SMART GOALS – A Big Key to Success

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Small business management requires constant attention to how well the current strategy is working. Setting realistic goals is very important to obtaining financial success. Small business owners must look at finding ways to measure how well their sales are going and be prepared to modify actions based on this assessment.

When setting goals for your small business, remember to use the acronym SMART as a foundation

Specific Each goal developed should be very specific in nature. Some key areas to focus on include financial growth, new customers, product line expansion, holiday sales, etc.

Measurable Business owners must be able to measure whether they have reached a goal or determine how far they fell from the reaching the goal. Weekly or monthly profits would be one area to track. New customer orders or repeat customer orders are also area where a small business can measure growth.

Attainable Each goal must be reasonably attainable. Setting unrealistic goals will not allow for true evaluation of growth or progress.

Relevant Setting relevant goals based on the developed small business plan to extremely important. Business owners must use their business plan as a guide to developing goals for growth.

Time-bound Goals should be locked in to a dead line. In other words, make sure your goals are specific and locked in to a deadline. Time measurement will vary with each goal.  Days, weeks, months or quarter are units to be considered when developing a time line for each goal

Has setting measurable goals been an asset to your small business – Share with us!!

Entrepreneur Thoughts

 

 

The small business owner must always keep their eye on market trends. It is important to  stay on top of news and current events that relate to your niche.. Incorporating a  system  for monitoring the local, national and international  market into your business routine can truly create unique and profitable opportunities.

One of the easiest ways to do this is to create a business calendar that includes all important maintenance  activities.  Ordering supplies, managing sales, marketing and customer service are tasks that are easy to identify as necessary.  Many entrepreneurs fail to keep an eye on how their market is changing or developing.  Sometimes this happens very quickly and can seriously affect sales

 

 

To stay on top of important trends, sign up for Google Alerts and other alert programslike tweetalarm. Identify keywords that are important to your business and sign up for these services so that whenever someone posts that keyword online, you’ll be notified.

Use your social media accounts to subscribe to news services and other sources of information. Twitter and Facebook are great for this and you can even save searches within these platforms. Seek out news sources and thought leaders, and pay attention to what they post.

These modern digital tools can really help with business planning and put a small business owner at the top of their niche.

 

What tools are you currently using to stay abreast of the current trends?

 

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