Site Selection Consultant Cultivation
In most competitive markets, site selection consultants are involved in the majority of significant investment decisions. That means the relationship between an EDO and the consultant community isn't a nice-to-have — it's a core business development function. These projects represent sustained, strategic efforts to build those relationships through outreach programs, targeted communications, and consistent presence over time.
Virginia
In Virginia, site selection consultants are involved with at least 50% of all leads into the organization, and most of the larger projects. As such, it is critical that the organization have a good working relationship with them and that they are aware of Virginia’s assets, recent activity, and opportunities.
To cultivate these relationships, Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP), created a site consultant cultivation program. With strong collaboration from the Business Development team, the program was housed in the Marketing and Communications division from 2017-2023.
The organization pursued multiple tactics over this time period including:
Hosting consultant speed networking events
Sponsoring site consultant conferences in the Commonwealth
Unique direct mail outreach
Creating our own consultant events (see Team Virginia Consultant Events under the Events tab)
Ultimately, VEDP tracked more than 100 in-person top site selector engagements for each year of the program (exceeding goals).
Team Virginia:
2022 Consultant Symposiums
In 2022, as the United State emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic and people were excited to travel again, Virginia and VEDP found itself at the beginning of a new chapter. The Port of Virginia was in the midst of historic investments, the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program had success stories to tell, companies and communities were openly talking about the importance of DE&I, and there had been multiple notable business locations and expansions in the state. In addition, the Commonwealth had just elected a new governor, Glenn Youngkin, and VEDP was under new leadership.
To tell the story in a personal and intimate way, Team Virginia invited top site consultants to the Commonwealth for a one and a half day, one night experience we called Consultant Symposiums. Consultants were invited via an overnight mailed print piece that contained a personalized login to a password-protected website about the event.
The symposiums kicked off with receptions with Governor Youngkin, Virginia regional economic development leaders , and members of Team Virginia; and the first night ended with an intimate dinner with VEDP staff leadership. The programming included:
Introductions and Virginia Overview
Panel of Business Leaders discussing ESG in the Commonwealth
Update on the Port of Virginia
Tour of the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program’s Experience Center
Lunch with Guest Speaker
Feedback and Q&A Session with the Consultants
Overall, the Symposiums were very well received. The consultants liked the compact timeline and hearing from business leaders directly. Staff for VEDP benefitted from the feedback and ideas that the consultants shared in the Q&A and were able to take those suggestions to build into new strategic initiatives.
Partners: VEDP worked hand-in-hand with the Virginia Chamber (especially Karen Surmacewicz) to produce this event and several organizations supported the effort including the Greater Richmond Partnership, the Hampton Roads Alliance, the Fredericksburg Regional Alliance, the Central Virginia Partnership, the Port of Virginia.
Team Virginia:
2023 Consultants Forum
Building on the success of the Team Virginia Consultant Symposiums in 2022, we identified an opportunity to not just bring consultants to Virginia to experience the Commonwealth first-hand, but also to add value to the Virginia economic development community. Based on the model of Area Development’s popular consultant conferences, Team Virginia partnered with the Virginia Economic Developers Association (VEDA) to produce the Virginia Consultants Forum in May 2023.
Held at the new Virginia Beach Oceanfront Marriott, the Virginia Consultants Forum hosted 17 top site consultants for a two-night event with consultant presentations and networking. This event was important, because many local and regional economic developers do not have the budgets to travel to consultant conferences—bringing the consultants to Virginia at an affordable price point was a unique opportunity. More than 125 Virginia economic developers attended, which enabled them to hear first-hand from the consultants about timely issues in the industry, as well as a chance to get to know them and share information about their community.
Partners: The site consultants were recruited and managed by Dennis Shea and Matt Shea with Area Development . VEDP worked with VEDA (Connie Long) to produce this event, and was supported by the Virginia Chamber (especially Karen Surmacewicz). The Port of Virginia also hosted a pre-event tour for interested consultants.
Internal Team Members: The entire VEDP Marketing and Communications team worked on this effort including Jacquelyn Harris, Lisa Shope, Danni Neal, Tess King, Emily Eller, Danielle Del Vecchio, Suzanne Clark, Lauren Harper, Jessica Keegan, Chip Knighton, and Madison Reiley.
Speed Networking
Sponsorship of Major Events
One-Day Consultant FAM Tours
To foster relationships with top site consultants and Virginia economic developers, VEDP organized outbound ‘speed networking’ events in major cities (Dallas, New York, Chicago).
Held in two sessions on the same day, the event was structured so that each attending regional economic developer had 10-15 minutes with each attending site consultant to share information about their community and to glean insights that could be helpful in their business attraction efforts.
Virginia was host to several site consultant events from 2017-2023 including:
The Area Development Consultants Forum (twice)
The Site Selectors Guild One Day One Sector Conference
The Site Selectors Guild Fall Forum in 2022
Consultant Connect (multiple events)
VEDP secured Richmond as the host city for the 2022 Site Selectors Guild’s Fall Forum. On the evening before the conference.Team Virginia hosted a special event at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts with Bruce Hornsby for attending consultants and invited guests.
Many site selectors value the ability to get to know a community first-hand. Due to Virginia’s central, mid-Atlantic location, many consultants live and work within a 1.5-hour flight of the Commonwealth. This makes a single-day visit an attractive option for the consultants.
VEDP utilized the state plane to pick up consultants in the morning, worked with regional partners to execute a full itinerary throughout the day, and returned the consultants back home by dinner.
My role in these projects was to lead the program on behalf of the organization/Commonwealth. I had responsibility for meeting the goals, developing programming, tracking participation, and personally cultivating relationships.
Partners: Almost all of VEDP’s site consultant outreach activities were made available to regional economic development organizations for participation.
Key Internal Team Members: Vince Barnett, Kelly Spraker, Stephen Moret, Jason El Koubi, Mike Grundmann, and other members of the VEDP Marketing and Communications + Business Development teams.
Louisiana
From 2008 - 2015, as a part of the site selector outreach program, LED:
Conducted 120 one-on-one meetings with site consultants
Conducted 23 one-on-one conference calls with site consultants
Attended 15 events to specifically target site consultants
Conducted 29 outbound missions which also included site consultant meetings
Developed a ‘Top Influencer’ database with 237 top influencers in the inward investment/foreign direct investment industry
Developed a database of 621 international site consultants
Developed a database of 6,000 domestic site consultants and key commercial/industrial real estate intermediaries
Site Selectors Guild Annual Meeting
Another key consultant cultivation effort was recruiting the annual Site Selectors Guild to New Orleans. The Site Selectors Guild is an elite group of site consultants who meet regularly to share information amongst themselves and with economic development organizations. After the first Guild meeting in 2012, we quickly realized that this event could bring a lot of attention to the state if hosted in Louisiana.
LED, along with the state’s eight regional economic development organizations and three major utilities pitched to host the event in New Orleans in 2012. And won. Not only were we able to showcase the city, but the team created unique opportunities to reinforce Louisiana’s message of economic opportunity while capitalizing on our rich culture.
The traditional hotel conference space communicated the unique culture and advantages of Louisiana through strategically placed banners in the meeting space and social areas. The images were a mix of iconic images as well as business-related advantages that might not traditionally be associated with the state.
Because the Site Selectors Guild gave us a unique opportunity to interact directly with the consultants, Louisiana pitched a unique opening night party just for them. The invitations to the VIP event were signed, personalized copies of celebrity Chef John Besh's cookbook and he did a cooking demonstration for the attendees. The space included framed artwork about Louisiana project wins, and environmental signage highlighted Louisiana's improving business climate. The event was a huge success and has inspired other cities to host creative VIP events for the annual Guild conference.
My role in these projects was to make them happen—from pitch to execution. For outreach efforts, I coordinated the scheduling in partnership with our agency, developed the presentation content and attended meetings with the Secretary of Economic Development. My team developed the RFP response, cultivated the selection committee, worked seamlessly with the conference organizers, developed a logo and promotional materials for the meeting, hosted an exclusive VIP pre-party for the consultants and Louisiana stakeholders, rolled out the carpet for a memorable opening night event and made the meeting space come alive with Louisiana-themed banners that not only featured cultural icons but also business images.
Agency Partners: The PONT Group, Peter Mayer Advertising
Internal Team Members: Chelsea Harris, Jennifer Berthelot, Danielle Russo