By the St. Conti Communications Team

“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” —Pablo Picasso

It’s a new year, and, for many, that means setting their business goals. What are the secrets to setting effective goals? Make them lofty yet achievable; set metrics to use in determining success; and set time frames/deadlines.

Before Setting Goals

Conducting a SWOT can prove useful in creating, “a high-level strategic planning model that will help you identify where your organization can improve and where it’s doing well,” as explained by this ClearPoint Strategy article.[1] SWOT is an acronym for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and measuring these aspects of your business will create a baseline on which a realistic goal can be set.

That same article also suggests that you then analyze the market and your past performance to see where the industry, and your business should be heading.[2] A couple concluding factors to consider before setting business goals is the taking of input from employees to get a ground floor perspective, and to determine who will be “participating in the goal-setting exercise.”[3] With these variables accounted for, the goal can be realistically measured and set.

Setting the Goal Itself

After measuring and setting a realistic business goal, achieving it comes down to how specific and long-term it is. In regards to how specific it is, this article by Entreprenuer explains that a hypothetical goal of “raising $10,000 by July 1” is more achievable than “raising capital.”[4]

As for the timeframe, setting both short-term and long-term goals is a must. Short-term goals should be set to be attainable in a matter of weeks or a single year while long-term ones can be “five, 10 or even 20 years.”[5] It should be stressed that long-term goals should be greater than short-term ones while remaining attainable.

Lastly, this article by Small Business mentions that these types of goals should not be exclusive.[6] If your long-term goal is “to attain $200,000 a year in sales, then your short-term goals should correlate to this.”[7]

To sum things up, setting a business goal should be a realistic and attainable endeavor based on what you and your company can do. Long-term goals should be attained as a result of achieving a series of short-term ones. The point is to have a plan in which you fervently believe and on which you vigorously act. As Mr. Picasso said, there is no other route to success.

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[1] ClearPoint Strategy, “18 Principles To Follow For Business Goal Setting,” https://www.clearpointstrategy.com/business-goal-setting/.

[2] ClearPoint Strategy.

[3] ClearPoint Strategy.

[4] Entrepreneur, “Goal Setting,” https://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/goal-setting.

[5] Entrepreneur, “Goal Setting.”

[6] Small Business, “Goal Setting Practice for Business Success,” https://www.thebalancesmb.com/goal-setting-2948135.

[7] Small Business, “Goal Setting Practice for Business Success.”

 

St. Conti Communications is a public relations and marketing communications agency based in Southern California and specialized in supporting high technology, green technology and similar companies. For more information about our agency and how we can help you, contact Donna St. Jean Conti, APR, at dconti (at) stconticommunications.com.