Eileen Pickett, Senior Vice President of Community and Economic Development for Greater Louisville Inc. offers unique insight into business attraction.
Sometimes when I talk about what's involved in attracting a new business to Louisville, I admittedly over-simplify by saying that first and foremost...business attraction is about 'getting on the list'. What I mean by that is when a company is faced with either a problem or an opportunity (it's always one of the two) which is prompting it to consider an additional location or a relocation, someone has to develop an initial list of possible locations. If Louisville is not on that initial list, then we never get a chance to compete in what becomes a process of elimination until ultimately the last city standing wins the new business.
So while that scenario is an over-simplification of the business attraction process, it does illustrate how important it is for those making site selection decisions and recommendations to know about Louisville's strengths and assets...enough so that when an opportunity arises we 'get on the list' and have the opportunity to compete. To that end, last week Mayor Greg Fischer, Daryl Snyder and I were in New York City telling the Louisville story to key influencers along two parallel tracks. We met with writers and editors of national media focused on business and the economy. And we met with site selection consultants whose job it is to help companies make new business location decisions.
Our consistent messages were:
- Louisville is the world leader in Lifelong Wellness & Aging Care
- We have a renewing manufacturing sector lead by Ford and GE, with an opportunity for growth in the supply chain
- Our logistics and supply chain capabilities are unsurpassed
- The quality of life found here is unmatched - restaurants, arts, parks, cost of living, etc.
So we told those stories to the New York Times, The Economist, CNNMoney, Bloomberg and others. We met with half a dozen of the top site selection consultants in the country and walked them through the Louisville value proposition for business. And we asked them to put us 'on the list'.
If we - and that's the big 'we'...everyone interested in Louisville's growth and success - continue to tell the Louisville story in a consistent and compelling way, we'll not just be on the list we'll be at the very top.
The segment highlights Louisville's growing aging care and wellness sector and the industry leaders headquartered there. The interview also touches on the strength of other industries like logistics and manufacturing. Mayor Fischer discusses the city's job market and job creation strategies, emphasizing recent wins like GE's decision to bring 1,000 jobs to the region.