Goals: Essential for business success

According to the Growth Accelerator Hyper Growth Insights Study 2014, 96% of hyper growth businesses planned their ambitious growth in the previous year – this reconciles with our own experience that growth and success don’t tend to happen by chance. Well-chosen business goals and objectives point a new company in the right direction and keep an established one on the right track. They give a sense of meaning and purpose – a sense of direction that flows throughout your organisation.

It goes without saying that one of the most beneficial ways to measure a business’ success is by setting goals and achieving them. But how do you know if you are setting business goals that are going to drive you in the right direction? What goals in business should you be striving for to stand out from the crowd and get where you want to be. Our Pro-actions business coaches have put together a guide to what business goals are, and how you can accomplish the right ones for business growth.

Our top 5 tips that help our clients set clear goals and then follow them up so that they make a real difference in their businesses:

1. Don’t wait to start

You may not know where to start and it may may feel overwhelming, but don’t procrastinate because you don’t feel prepared. It may not be urgent but it is definitely important so start setting business goals today.

2. Make them SMART goals

They need to be clear and they need to be written down. But they also need to be SMART:  Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-framed. Smart business goals allow you to focus your aims clearly.

Specific

Your business growth goals must state exactly what you need to achieve. An example of a Specific goal might be: “We expect to gain 50 new customers by the end of June.”

Measurable

Your progress needs to be measured and monitored, so make sure you set goals that can be properly measured. This makes setting goals and achieving them much more feasible and rewarding.

Accountable

Be clear about who is accountable for their delivery – i.e. who is in charge of making them happen. No matter how small business goals may be, understand who is accountable for them.

Realistic

Are you being realistic and relevant to what your business does and to your market? There’s no point in setting an unattainable business goal. If your turnover has never been more than £100,000 don’t set next year’s goal at £1o million.

Time-framed

Make sure you set specific deadline dates – a major part of setting business goals is recognising when you are going to achieve them. Make them realistic but let them push you to keep improving.

3. Share your goals with everyone involved

Try to involve everyone . Sharing the planning will help everyone understand the direction your business is heading in and focus them on achievement.  Your business goals become the team’s which become the company’s… and then set your KPIs to measure them regularly, so everyone is involved in setting goals and achieving them!

4.   Work on your goals every day

Setting and achieving goals is a process that requires regular ongoing attention – tricky when you’re trying to run a small business and all the aspects that entails. However, it’s no good setting goals for the start of a New Year but not looking at them again until mid-year; set milestones, weekly, and monthly actions you will take to achieve them.

5.   Don’t forget to celebrate your successes

When you set goals you tend to focus on the end result and it’s easy to lose track of successes that happen in between. Set milestones and celebrate the achievement of each milestone. This also ensures you monitor and measure each success that helped you achieve the overall goal. Business growth goals drive success for your company, so make sure you enjoy that success too!

Set goals and achieve them with Pro-actions

When you work with Pro-actions’ advisors, we’ll talk you through setting business goals in the most effective way for you and your business. You can book a free business advisory session with our team. We will take the time to understand your business and identify how to succeed.

By consistently setting goals and achieving them, you’ll have a clear idea of where you want to succeed and what you need to do to get there. Identify the areas of improvement for your company with our Business Health Assessment. Answer a few quick and easy questions to check-up on your processes and start setting business goals to improve.