Attracting new clients is often high up on the list of priorities, setting goals can be an extremely powerful technique for achieving success in business and indeed in life as a whole and is an essential part of success, providing focus and encouraging us to keep striving on a day to day basis to achieve those goals. 
The following tips should help you in the process of not only setting goals but also giving you the best chance of fulfilling them:

1 – Break it down

You should start by thinking about your overall aims – where would you like to be in 2, 5 or 10 years’ time? Then think about the intermediate stages and the junctures you will need to reach along the way. At this point you can start to think about specific and measurable targets. And then, most importantly, how will you monitor and measure them?

2 – Aim high

The saying goes that if you aim for the stars, you should hit the moon! The same goes for setting business targets. If you want to achieve a certain level of sales to achieve business growth, why not try aiming another 25% above that? The caveat to this is that you have to be realistic and you should be able to visualise your business achieving the goals you set. There is no point setting yourselves up for a fall as you will only feel demotivated should you fail.

3 – Quality, not quantity

The easiest way to set goals would be to use generics, such as ‘We want to increase my turnover’ or ‘We want to broaden our client base’. How you actually do this can only be achieved by setting specific goals. That often involves a more in depth analysis and research. This might involve identifying a set target client list, or having a target of a number of contacts within prospective clients to be made during a month.

4 – The magic number

It’s easy to want it all but it is often the case that if you set yourself too many things to do, none of them actually get done. At least not to a decent standard. Setting fewer goals and concentrating all of your energies on achieving these is usually a more productive approach.

5 – Reward results

What is the point in setting yourself targets if you cannot enjoy your successes? Make sure that you celebrate every significant client win, sales targets or other goals you achieve. Evaluate the process that led you there and what you can do to replicate and improve upon your success going forward.

 

Aspect Market Research can work with you to help you assess where you currently stand with your existing customers and understand exactly who your target audience is, along with what they look like and more importantly what they are looking for from you.

Here at Aspect Market Research we work with many businesses from a whole spectrum of sectors to identify who their key customers are and why, along with working with you to measure how you are best approaching those customers and making that right first impression first time.

Featured image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/paxson_woelber/5434541912