Expanding Your Market Presence: Where? And With Who?

As transportation and logistics recruiters, we’ve worked with many clients looking to expand their market presence and often field questions regarding expansion strategy. It’s of our viewpoint, along with many others, that talent makes or breaks a company, so it’s important to address whom you see leading your expansion. Complementary to talent acquisition is an expansion location. What market location is going to bring you the most success?

Where?

Organizations should consider various location factors before they take the plunge and expand into a new market.

• Is your location easily accessible to target employees?
  • Where does your target talent reside?
  • Suburbs vs. City, Major Markets vs. Smaller Markets
• Is your location attractive for relocation candidates?
  • Where are the ‘hot’ locations that will draw candidates from their current homes?
  • Chances are you might rely on relocation candidates when trying to fill key leadership or niche positions
• Does your location allow for office expansion?
  • Does your office space allow you to grow your team comfortably?
  • Perhaps you start up in a temp space and work to identify your permanent location

Location may be one the biggest pros or cons that we discuss with prospective candidates. Sometimes location and everything that goes along with it (lifestyle, commute, ability to live locally long-term, etc.) is just important as the position itself. After all, everyone is always striving for the often coveted “Work-Life Balance”.

With who?

Typically our clients have a target candidate in mind in regards to whom they want spearheading their new office growth. But, we have seen a few different approaches that have proven successful in the logistics industry.

• The Experienced Management Professional
  • Higher monetary investment cost, but proven success as a leader
  • Tasked with quickly building out a team and producing sales
• The Hungry, “Up and Comer”
  • Lower monetary investment and perhaps a ‘hungrier’ individual, pining to get to next level in their career
  • Tasked at proving themselves with individual sales and then building a sales team once success is proven
• The Team
  • Double the investment, but a proven pair that often brings strong talent from both the sales and operations side of the business
  • These individuals are often looking for that opportunity to either run their own branch or expand and run their own company
  • A rare option but worth exploring if you are lucky to be connected and aware of potential interest

When it comes down to it, we’ve seen successful market expansion with varying types of leadership and across many markets. But, addressing questions such as these might help determine how quick that success happens.