If you move your office to a new location with the goal of attracting more business, it will only work if you keep other, perhaps less obvious, priorities in mind. Although your geographical location is critical to the success of your business, it’s easy to overlook other factors that significantly impact the number of people walking through your doors.
Traffic Patterns
Consider whether your new office is located near well-traveled streets. After all, you want your business to be visible and easily accessible to both pedestrian and vehicle traffic. Access to major roadways is also important since you want the location to provide easy access for clients, business associates and your employees. If there are frequent delays caused by congested traffic on busy roadways, your company might not see the increase in customers you desired.
Parking Availability
Ask yourself whether the new location provides adequate parking facilities for clients, office staff and other visitors. You could lose customers if there isn’t parking nearby. Although providing parking can cost you extra money, access to free parking can help you keep your employees, too. Safety may be a consideration in addition to convenience when it comes to parking. The parking area should be well lit after dark and, depending on the location, have on-site security.
Easy-to-Find Location
A new office location should be convenient for clients and business associates to find. An office in an excellent business location in the hub of the suburb, city, or small community where your business is headquartered can have a positive impact on your success. Do your research in advance to determine whether the neighborhood or community where you plan to relocate is supportive of the type of business you run. Also, the type of business neighbors you have can benefit your own business, especially if they attract a similar target market.
Employee Commute
The time it takes your current employees to commute to and from the new office location could affect whether they stay on after the move. Any change can be difficult for employees at first, and if it lengthens their daily commute, you might lose some good employees who prefer a shorter one. While longer-distance commutes to work are becoming more common, they aren’t for everyone. Some employees might not consider the hours spent commuting and the higher vehicle maintenance and gasoline costs worth the travel. Employees who rely on public transportation may be affected as well, especially if a public transit system isn’t available to the new office location.
Updating Address Change Online
With all the tasks involved in moving a business, changing your business address on all of your online profiles may slip your mind. Your business website alone requires multiple updates, such as making the change to your home page, about page, contact page, payment page and directions page.
But don’t stop there. You need to change your physical address on online business listings, professional directories, email marketing campaigns and social media profiles. You don’t want potential clients or customers going to the old address and not finding you there. Unless you wish to lose business, you need to keep your information updated. Listing a correct address helps make it easy for others to do business with you.
If you’re thinking of relocating your business, give Expert Relocation Systems a call. We can help make sure everything safely arrives at your new office.