Not Too Late to Include Real Estate in 2015 Business Goals

It’s that time of year when small to mid-size business owners start establishing their annual business goals for the fast-approaching new year. When considering what goals to include, most bosses tend to think about increasing their bottom line by decreasing expenses. While this does play a part in improving the company’s profitability, we have found at Verity that increasing the top line, sales, actually gives our clients more bang-for-their-buck. And one key way to increase the top line is by making strategic real estate decisions.

Typical Business Goals

We find that typical business goals include:

• Increasing profitability
• Improving employee satisfaction
• Improving company image
• Increasing productivity of employees

How Does Commercial Real Estate Help You Accomplish These Goals

When you look at your 2015 business goals, can you definitively say how your real estate decisions are affecting each goal in a positive or negative way? Unfortunately, more often than not, a company’s real estate choices actually negatively, rather than positively, impact their company goals.

For instance, recently we met with a client that was having a difficult time recruiting/retaining top talent, mainly from the Millennial generation. At the time of their struggle, commercial real estate was not a priority for the company. While in their rut, they started comparing different aspects of their company to their competitors who were finding success hiring talented Millennials. The major difference our client found was that their competitors’ office building and space was modern, while our client’s was out of date and rundown. Thus, their problem was detected. Our client’s office appearance didn’t meet the expectations of their desired employees.   So the answer was simple, either renovate or relocate. We helped them find the most value by relocating. Although they are now paying 15% more on their office space, they were able to increase their top line by 30% because of new recruits.

Evaluate Your Real Estate Decisions

At Verity, we have each of our clients fill out a survey to help them assess how their current commercial real estate decisions are helping them meet their company goals. It is what we call a “strategic real estate diagnostic.”  If you would like to see if your commercial real estate decisions are helping your company accomplish its goals, then you too should take this survey.

Bottom Line

With 2015 approaching in less than 3 months, now is the time to start establishing concrete business goals. As you deliberate what strategies and tactics must be in place in order to accomplish your goals, don’t forget to keep your real estate at the forefront of your mind.

If you need help figuring out how to include commercial real estate in your 2015 business goals, feel free to reach out to Verity. We always love to help change the way business owners think about real estate.