The Importance of Setting Quarterly Goals
Tackling the process of writing your business plan is the first big hurdle that many business owners face when it comes to planning. This step is incredibly important, but it’s not a “once and done” sort of thing! (By the way, if you need to get your business plan completed, we have free resources to help you out!)
Once this plan is in place, it’s time to break it down into manageable quarterly goals. Setting these quarterly goals is important for several reasons. This is a process that many business owners find challenging. I’d like to make it easier for you!
These goals are a lot easier to set when you have your business plan in place and calendar time to review and refine it each quarter. As your business grows, your needs and focus will change, and the goals will support those needs.
Set Your Business Trajectory
Your business plan sets the overall vision for your business, but as your business grows and evolves, this plan will need to grow with it. By intentionally setting aside time to work through refining and expanding your business plan each quarter, you can keep your goals on track.
This also allows you to set your business on a good trajectory. Without a plan that allows you to set and reach (or surpass) your quarterly goals, one of two things will happen: either your business will stagnate or you will make haphazard decisions which can cause your business to fail.
Setting and working toward your quarterly goals will help you keep your focus and give you a way to strategize through each stage of growth, allowing you to build a strong, profitable business!
Develop Clear Goals for Your Team
Your business plan and quarterly goals will set the trajectory for your company, but they will also equip your team to understand your business goals – and what they can do to help you reach those goals.
This is such an important part of growing your business effectively! Your team is there to help you reach your goals, but if they don’t know what those goals are, they can’t do their jobs. When you clearly communicate your goals, however, you equip your team to excel in the areas you most need them to!
Equipping your team to do their best also goes a long way toward building a great company culture. When each person on your team knows how effective and appreciated they are – and when they feel a consistent sense of satisfaction in their work – it contributes greatly to your culture.
And when your team is equipped to help you reach your goals, it is much easier to run a business that you can occasionally step away from! When you have solid systems in place and a team that understands your quarterly goals, your team can run your business even when you’re not there. Imagine what you could do with the extra time!
Take the Pulse of Your Annual Goals
Writing your business plan and setting your annual goals is a fantastic thing but tracking annual goals can be a challenge – especially when you try to do so during that year. Setting quarterly goals that feed into your annual goals allows you to work on them in manageable chunks and track your progress throughout the year.
One reason this works so well is that many goals require multiple steps in different areas of your business. For example, if one of your goals is to increase your sales by 25%, reaching that goal will require different departments and systems.
In order to increase your sales, you will need to bring new, qualified leads into your company. This mean that your marketing department will need to start the process, which could be your Q1 focus. Once you have a steady stream of prospects, your sales team will need to refine and ramp up their activity to handle the increased volume. This could be the primary focus of Q2.
As your sales team starts consistently bringing in new clients, your admin team will need to be able to handle the increased volume of client management. Billing, communication, scheduling, and other aspects of client management might be your Q3 focus.
Once your new clients are onboarded and being served, you will want to refine your client care process. In order to build raving fans, you need to make sure that your clients feel valued and special! This is a great time to schedule some time with your Client Happiness Coordinator to gain some new perspectives on how you can better serve your current clientele and bring in new referrals!