BNE hires consultant to boost results
September 29, 2006
BNE hires consultant to boost results. Check it out:(Buffalo News, The (NY) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Sep. 28--Buffalo Niagara Enterprise has hired a New York-based global consulting firm to help develop a focused marketing campaign and drum up leads for economic development projects, the organization said Wednesday.
The region's privately funded marketing organization is paying a retainer of more than $140,000 to Development Counsellors International, a 46-year-old economic development advisory firm. That's 5 percent of BNE's budget.
Officials say the firm's job is to assess how companies in four selected industries view Western New York, to help Buffalo Niagara Enterprise promote the region to those industries, and to solicit new businesses to consider expanding or relocating to the area.
The 7-year-old organization on Tuesday released its annual report, touting 38 "wins" in its fiscal year that ended June 30. (See accompanying chart on Page B8.) Those wins resulted in $258.2 million in local investments, as well as the retention of 1,384 jobs and the creation of 2,052 jobs, officials claimed.
Buffalo Niagara Enterprise sought to portray its record as rivaling or even beating those of four fast-growing cities -- some of which have worked with DCI. But the consulting firm held off on its own praise Wednesday.
"We don't know yet whether there are improvements that can be made," said Chairman Ted M. Levine. "Part of our job is to be honest critics. I don't think we can say right now if these guys are doing a good job because we don't know."
Founded in 1960, DCI describes itself as the world's only economic development and tourism marketing consulting firm. It has worked for public- or private-sector clients in all 50 states, two U.S. territories, and more than two dozen foreign countries on six continents.
In all, it has 396 customers, including 41 state governments and 150 U.S. cities. It helped four other counties and several cities in New York state, and is now working in the Hudson Valley, Levine said. It's also helping National Grid Plc's U.S. subsidiary on an economic development marketing campaign for upstate New York.
DCI has a history with BNE, having helped develop its first general marketing plan more than five years ago in conjunction with advertising agency Eric Mower & Associates. This time, however, Levine said the work will be narrower in focus, stressing four industries selected by BNE: advanced manufacturing, back office service centers, life sciences and Canadian firms.
First, it will conduct a "perception analysis," to see how Western New York rates among U.S. and Canadian company executives and site selection consultants, when compared to other regions. The firm wants to know how these decision-makers perceive the region's strengths and weaknesses, and what impressions or misconceptions they may have.
Secondly, DCI will take BNE's strategic plan and find ways to market it, using its new slogan.
Finally, DCI will use computer modeling to identify companies in the targeted fields that may be ripe for expansion, based on their investments, employment, the location of their current sites, and recent executive changes. Then its Prospect Development Qualification (PDQ) group will call senior executives to assess their interest and set up meetings with BNE.
Levine said the service doesn't replace BNE's own efforts, but adds a new stream of leads. He said many development groups have tried just calling many companies in certain fields. But less than 10 percent of those companies are expanding at any given time, he said, so "the trick is to find them."
Also, it usually takes 10 to 15 calls to reach one of the top executives. So rather than waste BNE's staff time, the six-person PDQ group does it for them.
The PDQ feature is the consulting firm's fastest-growing service, with about 15 clients actively using it now and a total of 30 who have benefited, Levine said. With one of PDQ's first clients, DCI arranged 40 appointments, and 14 resulted in expansions or new facilities.
Still, DCI can't do it all. Levine recalled hearing a very negative comment about Buffalo from a taxi driver when he and his staff arrived. Instead, he said, it's critical for cab drivers and hotel desk attendants to be positive.
"It's not a good thing to have a taxi driver tell you the economy stinks," he said.
To see more of The Buffalo News, N.Y., or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.buffalonews.com.
Copyright (c) 2006, The Buffalo News, N.Y.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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Related Tags: economic development, niagara enterprise, buffalo niagara, development, Buffalo, buffalo
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