Agenda - 06-01-1992 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Pyraniid lan to'�- The Herald -Sun October 21, 1991 4' aid county growth By BLAKE DICKINSON Chapel Hill bureau HILLSBOROUGH -- Local busi- ness people and Orange County Economic Development (EDC) officials working on a plan to attract new businesses say they don't have a name for their telephone venture. The team putting; together the effort to begin Nov. 6 has adopt- ed the name Network Tele- phone Marketing, EDC Director Ted Abernathy explained, "or how to get 100 warm clients for under $10,000." The idea behind the plan is simple, he said. People in Or- ange County come from all over and know people from where they moved. The county attracts retirees, business people and ed- ucators from a wide area. If each of these people called just one person or business they knew and talked to them about the county's attributes, a few of those contacts could turn into development -opportunities. Ab- ernathy said. Such a phone campaign wouid require clear lines of communication and getting in- formation about the county to interested clients and about the clients to the right people, EDC board member and Duke Power regional manager Richard "Stick" Williams said. That is why he is heading a 15- person steering committee to coor- dinate the campaign. Those people each contacted five first -tier team leaders, who in turn called five second -tier team members, he said. Those approximately 375 peo- ple are being asked to call about 500 businesses, or about one per person, Williams said. "We're not asking very much of anybody at this point." The callers then will report back to their team leaders about anybody who is inter- ested in learning more about Orange County, Williams said. Those leaders will, in turn, give those names and phone numbers to EDC members, he said. "We'll have them do the actual follow -up." The goal, Abernathy said, is to have many more- active .cli- ents. EDC currently has about 200 businesses and groups that have expressed interest in Orange County. Abernathy said they would to have an additional 200. The idea for such a plan came from observing pyramid busi- nesses, such as Amway and Nuskin, Williams said. "We've never heard of it with economic development." That kind of personal touch is more direct than advertising for ' businesses in area magazines. Abernathy said. "And, frankly, the cost of advertising is just too high." The campaign has $10,000 available to help defray long - distance toll charges, research costs and possible follow -up travel expenses, though costs aren't expected to , run that high, Williams said. Even if all the funding were used, it would be inexpensive, he said. "It's a very small in- vestment when you look at what the potential is. Rather than just trying to get new development in the county, callers and EDC members will be telling contacts about what is currently ready and available to them. Williams said. "First and foremost we want to fill i what vacant space we can in Orange County." Abernathy agreed. "We're not out to zone new spaces, but to fill up existing spaces in the county," he said. The campaign's success won't be measured simply by the number of new clients. Wil- liams said. "If we can get a fair amount of the population talking about economic development some people actually doing something about economic development — if we can get the business com- munity working together, then' we have accomplished a great deal," Williams said. This campaign also should show results inside the county's borders, Abernathy said. "We hope to educate the local busi- ness community about what is available locally. And it gives us a chance to get the business community working together." Orange County has much going for it, even in these reces- sionary times, said Williams, who came to the county a year ago. - "We just need to do a better job of making opportunities more available, to people of the middle- and lower- income brackets particularly," Williams said. "I'm hoping this will help us tap into that."