The challenge many executives now face is can they afford to relocate their business and if so how far? Many states are soliciting or romancing companies to relocate; however, before you decide on relocating across town, between countries or out of state, there are four common mistakes businesses make.
Also, read the excerpt at the bottom of the page to understand an overview of successful project planning.
To Relocate Your Business Or Not!
4 Common Mistakes Businesses Make
1. Underestimating The Cost To Reestablish Their Business
Relocation Strategies
The typical business, whether it employs 20 or 200 employees, underestimates their costs to reestablish that business by 50% to 200%. These are private or public companies, office or industrial. In addition, when relocating beyond 50 miles, residential renovation costs escalate. It is for this reason that much more time should be spent on assessing cost areas, soliciting estimates and building a more complete budget.
2. Underestimating The Time It Will Take To Complete The Transition Of Your Business
Relocation Strategies
The planning process is the easiest time to make changes and to avoid the costly impacts of underestimating the time it will take to complete the transition of your business. This transition includes facilities design, planning, construction buildout and the procurement of new or upgraded business equipment such as telephones, furniture systems and racking, etc. Products not delivered or ordered on time have had very negative effects on businesses who are relocating.
3. Underestimating The Tasks & Who Is Going To Handle The Projects
Relocation Strategies
Underestimating the tasks and who is going to handle the projects have a lasting negative effect on the business. Since this project is in addition to the normal running of your business, it adds to the burden of employee/management responsibilities. When faced with hundreds of additional hours of work well in advance of this process, a team can be built and the transition responsibilities and hours distributed and shared more evenly. Each team should, however, have a captain with the big picture mentality. This individual will see to it that the allocation of resources (time, staff and money) are distributed consistently throughout the process and the project does not get compromised in a critical area.
4. Upgrades
Relocation Strategies
During these transitions businesses often upgrade their systems to take advantage of the timing or minimize downtime. These upgrades usually revolve around technical products or systems. Months of research can be of no avail when the new telephone system doesn't meet the new facility needs, the furniture systems aren't as flexible as were perceived, the racking system doesn't accommodate the same volume as the old racks and now your "bigger" warehouse is full. Technologies and products change quickly and estimating these applications and needs can be extremely different. Each vendor is compensated by their ability to persuade you on the fit (forced or not) of their product or service.
Still Want To Relocate?
Check out our blog posts:
7 Steps On How To Relocate Your Business:
Change For The Better: The Real Cost Of Moving:
Five Signs That Your Project Is In Trouble:
10 Steps To An Excellent Project & Improved Results:
An Overview Of Successful Project Planning
• Assign more time in defining all related costs for your business transition including new products, expansion and add a big buffer.
• Prepare the management team's expectations that this will be a long and time-consuming process (but worth it if done properly).
• Commit to allocating more time to the planning and give it more lead time than necessary (crisis management hurts your business).
• Involve many different management players when qualifying your company's needs for business systems (solving a problem for one department and creating it for another is counter-productive.)
• Remember the learning curve of your own business and how long it has taken to perfect it. (This transition happens every five plus years and al the technologies have changed.)
• Lastly, when pressed in critical areas, seek outside professional assistance. It is not whether you can do it in-house, it is whether you should do it in-house or at all!
Trendzitions is a Commercial Real Estate/Project Management Company that has been successful since 1986. They have completed over 150 projects in 21 different states.