East Tenn. Hosts First Orange Carpet Tours
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| Adam Rujan of Plante Moran speaks to leaders of Fentress, Clay and Pickett Counties. |
Two rural Tennessee regions hosted veteran site selectors last week for the first round of the state’s inaugural Orange Carpet Tour program. The tours, patterned after the traditional economic development “red carpet tours” employed by many urban chambers of commerce, were announced at the Governor’s Conference on Economic and Community Development last September.
Representatives from Plante, Moran, a nationally-known business consulting firm, visited Morgan, Cumberland and Roane Counties on June 10 and 11 and Clay, Pickett and Fentress Counties in East Tennessee June 12 and 13 for the first two of five planned Orange Carpet Tours this summer.
The project involves a two-day, intensive site selection visit in which the communities organize a comprehensive tour and presentation for the consultants. Consultants evaluate the communities’ strengths and weaknesses and provide community leaders with direct feedback, including detailed information on potential improvement, especially in areas of highest interest to relocating companies.
“The regions should be applauded for their willingness to step up and go through this process,” said Matt Kisber, commissioner, Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. “These Orange Carpet Tours offer a tremendous opportunity, but they require hard work and regional cooperation. The consultants’ recommendations are an invaluable tool communities can use to make themselves more competitive.”
The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development will work with local leaders at the conclusion of the tours to assist them in implementing strategic recommendations based on the feedback.
The tours are part of Governor Bredesen’s Rural Opportunity Initiative, a three-prong approach to increase economic development efforts in the state’s more rural areas. In addition to the tours, it includes an enhanced series of tax incentives for companies investing in rural Tennessee and the Rural Opportunity Fund, a new source of capital available to rural Tennessee businesses.
Destination Retail Seminar Earns High Praise
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| Schallert delivers his seminar in Fayetteville, Tenn. |
Independent retailers from across the state are praising the destination retail strategies and tools they learned in the BERO and Tennessee Main Street sponsored "Destination Retail" seminars. Led by nationally recognized destination retail consultant, Jon Schallert, independent retailers learned strategies to differentiate themselves, attract customers outside their local area and reinvent themselves as a Destination Business.
Art gallery owner James-Ben Stockton called the seminar "dynamite." Stockton owns the James-Ben Art Center in Greeneville.
"(Jon Schallert) is very informative, extremely dynamic and willing to give complete information about the business strategies he has spent 20+ years developing," Stockton writes. "No matter how difficult you find attending his presentation, the workshop is worth every iota of effort, energy and expense. I went so far as to close the gallery the entire day of his workshop and learned to re-invent our gallery as a Business Destination."
Read more of Stockton's comments on his blog.
Schallert's seminars took place this month in Kingsport, Fayetteville and Dyersburg. Learn more about Schallert and subscribe to his free newsletter for business owners here.
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