Research potential new locations

In general, if you’re just entering your growth stage, then you want your new location to be fairly close to your existing one. At the same time, you want them to be far enough apart that you’ll be acquiring new customers instead of still tapping into your existing customer base.

When you’re assessing potential locations for expansion, ask yourself the following questions.

• What evidence is there that this location has a reasonable target market for my goods/services?

• What evidence is there that there will be growth in this market in the future?

• What is the competition? If there is no competition why is that?

• Does the location attract organic traffic or would you have to attract most, if not all of your customers through marketing?

The answers to these questions should give you a reasonable idea of whether or not an area really could support meaningful business growth. Once you’ve found at least one location that you like, do a full market analysis on it.

Hopefully, this will indicate that you’ve found the right place to expand your small business. If so, then you can move on to the next stage in your growth plan.

Start your marketing

In the real world, a lot of business growth is driven by marketing. The reality is that you can have the best products and services in the world. They will, however, only earn you a profit if people know about them.

It’s therefore vital to have an effective marketing strategy and to start implementing it as soon as possible. The sooner you start your marketing, the longer you have to make potential new customers aware of your planned business expansion.

Find a new workspace

Once you’ve found the right location, you need to find the right workplace within that location. Before you start your search, ask yourself the following questions.

Do you need your workspace to hold people?

If you do, what type of people are they (e.g. staff, customers, suppliers)? If more than one type of people will use the workspace, (roughly) how many people in each category will need to use it?

What is the maximum and minimum number of each type of person you expect to be on-site at any one time? What level of staff growth do you anticipate over time? How about customer growth?

Think about what implications this may have for creating zones in your space. For example, will you need a private space for people working with sensitive information? Will you need a meeting space? What about break/comfort facilities?

How will you handle expanding your workforce at peak times (or as a result of growth)?

What activities will be carried out in the space?

Make sure you consider all activities that will be held in a space, even ones that will only happen occasionally. Also, consider if it would be practical to hold those activities off-site, at least from time to time.

Do you need the space to hold supplies?

If so, what sort of supplies will it hold? Do any of these supplies generate special considerations (e.g. security, temperature control, manual handling)?

What infrastructure and equipment do you need/want?

Be as specific as you can here because it can be very important. In particular, think carefully about what level of network connectivity you need.

It’s become standard for companies to assume that they need the most powerful network connections they can get. This can be true in some cases but the mobile internet is getting better all the time.

It may therefore be possible for you to use a workspace that doesn’t even have a wired internet connection. You would just need a portable router.

Also, think about any infrastructure and equipment you may need for multi-site management. For example, will you need to invest in new software or new communications equipment?

Do you need a permanent, fixed location?

In other words, could you use pop-up and/or mobile spaces instead of renting/buying a new workspace? These can both be very economical ways of transitioning into a new market. Once you have established yourself in that market, you can then establish a permanent, fixed base (if you wish).

What do you like and dislike about your current workspace?

In an ideal world, would you just copy and paste your existing workspace into your new one? What is it exactly that you like or dislike about your current space?

Hire and train staff

First of all, you need to decide on a management structure for the two locations. Can you realistically manage them both yourself?

If not, will you expect one person to handle both the management of the location and the operational side of it?

If not, what other staff do you need and who is going to hire them? Are you going to recruit the manager and the staff at the same time? Alternatively, will you hire the manager and have them hire their staff? Which of you will take responsibility for training the new staff?

Always remember to allow a reasonable amount of time for staff training. Also, if you are using a new manager, remember you will probably have to mentor them somewhat until they get comfortable with their role.

Have a launch event

When you launch a new location, you need to give customers a reason to visit it. Generally, the easiest way to do this is to host a special launch event. This doesn’t have to be expensive, just eye-catching. Here are some ideas.

• Free food and drinks

• Decorations (ideally on a theme)

• Promotional merchandise (low cost is usually fine)

• Run a competition (again prizes can be small)

• Give a donation to charity for every visitor