Blog

Business goals that make sense

Article written by Jannie Rossouw, Head: Sanlam Business Market

In a previous article, namely “The roles my business fulfils”,  I suggested that it would be productive to identify the roles (eigth in total) fulfilled by your business.  Further you also have to decide which one of the roles could benefit your business most if it should improve dramatically.

The focus of this article is the provision of guidelines in order to formulate goals for the eight chosen roles.

A few principles apply:

• The planning horizon for the formulation of goals for the purposes of this exercise is 12 monthsfrom now.
• It would be sensible to create at least 1 goal per role.
• The role you chose as the focus role should have 3 to 5 goals.

It is relatively easy to set goals if you adhere to the following guidelines:

• Use the “SMART” principles.
  • S = Specific
  • M = Measurable
  • A = Appropriate
  • R = Result or process goal
  • T = Time-based

          General: Start with a verb

• Examples:
  • Make a profit of R2.5 million by _________________(date) (example of a  result goal = specific end date)
  • Develop two new product lines by _________________(date)
  • Establish a new distribution channel by ______________________(date)
  • Identify five new ways of marketing my/our value proposition by ___________________________(date)
  • Do a monthly client satisfaction survey (example of a process goal = recurring)
  • Identify two new sources of clients by ________________________(date)

Tip: It works well if you have a page per role for the formulation of your goals.
“Goals are the steps to success” – Jannie Rossouw

To support business owners with the important task of business planning, Sanlam gives you free access to the book Your Annual Business Game Plan for Success, which provides an easy and straight forward framework needed to draft a well-crafted game plan that will create the positive change and growth necessary for business success

Go to www.sanlamgameplan.co.za to download your free copy.