Business Resource VII – The Business Retention and Expansion Questionnaire

 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.

 This is a link to the survey:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TV41anrklF0-ekxI1SC2niTwhYb6lO3Q/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=105727592661546387822&rtpof=true&sd=true

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.