Neighbors: An Important Factor When Selecting Your Business Location

Neighbors: An Important Factor When Selecting Your Business Location

When choosing a location for your business you need to keep a lot of things in mind.

In addition to the location and quality of the building and Lease, or Sale, terms you may want to consider are who your neighbors are. Just like when buying a house or renting an apartment you want to find a place that is in a good neighborhood that you feel safe in, and that has people who are like minded to you.

To take it a step further when you are looking for an office space you should think about what types of businesses will be around you.  For instance, if you are an orthodontist, is there a dentist in the same office complex or down the street that can send you referrals?  If you are a specialty cake shop is there a coffee house nearby that you can partner with to display your cakes?  Or if you are a high-end clothing retailer is there a dry cleaner in the area that you can refer people to make sure they take care of the clothes they purchase in the proper way?  These types of neighborly relations may be more important to retail and healthcare businesses.  But even general office users may care about neighbors when it comes to employees.

Not only do you want to identify these potential partnerships or referral sources but you want to “be a good neighbor” to them and build a relationship with them so that they not only know who you are, but they like and trust you enough to refer their clients, friends, and family to you. Also there can be a downside to having neighbors that are in similar, or competing businesses. You may have concerns about competition for employees, or concerns about trade secrets.

If you find an office that is in a strip mall, a mixed-use building, or one of the new and popular shared office space locations make sure you are being a good neighbor at all times.  What does that mean?  Well it’s pretty simple, it’s the golden rule you probably learned in kindergarten.  Treat others the way you wish to be treated. Don’t steal their parking space, don’t be overly loud as a neighbor, don’t leave trash or other smelly items in your workspace/office that could bother others.  Be friendly, cordial, and respectful and build a genuine relationship and friendship.

So not only do you want to select a location that has good neighbors but you want to be a good neighbor to them and focus on building relationship because you never know where your next referrals may come from.