When I begin working with a client, I always want to know if they have a plan. There are several types of plans that are helpful to me in my line of work. The most obvious is a floor plan — does my client have a current floor plan of their existing office. This helps us for forecasting expansion or contraction opportunities.
The next type of plan that is helpful is a business plan — this ties in nicely with the floor plan. Is my client planning on adding staff? If so, what departments will be adding personnel? What departments may be losing personnel? Future headcounts are important in an office lease negotiation because we can plan for future growth through expansion rights and options if we have a plan.
The third type of plan is more of a strategy. I welcome discussing with my clients before and during the transaction about what is our plan for this lease negotation. Will we need a good cop, bad cop approach? Do we need to have a strong viable Plan B in case our first choice doesn’t work out? Where do the economics need to be for this lease transaction? When we have a strategic plan in place, the transaction runs more smoothly and we typically get to a stronger conclusion.
Planning is one of the keys to successful business people. Do you have your plans?
