Agenda - Economic Development Authority - 07/12/2012

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ECONOMIC GARDENING I Edward Lowe Foundation pressing; and decisions become increasingly complex and no longer intuitive. In addition, reporting systems no longer provide good information, and founders feel they're no longer able to lead every aspect of the business. To help entrepreneurs resolve growing pains, economic -gardening organizations employ a variety of techniques. These fall into two broad categories: decision making and information. Making better decisions Entrepreneurs need help with strategy, identifying what they're good at and finding a sustainable competitive advantage. They also need to shift their leadership role as the company grows, build a strong management team, create a clear vision, and then communicate it consistently. This is where temperament tools can help. Understanding temperament (personality preferences, such as extroversion and introversion or how people process information), can help entrepreneurs recruit high-performance teams that balance their own inherent strengths and weaknesses. Being aware of temperament can also ensure employees are in positions that enable them to play to their strengths. Sophisticated information Economic -gardening specialists can also provide valuable information by using business -intelligence tools that smaller or younger companies either can't afford or don't know about. For example: • Sophisticated databases can identify market trends, potential partners or competitors and unknown resources often buried deep inside industry information. • Geographic information systems can track customer expenditures, psychographics and demographics and then create color -shaded, density maps that profile customers or show gaps in market coverage. • Search engine optimization tools can raise visibility in search engine results and increase traffic on websites. • Social media monitoring applications can track websites, blogs and online communities to see what people are saying about companies and products — and reveal important market influencers. "Yet it's important to note that these tools aren't a panacea to entrepreneurs' problems," Lange says. Businesses are biological entities, where there is constant flux due to employees, customers, markets and economic conditions, he explains. Applying mechanical rules (where the same process always yields the same output) won't work. Instead, economic - gardening specialists leverage these tools to find new ideas and approaches. "What's more, economic -gardening tools are constantly changing," Lange adds. "The ones generating today's breakthroughs will become either updated or outdated quickly." The tools and techniques described here highlight the "one-to-one" approach in economic gardening and set the stage for an ongoing relationship between a support organization and individual companies. Another important aspect of economic gardening is connectivity (a "one -to -many" approach), which uses peer -to -peer networks, recognition events, just -in -time workshops and discussion groups to attract growth entrepreneurs and serve their immediate, pressing needs. "Activities like these are critical to launching and maintaining an overall economic -gardening strategy," says Lange. "They nurture the culture and connectivity that is so important to growing regional economies." To karn more about the Edward Lowe Foundation, visit www.edwardlowe.org or call 800-232-5693. Working with entrebreneurs The need for speed 1-conomic-gardening specialists function much like an outsourced team of experts.Their goal is not to dictate or implement solutions, but to help CEOs identify issues that might be hindering growth — and point them to new tools, business concepts and information to make better decisions. "Economic gardening is about applying just -in -time, high -end expertise rather than counseling," says Steve Quello, founder of CEO Nexus in Winter Park, Fla., and an economic -gardening expert. "Entrepreneurs know more about their companies than anyone else. Give them a better view of the big picture, and they can make adjustments themselves." One challenge is getting up to speed with entrepreneurs. During initial meetings, considerable time is spent discussing an entrepreneur's background, company structure, goals and growth issues.Then, as economic -gardening specialists learn more about each company, they become more efficient at delivering actionable information. It's a back - and -forth, ongoing relationship. To gain trust and truly make a difference, economic -gardening organizations must act like the entrepreneurs they serve. "That means being nimble and nonbureaucratic," Quello explains. "Entrepreneurs need answers in hours or days, not weeks or months."