As a moving company, we get to see people move into houses they’ve been dreaming of and start new chapters of their life, but nothing is more exciting than helping a company move to a new location. We were once entrepreneurs too, and owning your own business is an extremely rewarding and deliciously challenging path. It’s full of ups and downs and the slow building of a well-founded self pride that stems from the success of your business which is as much an extension of you as your child is. Taking on a massive commercial moving project in Chesapeake can be a daunting prospect, but Scott’s Oceana Moving is here to ensure that nothing spoils the first chapter of a brand new portion of your life.
If you prefer your move mapped out and charted before you approach the task, then you’ll want to start planning at least a month early and be sure to address certain pieces of the move first in order to avoid stress later. The thing to avoid especially is getting overwhelmed because you’ll start to spiral into the clutches of your stress and having a successful and enjoyable move will be that much harder. If you take the preventative steps before hand to ensure that your move goes off without a hitch on moving day, you’ll be in the right state of mind to appreciate this milestone for what it is.
While your landlord hopefully knows by now that you intend to move, your utilities company might not. Arranging when your services are disconnected and where they’re reconnected is key to making sure the utility bill next month isn’t too far off the mark you were expecting. You should include the telephone company, your internet, heating, electricity and water when making your rounds of calls. It’s probably common sense, but mentioning that you’d like the service to be shut off after your move date is key to ensuring you don’t have to go to the bathroom at the old place and discovering too late that the water isn’t running. A couple more days of reliable utilities will help you avoid disaster down the road.
Make sure to give us a call in plenty of time so we can make your move happen on your schedule to the dot. We’ll help you determine what size truck you need and help you determine if you need packing services or other moving help that we can provide.
Whether you’re moving to Chesapeake from Virginia Beach or from Boston, your employees and yourself will need a way to get to the office. While long distance moving is a much more complicated affair, arranging the travel accommodations for you and your employees might still need some jostling and maneuvering on your part. Getting this out of the way sooner rather than later will free up your mind on the day of the move to just do what is needed. Get a list of who’s carpooling and who’s going to pile that one filing cabinet into their backseat. Fleshing out your plan early will make you more adaptable later on.
Rather than worry about appeasing the IRS’s many rules down the road, get the address changed through your accountant now. You’ll have to sit on the phone for about an hour at the least and it will most likely take four tries of the same EIN number on their end for them to find you, transfer the address and charge you for it. If the IRS contacts you in the future, those documents won’t be landing on the front porch of your other office — they’ll be coming straight to you. Remember, a mere change of address with the Post Office won’t save you from this inconvenience. They won’t forward official documents like that to a different address, they have to go to the address listed on the envelope. So be sure to put in the address change with both institutions so redirects are only for your Valpak.
At a month out, it can be hard to start packing up an office, especially if it’s already particularly minimalist. The best advice we can offer when you’re a month out from moving is start packing things bit by bit so that it’s not a mad rush the week before. There will, inevitably, be things that take longer to pack up and will need to be done at the last minute, but catching the small things that can get stowed away as you get closer to moving day is the key to a seamless Chesapeake move.
When a business moves offices, your clients and your network needs to be informed about the commercial move pretty far ahead of time so that they’re just as prepared as you are. Moving offices or locations for any business is a big next step and it’s worth note. Notifying the right people could take a milestone and turn it into a marketing tactic in one sweeping move. Scott’s Ocean Moving will ensure that your Chesapeake moving project goes without a hitch so you can focus on what matters: Your business.
While the utilities company can be notified as early as a month out, your clients and partner companies will want a more up-to-date timeline of when you’re moving and where you’ll be relocating to. Notify them if you’ll be closing early on any of the days or what day you’ll be doing the move so they will know not to expect very prompt replies to their inquiries during that whole week. If nothing else, it’ll assure them that you aren’t ignoring them and they won’t get frustrated and turn to one of your competitors. Send out an email including your new location’s details and a map with parking instructions if needed. Make sure the information is posted onto your web page and on your business’ Google + account so that new customers can find you without being directed to the wrong building. Once you’re settled in, it’s not a bad idea to throw a move-in party or sale and invite your email list of clients and partner companies. It’s the perfect way to draw attention to your new Chesapeake location while giving your clients perks to stay with you.
Make sure that alongside the IRS, you’re covering your bases with the bank and your insurance company. The company checks will need a changed address and will have to be printed up fresh. You might consider transferring your business account to a new bank or the Chesapeake branch of the bank you’re currently with so that you can access your information easily and have a banker that’s familiar with your account closer to your new location. Your insurance company will want to come and look at the new space, most likely and give you a new estimate. For offices this isn’t much of a worry, but warehouses might have some things changed depending on the neighborhood and the facility itself.
All of the mediums your clients reach you by should be altered to inform them of the move. The more time people spend thinking about your move, the more time they’re thinking about your business as a whole. Start by changing your incoming phone messages. Adding a small mention in your answering machine and phone tree automated messaging will catch them early and often. State the date of hte move and how it will affect service. Provide updated and reliable contact information so you don’t leave your clients in the dark if they catch you on moving day. Other mediums of notifying your client could include changing the signature line on your email and stamping outgoing mail correspondence. Make the changes to all of your social media accounts as well and go as far as making a post about the move. More interaction on Facebook and even Instagram, the better.
While some companies push press releases when they donate $50 to an environmentalist group, an office move actually constitutes notifying the press. Getting a mention in an article is a great way to share your success and this milestone with the public. You might only get featured in a local magazine or paper, but those who read that publication will think of you as “newsworthy” which can only be good branding. Contact a freelance copywriter if you don’t have one on your staff and check their portfolio before hiring them on. One with press experience is preferable but there are plenty of great writers that will be able to sell your press release to multiple local publications. Once you have it written up, add your letterhead and send it out to as many places as you can. The worst thing they can do is not pick it up, but your success is newsworthy and there’s nothing wrong with flaunting that.
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Moving should be exciting not stressful. You’re starting another chapter of your life, after all. A flawless moving experience is just a phone call away.
