VEDP SITE CONSULTANT OUTREACH

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).

Consultant Speed Networking

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.

Sponsorship of MAJOR Consultant Events

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.

Pictured here are the consultants attending the 2022 Site Selectors Guild Fall Forum with Virginia Governor and First Lady Youngkin.

ONE-DAY CONSULTANT FAMILIARIZATION TOURS

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.