Good Will Hunting

What Next?

None of us have to be brain surgeons to figure out that the economy is declining bit by bit.  Every week brings news of higher unemployment and more business failures.  Main Streets across the country are seeing more vacancy signs than open signs ….Foreclosure, for sale, for rent, going out of business sale…signs of the times.

Optimists think we’ll be through the worst of this by year end.  Pessimists say it looks more like 2013.  I’m neither of those, I’m a realist. 

As a realist I don’t think time will bring us through anything, I think we have to steer our own paths through the economic downturn.  We have to take the wheel and set a course.

In the world of real estate and economic development we’re dependent on business growth to fill our buildings and create jobs for our communities.  There is little to no growth now, so what are we to do?  What are our next steps?

Change is happening all around us and it’s up to us to change and adapt with the times.  On the economic development front we have to work harder than ever to compete for the few investment projects out there.  We have to develop business plans and strategies that make us more relevant to today’s realities.

The circumstances and extent of our situation are just beginning to reveal themselves.  We’re trying to figure out what industries are relevant.  What was true yesterday isn’t today –what are the realities?  How are we going to adapt and move away from roles that aren’t relevant anymore to reposition our industry, our professions, and ourselves.   

In economic development we’ve typically acted as facilitators.  In this tough new world, we have to do more than facilitate, we have to find ways to attract businesses to our communities. 

This is an overused analogy, but we have to move away from being nurturers to hunters. 

To do that, we have to create assets in our community that will give business a reason for coming; we have to create the bait. 

Here are my thoughts on the steps you need to take to become a successful hunter:

1. Throw out your old plan;
2. Re-think how you think about ED and Business attraction (hunter vs. facilitator)
3. Confirm your community’s attributes –do a community SWOT analysis and know what you’re selling;
4. Keep track of your competition –know what they’re offering and what their propositions are…do a SWOT for them so you know their strengths and weaknesses;
5. Make business development calls on targeted industries and companies EVERY DAY;
6. Be aggressive;
7. Research, research, research –who is doing what, why are they doing it, and where are they doing it;
8. Take a sales training course – you are in sales;
9. Say hi to your local commercial real estate brokerage professionals and the site selection consultant industry – reconnect with your multipliers and intermediaries;
10. Talk to the industries already operating in your community.  Find out about their issues and help them address them –keep what you already have. 

Everything we do, it’s all about making money.  It’s all about margins.  We have to attract businesses with assets that make them more competitive and make them more money.  Simple…make them more profitable and they will come.  Work with your existing industries to overcome their issues and increase profits, and they will stay.   

So, when everyone asks what’s coming next, the answer is nothing.  Nothing is coming.  If you want something you have to get out there and get it.  You have to make yourself competitive, as an employee, as a business, as a city, region, or state.  No one is going to give you anything, you have to compete for everything.

I know it sounds cutthroat and somewhat dire, but these are the days we’re living in.  Things are dire and if your community wants to come out on top, you have to move away from positioning what you have to making what you have more attractive to perspective buyers.