How to set up goals to help you grow your business

Setting goals for your business helps you to formulate the mission of your business, informs your decision making and keeps you on track to achieve the growth and targets that you aim for.

Goals also help to keep you and your employees motivated and productive. If everyone understands the vision of your entrepreneurial venture, you are more likely to successfully fulfil your business ambitions.

Types of business goals

The main types of goals are related to a business’ financial, operational and growth objectives.

• Financial goals are those covering revenue, profit and cashflow. Your targets could include increasing profit margins and driving up sales. 
• Operational goals are process related such as improving efficiency, boosting customer satisfaction and enhancing sustainability.
• Growth goals are all about expanding a business. This could be increasing your market share, launching new products or improving brand awareness.

How to work out your business goals

The first step in setting business goals is working out exactly what you need to focus on to achieve growth.

You can do this by carrying out a SWOT analysis.

S.W.O.T. stands for:

• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Threats
   

List elements of your business in all four categories to work out what you’re good at, what you’re lacking in, what opportunities you have and how your business growth could be challenged.

Clarifying this information will help you to work the goals you should be setting for your business.

You can download a SWOT analysis template here.

Be SMART

Once you’ve conducted a SWOT analysis, you then need to set your goals.

There are various ways to do it but a very popular method is using the S.M.A.R.T. acronym.

S.M.A.R.T. stands for:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Realistic
• Time-related

Specific

Goals should be as specific as possible. Avoid broad or vague statements and focus on narrow objectives linked to a defined area of your business such as finances, sales and marketing. For example, rather than say you just want to achieve more sales by doing more marketing, decide by what percentage you want to improve the sales and using which particular marketing method. 

When thinking about specific goals, work out what you’re trying to accomplish, why you want to do it and who is going to be involved in achieving it. 

You might want to set specific goals related to factors such as improving sales revenue, increasing the number of clients, enhancing customer satisfaction levels and boosting profitability.

Measurable

Your goals need to be measurable so include metrics that allow you to track your progress in what you are trying to achieve.

Achievable

While it’s good to have big ambitions, you need to make sure you can actually achieve the goals that you set. To reach your long-term goals, you can set several short-term ones to get there. Achieving wins along the way will help you and your employees to stay motivated and productive.

Relevant

Goals need to tie in with your overall business plan and long-term objectives. Everything and everyone should be working towards the same vision.

Time-related

Each goal should cover a specific time with deadlines set for the objective to be achieved by a particular date.

Collaborate with others

If you have employees, involve them in the goal-setting process.

They may also bring ideas and insights from their area of the business that you haven’t thought about. For example, customer service staff could have useful insights from conversations with customers, and marketing employees may have insights from how your advertising activities perform.

Run meetings and workshops to discuss your potential goals. Highlight the results from your SWOT analysis and remind staff of your overall business plan.

Discuss your long-term business objectives and come together to brainstorm specific goals that will help you to achieve them. 

Track and measure progress

Once you’ve settled on your business goals, you need to set up processes to ensure you remain on track.

Create key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure your progress towards achieving your objectives. For more advice on financial KPIs, read our guide.

Hold regular meetings with everyone involved to discuss progress and what needs to be done if things aren’t going well. Adjust or tweak your goals if necessary.

Need help with setting and monitoring your business goals?

Here at TaxAssist Accountants we can help you with the right advice about financial and accounting goals to help grow your business.

Call 02 9608 3707 or complete our online enquiry form here to arrange your free initial consultation. 

Last updated: 24th July 2023