Here is how to start a business retention and expansion program, known as a BRE program: follow one loop and repeat it. The loop is build the business universe, gather data, score knowledge quality, detect changes, identify risks and opportunities, engage the business, create actions, follow through, record outcomes, refresh and repeat. This guide walks through each step and how BRE Pulse supports it.
The principle the whole method rests on: collecting business information is where most systems stop. Here it has to lead somewhere, to an organized response, accountable follow-through and evidence of results.
Build the business universe from lists you already have
Profiles are built from your licenses, assessment exports, chamber lists and spreadsheets, from business-submitted check-ins, staff notes and approved public sources. Records are matched on normalized name, address, parcel and phone, and ambiguous matches go to a person, never auto-merged. You do not need a perfect list to begin; you need the lists you already hold.
Decide what you need to know
Each business receives a Business Knowledge Score from 0 to 100 that answers three questions: how much do we actually know, how current is it, and how reliable is it? The weights are completeness 25%, freshness 25%, source confidence 15%, direct verification 20% and relationship depth 15%. The score lists the missing fields and the next information request, so the first visits go where your knowledge is thinnest.
Visit and check in
Ask a short set of questions, in person or through a check-in the business completes itself. See BRE survey questions for what to ask. Business-submitted and staff-verified facts carry high confidence, and each field has a review window: contacts and employment six months, plans 60 days, active issues and risks 14 to 30 days.
Confirm risks and growth with evidence
Deterministic rules read the latest facts and propose flags with evidence and a confidence. Red covers relocation, closure and serious unresolved permit or zoning problems. Yellow covers a lease ending, succession, contraction or a workforce need. Green covers expansion, hiring, capital investment and site search. Red and yellow flags are proposed until a named person confirms them.
Turn each into a case with an owner
A confirmed flag becomes a case in one click. Cases carry the business need, the government need, jobs and investment by stage, agencies, owners and due dates. Government commitments carry an owner and a due date, and overdue commitments are escalated. The rolling 30/60/90-day plan regenerates nightly from open flags, cases, gaps and commitments, and never duplicates an action.
Report results without one big project hiding the rest
Proposed, committed and completed investment are stored and reported separately and never combined. Jobs retained, projected and created are separate counts. Breadth outcomes such as businesses assisted, small businesses assisted, contacted, verified and issues resolved sit beside project outcomes. Read how to report results to your board.
Know where every fact came from
Every material fact stores its value, source, observed date, recorded date, confidence, verification status and who verified it. A differing value from a new source never silently overwrites a verified or equally confident fact; it becomes a conflict for a person to decide. Confidence follows the source: business-submitted and staff-verified facts are high, uploads medium, and self-added businesses low until verified.
Let businesses control what they share
A business chooses who may see its check-in: organization staff, a named project team, or the program administrator only. Consent to be contacted and consent to share in summary with partner agencies are separate and recorded. Sharing grants can expire and be revoked, and every grant is logged. Individual answers are never published.
Keep small businesses visible
There is no single priority score that always sends attention to the largest taxpayer. Retention risk, growth opportunity, support need, actionability, coverage and data confidence are kept as separate dimensions, and small-business coverage is reported on its own.
Refresh and repeat
Stale facts lower the Knowledge Score and are listed, so the next round of visits starts from what has aged. After onboarding, routine operation needs no intervention from BRE Pulse. To see the loop with sample data, see BRE in action, or read what BRE software is.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the first step in a business retention and expansion program?
- Build the business universe from lists you already have: licenses, assessment exports, chamber lists and spreadsheets, plus business-submitted check-ins and staff notes.
- How do you know which businesses to visit first?
- Each business has a Knowledge Score from 0 to 100 that lists the missing fields and the next information request, so visits go where your knowledge is thinnest.
- Who confirms a risk flag?
- A named person. Red and yellow flags are proposed with evidence until someone confirms them.
Related
See BRE Pulse working
Walk through a demonstration township with your own questions: the business records, a visit, the follow-up list and a board report.
