When your business is going well and it’s time to think about expansion, you might decide to open a second office in another area of the country. Eventually, you’ll get to a point where you need multiple locations to keep up with the workload, and that brings a lot of challenges along with it. Running one business location is hard enough, so juggling two or more at once is going to be a real struggle. However, it is possible as long as you stay organized and plan everything properly before you open your new location. If you’re worried about how you’re going to effectively run a second business location, here are a few simple tips to help you along the way.
Hire The Right People
The best business leaders are the people that know when to take a step back and delegate work to their trusted employees. You can’t be in two places at once so if you’re running a second location, you’re going to have to let your managers deal with the day to day running of the office a lot of time, which is why it’s important that you have people that you trust. When you’re hiring people to run the new office, it’s important that you look for people that have a lot of relevant experience and offer a good salary so you attract the best candidates. It’s also vital that you find somebody that shares the core values of the company so they can quickly build a good working relationship with the rest of your employees. As long as you hire the right people, you don’t need to worry about the office while you aren’t there.
Install Cameras
Even when you’re not in an office, it’s still important that you can see what is going on to make sure that everybody is working effectively. One of the easiest ways to do that is by installing IP cameras in the office. These IP or internet protocol cameras allow you to view the feed from wherever you are as long as you have an internet connection. That means you can always check up on the office when you’re not there if you’re worried about anything.
Standardize Procedures
When you open a second location, you relinquish some control over what is happening in your business and you’re relying on other people a lot more. That’s fine, but it does mean that you have to be careful that standards don’t start to slip. When it comes to customer relations, in particular, you need to ensure that you have standardized procedures in place and all employees are given the same training. Dealing with complaints is especially important and you need to make sure that all customers are treated the same.
Make Communication A Priority
Even though you have effective managers, you still need to be kept in the loop about what is happening at both locations, that’s why communication should be a priority. You need to have regular meetings with staff so you can stay on top of any problems and you should also be in regular phone contact with both offices when you aren’t there.
Managing multiple office locations is always going to be hard, but if you follow these simple tips you should be fine.
