{"id":2577,"date":"2021-12-12T19:08:10","date_gmt":"2021-12-12T19:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.teamly.com\/blog\/?p=2577"},"modified":"2021-12-12T19:14:39","modified_gmt":"2021-12-12T19:14:39","slug":"setting-business-development-goals-and-objectives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.teamly.com\/blog\/setting-business-development-goals-and-objectives\/","title":{"rendered":"An Effective Approach to Setting Business Development Goals"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we approach the end of the year, it’s a natural time to start reflecting on the past 12 months and planning for the future. For businesses and individuals alike, goal setting is an integral part of this process.<\/p>\n

But there’s an art to goal setting. You can’t just make wild, ungrounded claims about your future success. When you’re looking to set business development goals, you can’t simply say “I want my startup to be a unicorn in 2 years”. Well, you can say that, but for 99.999% of new companies this “goal” is meaningless.<\/p>\n

You want to be ambitious, sure, but your goals need to be achievable. More than that, you need to make sure you’re working towards the most relevant goals\u2014the goals which will take the business where you (and your partners or shareholder) want it to go.<\/p>\n

Let’s take a look at a well-rounded approach to setting business development goals which, if done right, can be transformative for your business.<\/p>\n

\"Things<\/p>\n

<\/span>Three things to remember before goal setting<\/span><\/h2>\n

Before we dive into applying the SMART method and actually creating your game-changing business development goals, we need to tackle some perceptions and misconceptions about goal setting. These are more subtle points which, in tandem with the SMART methodology, give your company the best possible chance of reaching and exceeding its goals.<\/p>\n

#1\u2014Remember your company vision and values<\/h3>\n

When your business starts going places (and especially when those places are up) it’s easy to get caught up in the moment. Your decision making can suffer, you can chase short-term gains (to the detriment of your long-term success) and essentially lose track of your true objectives.<\/p>\n

The easiest way to combat this\u2014and set goals which not only set you up for short-term success, but which also take your company a step closer to your grander vision\u2014is to measure every goal against that vision or your company values.<\/p>\n

For example, let’s say you started your marketing company to help the little guys (self-employed, cash-poor startups, minority entrepreneurs) and as you’ve grown your reputation, your skillset has caught the interest of some bigger companies. One offers you a big bucks cheque and you do a project for them. It’s a success, and you spot a lucrative market opportunity for yourself.<\/p>\n

Before you embark on that, ask yourself: is this the right path for my business? If it is, great! But perhaps you\u2019ll realize that the track you\u2019re headed down doesn\u2019t align with your long-term desires. This simple trick will help you hone and fine-tune your business over time, so that in the long run you don’t only have a business that’s profitable, but one you’re proud of, too.<\/p>\n

#2\u2014Failure is relative and goals aren\u2019t everything<\/h3>\n

Too often we confuse “not meeting a goal” with “failing in our business”. When reviewing how well you’ve achieved your goals, you must remember it’s rarely a pass-or-fail scenario; it\u2019s more like a success continuum.<\/p>\n

If your company set a truly ambitious goal and put a number on it (say, “Hit $100k per month revenue by December, compared to $10k\/month current average”) and only just fell short at $95k per month, then that is a massive success. Sure you missed your “target”, but you increased your monthly revenue by 9.5x and are probably still growing rapidly!<\/p>\n

And this is the true purpose of goals: not to hit arbitrary numbers, but to facilitate growth and ambition and forward movement within the company.<\/p>\n

Of course it’s possible to fail to hit your goal and be failing in business. If you haven’t put any effort into realizing your goals, you won’t reap any of the secondary benefits that come with that effort.<\/p>\n

But for most companies that are proactively working towards ambitious goals, success isn\u2019t guaranteed. What you might do is continuously grow, move forward, and succeed in a more general sense without ever reaching your goals! So don’t take “failure” on your goals too seriously\u2014in the proper context, you might be doing exceptionally well.<\/p>\n

#3\u2014Invest in short, medium and long-term goals<\/h3>\n

When most of us talk about goals, we look far into the future. \u201cI want to be a 7-figure business\u201d or \u201cI want to be the industry leader in our category\u201d. These are fine ambitions, but they aren\u2019t concrete goals your business can actually build towards.<\/p>\n

So if your ambition is to be a 7-figure business, it\u2019s essential to break down the long, medium and short-term goals that will get you there. The simplest way to approach this is creating long-term goals first, breaking these down into manageable chunks and then breaking those down into even more bite-sized chunks.<\/p>\n

There you have it: 3 levels of goals which you and your teams can follow to reach distant, apparently insurmountable heights.<\/p>\n

\"SMART<\/p>\n

<\/span>How to create effective business development goals\u2014the SMART system<\/span><\/h2>\n

The SMART approach to goal setting gets a bit of flack, but it’s actually a very astute and reliable way to set ambitious yet achievable goals\u2014goals which are actually relevant to the business. Because this approach requires more work than simply pinning vague ambitions on the wall, it also forces business owners to consider whether some goals are truly necessary.<\/p>\n

(Hint: if it\u2019s not worth the effort of spending a few minutes planning, then it\u2019s probably not crucial to the business!)<\/p>\n

The SMART system stands for:<\/p>\n