Resource rangers: How four Colorado communities use better econ dev tools to do more with less

Economic development teams are often small, under-resourced, and competing with higher-profile departments for attention and funding. Yet they’re expected to:

• Track business relationships

• Run BR&E programs

• Support workforce initiatives

• Launch shop local campaigns

• Prove ROI to elected officials

Four Colorado communities—Frederick, Arvada, Larimer County, and Englewood—show how the right econ dev tools and habits can turn “we’re stretched thin” into measurable impact.

Why the right econ dev tools matter

For these teams, “tools” doesn’t mean shiny software for its own sake. It means:

• Knowing who you’ve talked to, about what, and with what outcome

• Having a single source of truth for businesses, contacts, projects, and programs

• Being able to prove results with data, not just anecdotes

That’s where a purpose-built CRM, simple project tracking, and modern shop local tools come in.

As you’ll see, a few shifts—away from spreadsheets and generic systems, toward an economic development CRM and cashback rewards—have changed how these teams work, what they can measure, and how convincingly they can defend their budgets.

From spreadsheets and “dinosaur” CRMs to purpose-built BR&E systems

Town of Frederick, CO – from one-person show to defensible data

When Max Daffron, Economic Development Manager for the Town of Frederick, started three and a half years ago, there were:

• No systems, no programs

• Just Max, a tablet, and Excel spreadsheets

He was taking notes during BR&E visits on his Remarkable tablet, then copying everything into spreadsheets. It was slow, manual, and made it nearly impossible to answer questions like:

• “How many times have we contacted this business?”

• “Did we invite them to that roundtable?”

After implementing Bludot’s CRM, Frederick can now:

• Log every interaction (visits, emails, calls, events)

• Export reports on who was contacted and when

• Handle “we weren’t included” complaints with facts

In a small community, that matters. When a politically connected business claims they’re left out, Max can show a complete history of invitations and touchpoints—crucial when the “squeaky wheel” is also your mayor’s hairdresser.

Key outcome: BR&E is no longer just relationship work; it’s auditable, defensible relationship work.

City of Arvada, CO – going beyond “number of visits”

The Arvada Economic Development Association (AEDA)—a team of three plus a fractional marketing role—used Salesforce for years. It tracked basic metrics like:

• Number of business visits

• Number of referrals

But it was hard to adapt, expensive to manage, and didn’t reflect what they actually talked about with businesses.

After moving to Bludot, Economic Development Specialist Sarah Miley’s team started:

• Using tags to track the substance of conversations (e.g., access to capital)

• Aligning those tags with their business survey results

For example, when their survey showed that access to capital was the top concern, they could then:

• Tag meetings where they discussed capital resources

• Report how many businesses they’d directed to specific funding partners

• Connect survey insights to real follow-through, not just “we heard you”

AEDA still uses spreadsheets and other tools in some areas (and Sarah recommends Airtable as a good free option if you need something quickly), but for BR&E they now have a purpose-built system that matches how they work.

Key outcome: Reporting shifted from “we did X visits” to “we helped X businesses with Y specific needs.”

Larimer County, CO – connecting econ dev and workforce development

Larimer County has a unique structure: Economic Development and Workforce Development are combined into a single team.

Janine Ledingham, Associate Director, needed a way to:

• Track referrals between companies and workforce programs

• Measure activity in sector partnerships

• Manage internships and apprenticeships at scale

With Bludot, Larimer County:

• Built custom tags and activity logs to track:

  • Who a company was referred to

  • What workforce/program connection was made

  • What ultimately happened

• Uses the system to project-manage internships and apprenticeships, including:

  • Candidate–employer matching

  • Program requirements

  • Payroll coordination for placements they administer

In 2024 alone, with roughly 1.5 staff focused on it, the team:

• Placed 205 internships

• Coordinated 119 apprenticeships

Key outcome: What would normally feel like “soft” partnership work is now tractable, measurable, and scalable with very limited staff.

Selling leadership on a CRM (and why cost structure matters)

Across the board, cost and justification were central.

• In a previous role in Adams County, Max used Salesforce at ~$80,000 per year.

• In Frederick, a fit-for-purpose CRM costs a few thousand dollars, scaled by community size.

For small communities, that delta made the pitch straightforward:

• Import and enrich business-license data

• Identify businesses lacking required licenses

• Track all contact and outreach by staff

• Do it for a fraction of what a generic enterprise CRM costs

Arvada had a similar experience—lower licensing cost, plus the ability to change fields, tags, and structures without hiring a Salesforce admin or waiting on internal IT.

Practical takeaway: When you’re making the case for a CRM, frame it for elected officials and executives in terms of cost avoidance versus Salesforce/Hubspot custom builds, compliance and revenue, and evidence and defensibility when controversies arise

Shop local, quantified: Englewood’s rewards program

City of Englewood Economic Development Manager, Will Slate, oversees a lean team—with an overall economic development budget of around $145,000. To support local businesses and create a visible win, they launched a cashback-style rewards program using Open Rewards.

How it works for residents:

• Residents shop at eligible local businesses (restaurants, retailers, etc.).

• They either:

  • Upload a receipt, or

  • Link their card in the app

• They earn points (cashback) they can redeem at other participating businesses in the city.

How it works for businesses:

• Eligible businesses are automatically added once they register for a business license.

• They don’t handle point redemptions, discounts, or reimbursements directly.

• The city funds the rewards, so there’s no hit to margins.

• Businesses that actively market the program (table tents, social posts, etc.) see even more benefit.

The ROI case

Using the Open Rewards dashboard and ROI calculations, Englewood can show:

• Initial city investment: $20,000

• Tracked economic impact: about $360,000 in local spending over less than a year

That’s roughly 17–20x return on the incentives the city funded.

Because the ROI is so visible and easy to explain, city council now funds the program as an add-on, rather than having it come out of Will’s small base budget.

Construction-impact support

During a major infrastructure project that disrupted a key corridor:

• The city increased rewards from 5% to 15% for affected businesses.

• They included service-based businesses (e.g., personal services) in the promotion, even though they typically don’t generate retail sales tax.

That move wasn’t just about sales tax; it was about goodwill and survival during a long, messy construction period.

Key outcome: Englewood turned a typical “shop local” PR effort into an ROI-backed, council-supported line item—and used it strategically to support businesses during disruptions.

Common mindshifts: from “we’ve always done it this way” to data-backed strategy

Across all four communities, a few shared mindset shifts stand out.

1. Treat BR&E as a trust-building system, not a series of one-off visits

Frederick and Arvada emphasized that:

• BR&E must be continuous

• Communication has to be documented

• Trust depends on being able to respond quickly and accurately when businesses have concerns

A CRM made it possible to consistently invite, follow up, and show the history behind every relationship.

2. Track the “invisible work” with KPIs that reflect reality

Larimer County used its system to:

• Document work on sector partnerships and committees

• Capture every workforce-related presentation, referral, and meeting

That kind of work often doesn’t have immediate projects attached, but it moves the needle long-term. Now they can show it in reports, not just explain it verbally.

3. Start clean and small with your data

When Arvada migrated, they originally:

• Imported their existing CRM records

• Added all of Bludot’s automatically scraped business records on top

The result: too many duplicates and stale records to realistically clean.

Their hindsight advice:

• Start with clean, verified records (e.g., licensed businesses)

• Let the CRM enrich and grow over time

• Avoid the temptation to import “everything” on day one

4. Use partnerships to stretch tiny budgets

Englewood’s model is a good playbook for lean teams:

• Partner with neighboring cities for shared initiatives (e.g., sustainability programming).

• Fund a portion of a shared position instead of hiring full-time staff for every need.

• Bring SBDC advisors and other technical partners into city facilities to expand support without expanding headcount.

Frederick similarly relies on peer communities and regional networks to shortcut trial-and-error:

• When facing a new problem, they often ask another city how they solved it—including how they chose and implemented Bludot itself.

Practical takeaways for your community

If you’re managing economic development with limited staff and budget, these four communities point to a few concrete steps:

1. Adopt an econ-dev-specific CRM

   • Use it to track businesses, contacts, visits, projects, grants, and referrals.

   • Align fields and tags with your strategic plan and KPIs.

2. Start your data clean

   • Import verified, core records first (business licenses, major employers).

   • Add and enrich gradually; don’t drown in duplicates.

3. Connect econ dev and workforce where possible

   • Use the same system to track business needs, referrals, internships, and apprenticeships.

   • Treat internship/apprenticeship placement as a project to manage, not an inbox to juggle.

4. Use modern shop local tools that measure impact

   • Cashback-style rewards with dashboards can turn “shop local” campaigns into hard numbers that justify continued funding.

   • Use them strategically during construction, crises, or key retail seasons.

5. Document everything you do

   • If you’re in a budget meeting and someone asks, “What does economic development really do?”

   • You should be able to answer with numbers, stories, and a report—not just a job description.

Want to see how Bludot can do the same for your community? Schedule some time now.