SMART Goals – Time Sensitive
This is part five in our five part series looking at setting SMART goals. If you’ve missed part one , two, three, or four, you may want to take a moment to read through them.
The final step in the SMART goal process seems easy enough on the surface, but it should not be dismissed as such.
Deciding upon a time frame for each one of your SMART goals is not something to take lightly, and not all your goals will have the same time frames.
Depending on how aggressive or passive you are in setting the time parameters for each goal could be the defining factor in whether you achieve your goal, and how much impact it has on you, your company, or organization.
SMART Goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic & Time Sensitive
Today’s Focus: Time Sensitive
The “T” in the SMART goal process is described as many things. Timely, time sensitive, time dependent, or time frame. What you’re asking yourself is “By when do I need to meet my objective to consider my goal achieved?”
Why Set A Time Frame?
Without a specific time frame by which to complete your goal it becomes much too easy to “get to it tomorrow”. If you don’t know exactly when something will need to get done, your goals will lack a sense of urgency, and I don’t think I need to tell you how that will end. Without a deadline procrastination is liable to rear it’s ugly head and keep you from achieving success.
How to Set a Time Frame
Some goals come prepackaged with natural time frames. Growing your sales, for example, lends itself well for a yearly time frame. Other goals are a little less straightforward.
Take for example a goal of attending 5 networking events in 2009. While you could put a yearly time frame on this, it still could lead to procrastination.
Goals such as this one work better if you give yourself deadlines to shoot for throughout the year. So your networking goal could have a time frame such as:
I will have attended
- 1 networking event by Feb 28
- 2 by April 31
- 3 by July 31
- 4 by Oct 31
- 5 by Dec 31
Tip: Break up your larger goals and give yourself deadlines throughout the year so that you know you are on the right track and making progress.
Be Realistic
Setting a timeline for completion of your goal also needs to be realistic given the nature of your goal and your personal circumstances.
Remember: Even the best and most attainable goals can be undermined by an unrealistic time frame!
You’ll want to set a time frame that keeps you moving down the path to successfully completing the goal, while giving you adequate time to achieve it . This is a balancing act much like making sure your goals are realistic and attainable. You’ll want to push yourself with an aggressive timeline, but not so much that you sabotage any chance you have of successfully completing the goal.
Tips for Success
- Look for the natural time frames associated with your goals and use them first
- Break down larger goals into smaller time frames to ensure you keep yourself moving towards completing your overall goal
- Be realistic about what you can and can’t accomplish in a given time frame
- Don’t be afraid to renegotiate a time frame for completion if you find that you were unrealistic in setting your deadline – BUT do not do this at the expense of your overall goal!
Summary
Hopefully you’ve found this refresher course helpful in your goal setting process. Remember your goals aren’t SMART unless they are: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time Sensitive.
By using the SMART process you will be setting goals that are clear, concise, and well thought out. Above all, I think you will find that by using SMART goals your follow through and completion rate will increase and what you once thought of as a dream you’ll find yourself achieving.
Here’s to a happy, healthy and successful 2009!
Photo Credit: mag3737
SMART Goals – Attainable and Realistic
This is part three and four in our five part series looking at setting SMART goals. If you’ve missed part one , or two, you may want to take a moment to read through them.
If you’ve been following along thus far in the process you should now have goals that are specific and detailed as well as ones that you can quantify and measure so you know if you’re making progress or not. Now it’s time to take a look at your goal and ask yourself “Is this really attainable?”
SMART Goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic & Time Sensitive
Today’s Focus: Attainable and Realistic
These two go hand in hand when using the SMART formula for goal setting.
What you’re asking yourself is “Are my goals stretching me enough, while being realistic in what I can accomplish?”. This is the hardest step in the goal setting process.
Set your goal too high (unrealistic) and you will be kicking yourself on a daily basis for being a failure. Set a goal that is too low and you may reach it, but at what opportunity cost? You’ll be constantly wondering if you could have done more.
Assessing Yourself is Difficult
What makes this step even more difficult is that it takes looking objectively and honestly at your own skill set and abilities.
You may want to grow your sales by 50% this year, but are you lacking the necessary skills to grow at such a high rate? Only you can answer that question.
Piggy Back Your Goals
I have found that when it comes time to look inward and decide if I have set a goal that is attainable and realistic given my situation, I usually find a couple more goals. So I may say I want to grow sales by 50%, but I know that just isn’t realistic for me at this time because I need more direct sales training…BINGO, another goal that I CAN accomplish…Attending XX classes on sales training in the coming year.
Can you see how this process of “piggy backing” your goals on top of each other can work to your long term benefit? Go ahead and make goals dependent on each other. If you believe that growing 50% is what you really want to do, and you can if you get more sales training, maybe write a SMART goal like the following:
I will grow my sales by 50% in 2009, if I complete 5 sales training classes in the same time frame
You’re basically saying if you can accomplish one goal, you believe you can accomplish the other. This is a good way to keep your current limitations from hampering your long term goals.
Questions to Ask Yourself
Attainable
Are you setting a goal that is enough of a stretch to actually act as a goal? It needs to be far enough out of your comfort zone to push you, but not so far that it becomes a discouragement.
Realistic
Given your knowledge, skills, and abilities have you set a goal that is realistic? If it isn’t realistic, can you set another goal to get the additional skills/resources/training so that it becomes realistic?
Tips for Success
- Try to find a balance between pushing yourself and overestimating what you are able to do
- If you find your goal to be unrealistic, ask yourself why and then see if you can fashion a SMART goal around the issue that is holding you back
- The more accurately you assess your own skills and abilities the more chance you will have of setting a goal that is both attainable and realistic given your circumstances.
- Personal Preference: Lean towards pushing yourself a little farther than you think possible as opposed to underestimating what you can do. Why? I would much rather make it 95% of the way to a big stretch goal, than 100% of the way to a goal 25% under what I could have done.
Up Next: Time Sensitive
Photo Credit: Markus_76
Are Your SMART Goals Measurable?
This is part two in our five part series looking at setting SMART goals. If you’ve missed part one, you may want to take a moment to read through it.
Once you’ve built a strong base for your SMART goals, by being specific about what it is you want to accomplish, the next step is to set up the goal in such a way that it is measurable.
SMART Goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic & Time Sensitive
Today’s Focus: Measurable
For you to have any chance at meeting and exceeding your goals in 2009, they have to be measurable. Think about what it is you want to accomplish with each goal you set, and then come up with a quantifiable metric that will tell you if you have met or exceeded the goal. Let’s look at some good and bad examples of measurable goals so you can get a sense of what this looks like.
Examples
Bad Examples:
- I want to grow sales
- I want happy customers
- I want to network more
Good Examples:
- I want to grow sales by 25% year over year
- I want to increase my customer satisfaction score by 5 points
- I want to attend 5 networking events in 2009
Your focus here is to establish criteria so you can easily tell if you have, or have not, met your goal. The criteria should be concrete and quantifiable, as well as clear cut so you know how far you need to go in order to meet your goal. Again, non-committal language has no place here. If you want “more” of something, you need to directly answer the question “How much more?”.
If you are able to measure your progress towards a goal you are more likely to stay on track.
Tips for Success
- When you are done setting your goal, you should be able to answer questions like “How much?”, “How often?”, or “How many?”. If you cannot answer such quantifying questions after you’ve set your goal, you need to rework it until you can.
- Keep track of your progress at regular intervals
- Think first about what you want to achieve, then ask yourself what metric lets you know you have achieved it.
Up Next: Attaussiegallainable
Photo Credit: aussiegall
SMART Goals – Specific
If you are like me, the end of the year means time to reflect on the prior year and plan for the upcoming one. Goal setting should be a big piece of that planning process.
We recommend using SMART as a primary tool when goal setting, and hope this five part refresher series on SMART goals will be of value to you and your organization as you begin to outline what you want to accomplish in 2009.
SMART Goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic & Time Sensitive
Today’s Focus: Specific
To be most effective you need to ensure your goals are very specific. The more specific you are in defining your goal, the better chance you will have in getting it done. At the very least your goal should define the following:
- What are you going to do exactly
- When are you going to do it
- How will it get done
In other words, what is it exactly that you want to accomplish and what are the details.
Examples
Bad Example: “I’m going to get more sales in 2009”
This is a goal, but not a very specific one to say the least. It leaves a lot of room for interpretation, and does not set the framework for what I want to accomplish.
Good Example: “I’m going to get 25% more sales in 2009 by making 5 more sales calls per day on average.”
Much better. It tells me exactly what I am going to do, when I am going to do it, and how.
See the difference? The good example clearly states what it is I intend to do in order to make more sales. It also helps ensure that I am making progress towards my goal (did I or did I not make the additional calls?)
Tips for Success
- Avoid “non committal” type language (ex. I’m going to grow my business”)
- Keep in mind you are answering the questions what are you going to do exactly, when are you going to do it, and how will it get done?
- The goal is clear and concise. Anyone should be able to read your goal and understand what you want to accomplish
Summary
You can see the “S” in the SMART goal process is pretty important. Think of it as the foundation by which the rest of your goal setting process will be built upon.
Take the necessary time to think through what you want to accomplish. It cannot be over emphasized that the more specific you are the more chance you will have in achieving your goal.
Up Next: Measurable
photo credit: procsilas
Are You Getting SMART in 2009?
With only 5 days of 2008 left, no doubt many business owners are sitting down and defining their goals for 2009. This is an important process to work through, and one I personally find quite enjoyable.
Year end goal setting for the upcoming 365 days always seems fresh to me. Cleaning your slate of the prior year, and drawing the road map to success in the upcoming one. It is a critical step in defining what success looks like for your and your business, and is crucial in the evolution and growth process for your business.
I use, and suggest you use, SMART goals when you go about the goal setting process. SMART goals are a way to systematically set goals for yourself, provide a framework in which to critically think about what you want to accomplish, how you will go about accomplishing it, and most importantly tells you how you will know when you’ve reached or exceeded a goal.
Smart Goals Are:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Realistic
- Time Sensitive
Stay Tuned
Over the course of the next few days we are going to look at each area of SMART goals a little more in depth. If you haven’t already set goals for yourself and your company for 2009, we hope this refresher on the SMART goal process will give you the kick start you need. Take a few minutes before the year end to follow along with us and prepare your business for a great 2009 and beyond.
Christmas By The Numbers
$470.4 Billion: National Retail Federation’s prediction for 2008 holiday sales in the United States.
25-30 Million: Number of live trees sold in the US annually according to the National Christmas Tree Association
More than 2 billion: Number of greeting cards Americans will exchange this year
$431: What the average American will spend on Christmas gifts in 2008
-50%: Percentage change in what the average American will spend on Christmas gifts as compared to 2007
$536 : Amount the average American will spend on Christmas gifts if shopping online
$29 Billion: Amount spent online during the holiday shopping season in 2007
30%: Percentage who will make a holiday purchase on using the Internet
38,000 Miles: The amount of ribbon you’d have if every American used just 2 inches less when wrapping presents. Enough to wrap a bow around the world.
15,000: Number of letters to Santa that have arrived at the post office in the Town of Santa Claus, Ind
100%: Percentage of children who get an answer to their letter, from Santa directly, if they mailed it to Santa Claus, Ind.
Citations
http://www.americanresearchgroup.com/holiday/
http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1990
Photo: GcD^3 pictures
Twitter’s Not the Only Follow/Unfollow Community
Recently we had a lively conversation in the comments section of our post “Will Big Business Ruin Twitter”.
The discussion centered around whether big business involvement in Twitter, and using it as a main channel for advertising and marketing, would cheapen the experience for Twitter users.
The common thought was that as long as Twitter continues with the follow or unfollow feature, big business wouldn’t change the experience for most because we have the option to unfollow them, or essentially not listen to their advertisements.
Customers Follow and Unfollow
Something all business owners should glean from this conversation is the idea that a follow/unfollow culture does not only exists on Twitter. Every day your customers are trying to decide whether they should follow or unfollow you. If your product, service, or message is not resonating with your customers they will stop following…plain and simple!
We are already inundated with advertising and marketing messages. Some estimates are that the typical person sees 5,000 advertising messages per day. And we are getting better and better as consumers at diverting those messages.
We now have the ability to fast forward our DVR through the commercials. XM and Sirius radio have made radio advertising optional. We can easily flip past magazine and newspaper ads, and as our conversation pointed out we can easily filter social media advertising.
With so many options available to the consumer to “skip the ads”, business owners can forget that we live in a follow/unfollow world.
Key Takeaway
If your message is unclear. If you’re coming across as pushy or self serving. Or if your message is not hitting your target market, your customer will choose to “not follow you”. Remember, Twitter is not the only follow/unfollow community.
Do you have a strategy to ensure your company won’t be unfollowed?
Photo credit: Robutrix
Almost Live Video: And the Winner Is…
Today is the day we’ve all been waiting for…that’s right, it’s time to pick the winner of the FREE day of advertising from Iwearyourshirt.com!
So you all know there were no behind the scenes shenanigans, I decided to pick the winner “semi-live”.
So, without further ado here we announce the winner (in a very raw, one-take video).
FreeAdvertising from Matthew Ringer on Vimeo.
For a high definition version of the video, watch on Vimeo
Recession-Proof Your Business with Social Media
If you think social media is only for teenagers, think again. As Will Paccione points out in this guest post, now is a perfect time to leverage social networks to market your business and insulate your company from some of the challenges less connected businesses face.
Whether you planned for it or not, you realize that leading your company through these tough economic times falls squarely on your shoulders. Traditional advertising just isn’t bringing in the business for you like it used to. People now Fast Forward past your TV commercials, listen to music without your radio ads, don’t look at the junk mail you send, and are on the Do Not Call list.
It’s time you devised a new plan. Wouldn’t you like to be there when people are looking for answers to questions in your industry? You need to start building relationships with people that can get you business, and find people that you wouldn’t mind referring business to.
Call it what you want – Social Media, Online Networking or Web 2.0, but whatever you call it… It’s not just for teenagers and single people anymore.
Check out these Social Media stats:
- More than 1 in 8 viewers make a purchase after watching a video ad online – eMarketer
- Facebook has 150,000 new users sign up every single day – Time Magazine
- As of October 2006, about 100,000 new Blogs were created every day -Technorati
- LinkedIn has a 137% growth year over year bringing its visitors to about 8 million per month – compete.com
Social Media has it’s cost, fortunately it’s only time.
People aren’t just wasting time on Social Networking sites. They’re being productive by doing searches, asking and answering business questions, getting referrals and giving testimonials. Not on yet? Plenty of your competitors are. It’s time you got involved in the conversation or be left behind.
Case in point #1:
Zagat has been around for 29 years reviewing restaurants. Yelp, known for its restaurant reviews, has been around for less than 5 years. Yelp chose to embrace Social Networking and in that short period of time people are writing articles in the New York Times about how Yelp might be more of a factor than Zagat:
Yelp’s traffic has expanded geometrically while Zagat’s has grown only a little. This July, Yelp drew 4.76 million unique visitors, compared with Zagat’s 384,000. -Randall Stross
Starting to take this more seriously? Okay, so what do you do?
First step:
Monitor your reputation
Google your name and your company. What comes up? Scam Alert? Judgment papers against you? Ex-flame trashing you in a video? Getting yourself active in Online Networking gives you more of a chance to give Searchers relevant information about your company that you want them to see on Google’s Results page- like your LinkedIn account.
Set up a couple of Google Alerts to alert you when someone mentions you or links to your website (set up “your name”, link:www.yourwebsite.com). You’ll receive an email anytime someone mentions you or links to your business website with a link to that page. Something bad? Do damage control. Something good? Send’em a thanks for mentioning you.
Case in point #2:
There are 2 excellent online web conferencing applications I found. I posed the question to my Twitfriends: “Which is better A or B?” Funny thing is that both A and B were monitoring their online reputations at Twitter Search and saw I was Twittering about them. They started to follow my Tweets (Twitter updates) and said if I had any questions about their service to just ask. Wow, talk about pro-active. I followed them back and through interacting directly with them and seeing their posts, I understood that their applications had different strengths and realize I have a use for both. I now feel like I have friends in the business and I won’t even consider others.
Second Step:
Social Media is a lot like networking offline, like your local Chamber of Commerce or BNI group. You’ll realize that it’s easier to get and give business with people you know on a personal level.
You’re goal should be to become the “Go-To” person in your industry for people in your networks.
- Start by getting an account on LinkedIn. This is the MySpace for business Professionals. List all of your contact info, past work experience, website, services offered, blog etc. Start answering questions, joining groups that apply to your community and once again, get involved in the conversation.
- Open up a free Twitter account and try to use your own photo. Search for people talking about topics relevant to you and your business at Twitter Search and start the following and replying to people needing advice. Don’t just post things business related. You wouldn’t open up a conversation with someone on the street and start telling them about your services without establishing some kind of credibility.
- Start a Blog. Blog about your industry, your business and a bit about yourself. Be the resource for your industry.
When you have a captive audience, tell people on LinkedIn and Twitter and all the other Social Networking services you joined that you posted a new Blog or added a new service. Invite them to ask you questions in the comments section and make sure you answer them!
I have certain people in the offline world that are my “Go-To” people for certain industries. I now have my “Go-To” people in my online world too. And they’re a lot easier to get a hold of… I know where they hang out.
Will Paccione is an Internet Consultant specializing in getting businesses more business with Website Design, Search Engine and Social Media Optimization.
Would you like to guest post at Smallbizbee.com? We’re always looking for great content to feature on our website.
Photo Credit: sethgoldstein
The Truth Behind Marketing
Business owners should have only one goal – Get your products and services in front of your target market. The more people to see what you do, the more sales you will make. This means essentially all businesses are in the marketing and advertising business. How well you do, or don’t, market your products will make or break you.
As the following slideshow points out one important factor in effective marketing is to cut through the clutter.
Your advertising should be:
- Clear, consistent, and concise
- Allow for intelligent interaction
- Focused on the customer, not you
- Don’t blame the medium
- Answer “why”, less who, what, when, where
- Tell your clients what they need to hear, not what they want to hear
- Respect the law of seedtime and harvest
For a graphical look at the Truth Behind Marketing, take a minute of your time today to go through the following presentation. It just may change your thinking on how you bring your products and services to your consumers.
Photo credit: Takadanobaba (Back From Tokyo)’s photostream
