Managing Multiple Locations of Your Business

The best way to manage multiple locations is to have team building activities. This will help the employees know they are part of a bigger team. The manager needs to be in direct contact with the branches and getting weekly reports.

It can seem overwhelming, sure. But with the right preparation, managerial skills and dedicated workforce to support you, you can keep your business running smoothly as it continues to flourish.

Let’s take a look at four strategies you can take to juggle multiple locations, tasks and people all at once.

1. Check in with locations.

You need to witness firsthand how your other locations are doing. When visiting those locations, you should be looking at how employees are interacting with your customers and one other, whether those employees are taking accurate inventory counts, how clean the stores are and whether or not they need renovations and repairs It’s not enough to send an assistant or a manager to do this job. As owner, you know what a successful store should look like.

2. Ask for weekly progress reports.

Let’s say you visit your stores and talk to employees. Everything may seem fine, but you have to know for sure. This is why weekly progress reports are critical.

3. Host a party or gathering.

Your employees can make or break your company. You want to make them feel appreciated and part of a group effort.

4. Hold quarterly training sessions.

A quarterly training session is where you’re able to talk about professional topics with your employees. You can bring in interesting guest speakers, like corporate comedians or other successful business owners, do team-building exercises and go over your goals for the quarter.

Sourced from: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/246174

Having different business locations, creates unforeseen issues whereby the employees might not arrive in good time at work and on the other hand productivity might reduce without direct supervision. This will require creation of new policies to control this

Managing Multiple Locations: Put Systems in Place

The old adage is that systems run businesses, and people run systems. “You must have systems in place to be able to standardize the quality of your communications, products and results,” says Bert Martinez, founder of Bert Martinez Communications, a business training and communications company with multiple locations. “Systems will allow you to duplicate offices and grow faster with reduce training times and supervision.”

Managing Multiple Locations: Adopt New Technology

With the advent of the Internet, and the prolific surge in the number of collaborative tools that have spawned from it, technology has become an integral part of the backbone for any far-flung organization, says Bloom, particularly because it can help your organization cut down on business travel expenses.

Managing Multiple Locations: Focus on Communication

Systems are a must, technology is important tool however, none of these will work with out real communication, says Martinez. “Communication is the key to collaboration with your offices, coworkers, and clients,” he says. If you neglect this aspect of running your business, you do so at your own risk, particularly in a business with multiple locations. That’s why Martinez also makes having his employees have time face-to-face a priority by having his offices take turns hosting each other once a year to enable communication between people on all levels.

Sourced from: https://www.inc.com/guides/managing-multiple-business-locations.html