There are business owners who go through the entire year without ever really having a clear specific goals for their business. They just go through the work routine, day after day, week after week without ever really having any direction as to what they want to accomplish by the end of the year. The reason most business owners do this could be because if they never commit to a specific goal, they won’t be disappointed when they miss it, and they won’t feel bad about their lack of a real plan to succeed.
The best time to set goals for the year is in December before the new year begins. When business owners set specific goals, it provides an incentive to achieve. Throughout the year business owners check back on what they have accomplished on a monthly or quarterly basis to measure their progress and ensure they and their staff stay focused and motivated towards what they want to accomplish.
If you want to set goals for your business, start by writing down your specific goals for the new year in categories: Customer Satisfaction, Marketing, Operational Efficiency, Revenue Growth and Profitability. If there are other critical areas that are priorities to the success of your business, then write down goals in those areas as well. Decide what you want to accomplish in each particular area of your business. When do you want to reach that goal? How will you hold yourself and your staff accountable to accomplishing these goals? Do you have a plan that will help you and your staff measure progress towards accomplishing these goals? Document this plan and keep it available so that progress can be measured.
Always measure your progress towards accomplishing your goals. This is very important. Having a goal is one thing, but having a measurement system so you can see your progress on a regular basis will provide incentive and is the key to success! Keep it simple. Document your progress on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Share the results with your staff. Celebrate the small steps towards accomplishing goals. Make corrections and adjustments on a regular basis. This process will keep you and your team focused and will give you the highest probability of success!
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