There are many factors associated with your real estate decision when determining where to locate your place of business. Although you will inevitably need to address all of the factors, it helps to start the process with a broad view of what you want to accomplish in the space with which your customers will identify you. The key components to this perspective are the experiences of your customer, your employee and you, in that order.
When considering a space as a possible candidate in which to house your business, it is essential to first consider the impact that your space will have on the customers that walk through your door. Our economy is changing from an economy where consumers buy goods and services to one in which consumers are willing to pay a premium to companies that indulge them in experiences. B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore address this shift in their book The Experience Economy:
“The company – we’ll call it an experience stager – no longer offers goods or services alone but the resulting experience, rich with sensations, created within the customer. All prior economic offerings remain at arms-length, outside the buyer, while experiences are inherently personal. They actually occur within any individual who has been engaged on an emotional, physical, intellectual, or even spiritual level. The result? No two people can have the same experience – period. Each experience derives from the interaction between the staged event and the individual’s prior state of mind and being.”
What does this mean to you? You need to be able to visualize your business through your customer’s eyes. Will this place be easy to access, making it convenient for your customer? Will the grounds of the center be well-maintained and attractively landscaped, making a good first impression on your customer? Will you design your interior build out in a manner that allows you to “stage” the experience for your customer by engaging them and making them want to return? The questions to ask are virtually endless, but you must first focus on and sufficiently address as many aspects of your customer’s experience as possible.
You may be surprised to know that your employees are actually your second set of customers. Think about it - your employees directly engage your customers. Additionally, you are reliant upon them to help keep your business running smoothly. Consequently, it is imperative to consider their experience at your place of business. Is your space a setting that makes your employees eager to come to work and perform? Is it the “stage” from which they can perform and deliver a pleasant experience to your customer? Because your employees play such a significant role in your business, you must ensure that their experience is enjoyable.
Finally, you also need to lend foresight to the experience that you will have throughout the course of your dealings with your potential landlord. In most instances, your goals and your potential landlord’s goals will be aligned. Both you and the landlord want you to open for business, be successful, and continue to prosper for the duration of your lease term. In that sense, the signing of a lease is essentially the partnering of you with your landlord and you need to be aware of the ramifications for you. For example, if you sign a lease with a five year term, you are committing to a long-term relationship with that landlord during which you will have to deal with them on all business points related to your location.
Can you see yourself having to work with that landlord for the duration of your lease agreement? Will they diligently manage the property? Will they be fair in addressing the inevitable challenges that will arise? Will they handle your requests fairly and promptly? These are the questions that go a long way to determining your experience – an equally important factor in your decision.
The success of your real estate decision for your business will ultimately be borne out by the experience it produces for your customers, your employees, and you. If you can accurately predict how that decision will impact those individual experiences, you will have laid the foundation for successfully determining where to locate your business.
Once you have honed your decision-making process by considering the ‘experiential’ aspect, you are more capable of making the next round of decisions, including the size of space you need, the planning involved to prepare the space for business, and some common challenges encountered in that process.
