In a recent Forbes survey, more than 80% of business owners confessed that they didn’t track their company goals. And yet, an equal, if not higher, percentage would likely state that goal-setting is integral to business success.

Goals usually fall within four general areas: customer service, social, profit, or growth:

  1. Customer service – goals related to improving customer satisfaction or retention.
  2. Profit – goals set to increase profits by a certain percentage.
  3. Growth – goals related to the expansion of the company, e.g. through team growth
  4. Social – goals that focus on giving back to the community, through philanthropy or volunteer organisations.

Have you paid much attention to your business objectives lately? Maybe you’re too busy running around the field to see the goal posts, or are sitting on the sidelines because you’re not sure where to start. Neither make for a winning game plan.

Here’s a five step hack to get your goals firmly into the back of the net:

  1. Document CONCRETE goals and distinguish your long-term goals from your short-term ones.
  2. Break them down to what each goal means on a DAILY basis. For example, if you want to increase sales annually by x% percent, how many new listings a month does that equate to, and how many more calls per day?
  3. REVIEW them regularly. This can increase your chances of success by up to 95%. For example, each Monday morning, check in on the status of your goals. This sets your week up well because so many small things can come up during the week to distract you.
  4. Create SYSTEMS to support your goals. Say one of your goals is to increase your number of leads, or prospective customers. Without a system, you might call 10 people today, 5 tomorrow, and 20 next Tuesday, vainly hoping to see a bump in your numbers. A better idea might be to implement a lead generation system, whereby you establish an entire pipeline of prospects funneled from multiple channels, define second and third follow-up procedures, and track the appropriate metrics.
  5. ALIGN your resource expenditure with your goals. Like systems, the proper resources must be devoted to activities that align with your goals if you hope to make progress. For example, if your goal is to strengthen your customer retention rate, do you have the team or resource to devote the majority of their time to this?

If you need help to clarify your business or marketing goals, call or email us today.