Why EDOs Love SITE Selector

• 25 Feb 2020

In 2019, the SITE Selector team spoke with EDOs and partnership agencies to learn more about their current needs so that the SITE Selector tool could better support their mission of attracting and engaging investors. The mission critical knowledge imparted on the listening tour brought focus to development efforts and led to the creation of several new and exciting features. 

New Features, Real-Time Feedback, Equal Footing

SITE Selector provides a unique toolset that not only helps investor teams locate opportunities and analyze them against customer requirements, it also provides EDOs with valuable information about trends in Foreign Direct Investment and a concrete way to track and engage investors. Positive feedback from EDO clients has centered around three primary areas: visibility for non-metropolitan areas, relationship management, and cost. Efficient economic development is a critical component to national, state and regional health. Large metro areas and cities have more funds available to help EDOs promote sites and market to investors. The same is not true for rural areas or less notable regions. In the past, smaller EDOs have been forced to use creative methods to attract investors and demonstrate value and are still oftentimes overlooked by site selectors. Part of the power of SITE Selector is its ability to level the playing field. Selectors insert and rank their site requirements and the tool’s AI returns an unbiased list of available sites that will meet their needs. SITE Selector does not charge EDOs to list their sites nor does it enable paid promotion. This agnostic search process not only provides a powerful equalizer for smaller EDOs, it also creates a more accurate match for selection teams. 

Tracking and Engagement 

One of the tool’s immediate benefits for EDOs is the ability to track engagement through their customized dashboard. They can view who has shown interest in a site and communicate in real time with those who may have questions about an opportunity. Tracking is vital to a marketing team’s agility because it lets them know from views and interest what selection teams are and are not looking for. This powerful feedback will help EDOs evaluate their own marketing strategies and provide insight on how resources are best allocated to attract investment.  

Ratings

At the conclusion of each site selection project, both EDOs and corporate clients will have the opportunity to give each other feedback and a rating. With this feature, communities have the opportunity to boost their status while providing insight on the track record of the corporate clients they are pursuing. 

Elimination of Duplicate Effort 

From the dashboard, EDOs can see the status of every RFP submitted, open items and submission deadlines. Users can also see when their site was last reviewed. With the recent additions to the platform, EDOs can share uploaded sites with third parties, eliminating the need to duplicate effort each time an interested prospect is identified. 

It’s Free

EDOs are given free access to load and promote sites in their region. There is no cost to join the SITE Selector community. Not now. Not in the future. We understand that all too often EDOs are presented with useful “free” tools that are only temporarily free or have a base level that is free, with all the advanced feature offered at a platinum level. SITE Selector was designed to make the site selection process quick, easy and better suited to fulfill the needs of all stakeholders. In order to do this, we must have accurate data and the contributions of EDOs are vital to that accuracy. In this process, we help each other.

SITE Selector^TM to exhibit at the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) Leadership Summit next month. Led by Kroll’ Site Selection and Incentives Advisory practice leader, Greg Burkart, and Keith Hopkins, StageXchange’s CEO, SITE Selector^TM will showcase its digital marketplace at the Summit, taking place February 9-11, 2020 in Tampa, Florida.IEDC’s Leadership Summit is a unique gathering of senior-level and CEcD-certified economic developers. Experience peer networking and active discussions on the latest issues affecting economic development leaders. The 2020 IEDC Leadership Summit will engage leaders with new strategies and inspiration for creating a lasting and measurable social impact. By highlighting community examples within the conference programming along with the latest thinking from subject matter experts, this Summit will help reshape the core values and DNA of economic development practice going forward.

About SITE Selector ^TM:

SITE Selector ^TM is the premier marketplace where Economic Development Offices and growing companies look for mutually beneficial relationships. SITE Selector ^TM provides information, tools and workflow allowing both sides of the market to analyze, refine, select and negotiate for maximum impact and efficiency.