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| This section
summarizes how our services can benefit economic development organizations
(EDO's, also known as investment promotion agencies - IPA's).
Scroll down for an explanation of
the logic behind our business, and how it differs from
consultants who do "lead generation" or other marketing support
services.
We make it easy for executives and their advisors to find
thousands of useful resources worldwide in a consistent way to support their
investment interests.
We do the difficult "needle in a haystack" marketing work
to independently reach many potential investors personally, develop ongoing
working relationships, and then introduce relevant contacts according to
needs at any stage of their business development plans.
We know of no comparable service in the world.
We hope you will choose to participate. As more
areas and service providers participate, we will grow our professional team
to find and refer more projects.
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Highlights
: resources for executives and advisors
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Highlight your area by working together
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Our
Order Form lists
our standard services, fees
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Our
SICR work finds and refers major projects as an independent,
shared professional service
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The Order
Form summarizes our standard SICR pricing, but contact us for a specific
proposal
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What we do : refer to the
Introduction section Download an
article (.pdf)
summarizing what we do
We do independent relationship development work to reach top executives
who are responsible for major investment project decisions. We then provide
relevant referrals according to their interests and our global network of
contacts.
We introduce economic development professionals, service providers
(location consultants, corporate real estate, etc.), research resources, and
relevant contacts
so that executives can develop their investment interests faster and better
anywhere. We make it much easier for them to find what they need in this
niche market by organizing useful local market knowledge and contacts worldwide
in a consistent way. |
Who we are
- see also Biographic Profiles
Bruce
Donnelly, the founder of GDI Solutions, led the North American sales
work of the location consultants of PricewaterhouseCoopers for five years,
and did similar lead generation work for a successful British regional
development agency for five years before that.
Phil Eadon,
who is leading our expansion into Europe, was the Director of Marketing for
a successful British development agency for 15 years.
His innovative new service,
InterTech Global
Alliance, introduces senior technology executives for alliances such as
R&D collaboration, public sector technology transfer programs, and product
commercialization. This supports business retention and expansion as
well as the attraction of technology companies. |
Contact us as above to discuss your interests If you would like to
explore how we could work together to support your own investment promotion
or business retention and expansion interests, please call us to discuss it,
or send an e-mail and we can provide a specific proposal according to your
interests.
As more areas participate, our "store" capacity to find, qualify, and refer
many projects will grow rapidly. We are already proving it through actual
project referrals.
We already work closely with many top professional service providers in this
niche market.
We hope you will choose to participate soon in this innovative solution
to the common challenge of finding relevant project leads efficiently with
limited marketing resources. |
| Why did we
create GDI Solutions? We set up this business to transform the
inefficient marketing process which is still common to many professional
service providers and economic development organizations in this niche.
As a simple analogy, Coke and Pepsi fight it out for sales on the same
independent retailer shelves. Many other products are also sold efficiently
through that same distribution channel because it repeatedly attracts the
buyers they are all seeking.
That is much better than every supplier having their own truck drivers
knocking on doors to sell their products in the same "targeted"
neighborhoods.
It is viable to sell from the truck, but it isn't very efficient, nor likely
to be popular among "targets" who are not interested in buying the product
at that time or by such an approach. A few will open their doors, listen to
the sales pitch, and buy - but most won't. |
Traditional
marketing challenges in this niche The buyers in this niche market are
widely scattered, hard to identify, buy infrequently, and it is hard to get
their attention or direct response at any time.
Good sales can be made even while most of the market potential is really
being lost.
To continue the retail analogy at left, even a great "truck driver"
salesman, pushing one highly visible and attractive product well on an
exclusive basis, probably won't deliver the same value as a good store which
attracts and serves motivated buyers in many ways.
A well-designed "store" assists "buyers" with trusted, independent
advisors who understand the buyer's needs and are well-prepared through
their network of supplier relationships and market knowledge or research
capabilities to quickly introduce relevant service "products" and highlight
their benefits as an effective "point of sale" presentation. |
What can we do for you?
We deliver value by openly sharing practical knowledge and
contacts through working relationships with :
- Executives facing strategic choices about where
they will do business : where to establish, expand, move or restructure
operations, R&D, or alliances as markets or plans change
- Professionals representing areas which are highly
motivated to attract and retain companies
- Professional service providers for projects in
North America, Europe, Asia or worldwide
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| Driving
down the high marketing costs The above scenario
is how many professionals have been targeting executives until now.
Thousands of "suppliers" (area representatives and service providers) use
the same marketing tools and strategies to pick many of the same target
prospects and knock on their doors repeatedly, month after month, year after
year.
No matter how well one refines the selection of those "targets", or the
pitch to get in any door which opens as a chance to push the product, that
is still a very costly and inefficient process even though it does produce
some actual results - at a very high cost.
Some areas wait and hope that potential investors will find them through
their websites or network of contacts. Some invest heavily in
advertising and PR work, trade shows, or special hospitality events to raise
brand awareness, perceptions, and recall.
These are mostly response-oriented processes, like waiting
for buyers to see the truck and flag down the driver. Many buyers will never
see or remember the truck at the time when it might actually interest them.
Yes, it could happen, but probably not often enough to be a very
cost-efficient "prospecting" strategy. |
Not the usual "lead generation" consulting
The traditional one-time marketing projects of consultants
have been like hiring a very expensive truck driver to advise on the choice
of neighborhoods and doors to target, or to knock on those doors.
It is not surprising that this approach rarely produces
significantly better results than in-house work, and can be quite expensive.
If it did deliver high value efficiently, the same clients
would use such services repeatedly, year after year, rather than once or
twice until they soon decide to resume driving their own trucks again.
Given the one-time, exclusive nature of such projects,
each client is basically paying for all the costly time and expenses to
search quickly for active prospects, but this doesn't build ongoing
corporate relationships by independently serving the interests of investors. |
What is critical to marketing success for an area?
The key is the capability to actually deliver what is needed
to meet expectations once a potential investor has been introduced by
whatever means (response to enquiries or through proactive marketing
efforts) and is ready to act. The interests, motivation, and decision
process of that "buyer" need to be well understood. In short, what is
really critical to their project's success? Does the area truly offer
the "product" that is needed?
Whether an area's economic development marketing strategy
involves "cold call" telemarketing, advertising, direct mail, trade shows,
special promotional events, unsolicited networking contacts or other means,
including the targeting of influential professional advisors, the critical
performance issue for direct investment project sales isn't to be better at
targeting and opening doors or to be more visible in a targeted neighborhood
than the thousands of competing "truck drivers".
We focus on what each company is seeking, because that is
what drives successful project location decisions. This isn't about
advertising and PR work to raise the "brand" visibility, perceptions, and
recall. Our work is about introducing executives to solutions for
their needs. |
| The "store"
is open and attracting "buyers" now
In summary, we have created a unique distribution channel for
services to investors in this niche market.
We built this "store" through three years of preparatory
research and investment, reinforced by more than a decade of professional
experience in this niche. We will add top professionals to our team as
we grow.
We are already finding and referring very well-qualified
contacts for the next wave of investment projects.
That is our business. We personally introduce top
executives to the professionals who can address their current investment
interests anywhere in the world. By working together, we can address
your own promotional interests in this niche very efficiently. |
InterTech
2004 - Durham, Northern England The participants
at InterTech 2004 (October 11-12) will be involved in innovative
knowledge-based technologies and R&D programs, alliances, and
commercialization initiatives as well as business support services in
sectors such as
- Digital technology and media
- Biotechnology and Life Sciences
- Medical and Healthcare
- Nanotechnology, microsystems
- Photonics
Similar future events will be developed elsewhere in the
world through the InterTech Global Alliance. Contact us about how to
participate in 2004 or future events. |
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