Today’s comment came from a busy professional and an entrepreneur:
How can I stick to my New Year’s resolution for my business?
Happy holidays!
My business is still very new, but I want to create some New Year resolutions to keep me on track. A couple I came up with so far is… 1. I want more face to face interaction with my customers and 2. I want to attend at least 2 major events in my industry. What are some tips to make sure I will stick to them?
In the business to make money
I am assuming that you are in the business to make money. Therefore, your business resolutions need to align with “making money”. Whether you are in business for yourself or a part of a corporation, here are some tips:
1) Align your Resolutions to increasing the business revenue, decreasing the business costs, and attracting new or returning customers.
2) Make your resolutions SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time Bound)
3) Be Accountable with frequent status and progress reports to an accountability partner
4) Focus on the reason “why” you are doing these resolutions
5) Take responsibility for your results
Let’s discuss each one in more detail.
Align Your Resolutions with your Career and Business goals
You are going to be more successful if you have a strong reason for your resolutions. If you are in any kind of business, your ultimate goal is to make money. If you work for a corporation, they are in the business to make money. Therefore, these resolutions should support the ultimate goal to make you and your business more successful.
Create business resolutions that will increase revenue, reduce costs and increase client retention and referrals.
SMART Goals
My recommendation is to create some SMART New Year Resolutions that will increase your revenue. Make them Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time Bound.
**For even greater advancement – see me about SMARTER goals.
In your example: 1. I want more face to face interaction with my customers
State actually how many Face to Face interactions with your clients per week or month. And how specifically will these increased interactions with clients actually increase sales or revenue? What specifically are you going to do in these face to face interactions that will increase client retention and referrals?
How specifically will having face to face interactions with your current clients increase your client base? What is your plan for interacting with new or potential new clients?
Updated Resolution: My resolution is to double my customer referral rate within 8 months. I will do this by adding monthly meetings with each client, specifically ask for referrals and testimonials, create fun contests for the clients which encourages them to include and invite friends, add free speaking engagements on topics that will interest my clients’ family and friends, create coupons and send appreciation gifts to loyal clients.
Be Accountable with frequent status and progress reports
In your example: 1. I want more face to face interaction with my customers
Create a spreadsheet or tracker that lists how many “face to face interactions” you need to make each week to match your monthly goals. And then log/track your actually meetings. By keeping track of your planned and actual counts, you can increase your efforts when you are falling behind.
Focus on the reason “why”
In your example: I want to attend at least 2 major events in my industry
What is the reason that you want to attend 2 major events in your industry? Do you want to attend the major events to “sharpen the saw” and stay current in your field? Do you want to speak at those events so that you are considered an authority in the industry? Do you want to purchase and man a booth so that you can attract new clients?
Focus on the results that you want to achieve instead of a specific activity.
Updated Resolution: My resolution is to triple my client list in 8 months. I will do this by speaking at 2 major events in my industry, setup monthly booths at local events, and giving monthly speaking events on topics relevant to my industry and business. I will also upgrade my website to automatically collect contact information from people downloading and interested in my free materials, articles and blog offers.
When you focus on the results that you want to achieve (instead of a specific action), additional opportunities will appear. You will actually have a plan to achieve a specific result instead of merely a checklist of tasks.
Take responsibility for your results
When you create SMARTER goals to achieve a specific result, it is easier to take responsibility.
Take the initial example I want more face to face interaction with my customers.
Who do you actually intend to give you more face to face interactions? Is someone else responsible for presenting you with these opportunities?
Take responsibility for making your business a success. To do this, you need to step up and use more powerful and empowering words. You have to be the one to make it happen.
Instead of saying “I want more face to face interactions”; “I want to attend at least 2 events”….
Commit to “I will double my customer referral rate within 8 months. “ and “I will triple my client list in 8 months”
“I want” is displacing the responsibility of accomplishing this goal somewhere else. It’s wishy-washy. And wishy-washy resolutions produce wishy-washy results.
“I will” is putting the responsibility directly on your own shoulders.
Conclusion
Putting some number goals and time frames around your goals will help you stick to them. When your goals become measurable (by placing numbers and time frames on them), they are easier to stick to them because you can tell if you are on target or need to focus more energy on them to make your numbers.
Wishy-Washy resolutions produce wishy-washy results.
Strong and empowered resolutions produces strong results.
If you need additional help on this topic, please contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info
I am a business coach and this is what I do professionally. It’s easy to sign up for a complementary one-on-one coaching call, just use this link https://www.timetrade.com/book/WFSFQ