Setting up goals is saying in a different way: my business does matter to me and I will take care of it setting the goals correctly with the right people to guarantee achievable results. However, the work after setting the goals is bigger because you should accomplish them to guarantee the right path in your business.

For doing this there are 5 main keys to consider when setting up them, so as they are achievable, measurable, relevant, specific, and timely. It is normal that people wish to start having success and finish having success in their projects, and this becomes more intense if the success comes from their own business.

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Why is it important to set up goals? Without goals is like walking aimless. No matter how big or small your company is, goals will always be important to track your company path. Also, with goals you can make people committed so they feel they are in the right place where they can grow professionally and personally.

How to get started? For most businesses it is not simple to create smart goals, they do not even know how to get started, they have many goals in mind or they do not even know how to prioritize them.

The goals should be either set personally or in a team as a company. Either or, the goals recommendations are to be achievable, measurable, relevant, specific, and timely.

Achievable

In order to set up an achievable goal you must consider what you have and what you need to accomplish it. For example, if you are setting goals to measure the reviews you have received from your customers, let’s imagine you got the 50% of evaluation from your customers, your goal could be that you need to increase those reviews up to 60% – 70%. This number is achievable, and you have a specific percentage to have it done.

Measurable

To achieve something no matter if it is big or small it is important that you measure your progress every time you reach an objective so that next time it will be easier for you to keep going straight toward your goal instead of losing track of what you have proposed.

Example of a measurable goal could be to increase sales up to 5% – 10% in the next 3 months, however, to keep track we should be evaluating the milestone month to month, so when the time comes you could well evaluate if the goal was successfully accomplished.

Relevant

To set goals you should consider them to be relevant to the business and if that will have an impact to make the company grow. Also, this goal refers to professional development in the company. For example, one goal could be “Promote the next team lead with the skills required for the position”. There are companies that instead of promoting an employee prefer to hire people outside, however if you as a business owner try to promote internal employees this will cause employees feel motivated to do their best to be promoted.

Specific

Define what is the exact goal you want to accomplish, this could be simple but clear. For example, “increase website traffic for the next month”: this will allow you to know what to expect if either to receive more calls or more chats so you can be prepared.

Timely

For this goal you need to consider if the goal is in the short term or long term. The example of a short-term goal is: “Rework the website in the next 2 months to include the new service we will offer to catch customer’s attention”. Also, you can include a deal in which you offer a price for a limited time. For example, SoftSys Hosting offers 50% OFF in the next three months for all new managed Windows VPS hosting clients.

This will help you focus on your goals prioritizing and focusing on the ones that need immediate attention.

Conclusion

As you set up your business goals, remember to make them achievable, measurable, relevant, specific, and timely. This will help you start the year/month off on the right foot, making it more likely that you will achieve these goals.