So, you’ve finally out-grown the basement, strip mall storefront or tiny warehouse your business has been calling home for years.
This is great news, but bigger challenges most likely lie ahead. When it comes to relocating a growing business, you’ll need to consider much more than the location of your commercial real estate. You’ll also be tasked with keeping track of the ebb and flow of your business even when your office is packed away into boxes.
Start With Clear Communication
Whether you’ve been considering land for sale or an office for rent, you’ve got to take your time when you move a business. You’ll need plenty of opportunities to let your existing customer base know you’re moving, get suppliers in line with the new warehouse locations and update all your online profiles. After all, if your current contacts don’t know where you’re going, you’ll have to start finding customers and suppliers all over again — and that’s not great for the growth that spurred your move in the first place.
There are lots of ways to let customers know you’re moving, including running direct mail campaigns inviting them to your new location and providing materials in your existing location that clearly show your new facility and its location. Suppliers can be more difficult to convince, so you’ll do yourself a favor if you provide some overlap between the closing of the old location and the opening of the new. Thirty to 60 days should be enough time to get the message out to everyone involved.
Timing the Big Move
As the time approaches to open that new location or to pick up your old office and move it somewhere new, you’ll want to carefully consider the calendar. If you’re closed on the weekends, that’s a great time to move, but if you don’t have that luxury, at least choose a time of the year when you’re the least busy. It can take months to get back on top of your game after the stress of moving and adapting to a new location, so this is not something you can really over plan.
Many small businesses try to do these sorts of moves themselves, figuring they’ll save lots of money. Unfortunately, most end up losing a lot more than they would have spent by being down for too long or having incomplete access to records that are still only partially unpacked.
Moving your business can be stressful and expensive, but the sooner you can get back up and running, the sooner you can work on rejuvenating connections with loyal customers and making brand new connections.