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The power of goal setting is well documented, and there are hundreds if not thousands of books and articles out there on the topic, so I’m not going to try to convince you here if you still need that. What I want to do now is share some of my Top Tips for creating a great plan that you can actually accomplish.
First and foremost, make sure that your goal-setting and planning includes both business and personal items. As a business owner, you need to be planning for balance in your life, so I would suggest starting with your personal goals. The categories to consider for personal goals are: health/fitness, financial, family, spiritual, education, and FUN! Never forget to plan to have fun. The categories for business are: sales, marketing, team, operations, finance, and products/services. Be sure to consider goals in each area.
The next step is to be certain to break up your sales goals into smaller chunks. Since you are in business, I am already assuming that you will have a sales/revenue goal (if you don’t we need to talk). Too many business owners just say they want to increase sales by 10% or some other generic number. My recommendation is to look at the components of sales and set targets for those items, which will result in a much bigger sales increase when you put them back together. For example, instead of increasing sales by 10%, let’s increase your number of leads by 5%, your conversion rate by 7%, and your average sale amount by 5%. Since these components of sales multiply together to generate revenues, you would increase your sales by 18% if you accomplished these three smaller goals.
Just as important as sales goals are your profit goals. I assume that the purpose of sales is to end up with a net profit at the end of the day/week/month/year, so why aren’t you setting goals and planning for profit instead of hoping for profit? There are two types of profit in every business – gross profit and net profit. If you don’t know the difference, call me quickly, as you may be losing out on a great opportunity to make more money! I have some clients raise their prices, sell a little less (and work a little less) yet make more money!
The last recommendation I have for you is to share your goals with others. Share them with your spouse/significant other, your team, your coach, your CPA, your banker, your financial planner, your peer mentors. The more people that know about your goals, the more they can ask you how you are doing with them. Peer pressure is one of the greatest forms of accountability, so the more people you share the goals with, the more help you will get to achieve them.
However you choose to implement goals and planning, the simple truth is that writing them down, reviewing them regularly (at least weekly, I prefer daily), and sharing them with others who can help you achieve them are the best ways to help you get everything you want in your business and your life.
Need help setting your goals? Join us on 9/28/18 at our GrowthCLUB workshop.
Author: Mark McNulty, Louisville Business Coach
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