8 ways to ignite your town's business prospecting

At the end of the day prospecting for new businesses is like dating. You have to know who's a good match for you and do what it takes to meet and attract them. Put these 8 points into action to increase your exposure and attractiveness:

1. Get yourself in shape – Make sure that public spaces are clean, tidy, and landscaped, and encourage businesses to give their space a facelift.
   Analogy: People who are dating tend to put their best foot forward.
2. Be authentic – Communities pretending to be someone they're not are setting themselves up for heartache; even if you land the deal, if you can't follow through on promises you'll lose it in the long run and at that point you've invested a lot.
   Analogy: Don't fake it just to impress your date. Sooner or later you'll be found out.
3. Turn a weakness into a strength – Think about the adage "one man's trash is another man's treasure." The very thing that makes a location wrong for one company makes it just right for another. For example, some companies who deal in data storage prefer rural locations for privacy and security.
   Analogy: There's someone for everyone.
4. Make yourself visible – Develop a mobile friendly website (even more important now with Google's recent update!), create new content regularly to help SEO, get social to share what's happening, help get your businesses on social sites like yelp - these are just a few of the things you can do to increase your visibility.
   
   Analogy: How are you going to meet someone if you're a hermit who never interacts with others?
5. Support existing businesses – When researching locations, businesses look at the existing business community to help determine if their employees will be happy living there and also to see how you treat existing businesses. Communities who have a strong, healthy relationship with their business community will automatically be more attractive to other businesses.
   Analogy: If they'll do it with you, they'll do it to you. Someone who treats their mate poorly would also be a poor mate to you.
6. Go where they go – Tradeshows, online forums, commenting on blog posts, professional associations. Find out where your best prospects frequent, and make it a point to be there.
   
   Analogy: If you're a bookworm who likes quiet evenings at home don't expect to meet your match at a night club.
7. Consider your existing businesses' supply chain – Maybe there's a supplier who could benefit by being closer their customers.
   
   Analogy: Getting a friend to set you up on a date.
8. Determine a missing business type and target prospects directly - Is there a real need in your community for a specific type of business? If so, seek out existing businesses for expansion or entrepreneurs who may be interested in starting the business. Even better if you have the data to prove the business case to those prospects.
   
   Analogy: You see someone who has the qualities you're looking for, start a conversation, and ask them out. Go for it!