Goals are an important component to achieving success in any endeavor, including the world of business.
Goals serve as a guide to keep you on course when times get tough, and prevent you from becoming distracted by unimportant matters.
Goals also provide benefits in areas like planning, motivation and the attainment of rapid results.
The following highlights the many benefits you will receive if you create goals and stick to them.
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Providing Direction
Goals can provide a future direction for your business, which helps guideyou and your sales reps in everyday decision-making processes. For example, if your goal is to keep office expenses for the year to a minimum, you can resist the temptation to purchase a piece of discounted office equipment unless it is necessary. If your goal is to expand your business, you can decide to use the income generated by gaining a large client to build an addition to your workplace.
Facilitating Planning
Goals help you in the planning stages for your business. You may establish a goal of increasing sales by 30 percent in the coming year, but, upon further reflection, realize that this can’t happen given the current size of your sales force. Therefore, part of your planning may include hiring two new salespeople within the next 70 days.
Motivating Employees
According to the Reference for Business website, goals can also be used as a motivational tool for your employees. If you’re looking to increase sales, you can implement an incentive program where your salespeople receive a cash reward for achieving specific objectives. You can also offer an incentive to all employees if your business is able to reduce expenses by a specific percentage.
Limiting Stress
In business, goals can help reduce stress. Without goals to guide you, you may develop a tendency to jump from one project or task to another instead of focusing on the most important needs of your business. As a result, you may come to realize that your overall production is suffering and you’ll be wondering what you’re actually accomplishing, creating a sense of worry.
Quicker Results
When you establish a goal, you should also create a step-by-step plan to accomplish that goal. This can help you achieve a task more quickly, as there can be less of a tendency to veer off course. You’ll waste less time on insignificant or unproductive actions and take a more direct route to the accomplishment of the goal. If your goal is to increase sales from your existing customer base, for example, you won’t waste time prospecting for new business.
Optimum Use of Resources
There are never enough resources to do everything so setting goals can help you to prioritise. Place your resources behind what you really want to do, rather than on things you are doing by default or by deflection.
Effective Use of Time
Of course time is a resource, but it deserves special consideration because it is so important. If you want to improve how you manage time , stop doing what doesn’t need to be done. Do what is necessary at a given time because selling is all about shortening the sales cycle to achieve desired results.
Summary
“If you have a goal in life that takes a lot of energy, that requires a lot of work, that incurs a great deal of interest and that is a challenge to you, you will always look forward to waking up to see what the new day brings.” Susan Polis Schultz
