A business establishment, like a home, can also be outgrown. As your customers increase, they’ll eventually demand an enhanced experience. Whether that’s more stocks of your products or more room for your services, you need to upsize to satisfy their demands.
Upsizing doesn’t necessarily require you to relocate. If your current space can be expanded, then that might be a cheaper option than relocating. But how big should you get to start upsizing? You can’t increase your space at the first sign of business growth. You need to calculate the risks, costs, and advantages of upsizing first. Rushing to expand your establishment can result in hefty costs that may run you dry within a year or so.
Look out for these signs first that it’s time to expand your space:
1. You’re Accumulating More Stuff Than Ever
If you’re experiencing this, you have two options: to declutter or to expand. Make time to assess the stuff filling up your space. If they’re mostly new stock orders, find out if moving some existing stocks can make room for the new ones. If you already loaded your storage to its max capacity, then upsizing your storage is the solution.
2. You Can Afford it
Having high revenues isn’t an automatic sign that you can now afford a bigger space. Compute the costs of upsizing first, then see if it fits your potential budget. If most of your revenue only goes to the cost of goods, rent, utilities, etc., you may need to reach a higher financial goal before upsizing.
3. Your Customers are Asking for it
Let’s say you’re a service business, a nail salon, for example. If the post-pandemic era has got your hands full of bookings, some of which you can no longer accommodate, start planning to upsize. Even if your customers don’t straight up ask you to expand your facility, they will appreciate it if you do. When you find yourself turning down bookings because of lack of space, you’re already at risk of losing customers. If you continue with that pattern, some customers may think you’re just unaccommodating. So once your business can afford an expansion or relocation, plan it ASAP.
4. Your Business Can Continue Operating While You Focus on Upsizing
If you have to close down while upsizing, consider how much you can lose. You have to postpone your plans if your losses are too much to bear. But if you can maintain your operations while upsizing, take that as your go signal. Your employees can focus on making sales while you concentrate on upsizing. To avoid distracting or inconveniencing customers and employees with the clutter you can create, hire moving and storage companies. They can keep your inventory safe while the expansion is underway.
5. Your Employees Support Your Upsizing Plans
If you tell your employees that you’re going to have to cut down their wages for the expansion plans, they’ll most likely oppose the upsizing. And understandably so. If you have to sacrifice your employees’ well-being for the expansion, it’s not yet the time.
On the other hand, if you’ve got your employees’ full support, and they themselves also demand the expansion, you’ve made the right choice. Maybe their workstations can’t fit their growing team anymore. By upsizing, you can improve the traffic flow in your workplace and possibly see growth in productivity.
6. Your Small Space is Hurting Productivity
In contrast to the last statement above, a cramped workplace traffic flow can hurt productivity. Clutter and crammed office equipment can mess up the mind, causing concentration problems. If the space still feels suffocating after de-cluttering, you clearly need to upsize already.
When you upsize and beautify your workplace, productivity levels can shoot up, and so can the happiness of your employees. Colors, for instance, can affect a person’s mood. Painting your walls blue can promote calmness in your workplace. That may be beneficial if you have a healthcare facility where patients may feel anxious in.
7. Your Industry or Sector Demands it
The pandemic has demanded nearly all businesses to expand their facilities. That’s for them to allow social distancing. That demand might have declined due to the vaccines. The vaccines don’t stop you from acquiring and spreading the virus. It just reduces your risks for hospitalization. So with or without vaccinations, you still have to expand your space to promote social distancing. We have to live with this new normal for a while.
Despite the possible pandemic-related reasons, though, upsizing your business is still one of the most exciting milestones you’ll reach. But it needs thorough planning and analysis. So don’t rush; if you started noticing the first sign of growth, keep up your good work until you tick off most signs on this list.