Top 7 Steps To Reaching Your Business Goals

There are lots of things you can’t control about your business ­- the market, the economy, the competition -­ but there is plenty you can control. The following is a tried and true process that helps you focus on the important aspects and offers the built-in action steps to provide you with the information you need to make goal-centered, informed decisions every day.

Here are the steps.

1. Vision
   
   What is your dream for your business? Clarify it in your own mind first and then write it in one or two sentences. This is the first tangible step to making your dream a reality. If you don’t know where you’re going, how can you ever plan to get there?
   
   
2. Mission
   
   What will you be doing to achieve that dream? This should define the core business you're in. Write it and refine it until it's one sentence. Use your mission as the basis for your Universal Selling Proposition (USP).
   
   
3. Goal setting
   
   Using your vision and mission as the foundation, what do you realistically think you can achieve during this period? Start with annual goals, then break them down into quarterly and monthly goals. Think through the sequence of events that will lead you toward your annual goals.
   
   
4. Strategy
   
   Using your review of last year's operating information and your goals for the coming year, what are the major steps that you think will produce the results you want? How can you best use your resources? What else do you need?
   
   
5. Plan
   
   What specific actions or tasks will carry out your strategy or strategies? What will it cost to carry out your plan? What sales will you have to generate to cover the costs? Create a sequence of actions and corresponding timeframe. It’s not hard, it just takes some initial planning time. Use your quarterly and monthly goals as a guide. Get help if you need it.
   
   
6. Implementation
   
   This is one of the most important, and most often missed, steps in the process. Break down your monthly plan by the week and add the specific action steps to your weekly calendar. Make sure you schedule time to do what’s necessary. When planning the next week, bring forward anything that didn't get done.
   
   
7. Assessment
   
   Review operating information monthly. Check out industry and pertinent economic indicators at least quarterly. Using that data, make adjustments to your strategy and plan. At least annually, perform a total review including your vision and mission. Summarize and document results, commenting on what worked and what didn't.
   
   FINAL STEP: Repeat the process annually -- and reap the rewards.

Marian Banker, MBA, is President of Prime Strategies,
http://primestrategies.com. Helping your business get "fit" and your
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