The greatest thing about owning your own small business is that YOU are in control of the limit to your success. Be sure that you take the time to set goals for the new year, but also ensure that you have a game plan for how you will hold yourself accountable. As a local business owner, you know that ideas are meaningless if there isn’t a plan set in place to execute them. Welcomemat Services is helping you get set for 2018 goal achievement with these 4 tips to ensure that your business plan sticks in the coming year!
Create a Timeline
Imagine you’re heading out on a road trip. Before you go, you need to know where you’re going, where you plan to stop, and what means of transportation you will use to get there. Plug that information into your GPS and out comes a plan detailing which streets and highways are the most direct route and how long each leg of the trip should take. Approach the creation of your business plan timeline the same way and it will help you stay on schedule and reach your goals in the most direct way possible.
Start by outlining your goals (where you plan to go) and breaking them down into tasks (where you plan to stop). Decide which team member oversees each leg of the trip (your means of transportation). Next, you should arrange your tasks in the order in which they need to be accomplished. Each task should get you one step closer to reaching your goal. For instance, if your overall goal is to increase customer satisfaction, your timeline should include tasks that will improve the customer experience. With a task in mind, create a reasonable timeframe for when each one should be accomplished. Explicitly communicate target dates and deadlines to ensure that you’re staying on schedule.
Delegate Tasks
Business goals shouldn’t be the sole responsibility of one person to achieve. Relay your goals to your employees and get everyone on the team involved by delegating tasks. Be clear with your expectations, so that everyone knows what’s expected of them and why their role is an important part of accomplishing business goals. Not only will delegating remove the burden from one person but it will also build a collaborative culture where all employees feel valued, trusted, and responsible for the success of the business.
Establish Measurements
To objectively understand whether or not you are on track to reach your goals, you will need to establish key measurements and metrics that will track the success of the tasks that make up your goals. Try choosing numbers to represent your goal. For example, if you are a car wash owner and you want to increase your revenue by 10% this year, the metric that may matter most to you could be the number of cars that need to be washed per month to increase your revenue.
Meet Regularly
Communication will be key to reaching your goals. To keep everyone informed, schedule regular meetings to ensure that your goals are getting adequate attention and staying top of mind. Regular meetings create a system for accountability, it keeps you and the entire team in the loop and drives conversations to keep tasks moving forward and highlight any roadblocks. With regular meetings you’ll be able to understand if goals need to be adjusted or if certain tasks need more attention. This will help everyone to focus or re-focus on what needs to be accomplished.
Yearly goals are the basis of your yearly business plan and you can’t expect to reach your goals unless you have a strategic plan in place to execute them. Succeed in 2018 by encouraging accountability and ensuring that your team is working toward reaching your local business goals. If you’re looking for additional small business marketing support including new mover marketing, direct mail marketing strategy, and local digital marketing services be sure to contact Welcomemat Services to learn about our data driven small business marketing options.
