My new task would be to find a location that made since, to make the branch more centralized for our new territory. This part of the job would be a big task, but would be less stress than what I had just done in backing out of over thirty customers. I would certainly need to pick up more business to cover our losses. I had a plan, and that plan was going to be that I would build close relationships with the customers that we had left and grow the business with them.
In the following weeks I searched for a location. I searched around the Quad Cities and I had found a couple locations that would do, but I didn’t feel real good about a change to either one. We had a couple of customers in Galesburg, IL. I had been there to see the customers when there it was, a building close enough to the freeway with a big lot and the building would be large enough to handle our trucks. The lot was big and that is just what we needed for the semi’s that would bring our products from the plants.
I called the region manager about the location and he seemed pleased and was coming for a visit to check it out. He arrived in the next few days and was excited about the find. He negotiated the lease with the owner of the property. Next thing you know we were having a meeting with the route salesmen to tell them of the change that they had been had known was coming. In the next few weeks I was going to be very busy planning new routes and informing the customers that we had left of our change.
I had to run ads for hiring new salesmen, we needed three we would hire four, keeping in mind that at least one wouldn’t make it. I also had to find a new mechanic, this was a surprise as I thought the one that I had was coming, he changed his mind at the last minute. The task was pretty big after all we were moving the branch one hundred miles to the east. Too far for the people that lived in the Iowa region to commute.
There was another challenge too, Darlene got our home sold back in Indiana. I was going to have to help get the move done. The company was great at helping with this task. The sent a moving company to pack the whole house they even loaded our car on the semi too. We didn’t realize how much stuff we owned. Our daughter and son were going to stay behind. Our son had graduated earlier that year and he was going to live with a friend while going to college. Our daughter was going to stay with some friends and finish out the school year. We felt that this would be better then enrolling her in a new high school so late in the year. Darlene and I really wanted for both of them to come with us, but we felt confident and it was for just a short while.
