This summer, members of the Vertical IQ team are hitting the road for lots of fun adventures, and you’re invited — well, virtually at least! The Vertical IQ Summer Road Trip Blog Series will give you the 411 on all of the cool places our Vertical IQers are exploring … while also sharing ways to get the most out of Industry Intelligence. Here’s to making summer memories!
I’m excited to kick off our summer blog series and share some of the exciting details of my family’s recent trip to Oregon! My son, Wells, is a competitive high school runner who capped off a personal record (PR)-setting year at the NC 4A East Regionals, qualifying him for nationals. If you think this sounds like the perfect opportunity for a three-day family adventure, you’re right!
We flew from North Carolina to Portland, then drove to Eugene, home of the University of Oregon, for Wells to race in the Nike Outdoor Nationals. He was honored to join nearly 5,000 other top athletes nationwide who would compete for National and World Championship berths.
The two-hour drive from Portland south to Eugene is truly a feast for the eyes. In the distance, you can spot the iconic snow-capped Mount Hood and the Three Sisters Volcano. Amid the forested terrain, you also pass a cornucopia of farms and orchards.
While in Eugene, we were highly impressed by the university’s Hayward Field, a world-class track and field facility, where Wells and 84 other top runners competed in the Boys’ Emerging Elite Mile event. (It’s also where the US Olympic time trials are taking place now!) We were thrilled that Wells set another PR: His mile time was 4:18! Overall, he finished 24th out of 85 runners, and his PR currently has him in the top 20 for North Carolina high school outdoor rankings in the mile distance.
Tracking Eugene, Oregon’s economic stats
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Eugene’s strongest industry sectors over the past 12 months have been Health and Education, Government, and Retail. More specifically, among the industries with the largest percentage of employment growth in the area in recent years has been home healthcare services, which has grown by 29.92%, and nursing homes at 15.79%.
Based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages from Q4 of 2022, another vertical that has had sizable growth in the Eugene area is transportation-related companies. For example, taxi and limousine services have increased employment by a substantial 31.93%, while transit and ground passenger transport has grown by an impressive 22.85%.
SBA lending data also provides some interesting insights into the economic landscape within Eugene and, more broadly, Lane County. This data, compiled by Lumos, reveals that among the top recipients of SBA loans in the past two decades have been full-service restaurants (64 loans), dentist offices (36 loans), and hotels/motels (34 loans).
If you are considering a niche prospecting strategy, knowing which industries are growing (or shrinking) in a particular geographic area can be extremely insightful. The Local Economies section of Vertical IQ makes accessing this type of data simple.
Industry Intelligence gets you across the finish line first!
We had a fantastic — though too-quick — trip to Oregon. Aside from Wells’ race, we enjoyed exploring Eugene and Portland and taking in the beautiful scenery around us. Importantly, we also checked off lunch at In & Out Burger and partook of some Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers — a top priority for my youngest son, Emerson! It’s a trip none of us will soon forget!
And speaking of not forgetting… A great way to stay top-of-mind with your clients and prospects is to incorporate Industry Intelligence into your sales and marketing strategy!
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- Review the Industry Profile to prepare for a call or meeting quickly.
- Include the industry risks that keep business owners up at night in your presentation deck.
- Draw on the Call Prep Questions to focus your conversation and keep the business owner talking.
- Share the latest industry trends or benchmark data as a valuable leave-behind.
- Email a business owner the Quarterly Industry Update.
- Print off a timely industry news article and highlight some salient points to put in the mail with a personal note.
Whatever tactics you choose, sharing Vertical IQ’s relevant, timely industry data with business owners is a great way to consistently outperform your competition!
Want to learn more about how to build stronger relationships and sales through actionable, convenient, and focused Industry Intelligence that covers more than 97% of the US economy and Canada? Contact us today.