How to plan and organize a business move
Changing the location of your business is a complex and stressful task. Moreover, it is a task that consumes a lot of time, money, and energy. In an ideal world, it would be best to stop with everything you and your team of employees are doing until you relocate. But, when it comes to running a business, the show must always go on. If you stop for just a week or two, you may lose your clients, your profits, and who knows what else. But do not worry – there are plenty of ways you can plan and organize a business move without it affecting your work. If you want to know how then keep on reading.
Location, Location, Location!
Location is a factor that can either make or break your business. Thus before you start planning and organizing your local or national move, ensure that your new location will treat your business well. Chose a location that suits your business’s needs and budget. Additionally, make sure it is somewhere where you will have room to expand, somewhere far away from competition, and where there is a lot of foot traffic.
Before you relocate your business, it would also be a good idea to design your new office space. Just think about it – how difficult would it be to run a business without tables, chairs, and all the necessary equipment? Do as much as you can before you relocate so that you and your team can get back to work as soon as possible. If the number of tasks seems overwhelming, consider hiring help. Real estate agents, designers, and commercial movers will be your best friends during this business relocation.
Determine the Moving Date and Budget
After you’ve found that perfect location for your business, be sure to set your moving date and budget – doing this before you start moving is critical. A strict moving date is essential as you will need to inform all your employees and give them time to prepare. Moreover, you will need to notify your business clients and provide them with time to adjust!
And, determining the budget is also important as it will guide your business and office relocation. By knowing exactly how much money you can work with, you will be able to plan for which task you can hire help and for which you have to do everything alone to stay on budget. Therefore, do this before anything else. Planning and organizing a business move will be much easier once the moving date and budget are set!
Have a Staff Meeting and Assign Tasks
Once you determine the moving date, organize a staff meeting. You must tell your employees about the upcoming move so that they can prepare adequately. This, of course, applies only to local relocations. Preparing for international ones will be much difficult. Some of your employees might not be able to move that far away, so you need to give them time to find a new job and give yourself time to find new employees.
If you are sure that everyone is on the same page with the upcoming business move, you should also assign different moving tasks during the staff meeting. For instance, you can suggest that everyone packs their desks. You can also decide who will pack electronics, who will deal with paperwork, who is going to notify the customers, etc.
Hire a Commercial Moving Company
Professional movers are trained and experienced people who can handle any moving-related task you have for them. Hiring them will give you enough time to do other, more important things, like running a business uninterruptedly. Moreover, moving companies are essential when trying to transfer your operations to another continent. International business relocations can be highly stressful and complex, so take every help you can get.
However, be careful. Not every moving company is the same. Different moving companies specialize in various moving services – some work with students, some with families, some with seniors, etc. In addition, there are ones that focus on either local or international moves. But, what you need for your business relocation is a commercial moving company! Movers that specialize in commercial moving will be the only ones who can help you plan and organize a business move in a stress-free manner.
Notify Your Clients
As previously mentioned, business relocations are chaotic, especially those international moves. With all that chaos, it is easy to forget to notify everybody about your upcoming move. But, that can be disastrous, as you might lose some clients or customers. Thus, before you relocate for good, share an update on your social media, put signs on doors and windows, or post it on your website. Moreover, if you have some loyal customers, it would be a good idea to call them or tell them everything in person – that way, they will stay loyal where you move.
However, your loyal clients are not the only ones who need notifying. Your future ones will need it too. When you plan and organize a business move, try to advertise it so that new people can find you. This way, you will have clients and customers even before you actually relocate and start your business at your new address. If you do not know how to do that, you can always hire somebody – for instance, an advertising team.
