The time has come! You’ve worked hard to grow your business, and you’re quickly outgrowing your current location for business operations. Congratulations! Or maybe you need to move your business operations to be closer to a key customer or have new requirements that your current location doesn’t afford. Whatever the reason, moving your business can seem like a daunting task, but as long as you avoid these 12 mistakes when moving your business, things should go smoothly, and you’ll be settling into your new location in no time at all.
1. Not Planning Your Business Move
“If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail” is a famous axiom that comes to mind here. When you decide that it’s time for a new business location, it’s essential to begin a comprehensive business relocation plan that maps out each step in the process. The initial move plan should include nominating a relocation committee in your office to help with things such as selecting a moving company, keeping employees informed of the progress of the move, inventorying items that will be moved, purchasing moving supplies, acquiring any moving tools needed, and packaging items that won’t be professionally crated. Even when hiring a moving company, there will be specific actions that only you or your team will know how to execute correctly.
2. Moving Your Business Yourself
Not hiring a professional moving company is one of the biggest blunders we see when moving your business. It may seem like you’ll save a ton of cash when moving your business yourself; however, the opposite is actually true. If you decide to pay your employees to move your business, then you are already mismanaging your workers’ time and skill sets. If they wanted to be professional movers (or were particularly good at it), then that’s the line of work they’d be pursuing. The time value of money question comes into play here: is your employees’ time better spent packing, crating, and hauling, or doing what it is that you hired them to do? What is more valuable to the company? Business owners often find that when they do some calculations, they are better off financially hiring a company to move the business. Additionally, moving large furniture or machinery can end up being tricky and quite possibly dangerous.
3. Not Researching Your Moving Company
Moving companies in Knoxville and other cities, like every other business, will include the good, the bad, and the ugly. With the lower barriers of entry into the moving industry, many inexperienced movers are more likely to cut corners, which could damage your items or end up costing you more money at the end of the day. Furthermore, moving your property requires a good deal of trust, and moving scams are on the rise. The moving company you hire should have a website, online customer reviews (Google, Yelp, Angie’s List, etc.), and an actual real-life person that you can contact during business hours. Reputable Knoxville moving companies should be happy to provide you with references from previous business moves that will help you choose a company that will handle the business move professionally and with the utmost care possible.
4. Moving Your Business at the Wrong Time
Timing is critical when planning a successful business move. Ideally, you want to avoid moving your business during inclement weather, rush hour traffic, holidays, or when some event will cause significant traffic jams. Not only will moving during bad weather make it less safe, but it will also take longer and put your items at risk of being damaged by water. Furthermore, most business transfer specialists and moving companies charge by the hour and so the longer the movers are sitting idle or in traffic, the more your move will cost in the long run.
If your business relocation is over a significant distance, you should also consider the time of the year and how it coincides with the school year. Moves can be disruptive for families that work at your business, and finding schools can be hard during the middle of a school year. Additionally, there are also certain times of the year that are more prone to workers taking vacation time. This fact could also have adverse effects on your move and should be considered during your move planning phase.
5. Moving Everything
This mistake, when moving your business, often raises some eyebrows. After all, why wouldn’t you move everything? While it’s true that there may be situations where you need to move every last item, often times, moving your business operation can be a welcome opportunity to declutter and get rid of unwanted or unneeded items. Moving your business to a new location is a chance for a fresh start, so instead of moving every last item, consider setting thing aside to sell online via craigslist or local sales network or consider having an estate sale to get rid of things that will not only not have a useful purpose at your new location but that will literally weigh you down during the course of the move.
6. Overloading Boxes
The odds are that you or office mates will pack up smaller office items and relevant documents on their own. Overloading boxes can cause boxes to break, putting valuables at risk or leading to injuries. As part of your planning and communication efforts, it’s smart to advise employees to pack for weight and safe transport over going for organization. As long as everything is labeled and inventoried, it shouldn’t be too difficult to put together everything at the new office.
7. Failing to Provide Continuous Information to Employees
As mentioned in the planning mistake, things can get hectic at the office during the moving period, and even the best-laid plans can require changes. Either you or a nominated member of your business team should be responsible for providing updates and new information to employees. This individual should also inform employees of any rules, regulations, and general information about the new building.
8. Not Crating Equipment
Crating large or valuable equipment or furniture has numerous benefits. Not only does it protect delicate or expensive items from damage, but it also makes it safer to transport. Crates are also easy to use and can help stack your things for transportation more efficiently. Additionally, crates are more durable than alternative packaging methods and are also more weatherproof. Wooden crates should be used for heavy machinery, any furniture with glass, valuable items, or items that are cumbersome to transport without being inside a crate.
9. Failing to Insure Valuables
Speaking of protecting your business’s valuable items, you want to ask your moving company about moving insurance. Moving insurance or relocation coverage can be obtained from an insurance company to protect your property while en route, on the truck, or in storage. This type of insurance covers your valuables in case of a traffic accident, fire, theft, and other natural disasters. A reputable business relocation company can help you weigh your insurance options and ensure that you have enough to cover the cost of important goods.
10. Failing to Inform Customers, Clients, Vendors, and Suppliers of Your Move
Informing other people and companies that rely on your business is an often overlooked step in the business relocation process. If you’ve been in business long, there are most likely many businesses that have your current address in their database for mailings, shipments, and invoicing. As part of your business move planning, you’ll need to create a way to inform everyone that you will be moving and when the change will take place. This notification of your move can be done by mail, email, or phone (or all three). This process can help you avoid return-to-sender problems or delivery delays once you are at your new location.
11. Neglecting to Transfer Your Technical Environment
Another commonly overlooked aspect of moving business locations is the technical environment that you and your employees depend on to get work done. Your IT specialists should begin planning for the move as soon as a date is set to avoid showing up at the new location, only to find that you cannot get any work done. Your IT team should take into consideration moving your data, phone, and internet services, as well as ensuring they have adequate time to set up your wired and wireless networks, phones, servers, workstations, and printers. Moving is an exceptional time to upgrade out-of-date workstations, routers, and other IT equipment as your IT team can purchase new gear and set it up ahead of your move.
12. Not Celebrating the Move
Business relocation can affect customer and client perception, as well as employee morale. Once you’ve settled into your new digs, consider having an internal office party to celebrate the move and to thank your team for their hard work and patience during the move. Another great idea to get your customers on board with the move is to have an open house or ribbon cutting event, inviting clients, members of your local chamber of commerce, and the business community at large to come and have hors d ‘oeuvres and get familiar with the new location.
Knoxville Moving Company for Business
Before beginning the planning phase of moving your business, getting expert advice from an experienced business relocation company can save you significant amounts of money, time, and stress. Rowe Transfer has over 100 years of experience in industrial manufacturing relocation and business relocation in general. Get in touch with us on our contact page or call 865-523-0421 or toll-free at 1-888-377-ROWE (7693), to find out how we can make your business relocation go smoothly, safely, and trouble-free. And make sure to stay tuned for our future blogs, including more information on planning your business relocation!