The focus on today’s podcast episode is to break down your annual business goals. This is the second episode in our 10-Part Strategic Planning Series. We are breaking this down into next steps after you’ve established your vision and 3 year goals in episode #01. We are laying the foundation for your action plan in episode #03 right now so this is an overview of how to take your large goals and begin breaking them into 1 year goals. Our next episode focuses on quarterly goals and we have set up deep dives into each of these subjects in future episodes.
What we cover in this episode:
- 03:15 – What’s the next step after establishing your vision and 3-year goals?
- 04:12 – Overview of budget, start with revenue point
- 07:08 – Overview of sales & marketing
- 10:17 – Overview of HR plan
We have created a free, pdf worksheet that will help you establish your 12-month goals. Please download that here:
DOWNLOAD THE FREE WORKBOOK: Establishing 12 Month Goals
In order to take your vision and long-term goals from ideas to action, you must start by establishing your goals for the year. We are offering this free workbook to assist you in establishing those goals that will be most impactful for your business.
Taking your three year plan and turning that into annual business goals
We are taking you from establishing your vision and breaking this down into actionable steps you can take to start accomplishing your goals!
Now, you know where you would like to be in 3 years. The next step is to back this up, breaking down those bigger plans to establish smaller goals that can be accomplished in the next year. Our objective here is to begin honing in on more specific goals that we can develop tactics to achieve.
Budget
Budgeting is one of the main components to strategically managing your business. Typically, budget starts with your ideal revenue point. If your ultimate goal is to become a $10M company and you’re currently at $5M, there are many moving pieces that will have to change year over year. These annual business goals in turn drive many things like locations, sales and marketing, human resources, etc.
As part of the budgeting process, you’ll want to be looking at variable and fixed costs as well. Variable costs are costs that fluctuate with increasing sales volume. Team members can be an example of a variable cost. In order to generate more revenue, you will have to hire more employees if you are a service-based business. If you’re selling a product, a variable cost could be costs associated with manufacturing or materials.
Fixed costs are another thing to consider. These are items like rent, office supplies. These things can change if you are moving locations, opening additional locations, etc.
Sales & marketing
Your goals for revenue will also drive the strategy for sales. You must consider what you’re looking to accomplish in revenue this year to determine what your sales goals must be to achieve that number. These are high-level ideas you need to be considering from the beginning to ensure you have an outline for where you are headed. Some things to consider: What is the price point of your product or service? Have you established your target market? How will you reach your target market? We will discuss all of this in further detail during our digging deeper episode #05.
Once you begin implementing these things, you begin monitoring the success of your campaigns.
HR plan
Human resources is another aspect of your business that should be a part of your 12 month plan. When you start moving back from your bigger goals to your current action plan you need to start asking questions like: Who is going to service the clients? Who will be in the office? What type of team do I need to build to make these goals achievable?
This is your opportunity to look at the type of team you want to build. What will the culture of your company be? Additionally, your timeline for implementation of this plan will be impacted as far as hiring process, placing ads, training, etc. You need to consider what timing will be necessary to achieve your HR goals.
Other infrastructure
There’s more to running a business than metrics and numbers. Software considerations, CRMs (Customer Relationship Management), Culture Shifts, Policies and Procedures to name a few. Sometimes we are able to see things more clearly when we step back, that we wouldn’t have seen otherwise. Let’s take policies and procedures for example, if current processes feel clunky, maybe it’s time to invest time and/or money into streamlining.
Outlining high level to actionable steps
Establishing your annual business goals is that middle step from establishing your vision and long-term goals to putting together your quarterly plan and beginning to implement the changes you’d like to see for your company.
In episode #03, we are going to be walking you through getting your quarterly action plan completed and kicking it into action!
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