Invasion of the business snatchers.

They used to just visit once in a while, but development officials from other states are now opening full-time offices in California. Modern technology makes it a cheap way to keep in touch with prospects

Two days before this issue went to press, Kirk Folkner was setting up a permanent Los Angeles office where he will represent a consortium of 30 Texas communities and economic development groups trolling for California companies.

Meanwhile, Bret Weber of Iowa was already working out of his new office in Seal Beach. Mark White was en route from Phoenix to the Greater Phoenix Economic Council's office in Century City, and Richard Roderick had a full day of appointments as the permanent California representative for the Kansas Department of Commerce.

These permanent offices are a relatively new phenomenon for out-of-state development groups, most of which have traditionally relied on recruitment trips to visit relocation and expansion prospects. But as competition intensifies and the time seems ripe for contacting California companies, more states are turning to a permanent presence here to recruit businesses and guide them through relocation or expansion procedures.

According to Michael Bourn, executive director of the Amarillo Economic Development Corp., the full-time offices are a response to the latest wave of interest in recruiting California companies. Bourn, a 20-year veteran of the economic development industry, says he remembers at least three other times when out-of-state groups concentrated on the Golden State.

A bigger wave

But he says this latest wave of interest from out-of-state recruiters is the most sustained and intense, which may explain why more groups are turning to permanent offices.

Bourn said Folkner will be a one-man office, working out of an apartment supplied by the High Ground of Texas Consortium and linked to the home office by phone, fax, computer modem and other new telecommunications devices that make such an arrangement more practical than it might have been a few years ago. It's also less expensive than staffing a full office, which Bourn said isn't necessary anyway.

"An economic development representative spends most of his time in the field. He doesn't need a big office to meet clients," Bourn said.

Bret Weber agrees. He works out of a combination apartment and office in Seal Beach, where he represents the Iowa Department of Economic Development.

Weber, a native of Des Moines, opened the office in mid-January. He said he has been visiting for a week or two several times a year for about eight years before the department decided recently to try the permanent office.

Weber believes he makes a better representative for Iowa because he was born and raised there, giving him a built-in credibility as someone who knows the state and also believes in it.

Kansas office

Roderick, whose apartment-based office near Torrance is the Western Regional Office of the Kansas Department of Commerce, also believes his Kansas roots are important. He has been in California six years, formerly as a broker with the CB Commercial real estate group, and plans to move back to Kansas some day.

"I essentially am a hired gun for anybody in the state of Kansas who is coming out here and looking for companies to recruit," he said.

Roderick said he was recruited by the Kansas development group after Gov. Joan Finney recommended a permanent office be opened. He opened the office about six months ago and says he has a full schedule of meetings with prospective relocation and expansion candidates. He said he has signed two deals in that time, one with a South Bay manufacturer and one with a company in Northern California -- both of which employ between 50 and 100 workers -- but neither relocation has been announced publicly.

Roderick said he has open files on more than 150 companies interested in either relocating or expanding outside of California. In some cases he's the only out-of-state representative they're talking to, but in other cases, he said, "You see seven or eight letterheads from other states when you go to somebody's office."

Focus on expansion

More of the companies he talks to are interested in expanding to the Midwest rather than relocating all of their operations outside of California, Roderick said.

Usually, their goal is to serve markets in the Midwest or the East, he said.

Roderick and Weber say there is no long-established blueprint for doing their jobs because permanent offices in California are a new concept for most states. One of the longest-established offices is operated by the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, which maintains a Century City office that it operates jointly with Arizona State University.

Ioanna Morfessis, president and chief executive officer of the council, said the short distance between Arizona and California enables the council's California representative, Mark White, to spend about three days a week in California and two in Arizona.

Other nearby states, however, don't see the need for a full-time California representative. Dennis Stein, president and chief executive officer of the Nevada Development Authority, said it doesn't maintain a permanent office or a live-in representative in California because the states border each other and travel between the two is cheap and convenient.

"We can get on a plane and be there in an hour," he said.

For those who can't hop a quick flight and don't want to move a staff member to California, one option is to establish a relationship with a relocation consulting firm. One such company is Paragon Decision Resources Inc., based in the Orange County city of Irvine.

Jim Renzas, executive vice president of Paragon, says economic development officials would be well-advised to stay in touch with companies like his because Paragon specializes in helping businesses find the right places for relocations and expansions.

Renzas contends that placing someone in a full-time California office is too expensive, but others dispute that, saying the cost of an apartment/office stacks up very well against the tally for travel and expenses or the fees charged by consultants.

Weber says one reason he's here, in fact, is that Iowa is trying to determine which is the best and most cost-effective way to represent itself in California. He said his office is a pilot project to determine the practicality of a permanent California office.

"Everybody seems to be doing it differently right now," he said. "What it boils down to is that we're all trying to figure out the best way to approach companies in California."