Businesses need to focus on creating SMART goals and taking action. Creating goals that have clearly defined steps to attain ensures your business has the resources it needs to move forward. SMART goals are those that provide very detailed solutions – what you want to achieve, how you will know if you achieve it, and when it will happen by. As a business owner or leader, learning to create these goals and then taking action to make them occur is critical to fostering long-term growth and success.
Understand SMART Goal Making
The first step is to understand how SMART goals work. SMART represents specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based. Now, consider how to create business-focused goals using these five components.
Specific
The goal must be specific. Something like “get more business” isn’t specific enough. Instead, consider a goal of “achieving $1 million in new sales by 2024.” The more specific it can be – though realistic – create clear expectations to follow. Once you create and then focus on a goal, it pulls you in and helps you to know exactly where you want to go.
Measurable
The goal has to be measurable in some way, or you do not know if you’ve achieved it. Create realistic but number-specific goals for sales, customer counts, traffic to your site, lowered complaints, and so on. Use numbers to help you see where you are throughout the process.
Attainable
It’s easy to create big goals that seem fantastic, but if those goals are not something you can realistically reach, then you’re limiting yourself and your business. You’re not going to get 1 million new social media followers in the next month. Create goals that are attainable, and use resources like industry figures, growth charts, and research to help you ensure they are on point.
Relevant
Creating attainable goals that don’t support your business’s specific needs makes them less beneficial overall. Consider how relevant your goals are. For example, if you want to see your revenue grow in the coming year but are shutting down locations or facing limitations due to economic pressures, that may not be effective.
Time-Based
Always put a timeframe on your goals. That’s going to give you a specific window to shoot for, and it helps you to see where you are throughout the process. For example, if you want to increase your revenue for the year, you may be specific and say you plan to see $150,000 in new sales in March and April of this coming year.
Take Action to Make Them Happen
Now that you have goals to work towards, take the necessary actions to make them happen. That could mean new marketing strategies, better training for employees, or new-found motivation in your leadership. Sometimes it means getting additional training or support.
As you ready your business to move forward, let our team help you through the process. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help support your business growth.