Denton EDP Blog

Lead Tracking Stats

Posted: 04/05/2011
Karen Dickson

Since 2003, our office has tracked the number of leads and inquiries received by businesses interested in locating in Denton. The leads come from phone calls or emails from companies, real estate brokers, site location consultants, and from the Governor’s office of economic development & tourism. We also track the information by industry sector so we can see what industries are considering Denton. Distribution, manufacturing, and retail have consistently been the leading industry sectors in which we receive leads…until 2009.

From 2003 to 2006 we received a large number of office space leads. Interestingly, that number has dropped significantly to only a few leads received since 2007. The service-related industry has also been on a steady decline since 2006 with 20 service leads in 2006 to 4 in 2010. However, we’ve added three new industries sector categories to our list: Aviation, Energy, and Technology. We’ve never received leads from those industries prior to 2007 and in 2010 we received an average of 8 leads in each sector.

As 2010 closed, and given the state of the economy over the past couple of years, it has been interesting to look back at our prospect lead activity over the last 24 months as compared to previous years. In the eight-year historical data that’s been collected, 2008 was our highest number of leads received with 238 inquiries. 2009 was our lowest with only 79 inquiries/leads. That net loss of 159 leads was due primarily to the decreased leads in the retail industry. In 2008, we received 166 retail leads and in 2009 we received 19. In 2010, we received 1 retail lead. However, we saw an increase in manufacturing leads with 47 leads over 2008’s 18 leads. 2008 was also a big year in distribution facility leads with 15 leads followed by 8 leads in 2009 and 3 in 2010.

The largest percentage increase in leads received was in 2005 when leads increased a whopping 50%. That period of time was followed by double digit increases for the following two years. 2008 had a 4% increase in leads and 2009 had a very notable 62% decrease.

After studying the numbers, yes, they have been reflective of the economic trend. However, as we begin to see glimmers of hope that the economy is recovering, we hope to see an increase in leads in 2011 that will rival those of previous years.

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