Last year around this time I offered some ideas on getting ready to wrap up the year by reviewing business financials and considering any last minute expenses. This year, I’m excited looking ahead to 2023 and it is a great time to set goals for your business and plan the year ahead. Ready? Let’s dive in!
The first step of goal setting is to know where your business stands. My favorite way to evaluate this is to have an internal meeting with my team to identify our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Having this overview and deciding on the weight each category should carry helps us prioritize and plan.
Once you know where things stand, you can set precise and attainable goals. My favorite goal setting method is called SMART. It’s not only used by the majority of businesses, but can also be adapted to personal goal setting. What is SMART? Each letter represents an important step as described below:
Specific: Can you easily and clearly explain your goal? Say your overall goal is to increase sales. That’s all fine and good, but what are the specific actions needed to make this happen?
Measurable: Will you be able to track your progress towards achieving your goal? Say your goal is to increase customer satisfaction – how will you track how consumers feel about you during the process?
Attainable: Based on the evaluation of your business from the first step above, your industry, and your competitors, does achieving this goal seem feasible?
Relevant: Your goals should align with your values and long-term business objectives.
Timely: Have you set a timeline? Does the goal seem achievable in a reasonable amount of time?
There you have it! The SMART system never fails at helping set winning goals. Here are some examples of this system in action to help get you started.
I will close with thanking Hannah from our team who successfully leads this process for us. If it can’t be you, having a member of your team lead the process of charting the next year now will aid in planning, and executing your success.
– Burak Sarac, Team Lead
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