For the past few months I’ve been planning stores 4, 5, & 6.  After the first store #2 closed because of poor planning on my part, I’ve spent more than ample time putting together locations and budgets.  Current locations are based less on intuition and more on solid research.

    I’ve learned that a good location isn’t necessarily somewhere populous, but somewhere with a good local economy and household income close to Gardner’s.  My customer base is made up of working class people who need their computers repaired and don’t want to spend a fortune.  I do best stepping on the heels of already established repair places.

    I found I’m using my computer for planning purposes more than I have in the past.  By relying on the computer I’m able to spend more time planning and less time driving around.  It helps having an idea of the areas I want to be; however, using current locations as benchmarks has a huge advantage.

    A few weeks ago I was asked to put a store in Holden so I’ll use that as my first example.  I researched computer businesses in Holden and discovered there’s already four established businesses.  Holden’s demographics are similar to Gardner and most of those people commute into Worcester.  Google Maps tells me it’s about thirty miles from Gardner.

    My original plan was to plunk store number four in Brattleboro, VT.  Brattleboro has a similar makeup to Gardner and Greenfield.  Many of the residents work in that city and their downtown supports small businesses.  Drive time from Greenfield to Brattleboro is about thirty minutes.

    Finally, my third choice is Peterborough, NH.  Peterborough has a population similar to the others and also supports small business.  Peterborough is approximately the same distance from Athol as it is Gardner, but is directly north of both locations.

    So what does all this have to do with technology besides planning a computer store?  Well, I’ll tell you.  I’ve used a spreadsheet to predict how much business I’m going to get vs. how much extra time I’m going to need to work.  Comparing historic sales data and demographics for Gardner and Greenfield, I’ve created a spread sheet which outlines predictions for each location.

     In addition to those sales predictions I’ve also mapped out a typical day with estimated time behind the wheel.  No matter how I slice it, any of the stores will add an hour of non-productive time which will require an additional me.

    With that being said, here’s a neat prediction that without integrating Maps I wouldn’t have thought about.  Peterborough and Brattleboro are kind of in-line with each other making an easy commute.  Holden is out of the way from all the other locations.  Integrating Google Maps data into my spreadsheet showed me how foolish a store in Holden would be right now.

    Although my financial predictions for Holden are significantly higher than the other stores, when I subtract my time it evens out.  In other words, if I get trapped having to commute from Holden to Greenfield then my whole day is wasted.  However, if I have to commute from Peterborough to Greenfield then I don’t waste nearly the road time.

    Strategic planning for any business should be based on logical next moves and not on gut feelings or intuition.  First businesses (like my Gardner store) start out by throwing darts and hoping they stick.  I’ve learned that careful planning with the right tools can make creation and expansion much less of a risk.  If I plan the next locations correctly, I can at the very least, get at a few more hours of sleep a night.

(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner.  You can text him directly at (978) 413-2840 or visit www.LocalComputerWiz.com

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