Mistakes To Avoid When Choosing a New Office Location
Moving your business location is stressful. It can be overwhelming without careful research and detailed planning. Learn about mistakes to avoid when choosing a new office location.
An Incomplete or Unprepared Project Team
Site selection requires a thorough understanding of why you’re considering relocating or opening a new location and representation from all relevant departments. Human resources, operations, finances, and especially IT should be involved in the process as early as possible.
Data analysis is critically important. A major mistake to avoid when choosing a new office location is failing to gather and consider relevant data about:
- Available labor pool in the new location
- Transportation, logistics, and supply lines
- Attractiveness of the new location to your current workforce
- Infrastructure to support your operations
- Proximity to customers, suppliers, and distributors
- Taxes
- Incentives
- Effect on the surrounding community
- Sustainability
- Competition
An experienced corporate site selection consultancy can bring expertise in all these areas to your decision process.
Failure To Get Buy-In From the Executive Team
A site selection committee entrusted with gathering and evaluating data about prospective new locations makes a huge mistake if it proceeds to a decision without involving the executive team. Regular reports and discussions should be ongoing throughout the process to avoid unpleasant surprises and pushback.
Breach of Confidentiality
Considering a relocation or a new site can draw a lot of unwanted attention from real estate speculators, investors, competitors, and employees. People can jump to conclusions and put you in the position of spending time correcting misinformation or explaining nonissues to audiences who shouldn’t be involved in your process.
Taking Too Narrow a View
Without the benefit of an impartial, third-party advisor like a professional site selection consulting firm, it’s easy to overlook potential locations that deserve consideration. A site selection firm will have knowledge of the regulatory, political, and community landscape that will be important to your decision and may be able to secure more favorable incentives or terms than you would if you proceed on your own. Such a firm will know of potential locations for your business you would never have considered or maybe wouldn’t even have known about without their input.
Avoiding mistakes when choosing a new office location is critical to your business’s continued success. Choose the wrong place, and the results could be disastrous in ways you didn’t predict. You could be stuck in a lease or with a real estate deal that will cost too much or fail to help you generate the increased revenue and profit you anticipated. Contact WDG Consulting early in your site selection process for expert advice and guidance.