Massaker.Me

So moving day is upon you.

First and foremost, you will need to get your communications up and running. This means moving the telephone and computer systems and having them hooked backed up by professionals. In the Atlanta market, for telephone systems, I recommend Robert Brock’s company, Square 1 Technology. For computers and the network, I obviously recommend my company, Carceron.

As far as moving your office is concerned, you can do it yourself of course (that’s what we did, along with an army of youth volunteers). But you may want to outsource that part, especially if you’re a bit bigger (2000 sq ft. or more). In that case, Debbie Ponder from Suddath Relocation Systems is who I would use in the Atlanta market. Regardless of who you use to move or how, you should have a space plan for the new office. A space plan is a layout map of the office that shows where every piece of furniture is going to go and how it will be positioned. It’s especially helpful to have measurements of your furniture relative to each room’s dimensions. also be mindful of the position of the door into the office relative to your desk. “L” shaped desks may not be able to go into the office just how you want it based on the position of the door into the office. If you’re getting any additional new furniture for the office, make sure to coordinate with your furniture rep on the move in as well.

You also might have a lot of loose ends to tie up here. Such as:

• Getting office and server room locks re-keyed and disseminating those keys to relevant employees
• Signage (reception area, parking, etc.)
• Touch painting after move in (hopefully not)
• Security system operational
• Interior Decoration (hanging plaques, awards, etc. – adding some plant life to soften the place up a little)
• Stocking the kitchen / break room
• Commercial Insurance is updated for the new property and you have a certificate of insurance into the landlord / lender

If you brain storm with your staff over everything that needs to get done from the very beginning, then put that list where everyone can see it (in LifeTick or SharePoint for example), you should have a very successful and relatively pain-free move.

Now that you have a signed lease, you have a lot of planning to do. We did all of our planning through our company goal tracking service that we use called Lifetick. We divided out the work this way:

• Change of Address:
  • Utilities like phone and power
  • E-Commerce Sites
  • Vendors
  • All online directories (Chamber of Commerce, Google Local Search, Trade Associations, etc)
  • All Federal Agencies (IRS, DOL, etc.)

• Old Office Prep
  • Create a task for the packing of each area / room (thanks to Carceron employee Jim McKinney for heading up this grueling task)
  • Office deep cleaning and repair (after the move)
  • Turn in Keys
  • Get any deposits back

• Transfer Operations & Communications
  • Email (only matters if you run an in house server for email, such as a Small Business Server or Exchange)
  • Telephones  & Internet (this is a good time to shop your service, I recommend using a telecom broker like Elite Telecom Services who can shop it out for you and get you the best deal)
  • You’ll need to time this carefully and make sure that you involve your telephone system and computer support vendors who will need to disconnect from your old office and reconnect you at the new one on the same day
  • Core Network Infrastructure: Servers, Switches, Firewalls should all be up before anything else – especially if you have remote users.

• New Office Prep
  • Buildout completed to your specifications prior to move in (thanks to CKW & Associates taking care of our needs)
  • Certificate of Insurance from your commercial carrier
  • Security System installed (we used LOUD Security)
  • Lock in any maintenance agreements required by your lease (e.g. HVAC)
  • Keys copied and distributed (recommend distributing (DO NOT COPY keys to employees and keeping a couple of copy-able masters in a secure place; this prevents you from having to re-key every time you lose an employee)
  • Signage – meet with your signage vendor early to discuss your needs
  • Furniture – engage a commercial furniture rep regardless of whether or not your are expanding or shrinking. They can help you get rid of stuff if you are shrinking and can get you deals on anything from new to used. (special thanks for Preston Barnes of Provident Office Environments for helping us out)

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Moving an office is a process accompanied by so many possible emotions: joy, dread, relief, stress, and more – that it can seem like you need a therapist just to deal with the move… for everyone in your company. After all, you still have a business to run, and if you’re reading this, you’re most likely not a Fortune 500 company that can outsource all of the planing and execution that goes into it; you’re most likely doing it all yourself. So how do you run a business while moving somewhat painlessly -  change the oil while driving car, per se? I am about to tell you.

Timing and the Tenant Rep

You need to give yourself as much time as possible, 6-12 months ideally. The less time you have the more likely you’ll be forced into something you don’t want due to less time to search for vacant properties and less time to negotiate the deal. And let’s talk about negotiating that deal. Two Words: Tenant Representative. You’ve most likely used a residential real estate agent to purchase and home, it is doubly or more important to secure a tenant rep for your commercial space. Here’s how a tenant rep benefits you directly:

• They are free (they are paid a commission by the landlord)
• They have access to commercial MLS (multiple listing) systems that provide real time information on vacant properties which helps you narrow your search based on pre-defined criteria like:
  • Access to interstate(s)
  • Power & Data Cabling
  • Office Layout
  • Class A vs B vs C (think quality)
  • 1st Floor vs any floor
• They are master negotiators (or should be), protecting your interests from the landlord and negotiating the lease for and with you.

We used Bob & Rob Hill of Hill Corporate Partners. They walked us through our 56 page lease in painstaking detail and knew things that needed to be changed right away that I would have never know to ask for. That is the biggest reason you need to use a tenant rep.

Some other notes when considering properties:

• When you walk through your final choice of office to develop the “buildout and refresh” scope of work for the landlord, make sure to so in full lighting. When we did ours, the power to our unit was turned off due to small flood in the adjacent office suite. So we viewed the space with our BlackBerry video lights. While this did not really affect the buildout that we needed done, it did significantly impact what we asked for in terms of bringing the unit back to an acceptable move in condition (refresh). In our case it was painting walls, peeling wallpaper in the bathroom, carpet stains, and other cosmetic blemishes. No worries. We handled it ourselves. It was just a pain that could have been avoided.
• If you need any buildout work done, make sure that you have you, your tenant rep, the landlord and the architect (usually hired by the landlord) in the room and go over precisely what your recommendations are and arrive at a consensus on the final total square footage. In most offices this might be pretty straight forward, but because our new office has a curved front, many of the of the interior walls are at weird angles which made calculating square footage accurately a challenge.
• Be extremely detailed in your scope of work for both the buildout and refresh. Insist on meeting with the property or construction manager personally to go through each item so that there is no confusion.
• Check the functionality of everything mechanical, like:
  • Doors fully closing and latching
  • Sinks work correctly and don’t leak
  • Toilet Flushes
  • Light Fixtures all work
  • Ceiling tiles are all intact and not cracked

Strategic Alliances, often little more than a business buzz phrase, can have a very real impact on your bottom line if executed correctly. Some of the benefits of Strategic Alliances include:

• The ability to compete against stronger competitors through the creation of synergistic partnerships
• Development and exploitation niche markets faster
• Increased activity throughout the entire sales pipeline – all the way from lead generation to closed business.

So what is a Strategic Alliance and how do you form one that works and lasts? I’m about to tell you:

First, let’s look at some definitions for “strategic”:

• Pertaining to, characterized by, or of the nature of strategy
• Important in or essential to strategy
• Of an action, as a military operation or move in a game, forming an integral part of the stratagem

Next, let’s look at some definitions for “alliance”:

• the state of being allied or confederated
• a connection based on kinship or marriage or common interest; “the shifting alliances within a large family”; “their friendship constitutes a powerful bond between them”
• an organization of people (or countries) involved in a pact or treaty
• a formal agreement establishing an association or alliance between nations or other groups to achieve a particular aim
• confederation: the act of forming an alliance or confederation

Finally, the definition for a Strategic Alliances, (as defined by Wikipedia)

A Strategic Alliance is a formal relationship between two or more parties to pursue a set of agreed upon goals or to meet a critical business need.

I like this definition due to its emphasis on formality and “agreed upon goals”. One thing that I think is missing from this definition is that the relationship should also be mutually beneficial – as this is key to making the Strategic Alliance last.

Some Strategic Alliances Basics

The are many kinds of strategic alliances. Most center on revenue creation. Examples include:

• Reseller / Affiliate Model: You become a reseller of a certain product or service in exchange for sales and marketing support of said product or service.
• Outsource Relationship: Over time you come to realize that certain parts of your business are better handled by another entity outside your business because it is more profitable, efficient, etc.
• Business Development: Referral Partnership, Co-Marketing, etc.

It is the last type of Strategic Alliance, business development,  that I would like to spend some time on. This can be one of the easiest to form and at the same time the most powerful. Who should you strategicly partner with? The obvious answer is professions that you naturally get referrals from already. For example, I own an IT company, so I receive a great deal of referrals from an ISP broker and telecom hardware vendor that I have allied with. Another great example of a good strategic alliance would be composed of a CPA, financial planner & estate planning attorney.

It is important to formalize this relationship as much as possible to get the maximum results. Formalization should create a culture of accountability in the alliance which is critical to the success of it. Here are some ideas.

• Meet at least once a month and share sales pipe line reports
  • What deals are you working on now?
  • What deals have you recently closed?
  • Discuss referrals that have been passed around the alliance. (status, quality, etc.)
  • Create a list of specific prospects that you would like to get into and go over the list with your alliance. Use Linkedin and other business social media sites to make connections.
  • Are you have trouble closing any deals? If so, how can the alliance help?
    • Powerful Example: If the prospect does not have the budget for your project or service, is their anyone in the alliance that can create the savings through their product or services that essentially creates the funds for your project? I use my telecom broker in this regard. He can come in and save them hundreds to thousands a month, the savings from which cover most or all of the cost of my proposal.
  • Side Note: If, when I say “sales pipe line report”, your eyes glaze over, then you probably need a customer relationship management (CRM) system, such as ACT!, or Microsoft CRM. I recommend Alanna Galiano or Emerging Technologies to get your up to speed.A good CRM is essential to making this strategy work.
    
• Develop a joint Needs Assessment
  • If you already have a Needs Assessment, this is easy, just ask each member of your alliance for the top 3 questions that you should ask when conducting a Needs Assessment on your prospect that might generate a referral for them. For example: I always ask a few questions about their phone system to see if there is a possible referral opportunity to the telecom hardware company in my alliance.
• Joint Marketing
  
  • Create a “Partners” page on your web site and add logos with link backs to each of your partner’s web sites. Make sure they do the same.
  • Co-sponsor an event together, such as a conference or tradeshow. Obviously the event should contain target prospects that you are all are going after.
  • Find other ways to cross market:
    • Drop a brochure or coupon from an alliance member into your invoice mailings.

More Advanced Strategic Alliances

Want to take this concept to the next level?

Form an alliance around a business process or event. One idea that came from my friend, Bob Hill of Hill Corporate Partners, centers around office moves. Think about it. When someone want’s to move their office, they need the following:

• A commercial tenant rep, like Bob Hill, to find the new space
• An office furniture company to furnish the new office
• A moving company to move the stuff in the old office to the new one
• An IT company, like Carceron, to restore the computer network
• A telecom broker, like Elite Telecom Services, to get the telephone lines and Internet service going
• A telecom hardware company to setup the phone system for the new location
• A printer to handle change out of all collateral such as business, cards, brochures, letterhead, etc.
• And probably a CPA

You could market the alliance with an informational web site that is search engine optimized (maybe everyone chips in for some pay per click advertisement as well). Make sure that there is good quality content on the site. In the case of the office move, perhaps some check lists, Dos & Don’ts, etc.

Getting Started

If you don’t know all of the people that you need to form your alliances, I suggest joining a BNI or Corporate Connections referral marketing program. Corporate Connections chapters, like Synergy, are developing a strong, structured program for strategic alliance creation and development. Another venue might be Vistage. I am a director for Corporate Connections in the Atlanta market, so please feel free to contact me directly with any questions about that program.

What are some other ideas for an Advanced Strategic Alliance?