Jack Allston

This is a first in a series of articles designed to help American economic developers know more about Canada and to assist Canadian economic developers understand the different aspects about talking to American companies. The articles are based on personal experiences and data taken from Statistics Canada. I have also taken a few excerpts from articles written in 1993 for the old American Economic Development Council Economic Development Journal special edition on Canada. I am also taking information from Business Facilities magazine on a frequent basis. I travel to Canada frequently and have done consulting work there very frequently from 1996-2003, so many of the quotes are very recent.

The series is not written to benefit one country or the other but rather to bring the economic development groups closer together because one company’s success in both nations benefits both them.

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The Ins and Outs of Teledevelopment or Lead Generation in Economic Development

You are brand new on your economic development job in a mid-sized American community. The goals of your organization include generating 500 new jobs per year. Your existing industry program is successful but board members want you to go out and attract new industry to the community. You are experienced enough to know that it is extremely difficult for you to see companies as a community because you don’t have the name recognition that the region or the state has in larger communities.

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