To create change today for tomorrow,” Barry Magliarditi, founder and director of The Game Changers explains. “Business can be hard and uncomfortable,” he says, adding that “the dream of owning your own business and creating the chance to be your own boss, build your own financial freedom and create the opportunity to spend time with your loved ones or travel the world is at the core of what most business owners set out to achieve.”
In order to achieve any type of growth or success in business, you need to be setting goals that fall in line with your business strategy. Goals allow you to measure your progress and improve customer service and increase sales. After all, in business our primary goal should be to offer the best possible service to your customers.
Setting goals and achieving your goals as a small business whether they be financial goals like to increase profits or a more long term goal like expanding into an international market, is a vital element of creating a business plan. If your business fails to plan for the future and wings it on a daily basis, then you’re setting yourself up for failure.
However, the goals that you set can’t just be random. They need to be specific, measurable, time bound goals that reflect where you want to be in the next 12 months. This article will go through some tips in setting smart goals for your business, whether it be a small business or a larger one. Remember, your overall goals need to reflect the future vision you have for your business. Before you start creating a specific goal, you need to be clear on this first.
What are some examples of goals for a business
In order to set the right goals for your business, you need to underpin your vision and mission, setting goals that are tangible, measurable and get you closer to fulfilling your vision on a year-to-year basis. You should be setting goals for the next 12-months So that when you achieve them, you know you are on the path towards your vision. I think it’s worth adding that one of the most impactful goal-setting techniques I’ve taken on board with my organisation and consulting is to implement SMART goals; goals that are specific, measurable, actionable & achieveable, realistic and timely.
Break down your goals into sizeable steps or ‘chunks’, milestones are critical points along the way to achieving your goals and are the necessary steps you will take to get you there. You need to set milestones for each quarter- every three months you must reach each milestone to know you are on target for hitting each goal.
In terms of who you need on your team to build an organisation that can succeed, and how to build the right culture. You want to work with like-minded people who also love your vision, and connect with your mission and values; people who are willing to take ownership. You can’t find success in business by yourself, you need a team around that is motivated and driven to be by your side through the hard times and the good.
Some examples of goals that you can set for your business include financial targets, cultural targets and growth targets. There could be multiple goals stemming from each of these categories. For example, a growth target or goal could include winning a specific number of new clients or could include growing the size of your organisation in terms of staff. A cultural target or goal could include greater enthusiasm for innovation within your organisation or improved employee retention. As mentioned before, whatever your vision is for your business in the future, your goals need to match.
How to measure success
Measuring your progress on your goals is a key element in how to measure your key performance indicators – KPIs. KPI’s let you know how you are tracking and if you are on the path to achieving your objectives and goals. These goals could be in your marketing division, sales team, people, development, finance, operation and delivery and distribution elements of your organisation. Marketing, for example, should have KPIs that encompass things like social media campaigns per month, number of leads added to the database and compare these to a target for leads to build the database each month. If at the end of the month the marketing team hasn’t hit their goal, this might be time to take an objective look at the tactics they are deploying to see if a change in direction might be more effective in targeting new leads.
However, the success of some goals can be easier to measure than others. A cultural goal like improved motivation or enthusiasm is generally quite hard to measure with a specific number. This type of goal is usually felt within the day to day operations of a business, but indications of success can often be observed through other performance metrics.
At the end of the day, every business’s goals are different. Every business has different a vision for the future, a different why and different solutions to different problems. As said before, as long as your business’s goals are in line with its vision, mission and purpose, you’re on the right track.
Good luck!
