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http:// --> Ashland, Oregon HOME Valley & State Sports Nation & World Opinion/Editorial Classifieds Business Columnists Local Issues Obituaries Weather Archive Revels Etcetera Backpage Hot Topics Most Viewed Forum Photo Galleries Video Readers Polls O-Zone Online Games Movie Preview Special Sections Real Estate Guide Menu Guide Shakespeare Subscribe Contact Us Rate Card Place an Ad Featured Galleries: April 28, 2007 Should you expand or move your business? Anthony Hernandez Archives Saturday March 31st Saturday April 7th Saturday April 14th Saturday April 21st Saturday April 28th Saturday May 5th Saturday May 12th Saturday May 19th Business is booming and your current location is starting to feel the strain of too many customers jammed into too small a space that is also struggling to stock the increasing inventory needed to supply those customers. First of all, congratulations! Every businessperson needs this problem and far too few stick around long enough to experience it. Now for the tough question: Should you stay or should you go? By default, I believe in expansion over moving wherever possible for obvious reasons. You've spent a lot of time and money training your burgeoning customer base to find you at your current location. Move and you'll invariably lose some of these people on top of the huge investment you'll make in the move itself. Stay and you may be able to annex additional space that you can use to satisfy the growing demand for your offerings. This sounds great but for the obvious problem that there's probably no extra space available at your current digs. Begin by finding out when your neighbors' leases expire and what their plans are beyond those dates. You may be able to bide your time until something opens up next to you. Do you own the building? Consider remodeling to add more space if possible. Add a second floor or basement, or expand your current footprint. Remodeling can be extremely expensive to not make sense at first look, but remember that your location has immense intrinsic value that you've worked mighty hard to create. Can't expand at your current location? I hope you've been doing a really good job of finding out where your customers are coming from by gathering their addresses over time. Sales receipts, credit card purchases, guestbook entries, catalog subscriptions, surveys (such as when a cashier asks you for your ZIP code)- these are all great ways to find out where your customers live and work. If you happen to be in a large city, you may be able to get away with learning your customer's ZIP codes. If, however, your business is located in a city such as Medford, Oregon, where there are only two ZIP codes, then you'll need to get much more specific. Take a hard look at this information when you get it and you may find that your customers live in clusters or that they tend to be more concentrated in certain parts of town. Can you open a second location in or near one or more of these clusters? Cloning your current location at an address convenient to your customers may be just the thing to reduce strain on your main location without pulling up stakes and leaving and having to completely reeducate your audience. Opening a new location can also be a lot less costly than moving your entire business. Having multiple locations is also a great thing to advertise. Just look at some of the most successful advertisers today. If moving is inevitable, look to move as short a distance as possible from your current location. Are you in a mall? Is there a larger space available in a different part of the mall? If not, where is the closest available location? The primary question on your mind should be how you can make this as easy for your customers as possible. How exactly should you communicate any changes to your customers, especially if you have to move? How will you account for those customers who, despite your best efforts, will show up at your old location long after you're gone only to scratch their heads wondering where in creation you took off to? Above all, think back to when you were a child. Did you ever have to move, whether across town or across the country or even internationally? Did you ever have to give up friends and favorite places only to start the process over again in your new home? Did you ever feel a certain loss of control over the whole situation? If not, ask someone who has been there and experienced that. Children of active duty service members are great people to ask because they can regale you with tales of moving every few years to completely new places and having to start over every time. Now apply these memories t your business and consider that any move you make from your current location will have a tremendous impact on your current customers. I'm not saying you should never move. I am saying that you need to think long, hard, and very carefully about the total cost of moving and only take that huge step when and only when the benefits of doing so absolutely overwhelm any rationale for staying. Your customers and banker will thank you for this. Come to the Secrets of Small Business Success seminar hosted by Cardinal Services on April 19th, 2007 in Medford (location to be announced) where you'll learn easy ways to optimize your finances, human resources, and marketing. Lunch included. Register at www.secretsofsmallbizsuccess.com for only $59. My new book, Guerrilla Marketing Success Secrets, is now available at your favorite bookseller or from www.52bizweeks.com . Learn how ancient survival instincts guide everything you do and how to use those instincts to your advantage. My book The Enlightened Savage: Using Primal Instincts for Personal and Business Success is available from www.theenlightenedsavage.com or your favorite bookseller. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Anthony Hernandez is a Certified Guerrilla Marketing Association Business Coach with over 20 years of business and marketing experience. He lives in Ashland. Leave a Comment: Advertisement: Advertisement: Paid Advertising: Debt Help Inkjet Printers Payday Loans Free Ringtones Debt Consolidation Security Systems Debt Relief New Hampshire Primary Advertisement: Copyright © 2007 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers. All Rights Reserved. Del.icio.us