I started with the Prince William County Department of Economic Development in June of 2011. During my interview I was asked what I would do. I gave something along these lines:
“I would focus my attention on basic
industries with an employment range of 5-50 employees. These are the businesses that could benefit
from various programs in the County and Virginia and usually simply do not have
the time to find out what is available.
These are your job generators.
However, the first order of business is to schedule BRE calls with the
leading businesses in the County. We always need to know their challenges and
expansion potential. But the bulk of my
time will likely be sent on the businesses with an employment range of 5-50.”
I did exactly that. Among my first activities was to create a BRE
questionnaire. It is attached. It is very dry if you read it. However, in
eight years of using this and improved versions was I never finished it. As you can see, it is three pages and most of
the questions are open ended.
What are the goals/objectives of this
strategy? It is fourfold:
--Start a long-term conversation
-- Strive to be the first call a business
executive or his team makes when considering an expansion or an employee
reduction.
--Strive to be the individual the executive
or his team calls when they have questions or concerns about your jurisdiction.
--Develop a relationship with the business
executive and his team so your calls and emails are returned promptly.
The interview helps you learn what is
important to the team. This allows you
to customize unique opportunities to the executive and his team.
If this makes sense to you, be warned, the
responsibility on the BRE professional is significant. It encompasses this:
--Read business publications.
--Know the people who can help your client.
--Have a general idea of the federal, state,
and local resources available to the client.
--Have a general understanding of the
policies and practices of your jurisdiction.
How do you do this? Just review the six other
postings of previous resources. These
took years to build, manage, and keep updated. But it was well worth the
effort.
Until COVID, I was doing a variance of a BRE
interview for Development Services. I
scheduled brief meetings with small businesses who went through the County
permitting process. Generally, the
questions were open ended.
This is the last entry of the business
resource series. As you can see, I tried to develop several comprehensive
resources for businesses in Prince William County whether I am in Economic
Development or Development Services. And
I will continue doing so.
