- April 26, 2024
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JAXUSA official: Flagler County is lacking in existing buildings, a significant drawback to companies interested in relocating.
Of all the prospects that lead to companies landing in the Jacksonville region, 68% of the leads come from direct company contact. By comparison, just 6% of closed deals were generated by leads from Enterprise Florida.
Those numbers were highlighted in the presentation to the Flagler County Economic Opportunity Advisory Council Wednesday, Feb. 15, by Jerry Mallot, president of JAXUSA Partnership, a regional economic-development group.
Including Flagler, JAXUSA has seven county partners, 165 private-sector investors and a $2.7 million budget.
Mallot emphasized the importance of regional cooperation.
“When we do it separately, we all have to have our own marketing research,” he said. “It’s just a more efficient thing if we do it together.”
The key elements of the JAXUSA business plan include research (such as demographics, real estate and target industries), marketing, prospecting and recruiting, and closing deals.
“Companies want to know their access to labor,” Mallot said. “And we’ve identified 22 employment nodes through the region.”
Identifying nodes allows JAXUSA to tell prospects exactly what resources are available to them, leading them toward specific cities and counties of interest.
Then Mallot broke out the numbers. Of all the leads JAXUSA receives, 25% come from Enterprise Florida; 48% are from direct company contact; and site consultants contribute about 18%.
Of prospects that lead to closed deals, however, the numbers change. About 68% of closed leads come from direct contact with a company; 17% come from local referral; and only 6% come from Enterprise Florida.
Of all marketing elements, Mallot said, a county’s web page is the most efficient. But once a company is in contact with JAXUSA, they’re most interested in the workforce, real estate and business environment (i.e. taxation and incentives) of a specific area.
One aspect of attracting businesses that Flagler should try to improve, Mallot said, is its number of existing buildings for prospects to choose from. Building new is almost always more expensive than moving into an existing location, he added, so not having many to show to prospects stands as a “significant drawback.”
“For a long time, we had the least offerings and the highest prices,” EOAC Chairwoman Barbara Revels said, adding that changing that is what will draw more attention to the county, as well as being creative with available resources.
“Maybe if we offer a business low-cost incentives to rent — while they build — it might help,” she suggested.
After the presentation, the board toured Flagler’s agricultural resources. The board’s next, and last, tour session is tentatively scheduled for 1 p.m. Monday, Feb. 27. They will visit the Marineland Whitney Labs, the Flagler Technical Institute, the Palm Coast Business Assistance Center and the Flagler County Airport. The board could also tour Enterprise Florida in the future.
The next regular meeting is March 7, at the Government Services Building. It is scheduled to be Helga van Eckert’s first meeting with the board.
TOUR OF AGRICULTURE
Florida is ninth nationally in total agriculture with 47,500 farms, 300 different commodities and 9.2 million acres.
The state is No. 1 in citrus and value of fresh market. According to Agricultural Extension Agent Mark Warren’s presentation, the state is also No. 2 in strawberries, No. 4 in honey and No. 10 nationally in beef cattle.
In Flagler, the primary commodities, in order, are potatoes, cabbage, sod, beef cattle, silviculture and ornamentals.
