There is a fine line between perception and reality.
In fact, quite often we buy based upon perception. That’s what marketing and sales are all about: creating a perception in the minds potential “buyers” that your product will meet their needs or solve their problem better than any of the other alternatives.
Yet, much of perception is based upon reality, particularly the longer a product has been in the marketplace. As more consumers try out a product, we are able to measure the quality of that product in both tangible (i.e., sales figures) and intangible (i.e., testimonials) ways.
Eventually, perception and reality become indistinguishable, at least in theory.
The same is true in the marketplace of business attraction and retention. Cities have long competed against each other in this arena, trying to persuade growing companies to locate their new distribution center (or manufacturing facility or back office operation) in their particular metro area.
As part of their due diligence process, these companies will gather a tremendous amount of statistical data in hundreds (if not thousands) of areas -- everything from labor quality and quantity to business climate, taxes and quality of life to transportation infrastructure -- in order to come up with locations that best meet their needs. Ideally, that process should come up with 10 to 15 locations, which the company will, in turn, whittle down to a final “short list” of two to five locations, each of which would satisfactorily meet the company’s requirements.
This is where perception comes in. Once you’ve narrowed your choice down to a couple of satisfactory possibilities, you need to pick the best option. Do you go with a Ford or a Chevy? A Dell or a Compaq? Colgate or Crest? Dallas or Houston?
Sometimes you can decide based upon personal experience. You’ve owned a Ford (or a Chevy) for the past 20 years and are pleased with the performance and reliability. You’ve brushed your teeth with Crest (or Colgate) since you were a child and have never had any cavities.
Sometimes you have no personal experience to help you. That’s usually the case in a business expansion. Chances are you’ve never operated a distribution facility in Memphis, or a manufacturing facility in Jacksonville, or a back office operation in Omaha.
That’s when it’s a good idea to talk to someone else who has done those things. How do you like it? What problems did you encounter? If you could do it over, would you still make the same decision?
That’s the premise behind our annual poll of professional site selectors -- to try to quantify what is essentially an intangible: perception. Helping their clients (both Fortune 1000 as well as smaller companies) find the best geographical location for a specific business application (manufacturing, distribution, call center, etc.) is what these folks do for a living. Most of them have been doing it for more than 20 years. Some have been doing it for more than 40 years.
In the end, what we’re trying to do is tap into their gut. After all, that’s exactly what you will be doing when you make your final location decision: going by what your gut tells you.
