Tweet

Reaching Your Small Business Sales And Marketing Goals

Written by: Stacy Karacostas

Article Overview: “A goal without a plan is nothing but a dream”

Reaching Your Small Business Sales And Marketing Goals

Are you on track to reach your business, sales or marketing goals?

If your answer is no—or you’re not sure—believe me you are not alone. I can’t even begin to count the number of small business I’ve run across that aren’t on track to meet their goals—or have no way of knowing if they are or not.

******
Why do so many entrepreneurs struggle to reach their goals?
******

Because although setting sales and revenue goals and making resolutions is a good place to start, you have to do more than that. If you truly want reach your goals, you have to have a plan. And you have to have deadlines for taking action.

You see, goals and dreams don’t become reality just because you want them to. Neither do resolutions.

Even if you start out strong, without a plan and concrete deadlines it’s far too easy to find an excuse, or create a roadblock. Or simply put off for today what you can do tomorrow.

It’s also easy to give up because achieving your goals just seems too darn difficult. Luckily, humans have an amazing capacity to change, adapt and overcome—even against tremendous odds.

Just think about the people who climb big mountains like Everest...

Having been an avid extreme sports participant for half my life, I’ve had a chance to chat with quite a few successful mountaineers. Personally, as much as I love mountain biking, whitewater kayaking and backcountry skiing, I’ll never understand why they do it.

Every single mountain climber I’ve ever met agrees that high-altitude mountaineering is a suffer-fest. The closer they get to their goal, the more agonizing each step becomes—literally. Not to mention the fact that it is incredibly dangerous.

Thankfully, for most of us, our small business goals are much easier to achieve than reaching the summit of a mountain like Everest. But there is a lot we can learn from the way these mountaineers go about getting to the top.

******
How do mountaineers manage to summit major peaks time and again?
******

By approaching mountain climbing the same you should approach achieving any goal…

1) They create a plan
Mountaineers spend literally months planning food, logistics,
gear, their route, their possible summit dates and more for a trip that may only last a couple of weeks—or less. Without all this planning they would never be successful.

Your goals may not be as difficult, dangerous or extreme, but that doesn’t mean
you shouldn’t devote some time to writing out a plan for reaching them.

2) They set smaller goals with deadlines
Mountaineers don’t go from Base Camp to the summit of Everest in one day. They
know it takes time to climb a big mountain. And if their sights are set only on the end goal it’s hard to maintain a positive attitude. Because that end goal is always a long ways off.

It’s much easier, and more rewarding, to reach big goals in stages. Plus it gives you a chance to get used to the changes you encounter every step of the way. That’s why mountaineers set a date to reach Base Camp, another to go to “Camp 1”, and so on until finally they make one last push to the summit—ideally on their predetermined summit day.

You can, and should, do the same.

3) They remember to plan for the down climb
Mountaineers always say just reaching the summit isn’t enough; it’s only a
successful climb if you make it back down. The same holds true
for your goals.

If you want to stay on course and truly achieve success, you have to do more than
just plan for achieving your short-term goals, or even reaching your
“summit”. Instead you have to think about what you’re going to do next to sustain your goals, maintain your new, successful behavior and keep moving forward.

The bottom line is…If you really want to reach your business goals and achieve your dreams, you have to start by making a plan. Abe Lincoln had it right when he said “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
Most people avoid planning like the plague, but it really does not have to be difficult. All you need to do is spend a few minutes writing down your main goal, choosing smaller goals to reach along the way, and making a list of what you need to do to make it all happen. And don’t forget to include deadlines for when you are going to get each action item done.

So, don’t just pick a goal and hope for it to happen. Spend a little time deciding how you are going to make those goals a reality—then take action. You’ll be amazed at the great heights you can reach when you do!

©2002-2007 SuccessStream. All Rights Reserved

Related Articles
  Reaching Your Goals
  Celebrate The Small Stuff
  What Goals Should I Set and What Plans Should I Make?
  Four Obstacles to Fame and Fortune for Small Business Owners
  Increased Sales Effectiveness: Opportunity #1

Article Tags: achieving your goals, business goals, business sales, excuse, extreme sports, goals and dreams, half my life, high altitude, marketing goals, mountain biking, mountain climber, mountaineering, mountaineers, reaching the summit, resolutions, revenue goals, roadblock, skiing, sports participant, whitewater kayaking



Related Forum Posts
New Small Business Topic - Hello everyone, I'm on the lookout for new topics to add to my site. We just launched a Franchising section and are planning Human Resources section. Do you have any thoughts for a new section? Here's a list of what we currently have: Angel Investors Branding Bank Loans Business Coaching Business Plan Franchises (New) Insurance Legal Marketing Public Relations Sales Small Biz Loans Venture Capital
Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing
Re: Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - [quote="ltrahan":31w9r2iz]Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing[/quote:31w9r2iz] I second the request...
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
These maybe the coldest franchises out there: - Here are the worst 15 performing franchises in regards to having the highest Small Business Administration (SBA) loan failure rates. The list is dotted with sub sandwich shops, fitness centers and car shops. WORST FRANCHISE LOAN FAILURES Failure % 1 OBEE'S SOUP SALAD SUBS 55.56% 2 LADY OF AMERICA 41.94% 3 COUNTRY CLUTTER (BED & BREAKFAST) 41.18% 4 COPY CLUB 36.36% 5 ALL TUNE AND LUBE 35.71% 6 PICKERMAN'S 35.71% 7 PHILLY CONNECTION 35.59% 8 ROLY POLY ROLLED SANDWICHES 34.78% 9 COTTMAN TRANSMISSION 34.48% 10 HAIR COLOR EXPRESS 33.33% 11 LEE MYLES AUTOMOTIVE TRANSMISSIONS 33.33% 12 GODFATHER'S PIZZA 33.33% 13 SMOOTHIE FACTORY 33.33% 14 BLIMPIE 31.39% 15 GOLF U.S.A. (RETAIL GOLF EQUIP.) 30.77% Source: Small Business Administration, SBA Loan Performance Within Franchise Code for the Period of FY 2001 - 2005


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Ten Twitter Tips For Work-at-Home Moms

The State of the Sustainable Furniture Industry

Basic Operating Question (BOQ) for Empowerment

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.