March 2002, Volume: 5, Issue: e/3, ISBN 1527-5175

~~~"Wanted Criminals"... This Fed. Reserve Bank of Minneapolis' article addresses prisons as a growth strategy for small, often rural towns. How successful an ED strategy has it been? If interested, go to: http://www.minneapolisfed.org    "Fedgazette", by Douglas Clement, Jan. 2002 issue, Vol. 14 No. 1

~~~Counter point... here today and gone one small Illinois community faces an uncertain future because the prison is slated to be closed in a couple of years? It's only a growth industry when tax revenues are going up, right?

~~~Canada Wins! Canada Wins!... Sure, we celebrated the Olympic Gold Metal for Pairs Ice Skating or Men's Hockey, but what we're focused on now is not as well known. A new "Competitive Alternative Study" ranks Canada as the leading country for business cost competitiveness among the G-7 nations, Austria, and the Netherlands. Impressive for Canada. Look at KPMG's "Competitive Alternatives Study" at http://www.competitivealternatives.com/main.htm  Notice near the bottom of the page the reference to, "A sophisticated Comparative Costing Model..." The model covers more than just the national economies. See what you can learn about your own competitive position. And, hats off to our friends in Canada!

~~~Data loss... 6% theft, 6% virus, 22% disk failure, 19% other hardware failure, 30% human error, 14% software malfunction, 3% natural disaster. Are you prepared? We use the hard drive in an old computer as a storage device. It sits on the network allowing files to be transferred quickly. A simple program remembers to do daily what we had often put off. Source of data: http://www.buslink.com  / (supplier of backup storage devices)

~~~Refreshing... The Minnesota Department of Trade and Economic is actually asking its community clients their opinion of the DTED web site, how they currently use the site, as well as resources or tools they believe would be useful.

~~~"Act like a person of thought and think like a person of action." Henry Bergson, Philosopher, Source: Joe Reagan, KY

~~~Tap into other sources of research... Grubb & Ellis real estate specialists have compiled "2002 Global Real Estate Forecast".  The publication covers office, industrial, retail, and telecom market forecasts. At their web site, www.grubb-ellis.com, tap into more info provided by location of their offices nationwide.

~~~Tough times... for sales-driven organizations who depend on the economy to provide deal flow. With many months of a soft economy now behind them, many organizations are realizing, some for the first time, they never had a marketing plan. We're finishing up marketing projects in Dallas, part of the New Orleans metro area, and eastern North Dakota. Need help with your marketing? Call the best in the business... Blane, Canada Ltd. 630.462.9222

~~~Great practice... for serious marketers. "I am trying to identify any communities, states/regions, utilities or others who conduct surveys or interviews with businesses who have relocated out of their community/state/region or with a company who chose not to locate in their community/state/region, and get feedback for evaluative purposes."   Do you have any such sources (literature, information or contacts)?  Send to < info@blanecanada.com > Question from: Drew Conrad, IA

~~~#1 topic... We understand participants at the Leadership (CEcD) Summit in San Diego identified the top subject needing to be taught to the profession is BRE (business retention & expansion). We couldn't agree more. If you are on a conference planning committee, consider offering: "Business Retention Expansion Development: Adding Value to R&E Programs." This is an advanced course, not 101. Contact Eric at ecanada@blanecanada.com      If on the other hand, you are ready to take your R&E program to the next level, check out Synchronist Business Information System at http://www.synchronist.com

~~~Working knowledge... It takes three kinds of knowledge to work successfully in economic development sales. 1) Product knowledge. 2) Knowledge of the prospect's business. 3) Knowledge of how the prospect interprets value. In our experience, ED professionals have #1 nailed. #2 is usually good enough. Professionally, our collective challenge is #3, interpreting value from the prospect's perspective. Hence, questions early in the relationship should probe value, not just requirements. "Selling in an Economic Development Environment" Blane, Canada Ltd.'s custom course.

~~~MSMA Profile... Issued by the Federal Reserve Bank in Chicago, there are similar documents at Reserve branches across the U.S. Trying to profile your area? Check on-line for the Bank and its branches.

~~~Pointless Power... With presentation software, everything you need is at your fingertips - type styles, colors, even witty cartoons and sound effects. It's like alcohol in the hands of a drunk; moderation is difficult. Remember, less is more. The presenter's job is to CHANGE the listener. Slides without a strong presenter won't do that.

~~~Back up... Focus for a minute on just the home page. As a marketer, ask yourself, does the home page:

   Identify what business we are in?

   Specify services offered?

   Identify where and to whom these services are available?

   Offer a compelling competitive advantage?

   Highlight representative clients?

   Appropriately visualize the visitor(s)’ needs/interests?

   Provide separate tracks for different audiences?

Source: Blane, Canada Ltd.'s Web Rules!

~~~Economic development results... are inextricably tied to resources. For regional programs delivering results, i.e. attractions or expansions, is frequently complicated by inconsistent infrastructure. Yet, clients with weak infrastructure want the same results others get. The Griggs-Steele Empowerment Zone (Finley, ND) helps improve the opportunity for results in communities with limited infrastructure by providing informal grant writing support. This helps community leaders tap the many sources of money available to small communities. This is an extremely valuable service to small communities unfamiliar with grant sources or application processes.

~~~Struck a nerve... "One of our IT executives commented that businesses (mostly manufacturing) were 'technophobic,' unwilling to consider the advances IT can deliver." When this observation was shared with community leaders, their responses divided into two camps. Manufacturers consistently responded, "That guy's got his head in the sand."  IT people, on the other hand,  said companies don't take advantage of technology. Source: John Ramer, WI

~~~"Before 8:00 a.m... I sent out 50 e-mails with a quote on value added development from (Blane, Canada Ltd.'s) ED Marketing Letter. Our state's approach has been to give away land and stress low wages. Not much value added here. Your comment gives me leverage to open a substantive discussion within ED leadership here. Thanks." Source: Anon.

~~~Chris Gibbons, Littleton, CO, expert on economic gardening, shared the following Rocky Mountain News article: "Merrill Lynch is closing its massive Meridian operations center in Douglas County and moving more than 1,000 jobs to New Jersey and Florida by midyear. The move, driven by the end of America's go-go investing years, pulls the plug on what was described in 1994 as a potential 5,000-job, million-square-foot, $100 million project. A Merrill Lynch spokesman said... the 420,000 sq.ft. Meridian offices opened in 1997 could comfortably hold two times or more the number of people currently here."

A couple of Chris' observations: “First, Merrill Lynch was here five years. Good luck NJ and FL. Second, the announcement back then was 5,000 jobs, one million sq.ft. in eight buildings and $100 million investment. The actual was 1,000 jobs and 420,000 sq. ft. in two buildings (a lot of which is vacant). Granted, 1,000 jobs is a big number but perhaps a better accounting method would be [ jobs x years - jobs lost]... or some such."

~~~Message lost... every time a graphic is added to a page, attention shifts and impact is lost.  Make sure your message dominates by moving it into a position of prominence... or give it more space.

~~~To achieve greater results, don't settle for your quota. Success depends on aiming higher.

Blane, Canada Ltd.
1506 Cadet, Suite 100
Wheaton, IL 60187-7380
ph 630.462.9222
fax 630.462.9210

info@blanecanada.com