Are you ready to learn more about types of business goals so you can set yourself up for success?
It can be hard for an entrepreneur to set brand new goals without knowing how their business will do. How can you know what metrics are realistic in the first few months – or even years – of business?
The easiest way to start is to understand about different types of business goals.
It's not all about how much money you make (especially in the beginning!) You can easily set relevant, realistic goals for your new business in one of five categories. Just structure the goals to act as milestones along the way to your ultimate dream and you will have the perfect roadmap for your business.
So, what different types of goals can you set in business?
Below, we’ll look at 5 of the most common types of business goals to consider.
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1. Income/Profit goals
By far, one of the most common goals all businesses have is to increase profit.
There are many different financial goals you can set for your company. Ultimately, each of them focuses on boosting the bottom line.
However, while it can be tempting to set a financial goal about how much money to make in a certain period of time, there are many other ways to consider.
For example, another way to set an income or profit based goal is to plan a specific value of expense cutting out of your business.
Some great examples include shopping around for cheaper suppliers, investing in automated software and outsourcing tasks to reduce in-house costs.
2. Customer service goals
No business can survive without excellent customer service.
Due to the sheer amount of competition businesses now face, it’s crucial to ensure your company provides excellent customer service. If not, customers won’t think twice about heading over to the competition.
So, customer service goals might be at the top of your business priorities.
One example is to make a commitment to improve customer service response times. Additionally, you could aim to add different types of communication options, or to provide compensation of some kind to unhappy customers.
Each of the above is a great example of a customer service goal to work towards.
3. Product/Service goals
In order to be successful, a business needs to have high-quality products and services. What's more is that these products and services need to meet the needs of your target customer. For that, product development becomes a key aspect of a successful business.
It’s not just your existing products you’ll want to focus on, either.
To keep customers coming back, they need something to come back for. That means consistently improving your products while also developing new services.
One example of a product goal may be to escalate the design of an existing product and aiming to improve reviews and feedback from customers. If you have not innovated in awhile, you may aim to employee a Chief Innovation Officer in the next quarter. Or, if there is a gap in the market, you could simply aim to expand your range of services.
4. Productivity and Motivation goals
If you want to boost every aspect of your business, productivity and motivation goals can help. Productivity goals can be set for the business as a whole. Meanwhile, motivation goals can be set both for you as an owner and for any employees or contractors you may use.
The more productive you and your workers are, the more successful the business is going to be.
There are many ways to boost productivity and motivation in the workplace. For example, you might want to set goals to improve the working environment. The nicer the work environment, the happier and more productive employees often become.
Providing exclusive perks, enhancing the work environment and offering further training to your employees are all great examples of productivity and motivation goals.
5. Expansion goals
Once your business is doing relatively well, you can start to focus on expansion goals. That mean the focus shifts to figuring out ways to push the business forward. Perhaps you may aim to grow nationally – or maybe even internationally.
These types of goals typically require the most work. While technology has made it easier to expand, there are still a lot of challenges you’ll need to overcome. Some examples of business expansion goals include researching a new target market, investing in new business premises and introducing international shipping.
Mom Has The Last Word
As you can see, there are many types of business goals to consider. For a business to thrive, ultimately a combination of each of the goals types should be used.
However, it’s important to start by setting business goals that align with where your business is currently at today. Set a few of the most important goals first so you don’t get overwhelmed, and so that you can see success early and often. Before you know it, you will have taken several steps forward to the long-term goal you set for opening your own business in the first place!
