Location, location, location

Choosing the right location for your physical business cannot be overemphasised.

Let me explain by giving real examples of it gone wrong:

• Setting up a convenience store under a building with almost no foot traffic, and no out of hours foot traffic.
• Setting up a doctor’s surgery in a building with a tall staircase for access. Mothers with children and the elderly all went somewhere else.
• A photography studio on the side of a busy road with no parking and nowhere to turn around for a kilometre.
• A major engineering company setting up offices in a location highly inconvenient for the required movement of people to the client’s offices and back.
• A new factory setting up in an industrial park with the nearest public transport a train station 2 kilometres walk away through a suburb with the highest crime rate in the city. Try getting workers for that.

A few principles to follow are:

1. Go where your customers are – seems basic, but often overlooked.
2. Be where you can be seen.
3. If customers visit then have parking and a clear access facing the street front.
4. Go where your competitors are - it’s better to be near them to allow customers to choose between you.
5. Think about how your people get to work? Public transport, parking, etc.
6. If your prime sales location is expensive, then consider a back office in a warehouse somewhere cheaper.
7. Make it easy for you to visit customers, and them to visit you. This includes plenty of free visitor parking.
8. Think of access issues for people – i.e. the elderly, disabled, mothers with prams, the young, etc.
9. Think of access issues for suppliers – i.e. loading docks, easy access and turnaround for trucks, and not disrupting other traffic.
10. Think of locating near your suppliers – that helps all of you.