How Long-Term Goals and Short-Term Objectives Are Tied Together

We’re always asked to help entrepreneurs connect the dots here:
Here are some examples:

  • Profitability:ย A common business goal is to run a profitable operation, which typically means increasing revenue while limiting expenses. Revenue objectives could consist of increasing annual sales by 10 percent or landing three new accounts each month. Expense objectives could involve finding a new operating facility that decreases your rent by $200 a month or cutting monthly utility bills by 15 percent.
  • Customer Service:ย Examples of customer service goals are to develop a perception that your company is easy to do business with or to improve your response time to customer complaints. Objectives to help meet these goals could be increasing your customer service staff from one to three workers by the end of the year or implementing a policy where customers are guaranteed to receive a return phone call before the end of the business day.
  • Retention:ย If you’ve experienced a problem with employee turnover, your overall goal could be to improve retention. To achieve this goal, your objective might be to develop and implement a training program that details new-hire activities for the first 90 days on the job. You also could implement one-on-one meetings with your employees in an effort to build rapport and find out what’s on their mind.
  • Efficiency:ย Another goal could be to become more efficient in your business operation as a way to increase productivity. To improve efficiency, you could challenge your salespeople to improve their closing ratio from 30 percent to 45 percent. If you distribute a product, you might consider implementing a new shipping procedure that improves your delivery time from four days to two.

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  • Growth:ย Perhaps your goal is to grow your business operation. If you own a franchise unit, for example, your objective might be to open three more units within a five-year period. If you operate a retail store, your objective might be to increase your selling space by 25 percent by completing an addition to your building within a year.
  • Revenue Goals:ย If your long-term revenue goal is to double revenue by the end of the current fiscal year, another example of a supporting short-term goal is to contract an advertising consultant for one month to help you analyze and capitalize on your customer’s buying trends. Another short-term goal example is to spend the next month learning your primary competition and brainstorming on what you offer that they don’t. Take this research and design a new advertising campaign that highlights the unique points about your business or products.
  • Customer Service Goals:ย Set a long-term goal of receiving at least 95 percent positive customer feedback regarding the service you provide. An example of a supporting short-term goal is to redesign the customer service research process to include new questionnaires and incentives, such as monthly drawings for free products or discounts on future purchases for customers who take the time to respond.
  • Employee Appreciation Goals:ย Implement a long-term employee appreciation goal of awarding an employee of the year award to the employee who provides the most creative input during the year in terms of practical ideas to improve the company. Supporting short-term goals are to award employee of the month designations each month throughout the year to mark the progression of creative input, and to include more employees in the reward process than is possible with a single annual award.
  • Community Outreach Goals:ย Set the long-term goal of building the company’s name recognition within the community through community outreach projects. Examples of short-term supporting goals are to reward employees who volunteer with designated community programs with additional time off, bonuses or gift cards. Another short-term supporting goal is to choose one or two high-profile annual charity events to sponsor.

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