In early November 2020, the Shenandoah Valley Partnership (SVP) team hosted the first non-virtual lead generation activity of the fiscal year. Along with our partners at the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, Port of Virginia, and Consultant Connect, we had a successful two days safely showing the Shenandoah Valley economic development assets to site selectors from outside the region.
While here, site selectors heard directly from some of the region’s top manufacturing, logistics and food and beverage plant managers; experienced some of our best transportation assets; learned about our collaborative workforce and higher education partners; and safely met with a variety of local, regional and state public and private-sector leaders.
Tour specifics included:
- Touring InterChange Cold Storage, the first building of its kind in the Shenandoah Valley in over 20 years that will serve the needs of the region’s growing food and beverage industries.
- Touring Dynamic Aviation, a provider of innovative special-mission aviation solutions worldwide. A leader in collaborative efforts among the business, education, and economic development communities to broaden awareness of high-demand, high-growth, high-wage careers, Dynamic Aviation sparked the creation of the Aviation Maintenance Technology Program at Blue Ridge Community College.
- Experiencing a driving tour of the Virginia Inland Port (VIP), the Shenandoah Valley’s link to world markets. The Port of Virginia is 220 miles closer to inland markets through the VIP’s containerized rail service that operates five days a week.
- Virtually touring Mercury Paper and virtually speaking with representatives from Cadence, Inc., DanoneWave and Regulus Group.
Hosting these types of visits allows SVP to enhance site selectors’ awareness of Shenandoah Valley economic development assets and unique quality of life. In turn, having our region top of mind will better inform and prepare them as they represent a multitude of current and future clients looking for new business locations.
Site location consultants (SLCs) assist companies in assessing the impacts of business location, expansion and consolidation decisions. SLCs also help with location and incentive negotiations once a location is determined. SLCs represent approximately half of all economic development leads and project activity, and are therefore a key audience for SVP’s business development efforts. SVP has hosted regional familiarization tours in the fall of 2016 and 2018 with separate groups of renowned SLCs.
We look forward to continuing a hybrid of safe in-person visits along with innovative virtual initiatives to continue our lead generation efforts this fiscal year.