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What should you know before moving or expanding your business?Entrepreneurs share insights for knowing when to take your venture to the next level

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Bryan Smith, owner and president of Bluetrain Inc. (bluetrain.ca), says it’s all about planning ahead. “The basic answer is to know where you’re going and what the vision is three, five or 10-plus years down the road for your business. If investing in a new location or expansion, it’s important to make sure it clearly matches that vision, or at least set the expectation for how long the move or expansion will suffice.”

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“If looking to move because you need to expand, be sure you know your current lease obligations and what recourse options you may have (sublease, termination, buy out, etc.). Don’t underestimate how long it may take to find a new location; I would say six months or longer from the time you start searching to be a bit conservative. If there is only limited time remaining on your current lease, your new landlord may consider buying it out to get you to move sooner.”— Chad Boddez, senior vice-president of JLL — jll.ca

“Gather research from a variety of sources, including market data on the goods or services you are selling. Get concrete data that your expansion or move is warranted and will result in an improved return on investment. Quite often, a move or expansion is done based on past sales or gut instinct, but remember that an expansion is costly, so understand what the next three, five and 10 years are projected to be.”— Ashif Mawji, CEO of NPO Zero — npozero.com

“You need to be careful of what I call ‘the rubber band snap back.’ This simply means that if you do not have the proper new systems and procedures in place before the growth, your boost may be temporary and you will quickly snap back to your original size. You need to operate at a higher level now, so let go of all lower functions and outsource, delegate or automate them.”— Mitchell Miller, president of Opposed Media — opposedmedia.com

“In business, it’s all about knowing your market. Before you move or expand, make sure your market is ready, or even available for it. As Target so famously learned, what works for one market doesn’t work for another.”— Deirdre StLuke, founder and corporate storyteller at Deirdre StLuke — dstluke.com

“Your move or expansion might be to a new geographic area or into a new product offering; regardless, you’ll want to be sure that your existing success factors will continue to apply in the new area, and that your existing clients will view your expansion favourably. You also need to make sure your staff and suppliers are aligned with the changes expected of them, and that your risk-to-reward ratio is acceptable.”— Chris Vilcsak, president of Solution 105 — solution105.com

“Make sure you plan to succeed. Many businesses do not have a growth or succession plan so the change occurs in an unplanned or unmanaged way, which may result in wasted time, energy and other resources ... Have a team in place that will co-ordinate the change and growth activities, and communicate regularly and effectively. Plan the growth, then record, review and retain learnings from it … These things will bring about success and results with less stress and greater productivity.”— Charmaine Hammond, president of Hammond International Inc. — charmainehammond.com

“You need to have a strong understanding of the complete system, a partial understanding of the accounting and finances, and a deeper understanding of the services that you are offering in the market without any grey areas or gaps … [Staff] should be picked in unconventional ways, not on the conventional system of job descriptions or job roles. As the company grows, [staff] can be trained on any roles needed based on the company’s productivity or efficiency.”— Selva J, CEO and president of Bodhi Solutions — bodhisolutions.ca

“Weigh the options. Cons may include things like cash flow problems, loss of revenue and staff turnover. The pros may include better working conditions, a more efficient layout or increased capacity for sales. Consider if you are furthering your business’s goals, what you will do if things don’t go as planned, buying versus leasing, and how long before you need to do it all again.”— Brian Jaeger, owner of Vienna Bakery

“Make sure that you can manage it. The root cause for many companies failing is actually due to the fact that they were not able to manage the growth of the company.”— Kevin MacDonald, sounding board at PU Technologies Inc. — putechnologies.tk

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These answers are in response to a question posed by Wellington Holbrook, execu-tive vice-president of ATB Business. Here’s his take:

“As an entrepreneur who is passionate about your business, you have prob-ably thought a lot about the details that are important to you. Your expertise in your business means that you have probably thought about your marketing strategy, your growth plans and other important details. However, have you thought about your blind spots? Before you take that leap and invest big in growing, challenge yourself to reflect on the things that you normally don’t think about (or don’t want to think about). What is the likeliest thing to get in your way, or worse yet, bring you down? Will you have the energy to make this work? What is your contingency plan? I would advise that you talk to someone you trust about what your blind spots are so you can make sure they don’t stay blind after all.”

Providing great customer ser-vice can be crucial to the success of your business, which is why Tema Frank, founder of Frank Online Marketing (frankonline-marketing.com), wants you to weigh in.

What’s your biggest customer service challenge? You can answer the question in two ways:• Open today’s Capital Ideas email if you’re a member, or• Visit capitalideasedmonton.comWe’ll publish the best answers, along with your busi-

ness name and website address, on Sept. 17. Have a burning business question of your own? Submit it to capitalideasedmonton.com/ask.

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