Looking for a new location for a company is like looking for a new home for a family. Some of the considerations are the same—is the new site or facility big enough for a growing company? Is the property the right price? How about the neighborhood? Where are the nearest highways and airports? Is there a school or pipeline nearby? Is the property in a flood plain?
These are the obvious factors that spring to mind when a company is looking for a new location. And then, in my 25 years in business development, I’ve found there are other features companies sometimes overlook in their search. Is the site in the right market, where the available workforce will meet their needs and where suppliers and customers are nearby? For example, if you are a tire manufacturer, you don’t want to have to ship big, heavy tires. Shipping the raw materials is more cost-effective than shipping the final product.
Is the site available for purchase? Does another company want the same site? Will the community welcome this kind of industry? Does this location have any drawbacks such as rights-of-way that are not obvious?
Companies cannot be expected to know or discover many of these factors on their own, especially if they do not have informed people walking them through the process. That’s where the insight and guidance of an experienced economic development team or site selection consultant can be invaluable.
A business development team like Entergy’s can provide the legwork and perspective to determine whether a site is actually in the right market for your company while protecting your company’s identity. We allow you to cover a larger area with fewer calls and emails because of our familiarity with incentives programs and real estate in our four-state area. We do the research you need and put it together to simplify your site evaluation.
As an energy company, we can provide more than just guidance on your electricity needs. Not only do we prepare customized energy rates and infrastructure plans, we can identify sites that wouldn’t be economically feasible for a company to pursue from an electrical infrastructure perspective. We also can supply estimates of the costs and time for construction of electricity infrastructure.
We are here to help, and before companies come to us, there are some things they should determine: type and size of building or site, general location needs; proximity to their suppliers, markets and competitors; their logistical concerns; facility needs; and, of course, a basic budget.
The entire relocation process is one of building relationships and working together. The Entergy team is willing to go the extra mile for a company, during the process and afterwards. With Entergy, the site search is just the beginning of a lifelong partnership.
Sam Richardson has been with Entergy Corporation for 34 years, serving in a variety of roles in Customer Service, Sales and Marketing. As Manager, Corporate Business Development, he promotes the Entergy service area in Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana to existing and potential new industrial customers.
