What Do Site Location Consultants Really Bring to the Table?

Why should a company hire a site consultant? What "value" do they really provide? Here is what a recent Bizsites article has to say in response to this question:

1. Help putting the right incentives together.
2. Provide a second opinion on the company's strategic thinking.
3. Help the company find the right "cultural fit."
4. Better crystal ball-gazing.
5. Know what the local situation is all about and how a company will fit.
6. See the bigger political picture and how to navigate in political waters.
7. Save the company time and money.
8. Technical know-how, including engineering expertise.
9. Breadth of experience in dealing with communities and states.
10. Help managing the life cycle of the project.

Obviously, certain of these factors will be more important than others in a specific site location project.

I would add one more, and that is the site location consultant can help the company build an effective internal team (within the company) to get the project accomplished in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

Many times "internal politics" and "turf battles" can slow a project or even kill it. There are cases where the project would have been pulled apart and died, if the site location consultant was not there helping people work together within the company.

Now you know the rest of the story.