It’s always exciting to head into a new year, both personally and professionally. The possibilities seem endless! We all know, however, that smart planning and the proper execution of those plans that will bring us success in our endeavors.
9 out of every 10 business start-ups will fail, even the ones that have a great start with an innovative product and a buzz in their community. Often, the reason for the lack of success is business owners neglecting to set ambitious and attainable goals for their venture. Setting clear and realistic goals enables a business owner and their team to effectively drive performance for those desired results.
Today we would like to talk about how to set ambitious (and attainable) goals for your business in 2020!
Setting The Goals
- When setting your 2020 goals, avoid being overly ambitious – you don’t want to adversely affect your company’s finances, productivity, or employee morale by over-reaching, nor do you want your goals to be too modest. A modest goal might be easily attainable, but it probably won’t do much to help your business progress and grow. Your goals should be S.M.A.R.T.:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Relevant
- Time-Bound
For example, compare these two potential goals for your business.
- Our goal is to increase the market share for our products by a *specific percentage* over a *particular and set period of time.*
- Our goal is to grow the popularity of our business/product/service in the current market.
The first goal clearly defines what is achievable and gives parameters that will help everyone assess progress within the given time-frame. The second, more vague, goal doesn’t provide the needed clarity so that anyone on the team can actually gauge progress or achievements. Having a specific, measurable goal will be a much more effective tool to help you and your team achieve success in 2020.
Communication
- Effective communication of these S.M.A.R.T. goals will be vital to building your organizations’ framework. Ambitious goals are only attainable when employees and stakeholders know what is required so they can align their own specific goals and activities with the objectives of the business. Letting each person know what is expected of them, when it is expected, how their piece is to be delivered, and how it will help the business to achieve the stated goal will keep everyone on track to drive the business forward in reaching the mark.
Tracking Goals
- As a business owner tracks progress and updates employees to reinforce their effective processes and focus, further effective measures and actions can be developed along the way that can move things along more quickly and identify issues that could create undesirable outcomes.
We hope these tips on how to set ambitious, yet attainable, goals for your business will help you get where you want to go in 2020! Piccolo is here if you want to sit down and talk about marketing for your small business. Give us a call at 615-348-7768!
