As an act of management and direction, the establishment of appropriate business objectives is based on a detailed analysis of the company, its environment and, of course, its members.
Surely you know the importance of defining objectives for any business, but have you ever wondered if your organization sets business objectives correctly?
The planning and execution of projects based on well-established objectives are one of the key factors in the success of any business. Unfortunately, it is normal for some companies to set goals that are too imprecise or unattainable.
As a consequence, by not setting clear goals and therefore not being able to design an adequate action plan, the results tend to be quite frustrating. This translates into demotivation of the work team and losses for the business.
If this has happened to you, don’t worry. Each challenge is an opportunity to improve.
If you’re looking to define better business goals, we recommend that you take a look at our tips. Keep reading and start now to execute all your projects on the right foot.
Why is it important to define business objectives well?
Goals make sense of projects and help company members stay focused on what’s really important. They also keep teams motivated even when the process of developing a plan or project becomes more difficult.
Having clear objectives also contributes to the fact that the interests of all the company’s collaborators converge in a common goal. This results in a collective search for the optimization of business performance.
In conclusion, well-defined business objectives tell the organization where to direct its efforts and resources, to prevent members from dispersing into useless or unprofitable actions.
5 tips for setting better business goals
#1 Identify what you can improve
Before defining your objectives, you must discover what opportunities for improving the company has. Have you had a recurring problem? Have you been presented with a challenge that is difficult to overcome?
Start by identifying the root of the issue and based on that take the next step towards defining the objectives. There are some tools that can help you with this task:
Benchmarking: Unless your business idea is completely innovative, surely there are other companies in your niche that have already gone through the process you want to start.
Then do some research on the strategies applied by the competition and determine if there are any that can help you improve.
SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Opportunities, Weaknesses, and Threats): What are the strengths of your business? Is there a way to empower them? What are the weaknesses? Is there a threat you need to address? Answering these questions will help you know where you can improve.
Don’t forget to ask the opinion of the other members of the company and make surveys to measure the level of customer satisfaction. Both groups are an excellent source of information when it comes to identifying opportunities for improvement.
#2 Set your priorities
Excellent, you have already identified the points to improve, now the next step is to prioritize according to the needs of the company. The priorities must be established according to those projects that provide more value to the company.
Projects that do not meet this requirement should be set aside to give way to those that will have a more significant impact on the success of the company.
#3 Apply SMART criteria
Now it’s time to define the objectives. For this, you can apply the SMART criterion. Each of the letters in the name of this methodology corresponds to a characteristic that the objective must meet. Let’s see:
Specific
The objective must have a specific purpose and must be very clearly stated. This will allow the members of the company to understand the goal well.
Measurable
“Improving sales performance” is definitely not a SMART objective, it’s just an intention. Why? Because business objectives must be measurable.
That is, they must give you the opportunity to calculate their performance. How would we turn that example into a SMART business objective? We could, for example, set a goal of increasing sales by 10% over the next two months.
Achievable
Are your resources sufficient to achieve this goal? To answer this question you can use the information you gathered in step #1. If the answer is no, then your goal is definitely not SMART.
Realistic
If you set unrealistic goals, you’ll most likely demotivate your team. For an objective to be realistic, the level set to achieve it must be reasonable. Ideally, your goals should be expressed in terms of progress.
Timely
In other words, defined in time. In order to be able to measure the results of the project, you must be able to assign it a start and end date. The chosen duration must be consistent with the nature of the objective.
#4 Concentrate not only on financial results
Of course, the Return on Investment is important, but it is important that when defining your objectives you do not focus only on the immediate increase in the company’s income.
Remember, there are some plans that take longer than others, so they should be divided into sub-stages. If one of your goals is to increase the number of customers by 30% by next year, you should be aware that to attract consumers you should probably start by channeling yourself into increasing leads or creating campaigns that raise your company’s awareness.
Take this very much into account when setting your business goals.
#5 Measure
Achieving successful projects is not limited to well-defined objectives. It is necessary to measure the performance of strategies to determine if you are on the right track or if there are some things you need to change.
For this, do not hesitate to use technological tools. An ITSM software, a CRM or a security solution (it all depends on the type of objective), can be of great help when calculating if you reached the goals in the way you expected or not.
What are you waiting for? Define better business objectives and use the best resources in your favor to make your business grow.
If you want more information about the best software on the market, contact us. In GB Advisors more than tools, we offer solutions designed to help you optimize your business to the maximum.
Did you find this information useful? You can also download a short pdf guide with this information here:
