What Are Your 2024 Business Goals?

Imagine you are getting ready for the road trip of a lifetime. You have the snacks, you have the music, you have the company. You get in with a full tank of gas, ready to hit the road and get where you’re going. But where are you going? And how will you ever get there if you don’t know where it is you want to go? You can’t just pick a road and start driving – This is the road trip of a lifetime. 

Running a small business is just like this road trip. You can have all the tools, the aesthetic, the employees, but if you don’t have a plan, you won’t be going anywhere. Benjamin Franklin once said, “by failing to plan, you are preparing to fail.” For 2024, it is crucial that you have some clear goals in mind for your business, so here are the biggest things you need to think about while making your plan.

What are your sales goals?

Only you know your business, and only you know what you are capable of. But if you look back five years, you are probably completely unrecognizable to yourself now. You learn and you grow in ways you can’t predict, but you can channel that energy. Each successful college graduate started off with the goal of finishing college. That gets broken down into the goals of finishing certain requirements, and then certain classes, and then certain assignments. 

Setting sales goals works the same way. Even if it feels daunting, setting a goal for a year’s worth of sales is a lot easier when you break it down by the quarter, by the month, and by the week. Then, when you come back to your goals you can see how you can really perform and make better goals next time. 

Remember, sales goals are what keeps your business going. Whether its products or services, these sales are how your business makes money, so set your goals high enough that you can keep building your business. Prepare ahead of time to make more than enough to keep the lights on.

What are your web traffic goals?

In 2020, the world shut down. Stores closed, people stayed home, and everything moved online. Now, websites are just as, if not more, important than physical locations. If the number of people coming into your store relates to the number of sales you make, increasing web traffic will have a similar result. If one hundred people see your website each day, how much could you make with two hundred? Five hundred? One thousand? 

What are your social media following goals?

Social media has become the new town square. Everybody meets online to share ideas and opinions, to brag and to complain about anything and everything. Wouldn’t it be great if they were to talk about your business? Word of mouth is one of the best forms of marketing possible. But how can people talk about you if there’s nothing to talk about. Set goals for posts, and for interactions online, and as you meet them people will start talking to and about your business more. 

What are your mailing list goals?

If you’re like me there’s nothing more annoying than getting countless emails that I will never open. But every now and again, I get an email about a sale or a promotion that does catch my eye, and I get a little excited that I was smart enough to follow a business I like. Sending emails is one great way to measure how many people like your business. I don’t want to get frequent emails from my dentist with teeth-brushing secrets. I do want to get emails from Little Debbie’s that will lead to an unhealthy amount of snack cakes in my future.

At the end of the day, emails drive up interaction. It can’t hurt to give customers a well-timed reminder that your business has what they want. Setting goals can help you space them out enough that it’s not annoying and keep them frequent enough customers know you have some great deals ready for them. 

What are your employee growth goals?

If you’re meeting all your other goals, your business can really be booming. But as your growth increases, so does the strain of running a business. When you know how much you plan to grow, you can plan to get help before the stress is too much. When a good crew is assembled, it’s smooth sailing.

Only you know your business, and only you know what you are capable of, so set some good goals and plan for a good business year in 2024. When you keep these five questions in mind, you will be prepared for the growth that comes your way. 

Written by Chuck Scholes for Michelle McCullough at DreamBoard Media for speakmichelle.com