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50 Security Dealer & Integrator / www.SecurityInfoWatch.com June 2017 S uccessful business owners understand the importance of having a strong vision for the future. An important part of that vision is a clear idea of what success looks like, and laying out a route to get there. e ultimate goal, of course, is profit; and setting clear and spe- cific goals is the surest road to that destination. "Companies without precise overhead and profit goals never make enough money and probably won't make a profit," says George Hedley, best-selling author of Get Your Business to Work. "Compa- nies that carefully track costs, tar- get profit and control overhead are in control and stay ahead of their competition." According to a Construction Financial Management Associa- tion study, companies that have specific strategic plans with clear targets and goals make 33 percent more profit than companies with- out targets. More than 80 percent of the 300 small business owners surveyed in the recent 4th Annual Staples National Small Business Survey said they do not keep track of their business goals, and 77 per- cent have yet to achieve a vision for their company. What are your business goals? Here are nine real-world guidelines that will help you to set or revise the goals that will guide you along the path to greater profits: 1 Create both long-term and short-term goals. While there will usually be an interactive relationship between long-term and short-term goals, each deserves to be defined separately. Long-term goals provide excellent motivation to keep focused on the ele- ments that will help shape the compa- ny's vision for the future; short-term goals focus on steps that can be taken today with the expectation of near- immediate results. Long-term goals usually revolve around a "vision" for the company – where do you want it to be five or 10 years from now, or where it should be when it is time to retire. Because of the broader nature of long-term goals, it is best to set them first. Once long-term goals have been defined, look at the short term – one year or less. What needs to be done now? What are the areas that can be addressed with the expectation that results will be measureable within a short-term window? 2 Make sure your goals are specific. Perhaps the deadliest form of self-delusion for business owners is the failure to set any business goals. Next in line is using generalities instead of specif- ics – "improving profits" or "increas- ing sales" are pitfalls masquerading as goals. In order to have meaning and to be effective, goals must be expressed in specific, measurable terms. Improving gross profit by 4 percent or reducing overhead costs by 6 percent are specific, meaningful goals. Equally important, they are measureable. ere is an old business saying: If you can't measure it, you can't manage it. 3 Set a time limit. A goal without a deadline is little more than an idle thought; in fact, goals without time limits are not goals at all. Increasing revenue by 12 per- cent satisfies the need for specificity, but without a time limit for the goal to be accomplished, it has little or no meaning. Pledging to increase sales by 9 percent by the first of next year adds a sense of urgency and a no-escape clause that makes it difficult to find a way out of accomplishing the goal. 4 Make sure goals are realistic but challeng- ing. ere is an old saying among tennis players: If you want to improve your game, you must play with someone who is better than you are. Doing so provides an ever-present challenge to do better. When it comes to setting business goals, it is import- ant to set them high enough that achievement will not be a walk in the park, but realistic enough that they are achievable. 5 Gather input from employees. You may have a well-defined set of personal objectives for your business, but an important part of achieving those objectives is getting employees in on the act. Top-down directives from the boss are far less effective than enthusi- astic support from the people who play a major role in day-to-day operations – and one of the most powerful ways to get support from your employ- ees is granting them a little pride of Get Goal-Oriented Your Business 9 ways for owners and managers to set and achieve objectives for their business By William J. Lynott