Setting Your 2009 Business Goals

As we head into a new year now is the time that many business owners start to reflect on what they achieved last year and what their goals are for 2009. New Years resolutions will come and go but those serious about setting their goals for their business for the year are looking for an easy to follow template they can use to plan goals that stretch us to grow and become more.

Having worked with many people over the years to set their goals I have noticed that there are three types of people. Those who ALWAYS achieve their goals. Those who OCCASIONALLY achieve their goals, and then there are those who almost NEVER achieve their goals.

Knowing which category you fall into is important. So please take a moment and reflect on where you see yourself. You might also want to ask a third party who knows you well their opinion as well. Now it doesn’t really matter which of these you are … as long as you know and set your goals this year accordingly.

For example … if you are the type of person who ALWAYS achieves their goals then firstly well done. But secondly you may want to consider setting the bar a little higher and stretching yourself further this year. On the other hand if you NEVER achieve any of the goals you set for yourself then its possible you may need to scale your goals back a little bit for the year.

The key to setting and achieving your goals is to set goals that stretch you and are BELIEVABLE to you at an UNCONSIOUS level.

There is little point in setting huge goals for yourself consciously if your unconscious mind is not a believer. If you do then you will start to sabotage your efforts and never achieve your goals. I notice this a lot with some of my coaching and consulting clients … they have big goals but it is obvious by their actions that unconsciously they are not aligned.

So make sure when setting your goals that you are setting goals that are congruent with your unconscious belief system.

Here are five key areas to consider when setting your goals:

1/ What Do You WANT? – I often find many business owners have lost site of the reason they got into business in the first place. So it is timely to ask yourself what you personally want out of your business. Your business is a vehicle to help you achieve your goals … so what are they. A good idea is to sit down with a blank sheet of paper and brainstorm 100 things you would like to DO, BE and HAVE in your life … then look at how your business can help you achieve these things.

2/ What Is Your VISION? – Next is to look at your VISION for your business. Where do you see your business going in the next 3 to 5 years. Write out a concise vision statement for your business for these time frames. Then sit down and ask yourself where would your business need to be by the end of 2009 in order to be on track with this VISION. This will help you to establish the right milestones for the coming year.

3/ Keeping Score – The great thing about being in business is that we get to keep score by monitoring our numbers. Key numbers like our monthly revenue, monthly profit and so on are important to track and monitor. So start with where you would like to end the year in terms of PROFIT, REVENUE & EXPENSES and then work backwards to give yourself quarterly and monthly targets. I know this is a simplified view of setting budgets but sometimes simple is far more effective to monitor and track. (Remember that these numbers you set must lead you to the achievement of your milestones that relate back to your vision)

4/ Clients & Customers – It is almost impossible to be in business without having to deal with Clients & Customers at some level. So it is vital to set goals in terms of WHO these Clients and Customers are going to be. If you are going to work hard all year in your business then it makes sense to FOCUS on dealing with your IDEAL CLIENTS. So take some time out to design your ideal clients and identify what will make you attractive to them. Then look at how many of them you need to attract in order to achieve your revenue & profit numbers.

5/ Deal Flow – Many small business owners miss the importance of Deal Flow. This is the number of potential new customers & clients you have coming to you on a weekly and monthly basis. This is the driving force behind your business success. It involves effective LEAD GENERATION strategies, managing those leads and building a relationship with them, and leading them to sell themselves on doing business with you. So spend some time and ask yourself … how many leads do we need to be generating on a monthly basis and for the year in order to achieve the goals we have just set for ourselves.

Once you have your Business Goals for 2009 firmly in place you then want to cross check them with your personal and life goals. Balance is vital and if you do not check your business goals with your personal life you can quickly find that life spins out of control.

The next step of course is to then develop your Marketing Plan for 2009. As you know, marketing accounts for approximately 80% of your success in business and without a well thought out marketing plan you may find that all of your goal setting efforts become pointless.