How to Set Business Goals

Growth for Women-Owned Businesses

Setting Business Goals: Determine Your Long-Term Aims

Start by distinguishing your long-term goals from your short-term ones. Your long-term goals should have a timeline of about three to five years, says Maria Marshall, an associate professor at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, who has conducted research on small and family-owned businesses.

They should articulate your company's mission statement, reflecting the reason your company was founded. "When you think about why the company is there in the first place, goals take on a whole different meaning," says Bill Baren, a business coach and founder and president of Bill Baren Coaching, based in San Francisco. "There's more energy behind them. They don't feel forced."

Marshall says that these types of visionary goals usually fall within four general areas: service, social, profit, or growth:

• Service - Goals related to improving customer service satisfaction or customer retention.
• Social - Goals that focus on giving back to the community, through philanthropy or volunteer organizations, for example.
• Profit - Goals set to increase profits by a certain percentage.
• Growth - Goals related to the expansion of the company, through new employees, for instance.

Setting Business Goals: Create Short-Term Objectives

Now that you've figured out what you want in the long term, you need to figure out how to get there. Marshall recommends an easy way to think about your short-term objectives for accomplishing your long-term goals. Make them S.M.A.R.T.:

• Specific. In order to work, objectives need to be concrete (not as abstract as your long-term aims) and highly detailed.
• Measurable. Put a figure or value, such as a dollar amount or percentage, to the objective.
• Action-oriented. Lay out which actions need to be taken by which people, and when.
• Realistic. Make goals challenging, but consider your resources so that you can actually achieve them reasonably.
• Time specific. Set a deadline to keep things on track.

Source: inc

Patty Block, President and Founder of The Block Group, established her company to advocate for women-owned businesses, helping them position their companies for strategic growth. Charting the course for impactful, sustainable, profitable businesses, the beacon is control: of your strategic direction, your money, your time, your staffing, and your ability to bring in business. The Block Group brings together the people, resources and ideas that build results.

Growth for women-owned businesses.

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