The business visitation program
The core of BRE: scheduled visits to existing employers, the same short set of questions every time, and a system to follow up.
A business visitation program is a standing schedule of face-to-face visits to a community's existing employers. Staff or trained volunteers ask the same short set of questions at every visit, log the answers, and follow up on every request. It is the core activity of business retention and expansion (BRE), and the source of most of the other plays in this library.
What is a business visitation program?
Almost every BRE program starts here. Staff, or a trained team of volunteers, visit local employers on a schedule, ask the same questions each time, and write down what they hear. The visit is the relationship; the notes are the data.
The University of Minnesota Extension model runs it as a community project: 30 to 50 standardized interviews, a task force of 20 to 40 volunteers, and a leadership team of four or five people. Many Texas EDCs run a staff-driven version instead. Cedar Park EDC describes it as meeting businesses regularly at their facility to understand their needs, then using what it learns to promote local business and build resources.
Why does it work?
- You hear about expansions, succession problems and closures before they happen, while there is still time to help.
- The relationship is the asset. An owner who knows your name calls you first.
- The notes become the numbers your board sees: visits made, issues found, issues solved.
How do you start a business visitation program?
- Pick a list. Your largest employers plus a cross-section of Main Street. Twenty-five businesses is enough to start.
- Write ten questions and ask them the same way every time (see the survey play).
- Visit in pairs, at their place, for 45 minutes. Listen more than you talk.
- Log every visit the same day, in a spreadsheet or a CRM.
- Follow up on every ask within a week, and report visit counts to your board monthly.
Texas examples
- Cedar Park EDC: regular visits at the business's facility, with the findings turned into resources
- Bee Cave EDC's quarterly Business Roundtable: the group version, with breakfast, a speaker and city updates
What to watch out for
- A visit with no follow-up does damage. Only promise what you will do, then do it.
- Do not let it become a survey-only exercise. The conversation matters more than the form.
Pair it with: BRE in a Box, a free playbook that adds a Google scorecard to the visit so you walk in with something to hand the owner.
Questions directors ask
How many businesses should a visitation program start with?
Twenty-five is enough: your largest employers plus a cross-section of Main Street. The University of Minnesota Extension model runs 30 to 50 standardized interviews with a volunteer task force.
Who should do the visits?
Two people, at the business, for about 45 minutes. Staff can go alone, but a board member or chamber volunteer alongside signals that the community cares.
What do we do with what we hear?
Log it the same day, respond to every ask within a week, and report the counts (visits made, issues found, issues resolved) to the board every month.