking the law if they were to offer such incentives, regardless of the form they may take. Given the above, here follow some production numbers for the City of Toronto's economic development efforts for the year 2000, with absolutely no incentives available or delivered whatsoever: * Toronto's Economic Development Office registered 6,542 new businesses in the year 2000. * 73 companies invested over $269 million in their industrial and commercial properties. * Over 4.9 million-sq. ft. of industrial/commercial space was constructed, renovated or leased, generating over $6.7 million in additional municipal property taxes and a $225 million increase in the value of commercial/industry property. * 7,250 jobs were retained in Toronto by companies who might otherwise have relocated, and 5,100 new jobs were created by business expansions and or new investments. These new jobs increase Toronto's gross domestic product by $292 million. * None of the above includes Toronto's film business, in itself adding $1.322 Billion (yes - that's a B!) to Toronto's economy in the year 2000. This is across the domain of feature film, television movie, mini-series, television series and television specials and commercials production, both in-studio and on location. CGI digital effect, physical special effects and music video production added a further $6.7 million to yield an industry worth nearly $2 Billion to Toronto. The wrinkle in this ointment is the fact there are provincial and federal tax credits in place for the benefit of this type of activity. Another piece of the discussion which may or not have been introduced in your thread is the notion of firms remaining in situ for the life of the incentive. Once the incentive has run it's course, firms look elsewhere to capture whatever incentive(s) can be identified. What true, lasting impact has the offering of such incentives provided? Further, is it really Economic Development or in fact a discounting game somewhat akin any sales function? If so, how is share captured?" Peter Myall, Toronto ~~~"Click on your link... and start holding your breath. If you gasp for air before the page loads, it's too big/slow (this test doesn't work for scuba divers who can hold their breath for long periods of time)." Mistake #4: Just because a page loads quickly at work doesn't mean it will load quickly from a remote location... think and test your dial-up download speed. Vincent Flanders, author. See all 10 mistakes at his new web site: http://www.fixingyourwebsite.com/top10/intranet.html ~~~Worth noting..."Being creative is when you think about your thinking. Being innovative is when you act on your ideas." Act now! Time is wasting. Source: FastCompany Jan/Feb 2000 ~~~THANKS!... The lost art of appreciation. Business is business, but don't let the dealings end until you say "thank you!" Communication strives through positive interactions; your business will be more successful when you express appreciation to those with whom you work. Full article: http://www.potentialsmag.com/artarchive/july2001/backtalk.htm ~~~People... are not persuaded by what you say, but what they understand. Communicate clearly the first time.
Blane, Canada Ltd.
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