It’s time to think even more closely about the following year’s business strategy. Here’s some things to keep in mind when setting goals.
Decide What Your Goal Is
Setting goals is the most important step in turning your small business idea into a successful business. Without setting specific goals, you might not know what you’re trying to accomplish or how far along you are in achieving those goals. In addition, if there aren’t any concrete plans for what will happen next once your business is up and running (e.g., when do I need to hire employees? How much money do I need saved up before we can start selling?), then it’s easy for other opportunities (and distractions) to come up and derail everything from happening as planned.
Have a Plan
Develop a solid quarterly plan before the year is over that has specific deliverables, individual priorities for your team members, and milestones to help them stay on track. There are primary things to include in a quarterly plan. One is picking an area of focus (could be one or multiple) that addresses your business needs for that specific period. Another is the definition of success for each focus area. Lastly, the specific actions you must execute to achieve success.
- Compile a list of business goals (e.g., increase customer retention by 30% in 2023 or adopt more efficient lead management software for your sales team)
- Identify the tasks you need to accomplish for each specific goal
- Assign each task to a particular month or time period
- Map out an achievable time frame for each task
- Communicate the quarterly goals to individual teams and specific departments
Track Your Progress
In addition to setting SMART goals, you should establish clear dates and milestones by which you want to achieve your goals. To ensure you’re on track, you need to identify the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) you will use to track the success of your goals. Metrics are an excellent way to measure progress over time and understand what is working in your business and why. When it comes to KPIs and businesses, there is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Each business is unique in its goals and should use its business plan as a starting point to determine KPIs. https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/financial-management/the-7-most-important-kpis-to-track-as-a-small-business/
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