You've made the Retail Pitch. Now What?

Have you recently met with a specific retailer, restaurant or developer? Was the meeting decent but no "signed deal" yet? Follow-up is king. Without follow-up your prospect will soon forget you and the attributes of your community. This is the most difficult sales stage. Other looming priorities cause you to lose focus on the lead, and sometimes it’s just hard to continue to hear "no" or "not right now". So, how do you keep your community top of mind?

1. Get Organized! Establish a system where you enter all your business card leads, notes, follow-up dates and your conversations (phone and/or email). This can be as simple as an Excel spreadsheet or Word document. This sets the stage for staying on top of your leads and also allows for you to hand this off to other staff members focused on retail/recruitment and attraction.
2. Immediate Response. Everyone you met (either in one meeting or multiple meetings) needs follow-up. Even the professionals that told you they would never consider your community. You never know what can change in the course of time. Suggested follow-up ideas:
   1. Send a letter on city letterhead thanking the prospect for the meeting, providing your contact information.
   2. Within 2 days, send an email to include any testimonials you might have from existing regional/national businesses as to their success. For example, if the local Applebee’s has done exceedingly well, ask the manager to provide you a short quote about how their business has succeeded in your community. Be sure you give your location reminders (i.e. 1 hour north of Sioux Falls on Interstate 29).
   3. Pitch a story to your local newspaper about your community’s retail focus and suggest store managers to interview (prep your store managers in advance). Don’t get into specific conversations you might have had with prospect retailers – instead what you need is a story that you can use to have another reason to follow-up.
   4. If a newspaper story doesn’t work for your town, write a press release about the latest retailer to select your community. Build your story around your retail strengths – i.e. other retailers that have chosen your town, fastest permitting processes in the state, ability to find quality employees, etc.
   5. For the warm prospects, follow-up within a week via telephone. If you have the opportunity to visit their office or they are close to yours, make plans and set an appointment. Focus your time and attention on the low-hanging fruit. It only takes landing one to get the next one interested and build some synergy.
3. Plan Ahead. Warm prospects are going to continue to need to be reminded that you are out there. Retail attraction/recruitment is an ongoing program. Plan your monthly prospect touches at least 6 months out and then revisit the plan for the next 6 months. This could be in the form of an electronic retail newsletter that comes from your community followed by a phone call. Perhaps you are in an area that is centrally located and can plan a half-day event that showcases your available opportunities. Create a retail focused mailing piece that you send every month showcasing your demand for their concept. Whatever works for your community, continue to keep yourself and your community top of mind.
4. Stay Active. Continue to stay involved in regional ICSC events. International Council of Shopping Centers holds alliance programs and deal making events by region. Try and attend the regional events, plan to meet prospects and make appointments at the appropriate meetings.
5. Enlist help. Whether your help comes from a few good established local brokers and/or a staff member, add to your volunteer marketing troops and establish accountability so your team’s retail hat stays at the top of the heap. At Buxton, we frequently have clients asking us for more information to help them win the retail chase. Additionally, we talk with retailers on a daily basis. Enlist our help for role-playing your meetings/phone conversations.

View the June 2008 Buxton Report