Running a company and managing a team to create successful outcomes can be confusing. Whether you’re a start-up company or hitting plateaus in your company, it may be worth looking into making a consistent update of the goals that you want to achieve.

But how do you set business goals and objectives? What structure can you use to be most productive? These are just a couple of questions we’ll be answering in this blog. Read more to find out more about setting specific business objectives and goals.

What Are Business Goals?

Business goals are typically part of a longer-term strategy. After establishing what you want your business’s goals to be in the long run.

Your business goals should be integrated into your goals as a way of achieving them. Here are some business goals examples:

Increase Revenue: Boost sales by X% over the next quarter through targeted marketing campaigns.
Enhance Customer Satisfaction: Improve customer service processes to achieve a customer satisfaction rating of at least 90% within a few months.
Expand Market Presence: Enter new geographic markets or demographics to increase brand awareness and capture a larger share of the target audience.
Streamline Operations: Implement management principles to reduce operational costs by X% and improve efficiency across departments.

What Are Business Objectives?

Business objectives are more specific and set short-term financial goals way of reaching the bigger goals in smaller steps. These are milestones that essentially help you track your progress on the way to reaching the goal as a whole.

Here are some examples of what business objectives look like:

Increase market share by 10% within the next year.
Improve customer satisfaction ratings by 15% over the next quarter.
Launch two new product lines by the end of the current calendar year.

Is There a Difference Between Goals and Objectives?

The simple answer is yes, there are differences between the two in terms of results and planning. Therefore, you have to make sure that you have different and effective strategies for both.

Business objectives usually outline long-term aims that guide the business’s overall direction and purpose. Goals, on the other hand, are more specific, measurable targets set to achieve objectives within a certain timeframe.

Objectives tend to be more stable, reflecting the organisation’s core values and long-term vision. Goals, however, can be adjusted in response to changing circumstances and market dynamics, allowing for responsiveness in achieving objectives.

What Methods Can You Use When Setting Business Goals and Objectives?

Once you have gathered data on your business, you can see where it stands in your market and how you can grow within your industry.

This is when you can start planning out your accurate and attainable goals. Here are some methods that are perfect for short, mid and long-term business goals.

1: SMART Goals

SMART goals are a commonly recognised structure for setting out business goals within the top businesses in the world. Knowing what this means and applying it to your business will give you the edge you need to succeed over other businesses in your niche.

First of all, the acronym of this effective goal-setting method stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-Bound. The way the business evaluates and defines these separate parts is as follows:

Specific: The goal that you set needs to be clear to your staff in what you want to do, so is it easily explainable to your staff? Having specific steps and actions that go towards implementing and applying to move forward with these goals is an essential part of the SMART strategy.

Measurable: With the measurable part of the acronym – you must be able to track your progress on how far along you are with the set goal. Are you implementing a tracking system for everything that you are doing?

Attainable: When researching competitors in your market or just doing homework about the industry in general, you will need to make sure that the goal you’re planning to achieve is attainable. If not, then that leads to the next part of the goal-setting process.

Realistic: Taking into consideration that there will be several factors that affect your progress along the way – are your goals going to be realistic? If there are a few factors that may affect your progress – then your goals need to be given more thought and made sure they’re achievable and realistic for your situation.

Time-Bound: If you don’t have a timeline for when your goal needs to be achieved – then it will be hard to track progress and motivation and discipline will be lost in the process. In essence, a time frame to complete your task/ goal is paramount to reaching the desired goal.

2: SWOT Analysis

In addition to the SMART goal process, there is also SWOT analysis, which a business will use to measure the improvements they’re making – or the areas they’re good or bad in.

The acronym for this method stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Here is a breakdown of the elements in this analysis:

Strengths: This is where you will go through what your business is good at and what is currently working in your business strategies.
Weaknesses: You may have elements to your business that need improving and noting these down within your SWOT analysis is essential for future growth.
Opportunities: These are the potential ideas within your markets, processes, products and many more factors where your business could have the potential to grow. For example, you may see a gap in the market to promote a certain product or service (which is an opportunity).

How do You Create a Good Business Goal?

As a business owner, you may feel as though creating a good business goal takes time, however, by following these key steps, you will be able to create a good business goal:

Use SMART to structure your goal
Be specific about what you want to achieve
Set realistic expectations so you are not disappointed if things don’t work out straight away
Stay motivated
Set deadlines that are realistic/ achievable
Make sure that your business goals align with your company’s values
Don’t set too many goals at once as this can become overwhelming
Make the goal challenging but achievable

By following these steps, you will be able to create a good business goal that is challenging yet achievable. Make sure that you review and adjust your goals as you go along because circumstances can change quite often.

By following these guidelines, you can create meaningful, actionable business goals that drive your company forward. Remember to measure progress and regularly review and adjust your goals as needed based on changing circumstances and progress made.

Set Your Business Goals and Objectives With Business Coaching

Running a business can be hard, especially when you are responsible for all aspects of it, which is why we are here to help. Here at MOVE, we offer a wide range of services to help you and your business thrive, including business coaching.

If you feel you could benefit from some help and support when it comes to setting business goals and objectives our business coaches can help.

For more information on the services we offer or to find out how our coaching sessions can benefit your business, don’t hesitate to contact us today at 07852 970 718. We look forward to hearing from you.

Mark Waldron

Mark is a multi-award winner in business networking and relationship building. He is passionate about coaching and mentoring business owners and professionals through 1-1 & group coaching, team performance workshops and group mastermind sessions.

How To Set Business Goals And Objectives