DUNCAN — The recruitment of companies to a community can be a very delicate situation. For both the community and the economic development team, there is a lot at stake. It really makes no difference how big the project is, but the fact that the prospective company has chosen your community over other communities is important. After all, there is a certain pride about being selected. At the same time, there is a planning process: mapping out the best route for travel, identifying what is important to the prospect; creating a strategy and making your community stand out from the competition.

While many individuals may not recognize the fact that economic development is competitive, it is very much like any sporting event. It is your team against the other teams. The only difference is there are no rules, and the game can change dramatically in the last few moments, weeks or months, depending on how long it takes to make a decision. A community can only offer what they can afford or what they would be willing to do for any of their existing companies. It’s really identifying your community assets: existing companies, location to market, workforce, land, transportation and incentives.

Many of you have been hearing rumblings about a large company looking at the possibility of coming to Duncan. At DAEDF, we call that “prospecting.” Others might refer to this as “kicking tires “or” window shopping”. Our organization submits Requests For Proposal (RFP’s) on a regular basis for those projects that make good sense. May was one of those situations where a project came to us from the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. The prospect was doing a search of seven states for this project. Like many communities in the state, we sent the information back to ODOC with a very good offer.

Within a few weeks, the prospect was asking for more information. This was a clear sign that Duncan had made the cut and was still in the running. Weeks later, we received a call that DAEDF had two weeks to prepare a formal 45 minute presentation to make the Duncan sales pitch in Houston. Once again, we had survived the agony of being cut. There were only 20 communities from the six or seven states asked to make the formal presentation. The prospect was trying to narrow the field down to 5 communities for visits.

Again, we made the cut. Representatives of the company and the site selection team made their way to Duncan for a 22-hour visit. They were impressed with every facet of our community. I say all of this because of the great partnerships in the community. Prior to the arrival of our prospect, many individuals and community and state partners of DAEDF worked diligently on making a perfect event happen. Members of the site selection team have complemented our community on how well we were organized. To this point, we are one of three communities the prospect is still looking at for a location.

Thanks to everyone who stepped up to help us during the process. That’s what makes Duncan and Oklahoma a great place to do business. Duncan managed to host this prospect in the most professional fashion without drawing too much attention. In some cases, too much attention can hurt the chances of winning the deal. In our case, we did not allow ourselves to get side tracked. It takes community partnerships working together for the common good to accomplish the goal of getting a community prepared to show. It is for this very reason that I always close with the same ending paragraph. We never know when prospects are looking at Duncan.

Make sure you play your part in keeping the community clean and vibrant so others may see what a wonderful place Duncan is and observe our quality of life. If you have questions, I can be contacted at the Duncan Area Economic Development Foundation office at 580-255-9675, or just send me an e-mail at lyle@ok-duncan.com. Visit our website at www.ok-duncan.com to let us know if you want to come home to Duncan and are looking for a job opportunity.



— Lyle Roggow is president of the Duncan Area Economic Development Foundation. He can be reached at 580-255-9675 or by e-mail at lyle@ok-duncan.com.