Increase your business success through smart planning

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Rosemary Hossenlopp | 07 Oct, 2008
Do you dream about actually having a weekend off?

You get time back into your schedule when you are SMART. No, this isn't about intelligence. You don't create stress and emergencies that steal your evenings and weekends when you plan your schedule and activities in a predictable and repeatable way. You gain more business revenue when you focus on key activities needed to achieve your business outcomes. This is SMART.

What is SMART? Use the following model to describe SMART planning.

S=Specific: Are your plans specific? We all know that we need a marketing plan but is it written down. Better yet, do you have specific focus areas? For consultants, marketing can mean speaking at your industry event. For people with physical store fronts, it can mean advertising in specific newspapers and flyers to your target customers.

M=Measurable: Are your plans measurable? Measurable means that your plans have quantifiable numbers. For network marketers, this means you set a goal to contact 300 people a month and make 10 presentations. This is bold goal. SMART goals are clear, specific and will stretch your capabilities to achieve them.

A=Attainable: Are your plans are attainable? Attainable means that you have the time, talent and resources to realistically achieve your goals. Think about what you need to do to increase sales. Do you need to be considered the industry expert for people to but from you? What do you need to do to get expert status? If you are a consultant, can you get speaking engagements to create a buzz about your talents and success? If you are a service provider, do you need more specific industry training? If you sell products on the internet, do you have the web presence that is needed to attract visitors to your site? If these questions raise doubts in your mind, your goals may be correct but you may need additional clarity on how to attain them. Make a list of how to achieve your goals. Make your goals clear. Then develop a plan on how to get to your goal. This organized approach coordinates both your mind and heart into planning how to do it.

R=Realistic: Are your plans are realistic before you kick-off a new product or service? Remember when we had bosses? They bullied us into signing up for projects that could not get done to motivate us and to make it seem like they were brilliant leaders. Those unrealistic bosses annoyed us and motivated us to be our own bosses. But then sometimes we repeat this mistake because we know that marketing and sales activities must occur to increase our business. So we make goals such as 10 more calls a day to new customers and fail because we don't have time in our schedule for these calls. Stop. Don't let wishful thinking motivate you into mentally signing up for good goals that you can't do. Stop to reprioritize your schedule to understand how to make time for marketing activities. You may think that you don't have time to plan but you don't want failing your goals to steal your energy. Plan your priorities. This may be 10 phone calls a day. Write down your schedule or you can see what you can't fit in and be clear to your employees and clients about when you can do it. It may scare you because it is bold to be honest with your employees and customers.

T=Time-Bound: Are your plans are time-bound before you kick-off a project? Time-bound means that your plans have specific dates that you want to achieve your goals. All business people are sales people. So you have goals on revenue. A SMART goal states that you will increase your revenue by 25% year over year.

You are SMART when you measure and time-bound your goals. You are SMART when you plan how to make your plans attainable and realistic. You are then clear about your future and this will increase your confidence that you will get there. Clients buy your confidence and then buy your products or services.