Steady business growth is always the goal. But “bigger” is never “easier”.
As your company grows the challenges grow with it. Concerns that were tough when you had only a couple of stores to deal with can become daunting when you have 20. And left without consideration, they become monumental when you have 200 locations.
Managing multiple locations is hard, but it’s what regional managers and leaders excel at. You learn quickly at that level that in order to thrive, you need to find reliable help. Trusted partners who can support logistics, payment processing, marketing and inventory flow become integral to your success.
Gets tougher as you grow…
The issue of “magnitudes of complexity” become painfully clear when you need to renovate your store locations or make physical improvements and alterations to them. Adding new signage or merchandizing to 300 stores is relatively easy for experiences managers. Renovating them is not.
When it comes to national-level renovations and construction projects, the problems of “getting the work done” demands the right construction partner. Most GCs, even commercial building specialists, are not effective at this. They may produce high quality work, but most lack the infrastructure, capacity, systems and experience to deploy their ability at scale when and where you need it.
The solution takes a certain kind of partner…
There’s a few key elements to look for when selecting a commercial building partner to help with national-level projects.
Dogwood has been operating successfully in this space for over 15 years, and we’ve narrowed down the list of requirements to just three key factors.
Make sure the national services providers you are considering have a robust capability set in all of these areas.
Ability to do the work
WORKFORCE
Above and beyond all, a national services provider must actually be able to do the work. This sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised. Many national providers are essentially dispatch centres that leverage a network of contractors in multiple regions. While this sounds tempting, the relationships they have with these contractors are not always as solid as they seem. Look for national service providers who have many long-term relationships with contractors. Do they have an in-house team for critical metropolitan areas (Vancouver, Toronto, etc.)?
CAPACITY BY REGION
Do they have capacity in the provinces, towns or areas you need them for? If you have locations in more remote or rural areas be sure to ask them about coverage for those regions.
EXPERIENCE
Have they done this before? Ask them about previous projects and past clients whom they’ve provided services for at scale.
All the right systems
ORGANIZATION AND TECHNOLOGY
It’s important for your national service provider to interface as seamlessly as possible with your internal management systems. Ideally they’re already set up with the Service Portals your company uses, but if not they should be able to work with you to make it happen. National Service providers should also have robust internal system and management tools in place to ensure they remain organized and on top of renovations being deployed across many locations at once.
MANAGEMENT
Systems only work when people do. A good national service providers will be backed not just by technology and software, but by an experienced and rigorous management team who are dedicated to your account.
World class communication
Communication is critical when deploying projects multiple locations.
It calls for proactive, frequent, and structured communication plans to achieve transparency and maintain order.
With a clear plan and platform for communication and reporting, you can rest a little easier knowing the status of your project nation-wide at any time.
A national service provider should always keep you informed. It is imperative to communicate frequently. Staying in touch might mean facilitating regular meetings or weekly conferences, updating reports, and more.
Never under-estimate the value of great communication in construction.