What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about shifting your company to a new location? If you’re like most business leaders, chances are your mind has already conjured stress-inducing images of packing heavy equipment and office furniture.
Then there’s the hassle of setting up your new office with minimum service disruptions.
Whether you’re trying to expand your business or target new market segments, a cross-country office move brings a plethora of new possibilities for your company.
But here’s the thing – relocating to a new office location is never easy. Things become even more complex when you’re planning a cross-country move. Let’s say you’re relocating your office from California to Texas. You can’t simply pack office supplies and equipment, and load them into a moving truck.
You need a well-defined plan to execute the move while eliminating service disruptions and losses.
In the following sections, we’ll discuss a few common office relocation mistakes, and effective ways to avoid them.
1. Hiring the Wrong Movers
If you’re running a company, you don’t need someone to tell you about the importance of hiring professional moving services. But you should keep in mind that not all moving companies are created equal.
The last thing you want is to choose a small, local moving company that doesn’t have any experience in out-of-state relocation. While such companies are great at ensuring seamless local relocation, they aren’t equipped to deal with the complexities of cross-country moving.
Also, they might only have the resources and manpower to handle domestic relocation. Hiring them increases the likelihood of delays, damages, and losses during the move.
Let’s say you’re relocating your company to Texas from California. You need to find experienced long-distance movers from California to Texas who specialize in corporate relocation. They’ll have a clear idea of the steps and challenges involved in moving an entire office.
Also, experienced movers from California to Texas will be familiar with the road conditions, weather patterns, and traffic in both states. It’ll help them choose the best dates for relocation. Similarly, they’ll identify the best routes for moving trucks to minimize unprecedented delays.
They’ll even help you procure the necessary permits for moving heavy office equipment. Many corporate relocation companies also provide additional services, such as assembly and installation of furniture, as well as junk removal.
Make sure you hire a moving company with local branches in your source and destination cities. So, if you’re moving from California, it makes sense to look for cross-country movers in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and other major cities.
Find out what kind of insurance coverage they provide for damages/losses before making the final selection.
2. Planning Everything on Your Own
If you’ve hired experienced cross-country movers, you already know about the importance of planning your office relocation. But when you’re running a business, you need to supervise various aspects, including sales targets, customer relationships, and revenue.
Planning a relocation amidst such a frenzy will overwhelm you. You could end up ignoring important aspects, such as data backups and equipment installation. Worse still, you might miss out on notifying key departments about the plan.
The best way of avoiding such a scenario is to build a dedicated relocation team. Assign a responsible and experienced employee as the leader of the team. Put them in charge of creating and implementing a relocation timeline. Also, ask them to coordinate with various department heads for a stress-free and timely move.
3. Not Informing Your Customers
Even if you find the best cross-country movers in San Diego and outline a concrete relocation plan, your business operations will experience some level of disruption during the move.
Your employees may not have access to important customer information while addressing their queries. Similarly, they could struggle to dispatch orders on time when the entire office is cluttered with packing materials.
That emphasizes the importance of looping in your customers. Let them know that your business is moving to a new state, and apologize in advance for any service disruptions and delays.
Let them know how you’re going to cater to them from the new location. Also, provide them with multiple communication channels to reach out to your employees.
Maintaining transparency and communication with your customers will help you win their trust and retain them, even when your company no longer has a local presence in their city.
While you’re at it, don’t forget to let other stakeholders, such as suppliers and vendors, know about the upcoming move.
In Conclusion
Moving your office halfway across the country might be essential for growing your customer base. But you can only reap the benefits of these new opportunities after a successful office relocation.
Focus on hiring experienced and trustworthy cross-country movers who specialize in corporate relocation. Also, build a dedicated relocation team to plan, manage, and execute the move with minimal delays and hassles.
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