Have you thought about or documented your 2023 goals for business yet?
Goals are your company’s achievable outcomes that are typically broad and long-term. For example, an accountancy practice may have a goal to grow the business, but what does that actually mean? It could be measured in terms of increase in revenue or profits, adding new partners or employees or increasing market share. One important aspect of setting 2023 goals is to make sure that they are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound, in other words SMART goals.
Goals vs. objectives
Whilst goals set the overall direction of the business, typically over at least one year, objectives tend to be more short-term focused and help put structure and specific actions around how the goal will be reached.
Setting your 2023 goals
How you set your goals and exactly what your goals are will depend on the size, nature and maturity of your business. A large multi-national corporation will have a very different goal setting process to a small business with only a handful of employees. Goal setting activities for the coming year might typically begin in the last quarter but if you are a larger company with more levels of management, you may need to start earlier. Your goal setting is done within the context of your 3–5-year business plan which is also updated at least annually, or more often if you are in a very fast growth phase.
5 steps to goal setting
| Step | Why | Example |
| 1. Get back in touch with your dreams. | Remember why you set up your business. What are you here for?
Make sure your goals align to your dream. |
To be the global accounting firm of choice for the world’s leading businesses of today and tomorrow. |
| 2. Break your overall dream down into achievable goals. | Dreams can be overwhelming so create goals that feel achievable. | Increase market share.
Recruit and retain the most qualified and experienced staff. |
| 3. Ensure your targets are documented as SMART goals. | When you create specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound goals, you can articulate them more easily to others and it’s easier to see whether you have achieved them. | Increase sales by 10% for the Asia Pac region by 31 December 2023.
Add two ACA qualified partners to the company by August 2023. |
| 4. Create actionable objectives for each goal. | Drilling down to the next level on how you will achieve your goals allows you to distribute objectives to your members of staff and hold them accountable for progress. | To increase sales by 10%
|
| 5. Monitor progress against actionable objectives and SMART goals. | Assess regularly how much progress you are marking and whether current actions are getting you closer to your desired outcome. If not, identify how actions need to change. | Review monthly/weekly or even daily sales figures vs target. |
50 business goals to help you to greater success.
2023 goals could range from overarching targets such as increasing turnover by 10% to smaller ones such as starting a company newsletter. Whatever goals you choose, be sure to break them down in to actionable objectives that can be measured.
Financial goals
1. Improve cashflow management
2. Increase net profit
3. Increase sales volume
4. Optimise product pricing
5. Reduce debtors
6. Reduce inventory costs
7. Reduce overheads
8. Cut unprofitable products/services
9. Improve operating efficiency
10. Regularly review financial KPIs
Business development goals
11. Improve brand awareness
12. Increase website traffic
13. Increase sales conversion rate
14. Implement email marketing
15. Improve customer retention
16. Diversify product range
17. Diversify geographical markets
18. Explore strategic partnerships
19. Offer a subscription model
20. Build your reputation in the local community
Human resources goals
21. Implement SMART objectives for all employees
22. Run reward and recognition programmes
23. Solicit regular employee feedback
24. Establish flexible working arrangements
25. Increase employee engagement
26. Benchmark and publish salary information
27. Create an attractive benefits package
28. Provide training and support for personal development
29. Reduce employee turnover rate
30. Create a supportive company environment
Processes/systems goals
31. Implement a CRM database
32. Automate repetitive tasks
33. Reduce rework
34. Reduce waste
35. Increase product quality
36. Reduce errors
37. Move accounting from spreadsheet to software package
38. Implement human resource management software
39. Streamline marketing channels
40. Run a paperless system
Customer service goals
41. Document customer journey
42. Increase customer satisfaction score
43. Implement customer feedback survey
44. Reduce volume of complaints
45. Speed up customer response times
46. Make it easier for customers to get support
47. Streamline customer onboarding
48. Enable customer self-service
49. Offer customer success support
50. Make customer experience mobile-friendly
Supporting your goal setting exercise this year
Your business, whatever its size, can benefit from strategic 2023 goals and objectives setting alongside regular monitoring of actuals against targets. Easy access to management information about goals and objectives means that everyone in your company can progress towards the stated targets. SuiteFiles provides cloud-based document management to save you time and frustration with storing, collating and distributing your 2023 goals information for your staff. Book in for a for a demo of the software at https://www.suitefiles.com/view-a-demo/
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