Karen Meier

As Vice President for Lead Prospecting, Karen has more than 20 years of experience helping economic development organizations connect with companies globally that are considering expanding or relocating. She oversees a team of engagement professionals, project managers, and research analysts who evaluate clients’ needs, provide guidance on research to ensure targeted and up-to-date information is included with each campaign, and identify prospects that meet each client’s parameters of a qualified lead.

Karen has designed domestic and international new business and business retention campaigns for states, regional groups, cities, counties, and utilities that target industries ranging from traditional manufacturing to the latest in emerging technologies. With an aptitude for research, organization, and technology, Karen has been active in creating reports to track company and industry trends, as well as operating processes used by project managers to keep clients informed of their campaign progress and ensure the team has the proper infrastructure in place to pull together successful projects. 

Karen is passionate about identifying new and growing companies that would create unique opportunities for Camoin Associates’ clients and making sure that every campaign exceeds expectations. Whether a meeting is occurring in person, on the phone or by video, she continues to seek ways to improve the prospect identification process. Karen holds a bachelor’s degree in computer networking with a minor in business management from Strayer University.

Real Results

Prospect Reconnect | Mississippi Power Company, a utility HQ in Gulfport Mississippi | It is not unusual for economic development organizations and utilities with an active prospecting program to have a large database of suspects with an unresolved project status. While it’s easy to assume the project is dead or went to another area, in many cases simply reaching out again by phone can revive projects that have gone cold. For this project scope, the client identified a top-50 list of prior lead connections generated by Camoin Associates that had gone dormant since the initial call for follow up. Karen was lead project manager for this campaign that resulted in a 10% reconnect rate. 

In-Person Geographic Missions | Upstate South Carolina Alliance | For many economic developers, new business recruitment came to a complete halt for in-person meetings when COVID-19 hit. As the economy started to open back up, the Alliance was eager to see company prospects. As lead project manager, Karen worked with the client to analyze areas with prior success that had no travel restrictions and create a two- to  three-day schedule for in-person meetings in different geographies.

Site Location Consultant Trips | Grow Cedar Valley, IA | Karen has served as lead project manager on multiple appointment setting contracts in advance of trips taken by Grow Cedar Valley staff to key metro areas for the purpose of meeting with site location consultants. These meetings have led to several Requests for Information (RFI).

Multi-Service Marketing Strategy | Virginia Economic Development Partnership | Karen was lead project manager for a six-month contract with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) for a series of 12 marketing missions and trade show conferences. The Camoin Associates team identified 84 appointments that resulted in qualified face-to-face meetings for VEDP directors. Client satisfaction from the results of that contract led to a re-up for a year-long service agreement with Camoin Associates.

Cold Call Prospecting Bootcamp | Greenville ENC Alliance, NC | Karen was part of a team that held a virtual cold call prospect bootcamp covering best practices for how the Greenville, NC, region could best position the competitive assets of the area in a way that would influence key decision makers in select industry sectors. For this session, the team analyzed the current “elevator pitch” and worked with the class to craft improvements to optimize the potential of  prospect meetings.