Do you ever wonder why you lose, why you don’t hear back after a prospect visit?  Continuous Dialog has asked Prospect Decision-Makers and Site Consultants to tell us why good communities with experienced economic developers lose.

1. They need to qualify projects better.
2. They need to do everything ethically possible to win.  Many seem politely unresponsive.
3. They are not effective building a business case beyond the first presentation.
4. They struggle turning their community’s general statistics into prospect specific benefits.
5. They miss opportunities to create alternative solutions, needing to integrate research and sales effectiveness to compete against higher incentives.
6. Their team’s actions do not match their proactive strategies.
7. The local team loses credibility in front of the CEO and the Prospect's Top Decision-Makers.

Economic Development has changed.  Time frames are compressed, the internet is helping
and hurting local teams, competition is tougher, incentives are growing and world competition is
changing the market.  The old ways are no longer winning economic development projects.
Here are the real requirements to winning:

1. Learn the truth about what prospects and site consultants say about your community and then train your team to hit
   the mark.
2. Build the sales competence and confidence of your team to find, compete and close projects. Equip and empower your developers to be more than overworked tour guides. 
3. Know how to create and present a winning presentation that evolves and becomes more compelling at each stage of
   the prospect search.  If you present the same core presentation to each prospect, each time they visit, you are
   missing the boat.
4. Learn how to identify the prospect’s key drivers and link your community’s persuasive evidence.
5. Build your business acumen and financial understanding to create a winning business case.
6. Ask high integrity questions that the prospect will answer about the competition and their commitment to
   your community.
7. Increase closing success and business integrity by gaining agreement and closing every step of the way.
   

• Economic Development Closing Training and Workshop
  A preeminent economic development organization sponsors this training for local communities across multiple states.
  • 
    Team Selling Training
    A Fortune 500 company requested this custom training to clarify roles, expectations and build sales competence on complex sales where multiple sellers and buyers are involved.
• 
  Fundamentals of Sales Training and Video Role-Play
  Custom training for all new hires at a respected utility.
• Getting Past No, Getting to Yes
• The title of Carol’s Keynote Speech at an Industry Conference.
• Cold Calling and Qualifying, A Proactive Approach to Finding Ideal Prospects
• A large company that invests heavily in economic development requested this training.
• Proactive Economic Development Sales Success Training
• A progressive state Agency sponsored this training for their developers and utility partners to unify and develop the team and build project success.
• Economic Development Strategic Planning Interactive Workshop
• This large economic development organization needed to clarify goals and vision, brainstorm challenges and advantages, identify organization value, refine the organization's offering, and develop an implementation timetable with assigned tasks, dates and intended outcomes.
• Advanced Economic Development Skills and Hosting Best Practices
• A State organization sponsored this training for their developers and partners.
• Economic Development Win Loss Reality, Identifying the Prospect’s Perspective
• A community wanted to win more projects.  They needed to understand what consultants and prospects really think about the community’s offering following recent losses and past wins.