Moving business need advice

[Stacey K]

I've had my building for sale and I close today. I am renting until July 5. I'm moving my primary residence 30 minutes away to a 50k town. Right now I'm in a 6k town.

I've decided to rent an office/shop in the town I will live in which is the 50k town. I know I'm going to lose most of my business where I am but I do have quite a bit of business in the larger town already and some good connections so I'm not too concerned. I've been getting a lot of "angry-ish" phone calls from people asking me what's going on and I just tell them that I'm not going out of business, just selling the building. I did not want to tell everyone that I am moving to another town until I knew for sure that my building was sold - what happens if the sale had fell through and it sits for 2 more years on the market? I had considered renting office space in this smaller town but that's a lot of travel and does it really pay to stay in a small town vs. going somewhere larger?

So, I'll have to make some kind of announcement but I'm not sure what to say. I feel like I'm going to piss a lot of people off, which is OK, I have thick skin. The school Booster club asked me yesterday but I could not say anything so I feel like I lied. Do you think it's necessary for me to tell everyone my life story or do I go about it more like, I'm no longer going to have a physical location in Kiel but will be doing deliveries weekly? I just started a couple apparel stores up and I now I feel kinda crappy about doing that and not giving them the option to go elsewhere.

The problem is if I told just ONE person, the entire town would have known and if the sale fell through, then I sit in a bad spot again.

 

[JBurton]

Sounds like you'd best take the life story route. Just take it down after a month or so if you don't want it to be brought up too frequently. Like you said, if you told one person everyone would know, so if you only tell folks enough to know they need to head one town over for your same services, the rumor mill may get fired up...
(You may want to holler at the booster club while you're drafting your announcement, lest they feel lied to, but they ought to understand your uncertainty until closing a sale on your location.)

 

[White Haus]

I suppose it depends on what you want out of this/what your intentions are with the company. Without needing to know your life story, do you want to keep those customers, or leave them in the dust?

Depending on your answers, I'd say draft up a letter and send them to the clients you like. Let em know you'll still be around, just a ways away and they can still order via email. (Weeds out pop-ins and tire kickers)

The clients you don't like can find out through the grapevine and who cares what they think anyways.

PS. Congrats on the move/new direction. Hope it works out well for you!

 

[Boudica]

I was thinking along the lines of what Whithaus said. Send an email newsletter with the story - the plan... whey they might want or need to know regarding their favorite sign lady and how to find you in the new location.
In a small town, having to drive 30 minutes to continue working with a trusted (or any) vendor wouldn't be unheard of, the loyal ones will follow you - the ones that are too lazy to follow you - you probably didn't want them to anyway.

 

[Stacey K]

Those are great answers! I'm probably thinking too much into it - I'm not running an ER, it's just signs. Many of my customers I've never even met and have never been to my shop, so they would not be the wiser.

For the first time in my life, I'm really "winging it". I sold my house but I don't have a new one to move into LOL I'll have to shack up with my son or parents until I find a house. I think once I do find a house I'll know a little better if I'm setting up shop in the basement or if I'm going to need to rent an office or maybe just a garage somewhere. Thankfully I have enough cash to float around for a while until I figure it out LOL

 

[JBurton]

Send an email newsletter with the story - the plan... whey they might want or need to know regarding their favorite sign lady and how to find you in the new location.

I was thinking a big fb post would hit the target audience, emailed newsletter might get read, especially if folks in this small town check their emails as frequently as some small towns around me...

 

[Gino]

We moved several times over the years and if you're good, fair and reliable, they'll travel an extra 1/2 hour. You're worth it. It's simply called growing pains.
Our last move was our biggest and other than the tire kickers, all the rest followed us. I still have some customers from the late 70s. They know a good thing and so will your followers.

Good Luck and don't look back.

All we ever did was make a small map/diagram as to where we were moving to, explaing the reasoning behind it. Needed more space, to reach an even larger clientele and mostly be more centrally located..... watch us grow with you.

 

[Boudica]

I was thinking a big fb post would hit the target audience, emailed newsletter might get read, especially if folks in this small town check their emails as frequently as some small towns around me...

Then there are the folks who NEVER look at face book. (me)
... maybe she should do both.

 

[Stacey K]

Perhaps an email to the better customers then follow-up with a FB post a day later for everyone else! I have a few customers that I will call or tell in person as we have become friends over the years.

I'm going to be happy to get rid of the tire kickers!

I just hired a guy to refinish my wood floors and he told me he's been in a different city for 6 years and I didn't even know it LOL A few other smaller guys moved also and I've had to change the city on more than one or two vehicles over the years so...I guess, it's the way it goes!

 

[unclebun]

A business located a half hour drive away might be considered "still local" or "far away" depending on the locale. Here where we are, it's a large recreational lake with numerous small towns and villages around it. It can take 45 minutes to get from some towns to another, but it's all considered local. And we have small towns in the rural areas around, up to 45 minutes away, which will come to us for signs rather than go 60-70 miles to their nearest big city. So really, depending on the way the area is perceived by people, your customers may not consider that you've moved away--or they might think you've gone to Timbuktu.

 

[ikarasu]

You wont lose most of your customers...30 minutes away is nothing. I wouldn't tell them you'll do weekly deliveries only though... If someone is in a rush, you can UPS some signs out to them next day and it costs $10-20. We ship hundreds of packages a day all over... It'll be a bit of a learning curve if you don't normally ship, but you could still service all your old clients and just tack on a shipping charge. I'd send out an E-mail telling them your location is moving...you don't need to tell them why, just that it is, and you're still more than happy to service them.

If you're lucky, you lose all the crappy clients you want gone anyways. But finding a new sign shop is like finding a new employee... Costs $$ to train the new employee... You have all their logos, know what designs they like, good rapport with them.. I doubt you'll lose many, if any at all people.