Your company has been growing and doing extremely well over the last couple of years. You have had to hire more people, expand your warehouse, and invest in new technologies.
Now, you find that you need to move to a bigger location. You have the new location scouted and leased or bought. The keys are in your hand, and you have been advertising to customers and clients that the move will happen.
Coordination and planning will help you in this large endeavour, as you will need to minimize how long your company is not open for business. If you stay closed for too long, you will take a large financial hit, which could be hard to recover from.
1. Plan your move
Before the marketing department has the details to start a campaign to let people know about the new location, and even before the new keys are placed in your hand, you should be planning the logistics of the move.
Set the date at a reasonable amount of time in the future. You will need this time to book reliable movers in London so that they can be there in your time frame.
Your staff will need time to prepare and assist, and there are other business operations that will need to be taken care of ahead of time to prevent a major complication.
For instance, ensure that your IT support is aware of the move, and are able to coordinate getting in and setting up servers, computers, security, and POS stations ahead of time.
2. Communicate clearly
Letting your staff know “in a month that we are moving,” and then not reminding them, is a sure way to see your workers forgetting and panicking on moving day.
Communicate regularly with all the staff, and help them prepare to ensure a successful move. This communication should outline expectations and events in preparation.
The more the staff know and are involved, the easier it will be on the day of the move. This way, you can reduce the expected downtime to open for business faster.
3. Have office parties
Most employees love a good office party, and this can work to your advantage. You can hold junk parties, cleaning parties, or packing parties.
While this can impact the budget due to staff coming in after hours and the catering involved, having people come together to sort and clean will make it easier to pack and move.
Allow the staff to play music while they work, and set up small competitions with small gift cards and prizes to help motivate them.
4. Choose the right season
Depending on your business, summer and winter may see a multitude of challenges due to customer traffic, as well as holidays and festive seasons. This is typically when companies see a rise in sales and business. Therefore, such times would not be ideal to move.
Making sure that you move in an off-season, or when there is a natural lull, means that the business won’t be too badly affected financially, compared to the busy season when closing even for a short time could cost millions.
Timing is everything in business, and knowing your peak and lull times will work in your favour.
5. Consider an after-hour move
Think about moving after hours. This way, no business is conducted, so there is essentially no downtime. The move can happen seamlessly, and clients and staff don’t have to work around office items being carried out to the moving truck.
6. Move in phases
Many smaller companies will do a big move all at once. This works well for them, as they might not have the same volume of equipment and or stock that you do.
However, medium and larger-sized companies can minimize downtime and interruption in services by moving in phases.
Non-essential items can go first, followed by stock, and then the equipment. Doing a move in phases allows you to stay open for longer, and gives your staff a chance to let customers and clients know about the new location.
As it can be a very busy time, hearing your staff being excited when they tell customers and clients about the move raises morale and customer interactions.
7. Utilize proper packing and labelling
As things get packed, make sure that they are placed in appropriate boxes that can be sealed to prevent damage. This will help them get to the new location unscathed and ready for action.
Correctly and clearly labelled boxes make the whole process even faster. You can identify what is in the boxes before ripping it open and seeing if it needs to go to another floor or area of the new property.
8. Advertise the new location
Once the move has happened, and it’s business as usual, you need to make sure that people are aware that you have moved and that the new location is open.
Advertising at the old location that the move is happening and providing the address will encourage people to check out the new site. Advertising at the new site will encourage customers to visit when it’s opened.
Trust the Moving Professionals
The wrong movers can result in missing items, damage to property, and other issues. Sprint Moving Service is the company to trust when it comes to commercial moving.
With over a decade of experience and the flexibility to move your company after hours to reduce downtime, it’s no wonder Sprint Moving Service has been helping Ontarians move their homes and businesses for years.
With customized costs to suit any budget and even assistance in the reassembling of items at the other end, why would you trust your company to anyone else?
So, call us at 548-489-0140 or go online today for a free quote. Talk to us about your company and needs, and let’s get you moving.