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Goals and Objectives for Business Plan with Examples

Published Nov.05, 2023

Updated Sep.14, 2024

By: Jakub Babkins

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Table of Content

Every business needs a clear vision of what it wants to achieve and how it plans to get there. A business plan is a document that outlines the goals and objectives of a business, as well as the strategies and actions to achieve them. A well-written business plan from business plan specialists can help a business attract investors, secure funding, and guide its growth.

Understanding Business Objectives

Business objectives are S pecific, M easurable, A chievable, R elevant, and T ime-bound (SMART) statements that describe what a business wants to accomplish in a given period. They are derived from the overall vision and mission of the business, and they support its strategic direction.

Business plan objectives can be categorized into different types, depending on their purpose and scope. Some common types of business objectives are:

• Financial objectives
• Operational objectives
• Marketing objectives
• Social objectives

For example, a sample of business goals and objectives for a business plan for a bakery could be:

• To increase its annual revenue by 20% in the next year.
• To reduce its production costs by 10% in the next six months.
• To launch a new product line of gluten-free cakes in the next quarter.
• To improve its customer satisfaction rating by 15% in the next month.

The Significance of Business Objectives

Business objectives are important for several reasons. They help to:

• Clarify and direct the company and stakeholders
• Align the company’s efforts and resources to a common goal
• Motivate and inspire employees to perform better
• Measure and evaluate the company’s progress and performance
• Communicate the company’s value and advantage to customers and the market

For example, by setting a revenue objective, a bakery can focus on increasing its sales and marketing efforts, monitor its sales data and customer feedback, motivate its staff to deliver quality products and service, communicate its unique selling points and benefits to its customers, and adjust its pricing and product mix according to market demand.

Advantages of Outlining Business Objectives

Outlining business objectives is a crucial step in creating a business plan. It serves as a roadmap for the company’s growth and development. Outlining business objectives has several advantages, such as:

• Clarifies the company’s vision, direction, scope, and boundaries
• Break down the company’s goals into smaller tasks and milestones
• Assigns roles and responsibilities and delegates tasks
• Establishes standards and criteria for success and performance
• Anticipates risks and challenges and devises contingency plans

For example, by outlining its business objective for increasing the average revenue per customer in its business plan, a bakery can:

• Attract investors with its viable business plan for investors
• Secure funding from banks or others with its realistic financial plan
• Partner with businesses or organizations that complement or enhance its products or services
• Choose the best marketing, pricing, product, staff, location, etc. for its target market and customers

Setting Goals and Objectives for a Business Plan

Setting goals and objectives for a business plan is not a one-time task. It requires careful planning, research, analysis, and evaluation. To set effective goals and objectives for a business plan, one should follow some best practices, such as:

OPTION 1: Use the SMART framework. A SMART goal or objective is clear, quantifiable, realistic, aligned with the company’s mission and vision, and has a deadline. SMART stands for:

• Specific – The goal or objective should be clear, concise, and well-defined.
• Measurable – The goal or objective should be quantifiable or verifiable.
• Achievable – The goal or objective should be realistic and attainable.
• Relevant – The goal or objective should be aligned with the company’s vision, mission, and values.
• Time-bound – The goal or objective should have a deadline or timeframe.

For example, using the SMART criteria, a bakery can refine its business objective for increasing the average revenue per customer as follows:

• Specific – Increase revenue with new products and services from $5 to $5.50.
• Measurable – Track customer revenue monthly with sales reports.
• Achievable – Research the market, develop new products and services, and train staff to upsell and cross-sell.
• Relevant – Improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, profitability and cash flow, and market competitiveness.
• Time-bound – Achieve this objective in six months, from January 1st to June 30th.

OPTION 2: Use the OKR framework. OKR stands for O bjectives and K ey R esults. An OKR is a goal-setting technique that links the company’s objectives with measurable outcomes. An objective is a qualitative statement of what the company wants to achieve. A key result is a quantitative metric that shows how the objective will be achieved.

OPTION 3: Use the SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for S trengths, W eaknesses, O pportunities, and T hreats. A SWOT analysis is a strategic tool that helps the company assess the internal and external factors that affect its goals and objectives.

• Strengths – Internal factors that give the company an advantage over others. 
• Weaknesses – Internal factors that limit the company’s performance or growth. 
• Opportunities – External factors that allow the company to improve or expand. 
• Threats – External factors that pose a risk or challenge to the company.

For example, using these frameworks, a bakery might set the following goals and objectives for its SBA business plan :

Objective – To launch a new product line of gluten-free cakes in the next quarter.

Key Results:

• Research gluten-free cake market demand and preferences by month-end.
• Create and test 10 gluten-free cake recipes by next month-end.
• Make and sell 100 gluten-free cakes weekly online or in-store by quarter-end.

SWOT Analysis:

• Expertise and experience in baking and cake decorating.
• Loyal and satisfied customer base.
• Strong online presence and reputation.

Weaknesses:

• Limited production capacity and equipment.
• High production costs and low-profit margins.
• Lack of knowledge and skills in gluten-free baking.

Opportunities:

• Growing demand and awareness for gluten-free products.
• Competitive advantage and differentiation in the market.
• Potential partnerships and collaborations with health-conscious customers and organizations.
• Increasing competition from other bakeries and gluten-free brands.
• Changing customer tastes and preferences.
• Regulatory and legal issues related to gluten-free labeling and certification.

Examples of Business Goals and Objectives

To illustrate how to write business goals and objectives for a business plan, let’s use a hypothetical example of a bakery business called Sweet Treats. Sweet Treats is a small bakery specializing in custom-made cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and other baked goods for various occasions.

Here are some examples of possible startup business goals and objectives for Sweet Treats:

Earning and Preserving Profitability

Profitability is the ability of a company to generate more revenue than expenses. It indicates the financial health and performance of the company. Profitability is essential for a business to sustain its operations, grow its market share, and reward its stakeholders.

Some possible objectives for earning and preserving profitability for Sweet Treats are:

• To increase the gross profit margin by 5% in the next quarter by reducing the cost of goods sold
• To achieve a net income of $100,000 in the current fiscal year by increasing sales and reducing overhead costs

Ensuring Consistent Cash Flow

Cash flow is the amount of money that flows in and out of a company. A company needs to have enough cash to cover its operating expenses, pay its debts, invest in its growth, and reward its shareholders.

Some possible objectives for ensuring consistent cash flow for Sweet Treats are:

• Increase monthly operating cash inflow by 15% by the end of the year by improving the efficiency and productivity of the business processes
• Increase the cash flow from investing activities by selling or disposing of non-performing or obsolete assets

Creating and Maintaining Efficiency

Efficiency is the ratio of output to input. It measures how well a company uses its resources to produce its products or services. Efficiency can help a business improve its quality, productivity, customer satisfaction, and profitability.

Some possible objectives for creating and maintaining efficiency for Sweet Treats are:

• To reduce the production time by 10% in the next month by implementing lean manufacturing techniques
• To increase the customer service response rate by 20% in the next week by using chatbots or automated systems

Winning and Keeping Clients

Clients are the people or organizations that buy or use the products or services of a company. They are the source of revenue and growth for a company. Therefore, winning and keeping clients is vital to generating steady revenue, increasing customer loyalty, and enhancing word-of-mouth marketing.

Some possible objectives for winning and keeping clients for Sweet Treats are:

• To acquire 100 new clients in the next quarter by launching a referral program or a promotional campaign
• To retain 90% of existing clients in the current year by offering loyalty rewards or satisfaction guarantees

Building a Recognizable Brand

A brand is the name, logo, design, or other features distinguishing a company from its competitors. It represents the identity, reputation, and value proposition of a company. Building a recognizable brand is crucial for attracting and retaining clients and creating a loyal fan base.

Some possible objectives for building a recognizable brand for Sweet Treats are:

• To increase brand awareness by 50% in the next six months by creating and distributing engaging content on social media platforms
• To improve brand image by 30% in the next year by participating in social causes or sponsoring events that align with the company’s values

Expanding and Nurturing an Audience with Marketing

An audience is a group of people interested in or following a company’s products or services. They can be potential or existing clients, fans, influencers, or partners. Expanding and nurturing an audience with marketing is essential for increasing a company’s visibility, reach, and engagement.

Some possible objectives for expanding and nurturing an audience with marketing for Sweet Treats are:

• To grow the email list by 1,000 subscribers in the next month by offering a free ebook or a webinar
• To nurture leads by sending them relevant and valuable information through email newsletters or blog posts

Strategizing for Expansion

Expansion is the process of increasing a company’s size, scope, or scale. It can involve entering new markets, launching new products or services, opening new locations, or forming new alliances. Strategizing for expansion is important for diversifying revenue streams, reaching new audiences, and gaining competitive advantages.

Some possible objectives for strategizing for expansion for Sweet Treats are:

• To launch a new product or service line by developing and testing prototypes
• To open a new branch or franchise by securing funding and hiring staff

Template for Business Objectives

A template for writing business objectives is a format or structure that can be used as a guide or reference for creating your objectives. A template for writing business objectives can help you to ensure that your objectives are SMART, clear, concise, and consistent.

To use this template, fill in the blanks with your information. Here is an example of how you can use this template:

Example of Business Objectives

Our business is a _____________ (type of business) that provides _____________ (products or services) to _____________ (target market). Our vision is to _____________ (vision statement) and our mission is to _____________ (mission statement).

Our long-term business goals and objectives for the next _____________ (time period) are:

S pecific: We want to _____________ (specific goal) by _____________ (specific action).

M easurable: We will measure our progress by _____________ (quantifiable indicator).

A chievable: We have _____________ (resources, capabilities, constraints) that will enable us to achieve this goal.

R elevant: This goal supports our vision and mission by _____________ (benefit or impact).

T ime-bound: We will complete this goal by _____________ (deadline).

Repeat this process for each goal and objective for your business plan.

How to Monitor Your Business Objectives?

After setting goals and objectives for your business plan, you should check them regularly to see if you are achieving them. Monitoring your business objectives can help you to:

• Track your progress and performance
• Identify and overcome any challenges
• Adjust your actions and strategies as needed

Some of the tools and methods that you can use to monitor your business objectives are:

• Dashboards – Show key data and metrics for your objectives with tools like Google Data Studio, Databox, or DashThis.
• Reports – Get detailed information and analysis for your objectives with tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, or SEMrush.
• Feedback – Learn from your customers and their needs and expectations with tools like SurveyMonkey, Typeform, or Google Forms.

Strategies for Realizing Business Objectives

To achieve your business objectives, you need more than setting and monitoring them. You need strategies and actions that support them. Strategies are the general methods to reach your objectives. Actions are the specific steps to implement your strategies.

Different objectives require different strategies and actions. Some common types are:

• Marketing strategies
• Operational strategies
• Financial strategies
• Human resource strategies
• Growth strategies

To implement effective strategies and actions, consider these factors:

• Alignment – They should match your vision, mission, values, goals, and objectives
• Feasibility – They should be possible with your capabilities, resources, and constraints
• Suitability – They should fit the context and needs of your business

How OGSCapital Can Help You Achieve Your Business Objectives?

We at OGSCapital can help you with your business plan and related documents. We have over 15 years of experience writing high-quality business plans for various industries and regions. We have a team of business plan experts who can assist you with market research, financial analysis, strategy formulation, and presentation design. We can customize your business plan to suit your needs and objectives, whether you need funding, launching, expanding, or entering a new market. We can also help you with pitch decks, executive summaries, feasibility studies, and grant proposals. Contact us today for a free quote and start working on your business plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the goals and objectives in business.

Goals and objectives in a business plan are the desired outcomes that a company works toward. To describe company goals and objectives for a business plan, start with your mission statement and then identify your strategic and operational objectives. To write company objectives, you must brainstorm, organize, prioritize, assign, track, and review them using the SMART framework and KPIs.

What are the examples of goals and objectives in a business plan?

Examples of goals and objectives in a business plan are: Goal: To increase revenue by 10% each year for the next five years. Objective: To launch a new product line and create a marketing campaign to reach new customers.

What are the 4 main objectives of a business?

The 4 main objectives of a business are economic, social, human, and organic. Economic objectives deal with financial performance, social objectives deal with social responsibility, human objectives deal with employee welfare, and organic objectives deal with business growth and development.

What are goals and objectives examples?

Setting goals and objectives for a business plan describes what a business or a team wants to achieve and how they will do it. For example: Goal: To provide excellent customer service. Objective: To increase customer satisfaction scores by 20% by the end of the quarter. 

At OGSCapital, our business planning services offer expert guidance and support to create a realistic and actionable plan that aligns with your vision and mission. Get in touch to discuss further!

OGSCapital’s team has assisted thousands of entrepreneurs with top-rated document, consultancy and analysis. They’ve helped thousands of SME owners secure more than $1.5 billion in funding, and they can do the same for you.

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41 Business Goals Examples to Set in 2024 and Beyond

• Goal Management

What Are Business Goals?

4 goal frameworks with examples, manage business goals in weekdone.

For more than 10 years Weekdone has provided tens of thousands of teams from startups to Fortune 500 with world leading goal-setting software called Weekdone . These are our lessons learned.

Organizations invest time and resources in determining where to target their collective efforts. Whether your business goals and objectives center on strategic planning, expansion, or sustainability, they are a pivotal point in the expansion of any organization. They assist in several ways, from enhancing customer service to boosting revenues. In the end, they contribute to establishing the company’s main goal.

You may have come across many long-term and short-term goal-setting methodologies or frameworks in the business sector, such as Objectives and Key Results (OKR) , Balanced Scorecard (BSC), SMART goals, and so on. 

• OKRs – Objectives and Key Results – as implemented in products like Weekdone are today’s de-facto standard for goal-setting in teams and companies
• SMART goals can help you handle the bumps on the road. 
• Business model and vision statement provide a big picture view of your firm and what you want to achieve, 
• Short-term and long-term business objectives describe the exact techniques you’ll employ to get there.

It’s time to advance with a proactive, strategic strategy that prioritizes pressing problems and helps us avoid making snap judgments in the future. Let’s go through the ultimate strategies for setting great business goals for 2024 and beyond.

Business goals are the aims that a company expects to achieve within a specific time frame. You may define business goals for your entire organization as well as specific departments, staff, management, and/or clientele.

Goals often indicate the wider purpose of a firm and seek to set an ultimate goal for staff to strive toward. The time period you set your goal for will determine whether it’s considered short-term or long term.

Short term goals are usually those which can be achieved in one or two working quarters (3-6 months) sometimes maybe a year, depending on how committed the organization is.

Further, when thinking of a long term goal – it’s typically one set with a date to accomplish within one year or more.

📚 What’s the difference between goals and objectives ?

A goal framework is a systematic way of defining goals. Although these frameworks vary in terms of precise rules and methods, they are all intended to simplify the goal management process to maximize the probability of achievement. This generally entails breaking down larger and more complicated goals into smaller steps and activities that should be completed within a specific period.

The 4 goal-setting frameworks listed below are among the most widely used and successful frameworks available today.

Objectives and Key Results (OKR)

OKR stands for “ Objectives and Key Results .” This popular goal management framework focuses on development and progress by setting proper quarterly goals – leveraging the ability of your teams to achieve results. Weekdone is a tool to implement OKRs in your team.

Using OKRs is critical for attaining collaborative success and fulfilling the organization’s bigger vision. This framework helps businesses to keep alignment and engagement on the quantifiable metrics that actually matter!

OKR methodology entails defining objectives, involving individuals in the goal-setting exercise, and fostering an open and transparent culture. Maintaining this culture requires persistent and regular OKR check-ins to keep you on track and ensure you never lose sight of your priorities. OKRs have been embraced by many big corporations and charitable groups, including Netflix and Code for America.

Learn more about the best practices for tracking OKRs , why it is important, and how to use OKRs effectively throughout the company.

Get 14-day trial of Weekdone . Invite your teams and set better business goals with OKRs. Try it now .

How to Write Good OKRs

Writing OKRs at the Company or Team level lets you clearly view your core challenges and improvement possibilities and separate them from day-to-day activities. Good objectives bring teams together, foster long-term growth habits, and propel you to success. If you start using Weekdone , you can take advantage of the OKR examples in the software .

To create OKRs, you must first understand how to do them correctly. OKRs are composed of one main goal at the top and 3-5 accompanying key results. They may be expressed in the form of a statement.

Crafting Company Objectives

To begin, you need to create a corporate objective. The corporate goal should be wide enough to allow all teams to develop the most successful team goals. On the other hand, it should be detailed, so everyone understands the company’s direction.

Ultimately, the company objective helps to establish a quarterly focus for the entire organization. Team objectives are then developed based on this high-level focus.

Developing Team Objectives

Once the company’s Objective(s) is established, individual teams should work together to discuss their relative objectives. These motivating goals should be consistent with the general direction of the firm. They should create focus, a sense of urgency, and a sense of collective purpose. Furthermore, they are intended to represent challenges to be solved or possibilities for progress to be pursued during the quarter.

Pro Tip: In Weekdone , we recommend linking your team objectives to the company objective – creating the company OKR. This goal alignment tactic ensures that everything is moving as one cohesive organism.

Creating Key Results for Your Objectives

Objectives on all levels are subdivided into quantifiable key results used to track your success and progress toward the “O”. As a result, key results they must be time-bound, detailed, attainable, and quantifiable. While the goal is to fix or enhance the problem, crucial findings indicate whether the problem was successfully solved.

Keep in mind: Efficient Key results are lofty but attainable metrics -they are not KPIs or projects. KR’s are always tied to both the quarter and the objectives.

OKR Examples

By identifying some OKR examples to model and practice with, it will be much simpler to adopt the framework in your business effectively. Here are some example Objectives and their Key Results for different business departments:

Sales & Marketing Departmental OKR Examples

Example okr #1:.

Objective: Improve our overall sales performance. Key Result 1: Maintain a sales pipeline of quality leads worth at least $400K each quarter. Key Result 2: Increase the closure rate from 20% to 23%. Key Result 3: Increase the number of planned calls per sales rep from three to six per week. Key Result 4: Increase the average contract size from $12,000 to $124,000.

Example OKR #2:

Objective: Build a netbook of business recurring revenue to stabilize the firm. Key Result 1: Achieve $300,000 in monthly recurring revenue ($MRR) before the end of Q1. Key Result 2: Increase the proportion of subscription services sold against one-time contracts to 60%. Key Result 3: Increase the average paid subscription value to at least $400. Key Result 4: Increase the percentage of yearly renewals to 70%.

Example OKR #3:

Objective: Bring in as many high-quality leads to assist the sales team. Key Result 1: Develop three new case studies aimed at new consumer categories. Key Result 2:  Update the normal sales deck and discussion track with new products/offers. Key Result 3:  Try to double the number of online form leads. Key Result 4:  Organize two sales training sessions.

Example OKR #4:

Objective: Improve the quality of our outbound sales strategy. Key Result 1: Ensure that at least 75% of prospective parties are contacted directly within three working days. Key Result 2:   Consult with productive team members to determine what works in the sales process and develop a sales cheat sheet. Key Result 3: Publish a best practices sales process document with the lowest permitted service levels

Example OKR #5:

Objective: Generate sales leads of greater quality. Key Result 1: Create a set of lead metrics and prepare queries for CRM collection. Key Result 2:   Ensure that at least 75% of leads performed mandatory questions/answers. Key Result 3: Streamline the gathering of data from our database to CRM. Key Result 4: Redesign the user interaction form by adding three additional mandatory structured questionnaires.

Example OKR #6:

Objective : Extend our reach and brand recognition beyond our present geographic boundaries. Key Result 1:  Improve signups from transformational change leadership articles by 3% Key Result 2:  Boost publication subscriptions by 300 Key Result 3: Enhance web traffic from additional target areas by 12%.

Example OKR #7

Objective : Improve our SEO. Key Result 1: Get 20 fresh backlinks from relevant sites each quarter if your domain score exceeds 50. Key Result 2: Optimize our on-page optimization and improve ten pages every quarter. Key Result 3:  Increase the speed of our website to improve our speed score. Key Result 4:   Write one new blog article weekly optimized for our list of targeted search terms.

Example OKR #8

Objective : Foster a sense of community among our clients. Key Result 1:  Develop a best-practices-based customer community approach. Key Result 2:  During the first half of the year, produce 20 articles showing client satisfaction. Key Result 3:  We get 25% of our clients to engage in the community using discount opportunities. Key Result 4:  Earn five favorable PR mentions for our consumers this quarter.

Example OKR #9

Objective : Increase brand exposure and reputation. Key Result 1:  Roll out a new weekly magazine with valuable material and thought leadership. Key Result 2: Deliver five new value-added posts with over 250 words of content every month. Key Result 3: This quarter, obtain two favorable media exposure PR spots in our community. Key Result 4: Amass 10 reviews with five stars on Google and Yelp this quarter.

Example OKR #10

Objective : Deliberately and consistently enhance the competencies of our staff. Key Result 1:   Every member of the team has a personal growth plan. Key Result 2:  All workers have received 360-degree feedback. Key Result 3: Every manager has a one-on-one at least every other week. Key Result 4: Create a strategy for effective intervention opportunities to address capacity shortfalls.

SMART Goals for Business

SMART business goals give you the blueprint to make your overarching business aspirations a reality.

James Cunningham, Arthur Miller, and George Doran initially presented this method for defining goals in 1981. Setting SMART goals allows you to articulate your thoughts, organize your efforts, use your time and resources better, and enhance the odds of reaching your goal. Questions to ask when setting SMART goals:

• What exactly do you want to accomplish?
• What are your numeric priorities or restrictions regarding effort, expense, and time?
• How realistic is it? See committed or aspirational goals
• Does the goal apply to you and your company?
• What are your timeframes, deadlines, and quantifiable constraints?

SMART goals do not have a certain cadence or use case; they are suggestions and a descriptive set of criteria to use while considering what you want to accomplish. You may establish them for certain periods, departments, individuals, or tasks.

How to Write SMART Goals

Consider using the SMART steps to help you reach your goals:

• Specify your goal.
• Create a measurable goal.
• Set attainable goals.
• Ensure that it is relevant.
• Develop a time-bound plan.

SMART goals can be implemented in any section of a business. If you’re unsure whether it’s worthwhile to plan it out for your organization, consider using free online goal-setting tools.

SMART Business Goals Examples

1. i want to boost my revenue.

• Specific: I plan to boost revenue while decreasing spending. Shifting to a more affordable location, which would reduce my rent by 7%, will lower my operational expenditures.
• Measurable: I plan to increase sales over the following five months by signing up three additional potential clients.
• Attainable: I plan to strengthen my current client connections and develop the company through recommendations, networking, and social media. This will assist me in generating more leads, resulting in a rise in income for the company.
• Relevant: Moving to a less expensive location will lower my company’s operational costs, allowing for profit growth.
• Time-bound: By the end of the next three months, I will have doubled my profit.

2. Set Up a Virtual Sales Communication Link

• Specific: Our remote sales crew should have connectivity across the board and be fully functional.
• Measurable: The mission is fully functional when running the routing protocol, and our remote employees can start working.
• Achievable: This goal may be lofty, but we may bring it to the top of the list of priorities and briefly divert assets from longer-term initiatives to finish it.
• Relevant: Even if there is no epidemic, remote work is an excellent option. Remote networking assists people in being productive and organizations in achieving goals in a post-COVID environment.
• Time-bound: This objective has a time constraint of seven days.

3. I Want To Improve My Business Operations Efficiency

• Specific: I’ll strengthen the effectiveness of my daily operations by putting pressure on my sales team to raise their closing ratio from 30% to at least 40%.
• Measurable: Salespeople are expected to enhance their closing ratio from 30% to 40%, and delivery time is expected to be reduced from 72 hours to 12 hours.
• Attainable: I’ll run a poll to determine what the notion means to both clients and the sales staff. I’ll put it in place as soon as the concept is approved.
• Relevant: expanding the number of motorcycles and pickup trucks that will provide delivery services for us will aid the strategy’s success.
• Time-bound: This should take place within a year.

4. I Want To Expand My Business Operations

• Specific: During the next three years, open three additional branches around the country
• Measurable: The goal is to boost the company’s operations and revenue. This, in turn, will encourage the establishment of three additional branches.
• Attainable: More manufacturing will increase my present selling space by 25%. This will allow me to save for the projected expansion to four branches around the country.
• Relevant: Growing production, operations, and income will result in a larger customer base; therefore, opening new branches will not waste time.
• Time-bound: The establishment of the branches should take place during the next three years.

5. My goal is to increase employee retention

• Specific: In 90 days, I will reduce staff turnover by 25% by training new workers to let them understand what is expected of them and a strategy to assist them in becoming acquainted with the operational processes.
• Measurable: the increase in staff turnover is expected to be roughly 25% and should occur within 90 days.
• Attainable: training courses and one-on-one sessions will guarantee that personnel are ready for what is required of them when they start working in production.
• Relevant: exceptional personnel will be considered for a reward scheme. There will be motivational training for individuals who are having difficulty.
• Time-bound: Within 90 days, staff turnover will have improved.

OKR Goals vs. SMART Goals

OKRs and SMART goals may appear to be very comparable on the surface. However, they have entirely different use cases. OKR is regarded as a more advanced method for creating corporate-wide goals.

OKRs are intended to propel firms to growth and long-term progress. They operate best with a quarterly goal-setting cycle and regular weekly check-ins to keep track of progress and stay on target. SMART goals are one-time objectives created for smaller initiatives without a direct or established link to higher-level objectives.

Management by Objectives (MBO)

Management by Objectives, abbreviated “MBO,” is a management concept created by Peter Drucker in the late 1960s as he began to propose better methods for managing skilled workers over agricultural and industrial employees who came before them.

Staff objectives are set using the main business goals, with this framework. MBO enables everyone in the firm to evaluate what they have done concerning the company’s key objectives and priorities while completing duties. This demonstrates how action and outcome are linked and how they may significantly boost productivity.

MBO Examples

MBO can be used and possibly benefit a variety of sectors. Here are some real-world applications for MBO:

Human Resources: MBO may improve employee happiness, hold workplace events, and increase staff participation.

Company Performance: Using MBO to boost gross margins, minimize carbon footprints, enhance sales, and so on.

Marketing: MBO may help you reach goals like boosting email subscriptions, expanding social media followers, and tripling online traffic.

Customer Service: Minimizing incident rates, boosting associate accessibility to assist in customer disagreements, and speeding up a dispute resolution.

Sales: Reduce the sales cycle from six to three months, boost average revenues to $10,000, and acquire 15 new clients over a certain period.

In reality, a clear objective setting in areas where the organization may now fall short may assist all facets of a company, from human resources to marketing to sales to information technology and everything in between.

OKR vs. MBO 

The most notable difference between these two frameworks is that OKR is about outcomes, rather than outputs. OKR has been known to foster more important cross-departmental and team discussions to get to the greater problem or big picture ideas. Management by Objectives has been linked to performance management and is driven by outputs – both of which are very different from the Objectives and Key Results goal management framework.

Read more on the difference between OKR and MBO . 

Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG)

BHAG stands for ‘big, hairy, audacious goals’ and refers to lofty ambitions that may appear impossible in the short term but give a crucial feeling of aspiration and emotional energy to propel the business to the top.

The concept, coined by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in their book Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, often defines long-term strategies tied to your company’s fundamental beliefs and ideals. BHAGs are long-term in nature, with a time frame of 10 to 25 years optimal. They should be based on the goal and guiding principles of your company.

Tips for Developing Your BHAG

Here are some helpful hints for developing a BHAG for your company:

• Employees are inspired to strive for the final objective since it is so large and inspirational;
• The BHAG may be broken down into sub-goals, which is a huge motivator;
• Your objective is specific;
• Don’t forget to set a time limit.

BHAG Examples

• Make your eatery the go-to choice for royalty and international leaders when they need catering.
• Establish a nonprofit organization to find a treatment for a serious illness like Parkinson’s or arthritis.
• Make your business more than just a producer of mobility aids by creating the first all-terrain wheelchair that improves the lives of millions of people.
• Surpass Starbucks and McDonald’s in brand recognition. It can also work in other industries by modifying it to become as recognizable a name as McDonald’s in your chosen field.
• Make your art gallery the most well-known in the world. One in which all the greatest artists compete to have their work showcased.
• Become a billion-dollar corporation in two decades. Some of the world’s top corporations began on kitchen tables with a BHAG.

More Business Goals Examples

Without rhyme or reason, implementing a new framework or not – you can always begin with some statement areas for improvement. We’ve created a list of example goals you can work with immediately in your organization. These are great to get started in your free Weekdone trial .

1. Increase Market Share

This goal is customer driven. The idea is to sell more of your product to your target consumers, thus, increasing overall market share for your product for investors. For example, if you operate a B2B company, your goal should be to reach out to more company heads or HR departments. If you operate a small business that focuses on building computers, you’ll want more of the local population to come to you for your services.

2. Increase Community Outreach

Becoming part of the community is a fantastic way to connect from the B2C side. Whether you are a large company contributing to community efforts through sponsorship or a small company that volunteers to help for Little League Baseball, community outreach is an excellent goal for new and established organizations alike. Increasing community outreach is especially important if your company or organization doesn’t have a good reputation with a particular group (I.E.: environmentalists).

Likewise, community outreach is essential if you are providing human necessities. For example, if you run a small scale grocery store, community outreach is what’s gonna keep you above water when competing with larger corporations. 

3. Maintain Profits

Financial goals are one of the most useful top-level objectives you can have. By nature, they are both aspirational and measurable, which equally makes financial-driven objectives essential for getting the goal setting process started for young businesses.

Maintaining profits (as opposed to increasing revenue) calls for a balance between profitability and investments. Investments are necessary to test out changes in the market and expand the business, so by establishing a balanced goal, you can reason how much money can go into growth and new projects/tools/campaigns while still reaching a paired profit goal. 

4. Reduce Energy or Decrease Unnecessary Use of Resources

This is a double-sided issue. If you are providing a service or product that requires being PHYSICALLY, cutting back on using that energy to save money means you can put that money to things that are more useful and productive (such as expanding or improving the product). This can be as minimal as cutting down on electricity. 

If your product isn’t physical, this goal equally applies to cutting out company tools by trying to find software or systems that maximize your company’s alignment and productivity. Aiming for 1-2 communication tools, for example, cuts out company miscommunication by having conversations spread out over several apps, messaging programs, and document sharing platforms. 

5. Grow Shareholder Value

Increasing shareholder value is an extension of increasing profit for consumers. Increasing the overall value of your organization can refer to reputation, profit, or any other classification of “value.” The most important aspect of this goal is to specify what that value is and structure your Key Results, projects, KPIs, etc. around this. 

6. Increase Percentage of Sales Made with New Product Features

When developing new products or features, promoting them so sales can close more deals/sell more of the new product should be one of your main priorities for increasing profit. This justifies the expenses from investing in the new product or feature in the first place and aims to ensure that the investment was worth it and will turn a profit. 

7. Invest in Quality Management

Total Quality Management (TQM) is all about continuing to reduce manufacturing error and streamlining a supply chain with physical products. It equally applies to both when dealing with improving customer experience and training staff. Improving quality across a wide variety of areas is a great company level goal that’s easy to align since each team or department can be held accountable for their own work. 

8. Focus on Leadership Skills for Team Members

Training employees is one thing, making them comfortable so they can speak for themselves and encouraging creative, out-of-the box behavior is another. If your company wants more input from lower levels, then this is important.

Implementing employee goals will increase their independence and confidence in the workplace. We have a post to explain how this works.

9. Maintain or Decrease Debt

Easily measurable, this category falls under finances as well. Maintaining a certain amount of financial debt is important… especially for businesses that are just getting started and may not have the profits to cover debt costs.

10. Balance Budget for X Period

Balancing a budget is a great top level goal for non-profits. Likewise, this goal is a great for teams who may get a set amount to invest in campaigns or projects quarterly or annually. 

11. Calculate and Create the Best Value of Product for Cost

This is on marketing and sales, so is a better team goal example than a company goal. The idea is to focus on selling customers that they are getting the best deal. Whether you’re selling something top of the line for high cost or a cheap, low-cost alternative that doesn’t have the polish of a different brand, you need to highlight to your customers why your product balances value and cost.

12. Make Product More Reliable/Create a Reliable Product

Making your product more reliable is a great way to gain customers while maintaining pre existing ones. This short term goal can be worked on quarter after quarter – split up the tasks by first reviewing existing value points, competitors and current positioning – then continue forward as you learn and explore more to prepare for development.

13. Cross-Sell to Long Term Customers

So, you have people buying a product of yours. A good goal for sales is to sell them on more products. This builds brand loyalty.

14. Best Customer Service

Dealing with the external face of your company, offering the best customer service means that consumers are happier with the overall experience of buying or using your product.

15. Team Building/Diversity Training Goals

A classic in HR teams, team building and diversity training focuses on employee satisfaction to prevent turnover and allow environments where everyone is comfortable enough to share their ideas.

It’s now time to sign up for your free Weekdone trial and get going.

The first step is to set up a goal for your firm or team. Each goal you establish has an impact on the next. As a result, ensure that your business goals and objectives are adaptable. Whether you are a small firm or an expert in your profession, consistently analyzing your work, raising your work standards, and expanding your goal list is the way to progress.

Efficient goal alignment promotes a greater sense of participation and direction among employees in a firm. The OKR process is at the forefront of assisting companies in aligning their aims through important results and activities.

Weekdone is your leading OKR software for status reporting, aligning team OKRs with business goals, and visualizing weekly and quarterly achievements. The fundamental concepts of appropriate alignment, structure, and connectivity are important to us. From the ground up, we can make your organization feel more connected by achieving business goals together. Sign up now .

14 day free trial – invite your team and start setting better business goals!

Examples of Effective Short-Term, Mid-Term, and Long-Term Business Goals

By Kate Eby | September 7, 2023

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Setting effective goals is vital to your business’s success. Good goals help organizations move forward and keep employees on track. We’ve talked with experts and gathered examples of solid short-term, mid-term, and long-term business goals.

Included on this page, you’ll find examples of long-term , mid-term , and short-term business goals and how they work together. Plus, check out an easy-to-read chart on which framework is best for setting time-based goals and a free, downloadable goal-setting worksheet that can help your team create your goals.

Common Time Ranges for Different Business Goals

Companies set large overarching goals to achieve in two to five years. To attain long-term goals, set goals with shorter time frames that work toward the long-term objective. Depending on the type of goal, some experts might refer to it as a strategy or an objective . However, there is a difference between a goal, an objective , and a strategy. 

Examples of Long-Term Business Goals

Long-term goals focus on the big-picture vision for the future of the organization, generally covering two years or longer. They typically don’t cover more than five years, since the business and technology environment can change drastically after that time frame.

Long-term goals are more aspirational and might not have the specificity of short-term and mid-term goals. “These goals ought to be aligned with the overall vision of the company,” says Izzy Galicia, President and CEO of global professional services firm the Incito Consulting Group and an expert in Lean enterprise transformation.

The long-term goals also must be realistic. “We know from the literature and practical experience that you want goals that are challenging, but they're also achievable. You don't want to have a goal that people don't buy into at all, or it's just so outrageous that you can't possibly achieve it,” explains Lee Frederiksen, managing partner of Virginia-based Hinge Marketing and former Director for Strategy and Organizational Development at Ernst & Young.

Here are four examples of long-term business goals:

• Increase Sales: A common long-term goal is to increase sales significantly. A company might establish a long-term goal of increasing total sales by 40 percent in three years.
• Become Niche Leader: Another company might have its sights on becoming dominant in its industry. It would set a long-term goal of becoming the leader in its market niche in four years.
• Expand Company Locations: Adding storefronts over the next few years is also a common long-term goal. A company with that aim would set a long-term goal of expanding its one restaurant location to four locations in four years.
• Create and Develop a Non-Profit Entity: An organization or group of people can also establish a long-term goal of establishing a successful nonprofit organization focused on environmental conservation.

Examples of Mid-Term Business Goals

Mid-term goals help an organization meet a long-term goal. They can take an organization six months to two years or so to reach. 

Here are examples of mid-term goals that will help a company reach a specific long-term goal: 

A company’s long-term goal is to open three more restaurants in the next four years. These examples are some of the mid-term goals they would need to achieve first:

• Systematize Standard Operating Procedures for Running the Restaurant: The mid-term goal would be to document and systematize its standard operating procedures to efficiently operate its original restaurant within a year.
• Develop a Hiring Process That Attracts Talented Employees: The company sets a goal of developing and implementing a hiring process to attract committed employees in the next 14 months. 
• Research and Evaluate the Best Locations to Open the New Restaurants: The company would set a goal of continually scouting and evaluating possible locations for new restaurants over the next two years.

A group of people have the goal of creating a successful nonprofit organization in five years. Here are some examples of mid-term goals they would set and meet first:

• Establish Partnerships with Local Environmental Organizations: The group of people would like to start a nonprofit focused on environmental conservation. A mid-term goal would be to develop and establish partnerships with key local environmental organizations within the next two years.
• Develop and Implement a Solid Fundraising Strategy: The nonprofit needs funding to be successful. The organization would set a mid-term goal of developing an effective fundraising strategy within the next 18 months.
• Build a Dedicated Team of Volunteers: To help it reach its long-term goal of establishing a successful nonprofit focused on environmental conservation, the organization would set a goal of building a system to attract and retain volunteers for the organization within the next year.

Examples of Short-Term Business Goals

Short-term business goals encompass work that helps an organization reach its mid-term goals. These goals are often meant to be reached in a month or a quarter. Some might take six months or so to accomplish. Only one department — or even only one worker — might work on some short-term goals.

Some experts call short-term goals objectives. They might call the shortest short-term goals tactics . (Learn more about the differences between business goals vs. business objectives and strategies vs. tactics .)

“If one of my goals is to develop a content strategy — so that more people are aware of my company — I can't jump into Year Three and say, ‘I have a content strategy,’” shares Keith Speers, CEO of Consulting Without Limits , which provides business consulting, leadership coaching, fractional leadership, and other consulting services. “Part of that one- to three-year plan is developing my audience, curating them, creating content, and establishing myself as someone who's a thought leader in a specific field. All of that requires establishing short-term goals or objectives.”

The short-term goals or objectives are “more about the measurable steps or actions to take in order to reach that (mid- or long-term) goal,” states Marco Scanu, a business coach and CEO of Miami-based Visa Business Plans , a consulting firm providing attorneys and investors with business planning services.

Here are examples of short-term goals to build toward achieving the mid-term goals associated with expanding a company’s restaurant count from one to four: 

• Assemble a Team to Develop a Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Document for Current and Future Locations: To help reach the goal of systematizing its SOP for running its original restaurant, the company would set a short-term goal of developing a SOP document for the company’s original and future locations by the end of the next quarter.
• Work With an HR Consultant to Attract and Retain Qualified Staff: To reach the mid-term goal of developing a hiring process that attracts talented workers who will stay with the company, the business would set a goal of hiring and working with a human resources consultant to find ways to attract and retain employees within the next month.
• Create an Internal Team to Improve Compensation and Increase Retention: To reach the goal of developing a prosperous hiring process, the company would set a short-term goal of forming an internal team to assess ways to improve employee compensation and retention within the next two months.
• Research Demographic/Economic Trends in the Metro Area: To achieve the goal of researching and evaluating the best locations for new restaurants, the company would set a short-term goal of researching demographic and economic trends within neighborhoods where they want to add new restaurants.
• Work With a Real Estate Agency to Find Potential Buildings: To complete the mid-term goal of researching and evaluating the best locations for new restaurants, the company would set a goal of hiring and working with a real estate agency within the next two weeks. The real estate agent would continually search for good locations for possible new restaurants.

Here are examples of short-term goals necessary for a group of people to create a successful environmental conservation nonprofit:

• Research and Identify Potential Partner Organizations and Establish Connections: To reach the mid-term goal of establishing partnerships with local environmental organizations, the founding group would set a goal of identifying specific organizations that might be good partners and connecting with their representatives in the next six weeks.
• Research Grant Applications, Methods for Individual Donations, and Fundraising Events: To reach the goal of developing a solid fundraising strategy, the organization would set a short-term goal of researching the elements of  a fundraising plan that includes grant applications, individual donations, and fundraising events.
• Identify and Collect Contact Details of Potential Volunteers: To build a dedicated team of volunteers, the organization would set a goal of meeting and collecting contact details of potential volunteers over the next four months.

Examples of Short- and Mid-Term Business Goals Contributing to Long-Term Goals

These examples break down how to strategically set short- and mid-term goals to achieve a company’s long-term more visionary goals. “I think of short-term and mid-term goals as stepping stones to your long-term goals, things you have to accomplish to be able to get to the next goal,” Frederiksen explains.

• Short-Term Goal: Use customer relationship management (CRM) software to gather better information about potential and existing customers.
• Short-Term Goal: Increase production of website content.
• Short-Term Goal: Create and implement a new Google ad strategy.
• Short-Term Goal: Establish an engineering and product team to tweak product features.
• Short-Term Goal: Hire a new vice president of sales. 
• Short-Term Goal: Add three new members to the overseas sales team.
• Short-Term Goal: Hire a rebranding consultant.
• Short-Term Goal: Hire a contractor to lead the website redesign.
• Short-Term Goal: Find more opportunities for the new CEO to speak at industry events.
• Short-Term Goal: Become a key sponsor of an annual industry conference.
• Short-Term Goal: Empower the marketing vice president to pursue other sponsorship opportunities.

Business Goal-Setting Frameworks

When setting goals, it helps to use an established framework. Experts point out that, in setting business goals, people most often use one of five goal frameworks . Those frameworks are SMART, management by objectives (MBO), objectives and key results (OKR), key results areas (KRA) , or big hairy audacious goals (BHAG). Here are details on each of these business goal-setting frameworks and which goal length they work best for:

Which Business Goal-Setting Framework to Use

Learn more about goal-setting frameworks and use goal-setting and goal-tracking templates to get started working on your goals.

Business Goals Worksheet Template for Excel

Download the Business Goals Worksheet Template for Excel

Use this free template to guide your team in setting long-, mid-, and short-term business goals. Identify long-term goals, and then the mid-term and short-term goals that serve them. You have room to add any tasks and actions that must be completed to reach those goals. The downloadable worksheet is fully customizable.

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The Smartsheet platform makes it easy to plan, capture, manage, and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done. Report on key metrics and get real-time visibility into work as it happens with roll-up reports, dashboards, and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed. 

When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time.  Try Smartsheet for free, today.

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How To Set Business Goals (+ Examples for Inspiration)

Updated: July 22, 2024

Published: October 06, 2023

You’re a business owner — the captain of your own ship. But how do you ensure you’re steering your company in the right direction? 

Without clear-cut goals and a plan to reach them, you risk setting your sails on the course of dangerous icebergs. 

Table of contents:

• What are business goals?

Why business goals are important

How to set business goals, tips to achieve business goals, business goals examples, what are business goals .

Business goals are the desired outcomes that an organization aims to achieve within a specific time frame. These goals help define the purpose and direction of the company, guiding decision-making and resource allocation. They can be short-term or long-term objectives , aligned with the company’s mission and vision.

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Operating a business using your gut and feelings will only get you so far. If you’re looking to build a sustainable company, then you need to set goals in advance and follow through with them. 

Here’s what goal setting can do to make your business a success:

• Give your business direction. Business goals align everyone toward a common purpose and ensure all efforts and resources are directed toward achieving specific outcomes.
• Keep everyone motivated to keep pushing forward. Goals provide employees with a sense of purpose and motivation. According to research from BiWorldwide, goal setting makes employees 14.2x more inspired at work and 3.6x more likely to be committed to the organization.
• Create benchmarks to work toward (and above). Goals provide a basis for measuring and evaluating the performance of the organization. They serve as benchmarks to assess progress, identify areas of improvement, and make informed decisions about resource allocation and strategy adjustments .
• Prioritize activities and allocate resources effectively. Goals help you identify the most important initiatives, ensuring that time, money, and effort are invested in activities that align with the overall objectives.
• Make continuous organizational improvements. Goals drive continuous improvement by setting targets for growth and progress. They encourage businesses to constantly evaluate their performance, identify areas for refinement, and implement strategies to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.

Nothing creates solidarity among teams and departments like shared goals. So be sure to get everyone involved to boost camaraderie. 

Setting business goals requires careful consideration and planning. By defining specific and measurable targets, you can track progress and make necessary adjustments along the way.

Here are the steps to effectively set business goals.

Step 1: Identify key areas to improve in your business

Start by assessing the current state of your organization. Identify areas that require improvement or growth. This could include increasing revenue, expanding your customer base, improving employee satisfaction, or enhancing product offerings.

Step 2: Choose specific and measurable goals 

Setting clear and specific goals is essential. Use the SMART goal framework to ensure your goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. For example, instead of setting a vague goal like “increase revenue,” set a specific goal like “increase revenue by 15% in the next quarter.”

Step 3: Prioritize which goals to tackle first

Not all goals are equally important or urgent. Evaluate the impact and feasibility of each goal and prioritize them accordingly. By ranking your goals, you can focus your efforts and resources on the most critical objectives.

Step 4: Break down your goals into smaller milestones

Breaking down each goal into smaller, manageable tasks makes them more attainable. Assign responsibilities and set deadlines for each step. This approach helps track progress and ensures accountability.

Step 5: Decide what your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will be

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are metrics used to measure progress toward your goals. Set realistic and relevant KPIs that align with your objectives. For example, if your goal is to increase customer acquisition, a relevant KPI could be the number of new customers acquired per month.

Now that you have set your business goals, it’s time to take action and work toward achieving them. Here are some tips to help you stay on track:

1. Write down your action plan 

Develop a detailed plan of action for each goal. Identify the necessary resources, strategies, and milestones to achieve them. A well-defined action plan provides a road map for success.

2. Foster a culture that’s goal-oriented

Encourage your employees to embrace and contribute to your goals. Foster a culture that values goal setting and achievement. Recognize and reward individuals or teams that make significant progress toward the goals.

3. Regularly track and evaluate progress

Monitor the progress toward each goal and make adjustments as needed. Use project management tools or software to track and visualize progress. Regularly review and evaluate your performance to ensure you’re on the right track.

4. Seek feedback and adapt

Gather feedback from employees, customers, and stakeholders. Their insights can provide valuable perspectives and help you refine your goals and strategies. Adapt your approach based on feedback to increase your chances of success.

5. Stay focused and motivated (even when you fail)

Staying motivated to achieve goals is difficult, especially when you come up short or fail. But don’t let this set you back. Continue pushing forward with your goals or readjust the direction as needed. Then do whatever you can to avoid distractions so you stay committed to your action plan.

Also, remember to celebrate small wins and milestones along the way to keep your team motivated and engaged.

Free SMART Goal Template

A free template to help you create S.M.A.R.T. goals for marketing campaign success.

• Set your goals
• Calculate your metrics
• Evaluate your success

To provide inspiration, here are some examples of common business goals:

1. Revenue growth

Revenue growth is a business goal that focuses on increasing the overall income generated by the company. Setting a specific target percentage increase in revenue can create a measurable goal to work toward.

Strategies for achieving revenue growth may include:

• Expanding the customer base through targeted marketing campaigns
• Improving customer retention and loyalty
• Upselling or cross-selling to existing customers
• Increasing the average order value by offering premium products or services

Example: A retail company sets a goal to increase its revenue by 10% in the next fiscal year. To achieve this, it implements several strategies, including launching a digital marketing campaign to attract new customers, offering personalized discounts and promotions to encourage repeat purchases, and introducing a premium product line to increase the average order value.

2. Customer acquisition

Customer acquisition focuses on expanding the customer base by attracting new customers to the business. Setting a specific goal for the number of new customers helps businesses track their progress and measure the effectiveness of their marketing efforts.

Strategies for customer acquisition may include:

• Running targeted advertising campaigns
• Implementing referral programs to incentivize existing customers to refer new ones
• Forming strategic partnerships with complementary businesses to reach a wider audience

Example: A software-as-a-service (SaaS) company aims to acquire 1k new customers in the next quarter. To achieve this, it launches a social media marketing campaign targeting its ideal customer profile, offers a referral program where existing customers receive a discount for referring new customers, and forms partnerships with industry influencers to promote its product.

3. Employee development

Employee development goals focus on enhancing the skills and knowledge of employees to improve their performance and contribute to the organization’s growth. By setting goals for employee training and skill development, businesses can create a culture of continuous learning and provide opportunities for career advancement.

Strategies for employee development may include:

• Offering training programs
• Providing mentorship opportunities
• Sponsoring professional certifications
• Creating a career development plan for each employee

Example: A technology company aims to have 80% of its employees complete at least one professional certification within the next year. To achieve this, it offers financial support and study materials for employees interested in obtaining certifications, provides dedicated study time during working hours, and celebrates employees’ achievements upon certification completion.

4. Product development

Product development goals focus on creating and improving products or services to meet customer needs and stay competitive in the market. Setting goals for product development can prioritize your efforts and so you can allocate resources effectively.

Strategies for product development may include:

• Conducting market research to identify customer preferences and trends
• Gathering customer feedback through surveys or focus groups
• Investing in research and development to create new products or enhance existing ones
• Collaborating with customers or industry experts to co-create innovative solutions

Example: An electronics company sets a goal to launch three new product lines within the next year. To achieve this, it conducts market research to identify emerging trends and customer demands, gathers feedback from its target audience through surveys and usability testing, allocates resources to research and development teams for product innovation, and collaborates with external design agencies to create visually appealing and user-friendly products.

5. Social responsibility

Social responsibility goals focus on making a positive impact on society or the environment. These goals go beyond financial success and emphasize the importance of ethical and sustainable business practices. Setting goals for social responsibility allows businesses to align their values with their actions and contribute to causes that resonate with their stakeholders.

Strategies for social responsibility may include: 

• Implementing sustainable practices to reduce environmental impact
• Donating a percentage of profits to charitable organizations
• Supporting local communities through volunteer programs
• Promoting diversity and inclusion within the organization

Example: A clothing retailer aims to reduce its carbon footprint by 20% in the next two years. To achieve this, it implements sustainable practices, such as using eco-friendly materials, optimizing packaging to minimize waste, and partnering with ethical manufacturers. It also donates a percentage of its profits to an environmental conservation organization.

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Business Goals Examples, Definition & Importance | Full Guide 2024

Published: 02 January, 2024

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Transformation

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Business Goals are simple: make enough money to run the business, expand as necessary, and provide for the people who own and operate the organization. Like a living organism, a business’s main goal is to survive and thrive.

But how do we achieve that? The broader goal of surviving is built upon smaller and more specific Business Goals that direct your strategy over a period of time as part of the strategic planning process .

Business goals are of paramount importance for several reasons, as they serve as a guiding force that directs an organization’s efforts, decisions, and strategies. We at Digital Leadership provide help you align with your business goals , ensuring that your path to success is well-defined and your strategies are optimized for achieving those objectives.

In this article, we discuss the variety of Business Goals you might choose to target to help secure your business’s survival and growth as part of the strategic planning process . You should be able to identify some goals that are specifically helpful for your business and begin the process of developing strategies to reach them as part of the strategic planning process

What are Business Goals

A Business Goal Definition is a target an organization wants to hit either in the short-term or long term business goal. You can think of a Business Goal as an endpoint or accomplishment the organization sets for itself in a given timeframe.

As we’ll see throughout this article, most Business Goals focus on advances like revenue, market penetration, growth, or shareholder value creation. But every business will have its own specific business goals.

They are written to be aspirational, without any indication of the specific strategies that the company will enact. Those plans are called Business Strategies and are developed after the company chooses its larger goals.

Business Strategy —the actual activities that an organization undertakes to meet its goals—is the topic of another Digital Leadership article that you might find helpful.

Business Goals Examples

As we said previously, Business Goals will always be specific to the organization’s priorities, situation, and business model. There are some examples of common Goals that we can review, however, because it’s productive to review what successful businesses have done in the past.

Below, we provide a short description of each Business Goal example , as well as some thoughts on how it would look in practice for your business.

In each description, we mention how the goal is most likely to be positioned within your organization.

(1) Improve Your Company and Brand Reputation

Typically a long-term goal, improving your standing in the marketplace requires a qualitative approach to collecting responses from your customers and potential customers to understand their feelings toward your organization.

(2) Develop a Business Plan

This a short-term Goal that should be addressed early in your business’s lifespan.

(3) Improve Product or Service Quality

This is most likely a goal that will have short- and long-term steps on the way toward an overall improvement.

There is an aspect of qualitative data in this business goal, obviously, but you should try to quantify the improvement in quality as much as possible by comparing customer responses over time to track growth and highlight where there’s work still to be done.

(4) Achieve Higher On-Time Delivery

For this goal, you’ll need to decide a time frame based on your specific needs. Perhaps, for example, you want to improve delivery during the holiday season. That would be a short-term Business Goal.

If you’re looking to improve delivery over time, your goal might be focused on Outcomes, hitting certain percentage benchmarks.

(5) Increase Customer Satisfaction

Another example of a Business Goal that requires the collection of qualitative data, is you can choose to make a short or long term goal depending on your business’s needs.

We tend to think that customer satisfaction should always have a role in what you measure to track business success.

(6) Improve Customer Retention

A mid to long-term Business Goal is usually measured through Outcomes, hitting certain metrics of returning customers or converting them into long-term contracts.

(7) Increase Sales Volumes

Another mid- to long-term Business Goal , increasing sales values uses quantitative measurements to determine if the business hit target Outcomes goals.

Instead of overall Sales Volumes, some businesses measure overall profit or average profit margins of goods and services sold.

(8) Optimize Product and Service Pricing

This long-term business goa l requires consistent monitoring of your profit margins and your customer’s perception of the value you’re providing, along with a review of competitive pricing.

(9) Increase Market Share

This is clearly a mid to long-term quantitative business goal.

Our experience tells us that the more targeted you can be here, the more productive improvements can be. Select a specific segment or product type and focus your efforts there.

(10) Improve Profit Margins

Another finance-based Business Goal, increasing profit margins is long-term business goal, with several targeted earlier deadlines used to measure and promote success.

Improving margins may be a long-term goal that uses several of the other goals listed in this article to help achieve success.

(11) Increase Profits

Increase sales, increase margins, reach into new markets—ultimately, many of these goals are driving a move toward increased profits.

Many businesses make sustainably increasing profits a long-term goal . The exact metrics used to measure this, as well as the target benchmarks they need to reach to be successful, vary greatly from one organization to the next.

(12) Develop New Customers

Measure how many new customers you acquire over a given time. This is likely a mid to long-term goal that requires close measurement of who is buying your product or service.

(13) Expand Into a New Geographic Market

Expansion is a long-term Process-based Business Goal. This goal is clearly very specific to your business because it’s dependent upon so many different factors, including current location, desired expansion, and Business Model.

(14) Market Through a New Channel

Like all Business Goals focused on expansion, finding new channels is a Process-Oriented goal.

The wording of this goal is easily changed to move from Process to Outcome once you advance from merely wanting to market through a new channel to actually quantitatively measuring your sales.

(15) Develop A New Product or Service

A mid to long-term goal of developing a new product or service is Outcome-Oriented, but there will be a number of smaller Process-Oriented goals along the way, most likely.

You’re also likely to transition to other quantitative goals that measure the success of your new products and services. They need to exist first, of course!

(16) Implement an Employee Development Program

A simple development program might be implemented fairly quickly, but a rigorous program that tracks how your employees progress is a long-term goal that requires a lot of effort. We believe a development program pays dividends in the long run by making it easier to retain quality employees and grow a pipeline to senior management

(17) Increase Employee Satisfaction

This is a goal that can span any timeframe, depending on the business’s needs but is more likely to focus on mid- to long-term qualitative measuring. This goal’s metrics can slide into the quantitative when you collect data about employee longevity and retention.

(18) Decrease Expenses

An Outcome-Oriented goal, decreasing expenses can occur over any amount of time you choose. You may consider being more targeted and aim to decrease certain expenses by a given date.

(19) Implement Productivity Improvements

For this goal, you’ll need to select quantitative metrics for productivity. Since every business is different, you’ll decide what measurements work for you.

For example, you may be holding your productivity to a very high standard. LEGO , for instance, has famously rigorous quality standards.

Productivity improvements are usually long-term goals, with several medium- and short-term goals used to motivate and track changes.

(20) Migrate To a New Technology Platform

The adoption of new technology can be a challenging, frustrating goal because so many departments with different priorities are involved. In order to successfully reach this goal, you’ll rely on a combination of qualitative and quantitative metrics.

A deadline will be important, along with the functionality of the new technology. In some instances, the aesthetics of the technology will play an important role in the measuring of success.

Is a partial roll-out all right? A soft opening? Do you need complete functionality on day one? How compatible must the new technology be with the previous tech?

These are all important elements that should be articulated as part of your overall Business Goal.

(21) Make Investments for the Future

How big will your investments be? What will they look like? How far into the future are you aiming for?

We see investment as a mid-to-long-term goal. Consider if you’re collecting cash to have on hand, acquiring the latest equipment, or performing routine maintenance on your building. These activities, and far more, would count as sensible investments for the future.

(22) Increase Shareholder Value

Publicly traded companies are required to grow their shareholder value. Privately held companies may still have stockholders in other capacities, so improving their standing is always a long-term goal.

Outcome-oriented, the goal of increasing shareholder value should have a benchmark target with a clearly articulated deadline. How much increase, and by when?

– Short-Term Business Goals Examples

• Develop a Business Plan
• Improve Product or Service Quality
• Market Through a New Channel
• Implement an Employee Development Program

– Long-Term Business Goals Examples

• Increase Shareholder Value
• Make Investments for the Future
• Migrate To a New Technology Platform
• Decrease Expenses

– Performance-Based Goals Examples

• Develop A New Product or Service
• Increase Profits
• Increase Sales Volumes
• Improve Customer Retention

– Qualitative Goals Examples

• Increase Employee Satisfaction
• Increase Customer Satisfaction

– Quantitative Goals Examples

• Achieve Higher On-Time Delivery

Types of Business Goals

Depending on where your business is currently, and where you want it to be heading, you will choose your Business Goals from a set of four types.

Each type of Business Goal has its own advantages, and some of each of their characteristics overlap. Each of these types of goals can also vary in scope quite a lot—how you choose to articulate them will, again, depend on the specifics of your business’s current situation.

(1) Time-Based Goals

Every goal needs an endpoint. Deadlines focus the work your organization is doing and make reaching the goal much more likely. We believe that every Business Goal needs a target date, articulated within the context of the goal itself.

For a Time-Based Goal, the deadline takes centre stage. Often, the accomplishment set forth in your goal has a deadline impressed upon it by outside forces: some presentation, governmental requirement, or new product roll-out, for example. The length of time you’re given to complete the goal determines what sort of specific Time-Based goal you’ve built.

– Short-Term Business Goals

Short-term goals are often used in conjunction with longer-term goals. They give the opportunity to celebrate reaching the endpoint more frequently, which makes short-term goals an excellent tool for motivation.

– Long-Term Business Goals

Long-term goals let you tackle large projects. These goals can last months, or even years, which is why short-term goals remain useful. Don’t lose sight of the finish line with these long-term business goals. Find an opportunity to celebrate success incrementally.

(2) Goals Based on Performance

Goals based on performance are short-term targets identified as important for ongoing success.

Key to Performance-Based goals are reachable targets within appropriate timeframes. The metrics being used must also be clearly defined and easy to evaluate.

(3) Quantitative & Qualitative Goals

The difference between a Qualitative and a Quantitative goal is the type of data you’re collecting when you measure your success.

Quantitative Goals require collecting factual data. Typically, we think of quantitative data as originating in numbers or statistics, but all data can be used in statistics eventually. You can think of quantitative data as provable measurements, often very tangible.

On the other hand, Qualitative Goals are built around impressions and degrees, usually how someone feels about something or how they might describe an experience. Because these measurements can be harder to collect and the goals harder to define, managers must be careful with using them to determine employee evaluation results.

We recommend focusing on quantitative goals with a small dash of qualitative to help gauge consumer response and team member attitudes.

(4) Outcome & Process-Oriented Goals

The success of Outcome-Oriented Goals is determined by how and when your team reaches a certain goal. Outcome Goals are a pass/fail situation. Either you reach the desired outcome, or you don’t.

The success of a Process-Oriented Outcome is less specific. Instead of a desired targeted endpoint, a Process-Oriented goal requires the completion of a set of steps regardless of the outcome.

One way to think about the differences here is the classic line “It’s the journey, not the destination that matters.” A Process-Oriented goal favors the journey. For an Outcome-Oriented goal, the destination is everything.

Business Goals and Objectives

Understanding how experts differentiate Business Goals from Business Objectives will be helpful as you define your business strategy.

A Business Goal is a long-range outcome that your teams use to help define strategies. A Business Objective is a short-term action you’ll take to help reach an overall goal.

Goals and Objectives combine to form your overall Business Strategy, or in other words, the map of what your company will do in the future in the hopes of achieving success in the priorities you’ve identified.

Many times, Business Goals and Business Objectives are terms used simultaneously and interchangeably. Understanding the distinction makes it easier to visualize the entirety of your business strategy.

Why Setting Business Goals is Important to Every Company?

Strong Goals are an important element of the overall package of documents that direct a company’s activities and priorities. Other pieces of that package include a Business Strategy , a Mission Statement and Vision, and the company’s Massively Transformational Purpose .

Goals give your organization a target. They articulate priorities and motivate employees. Business Goals make your company’s purpose clear.

Let’s look a little more closely at the power of Business Goals in motion.

(1) Business Goals Give your Business a Direction

Getting Goals onto the page or screen gives your organization a sense of direction. It facilitates the entire operation pulling for the same goals.

Coupled with a clear Business Strategy , Business Goals let every member of your organization know their role in the business’s overall purpose.

(2) Business Goals Give you a Way to Track and Measure Progress

Goals give defined metrics that you can track so you can measure your success and progress. They allow you to recognize failure so you can fail fast; a major element of innovation is making many iterations quickly so you increase the odds of success.

Related:  How to measure Innovation? Innovation Metrics for Companies

Because your Business Goals give clear, measurable touchstones, the entire organization, at every level, knows how their efforts are contributing to the business purpose.

(3) Business Goals Help you Stay Motivated

Who runs a race without a finish line? Business Goals are that finish line. It’s much easier to stay motivated when you know what you’re working toward. Since a business works as one unified organism, the goals work the same way for the combined organization.

Incidentally, this is why a series of smaller goals can be more effective than one larger goal. The energy we feel in reaching a goal powers us toward the next.

(4) Business Goals Help You Achieve Quicker Growth

Business goal help you achieve quicker growth because they focus your efforts. Our experience indicates that commitment is an indicator of success. Since articulating Goals encourages deeper commitment, it follows that businesses making use of them would experience more positive outcomes.

Goals keep your team accountable. They force consideration of priorities and practices, which in turn help achieve quicker growth.

How do you Choose your Business Goals?

When it comes to setting business goals , having a structured approach is crucial to ensure that your goals are realistic, in line with your overall strategy, and can be measured to track progress. The balanced scorecard is a strategic management tool that can assist in achieving these objectives.

Your download is now available!

You can now access the complete Balanced Scorecard Package, including a full presentation, related models and instructions for use.

The Balanced Scorecard

The balanced scorecard connects different aspects of a company’s strategy in a cause-and-effect relationship. This approach enables businesses to ensure that their goals are consistent with their overall strategy and that they are measuring the right elements to achieve success.

Using the balanced scorecard to determine business goals involves several key considerations:

• Use the s.m.a.r.t business goals Framework: The SMART acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Using this framework ensures that your goals are well-defined, easily measured, achievable, relevant to your business model and purpose, and have a specific deadline.

S – Each goal must be as SPECIFIC as possible

M – Each goal must be MEASURABLE , even if you’re aiming for qualitative targets

A – Each goal must be realistically ACHIEVABLE

R – Each goal must be RELEVANT to your overall business model

T – Each goal must be TIME BOUND to a realistic deadline

The SMART Goals Framework prevents the selection of goals that are counter-productive, wasteful, or impossible to achieve. Choosing the wrong goals is worse than having no goals at all: improper goals suck time, motivation, and resources from the areas of the business where they could be better utilized.

• Ensure Goals are Measurable: Each goal should have a method for collecting data that proves progress or lack thereof. Even if the goal is qualitative, there must be a means of measuring progress towards achieving it.
• Ensure Goals are Attainable: Choosing goals that are impossible to achieve is counterproductive. This is especially true for businesses whose organizational strategy makes certain goals challenging to reach. Ensure all the components of your business are working together towards a shared objective.
• Complement your Business Purpose and Model: Select goals that align with your overall business model and vision. Don’t compromise your vision for the sake of creating a list of goals.

Once you have established your business goals using the balanced scorecard, it becomes easier to track progress and make informed decisions about how to allocate resources and improve performance. By using the SMART framework in conjunction with the balanced scorecard, businesses can establish specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals that are both attainable and consistent with their overall business strategy.

How do you Reach your Business Goals?

There’s no one-size-fits-all guaranteed plan for reaching your business goals, but our experts agree the following strategies give you the best odds for success.

• Commit to your Goals: Don’t let minor setbacks force you to deviate from your well-researched goals.
• Regularly Check Progress: Be on top of your metrics, and automate the measuring process as much as you can so you keep an up-to-date view of your progress.
• Maintain Accountability: Make sure everyone knows who is responsible for which elements of your goals.
• Celebrate Milestones & Achievements: It’s important to identify smaller goals that you can recognize and celebrate.

Connecting The Dots With Business Model Canvas

In the modern business environment of modern business, setting clear and strategic business goals is a fundamental step toward success. Whether it’s increasing revenue, expanding market reach, enhancing customer satisfaction, or improving operational efficiency, these goals serve as the guiding stars that illuminate an organization’s path forward. The Business Model Canvas , a widely acclaimed strategic tool, comes into play. It serves as a versatile and visual platform for organizations to not only define their business strategies but also to align these strategies meticulously with their overarching goals.

You can now access the complete Business Model Canvas Package, including a full presentation, related models and instructions for use.

The UNITE Business Model Canvas

• Alignment with Goals and Strategy: Goals provide direction, and the Business Model Canvas aligns them with strategy, ensuring coherence in the organization’s purpose and growth plans.
• Customer-Centric Approach: Goals related to customer satisfaction and growth link to the business model canvas Customer Segments and Value Proposition , forming the basis for business purpose and growth.
• Financial Targets and Strategy: Financial goals tie into the business model canvas Revenue Streams and Cost Structure , crucial for both strategy and financial planning.
• Market Expansion and Reach: The BMC distribution channels and Customer Relationships support the goals of market expansion and customer engagement, vital for strategic planning and business growth.
• Resource Allocation and Execution: Achieving goals often requires resource allocation, reflected in the Key Resources and Key Activities sections, influencing strategy and execution.
• Partnerships and Efficiency: Goals focused on cost efficiency relate to business model canvas Partnerships and Cost Structure , impacting strategy and efficiency.
• Innovation and Improvement: Goals involving innovation align with the business model canvas Key Partnerships, Key Activities, and Key Resources, reflecting a commitment to improvement in strategy and growth.
• Measuring Success Holistically: The Business Model Canvas aids in measuring progress across goals, informing decisions for business strategy , planning, and overarching business purpose

Frequently Asked Questions

1- what are business goals examples.

Some common goals include Developing a Business Plan, improving product or Service Quality, Market Through a New Channel, Achieve Higher On-Time Delivery, and Increase Shareholder Value.

2- What is the most important goal of a company?

The most important goal of a business is to sustainably provide value to its customers in a way that secures the business’s long-term future.

3- What are SMART business goals?

SMART is an acronym for choosing quality goals . It means Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound

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65 Practical Startup Business Goals Examples To Craft Success in 2024

Sudarshan Somanathan

Head of Content

May 3, 2024

Start using ClickUp today

• Manage all your work in one place
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• Use ClickUp for FREE—forever

Launching a startup is an exciting prospect but comes with its fair share of challenges. Unlike established businesses with access to several resources, startups operate in an environment of constraints. As a result, they have to adapt and innovate constantly to stay ahead of the curve.

Navigating challenges becomes easier if you have a goal in mind. It is a marker of success and lines the path to the overarching business objective. We’re about to share a blueprint of startup goal-setting, along with real-world startup business goals examples to inspire you and illustrate their application.

Are you ready to chart a clear course for your startup’s success?

What’s a Business Goal?

Gives a sense of direction, helps measure progress, creates accountability, sustains team motivation, guides resource allocation, aids in risk mitigation, attracts investors and partners, supports strategic planning.

• Define your mission and vision

Assess your current state

• Define and prioritize business goals
• Convert goals into actionable tasks

Track, monitor, and recalibrate progress

Celebrate milestones and achievements, learn and improve continuously, financial goals, employee retention goals, productivity goals, brand awareness and reputation goals, marketing strategy goals, sales and revenue goals, customer satisfaction and retention goals.

• Project management software

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform

• Process mapping tool

Marketing and sales analytics

• Financial management systems

ClickUp: Helping Startups Become Enterprises

Get, set, go(als), frequently asked questions (faq).

Every business kickstarts in the pursuit of success.

A business goal is a marker or milestone on the road to this success.

It is a specific target or an outcome that organizations aim to achieve. It reflects a company’s vision and understanding of “success” in the short or the long term.

Although the concept of business goals is common across enterprises, its definition varies significantly.

For instance, an eCommerce store may view success through metrics like average order value or sales revenue. On the other hand, a social enterprise dedicated to safe drinking water accessibility may view success as the number of water filtration plants installed.

You might argue that such variation is obvious since these startup business goal examples concern two highly diverse sectors. However, even businesses operating in the same sector may employ different scales to mark their business goals.

For example, an online retailer focuses on web traffic, while brick-and-mortar stores are busy counting footfall. A SaaS-based startup may define business goals regarding customer acquisition, while an established counterpart may analyze subscription renewals!

Even though business goals differ, their primary function remains consistent—to serve as a guiding principle for informed decision-making.

The Importance of Setting Startup Business Goals

Your business goal is a North Star to guide your startup journey. Here’s how it contributes to the overall success and sustainability of your startup:

The business goal or objective outlines the company’s aspirations. While the objective is more short-term, the long-term business goal governs every business decision and strategy so that you don’t lose sight of the bigger picture. Naturally, the short-term objectives tie up to the overarching goal. For instance, increasing revenue through sales could help with long-term business objectives of growth and expansion.

Having such clarity of the short and long-term expectations offers a sense of direction to the team. Using this as their focus, they can plan key tasks or activities to realize such goals. It fuels concerted efforts through effective time, effort, and resource management.

Organizations can use SMART business goals as a measure of success. SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. They convert goals from vague entities into quantifiable metrics to track progress.

Say your basic business goal is to increase website traffic. Then, as a SMART framework, it would read as ‘Increase organic website traffic by 30% within the next six months. ‘ Notice the difference? SMART business goals turn generic ideas into specific, measurable outcomes . They help you objectively assess your startup’s performance and tweak strategies using data-driven insights!

Given a startup’s dynamic environment, it is easier for priorities to shift. Similarly, daily tasks can eclipse the bigger picture and detract from the larger goal.

Startup business goals shield you from distractions and recenter your ideas, strategies, and actions. They cultivate a sense of accountability by acting as a yardstick for performance. At the same time, we’ve seen how they serve as quantifiable benchmarks to track progress toward achieving the broader vision. 

You may review your goals occasionally to get an idea of your startup’s growth while also identifying areas for improvement. Such a holistic overview allows you to prioritize impact-based activities and foster a greater sense of ownership and responsibility .

Business goals are a source of motivation for startup founders and team members. Having a clear shared objective to work towards and clarity on how it ties up with the larger goals drives collaboration and motivation. Plus, publicly shared goals promote transparency, which instills accountability . 

And when goals are reached, recognizing personal and organizational achievements improves team morale.

Setting business goals also involves task prioritization. Entrepreneurs may prioritize based on importance, impact, and urgency. Such weighted distribution of focus enables the smart allocation of limited resources , which is fairly common in a startup setup. 

With clearly articulated and prioritized business goals, you can effectively allocate resources like time, money, and staff to activate success.

This ensures that your startup can meet critical business objectives and launch minimum viable products (MVPs) that can kick-start growth while you secure funding for resource reinforcements!

Startups are highly vulnerable to risks. Identifying potential risks or challenges early on and addressing them or mitigating their impact is instrumental in a startup’s success.

To anticipate hurdles, goal-setting strategies often employ analytical tools and frameworks like SWOT analysis, risk matrices, etc. Knowing these beforehand allows entrepreneurs to prepare holistic risk management strategies and contingency plans that help navigate these challenges in a hands-on manner. This level of preparedness minimizes risks or, if not outright, eliminates them.

While a strong mission statement lays the foundation for your startup, the goals guide your journey. Goals transcend brand building and market positioning and illustrate your understanding of success. Well-defined goals showcase your understanding of the market, target audience, and value proposition.

Imagine two startups: one laser-focused on explosive business growth with a series of fast-paced goals. Another that prioritizes scalability and sustainability through long-term goals spaced out over a considerable duration. In both cases, clear goals paint a picture for investors and partners.

Partners can evaluate if your startup is a good fit for a strategic partnership , while investors can calculate their anticipated return on investment (ROI). They can also adjudge whether the startup’s mission, vision, and values align with theirs. This alignment will attract meaningful partnerships and investor relations for mutual benefit.

Clear startup goals are pillars of strategic planning. They define your desired outcomes , establish a roadmap for success, and help you navigate the journey. Use them to devise short-term and long-term strategic plans. The cumulative and concentrated result of individualistic strategic plans will enable your startup to take on big, hairy, audacious goals that may have felt unsurmountable at one point. 

How to Set Effective Startup Business Goals: A Step-by-Step Guide

Now that you understand the mission-critical role of business goals, especially in the context of startups, let’s learn how to set these. Below is a step-by-step guide to setting a business goal:

If you haven’t done it already, start by defining your startup’s mission and vision statement. 

The vision statement demonstrates the long-term aspirations of your business. On the other hand, the mission statement describes the driving force and guiding principles of your startup’s activities. The mission statement is a roadmap to the vision statement; think of the former as your business objectives and the latter as the goal.

Ensure that the two align with your company’s offerings and core values. 

For example, here’s how Amazon weaves its mission statement through its introduction:

Amazon’s goal of becoming the Earth’s most customer-centric company is evident from its trailblazing effort in personalizing the eCommerce sector and its expansive product range.

On the other hand, Apple showcases its workplace culture through personalized stories and anecdotes from its team members:

Apple’s mission statement, ‘We’re committed to leaving the world better than we found it,’ will attract talent that aligns with this goal.

In this way, mission and vision statements reflect the company’s business model, aspirations, and culture.

Along these lines, articulate what stirs your passion and frame it as your mission and vision statements.

Once you’ve done the groundwork, analyze your current state. You may use any business analysis framework for a comprehensive and cross-sectional evaluation. We find the SWOT analysis to be a great starting point.

A SWOT analysis template highlights your startup’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). It sheds light on your internal strengths and weaknesses, such as team collaboration, skill or talent gaps, resource availability, etc. At the same time, you can visualize external opportunities and threats, such as target market conditions, customer demands, competitors, etc. 

Keeping all of this in mind, the ClickUp Small Business SWOT Analysis template is designed to help you strategize, plan, and make informed decisions. Such a well-rounded and holistic analysis helps set realistic and attainable business goals. It also lets you divide your analysis into different categories, such as Marketing, Operations, Finance, etc., to assess each aspect of your business.

You now see your destination. You know where you currently stand. It’s time to bridge the two!

Identify the key focus areas to accelerate your journey to success. It could be through product innovation, brand recognition, operational efficiency, increasing market share, retaining customers, or a blend of all of these.

You might eventually come up with four or five desired goals. However, you may not have the resources and capacity to achieve these together. Hence, you should set priorities for your business goals and define them along SMART parameters.

Each goal must be clear, quantifiable, and time-bound to align with your startup’s business objectives. Be as specific as possible with your SMART goals, as granularity will improve your chances of achieving the goal.

To make this task easier, leverage readily available resources, such as goal-setting templates . 

The previous step may lead you to believe that your job is done. However, goal-setting is more than just documenting business goals—it is part planning and part implementation.

So, once you have your business goals ready, break them down into smaller, actionable steps. Continue this division until you reach the smallest task, activity, and timeline required to achieve each goal. Doing so will help you create a comprehensive and actionable roadmap for goal execution.

When the work breakdown structure is ready, assign these tasks to specific departments, managers, or team members. Clearly defining roles, responsibilities, and expectations will keep your team accountable and focused on goal achievement.

Business goals are your marker of success. So, use them for measuring progress.

Track the appropriate goals or their underlying metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs). Most project management tools, including ClickUp, feature an interactive dashboard that helps you visualize progress in real time. Map all the metrics and KPIs you wish to track onto this dashboard and view their progress and any deviations so you can take action in a time-bound manner.

These dashboards also allow you to review your business goals and update them instantly. Your business goal may have changed due to evolving priorities, shifting market conditions, customer feedback, new opportunities, etc. Update them on the fly to run a highly responsive, adaptable, and resilient startup!

We’ve already discussed how celebrating milestones and achievements helps improve team morale. It is also a tangible indicator of success and motivates the team to move on to the next item on the checklist.

Acknowledging individual or team efforts contributing to business objective attainment promotes a sense of belonging and community. The resulting engagement improves team cohesiveness. Therefore, celebrating milestones and achievements should be a part of your goal-setting strategy.

Finally, business goal setting is not a ‘set it and forget it’ job. Embracing a culture of continuous learning and improvement will help startups refine the business model with each cycle.

So, treat goal setting as a continuous process that considers internal and external stakeholder feedback, product improvement and innovation, and experimentation to drive business growth.

This positive feedback loop will improve business goal-setting iteratively.

Setting goals for your startup:

• Assess the current state
• Track, monitor, recalibrate
• Celebrate milestones
• Learn and improve

65 Real-World Startup Business Goals Examples

This brings us to the end of all the theoretical aspects of business goal setting. Let’s now delve into some real-world examples to solidify your understanding of business goals and to inspire you. From financial to customer satisfaction goals, we’re about to discuss all the different types of business goals for startups, along with appropriate examples. And yes, we will describe each example as SMART goals as far as possible.

On that note, here’s a detailed list of business goals to add to your startup business plan template :

Financial business goals revolve around plans to boost revenue, improve profit margins, reduce costs, and acquire funding. They describe the desired financial performance or health of the company. Use this business objective to maximize revenue and minimize expenses to run a sustainable startup.

Here are some business goals examples to manage your finances better:

• Increase net profit margins by 10% through effective cost-cutting measures
• Improve cash flows by reducing outstanding AR (accounts receivable) by 30% in the next six months
• Increase shareholder value by achieving an ROI (return on investment) of 20%
• Secure funding of $1 billion from venture capital and angel investors in the next three months
• Renegotiate terms with vendors to increase profit margins by 25%
• Achieve financial stability with a 1:1 debt-to-equity ratio
• Get to your startup’s break-even point within the first two years of operations
• Reduce wasteful expenditure by 10% through smart, data-driven inventory management

Pro Tip : Track your startup’s financial goals using metrics like:

• Profit margins
• Cash outflow
• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
• Quick ratio

As the name suggests, these business goals look to improve employee retention. Your employees are the target audience for these goals, so you should focus on driving employee satisfaction, engagement, and loyalty. Earning your employees’ goodwill reduces turnover rates and ensures continuity in workforce expertise.

Consider the following team goals to improve employee retention:

• Cut down employee turnover rates by 30% within the next year by introducing attractive benefits and incentives
• Employ regular feedback mechanisms and engagement initiatives to improve employee satisfaction rates by 20%
• Establish a 6-month buddy system after onboarding fresh hires to maintain engagement and clarify expectations from day one
• Offer 2 online skill development courses and 1 internal workshop per quarter
• Organize monthly team-building exercises with a focus on activities that have more than 70% enrollment and participation rates
• Launch a hybrid work policy in the next 2 months, allowing 3 days remote and 3 days in-office schedule post manager approval
• Increase paid time off (PTO) allowance by an additional 3 days per year across all employee levels
• Offer high-performing individuals a 40% appraisal by the end of the financial year
• Build a work environment imbibing the DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) principles to foster a sense of belonging
• Conduct exit interviews to understand the main reasons behind employee churn
• Conduct regular performance reviews to identify areas of improvement and mentorship to employees

Pro Tip : Track your startup’s employee retention goals using metrics like:

• Employee turnover rate
• Employee satisfaction surveys
• Retention rate
• Time to Hire
• Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)
• Absenteeism Rate

While the employee retention goal aims to retain talent, productivity business goals seek to enhance operational efficiency and output. As such, they revolve around day-to-day activities that can streamline productivity levels. You may set targets to optimize workflows, reduce waste, eliminate inefficiency, and increase per-employee output across the company.

Here are some examples of business goals that help achieve success by nurturing a highly productive workforce:

• Introducing process optimization and automation to drive up productivity by 30% in a few months (3-6)
• Streamline product development processes to reduce time-to-market by 30% for new products and 70% for product enhancements
• Reducing server downtimes by 98% to improve the availability of online tools and resources
• Implement project management software to enhance team collaboration, task management, and deadline adherence
• Document SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) to standardize business workflows and processes to introduce consistency, eliminate errors, and minimize rework
• Share employee handbooks to define employee roles, responsibilities, and expectations clearly

Pro Tip : Track your startup’s employee productivity goals using metrics like:

• Sales quota attainment
• Tasks/projects completed
• Bug fixes or code commits
• Customer satisfaction scores
• Employee engagement
• Meeting durations
• Utilization rate

Remember to tweak this according to the employees’ department and expected deliverables.

Startups can grow by generating brand awareness and earning a solid reputation. This strategy focuses on forging a positive brand perception in the target audience’s minds. Businesses can achieve this by increasing brand visibility, earning trust and credibility, and running brand loyalty programs. 

Below are a few business goals examples to increase brand awareness and reputation:

• Conduct market research to assess brand perception and generate awareness by 20% within 3 months by tracking social media imprints
• Increase brand recognition and recall by 30% within a year among the target demographics
• Invest in brand storytelling to communicate the startup’s values and identity
• Obtain 20 positive customer testimonials and reviews on Google and G2 by Q2 to increase brand reputation
• Partner with 12 industry experts and influencers to expand brand reach by 40% across LinkedIn, Instagram, and X within 6 months
• Publish 8 blog posts on the company website to establish a reputable and credible digital presence
• Use social listening and reputation management strategies to monitor, manage, and mold brand narrative and online chatter
• Participate in 4 industry events, 8 conferences and webinars, and 2 trade shows to raise brand visibility and awareness in Q3 and Q4
• Establish and standardize brand guidelines for a consistent and branded customer experience across all touchpoints
• Launch a brand ambassador program with 40 loyal customers recruited as brand ambassadors in the first month to catalyze word-of-mouth marketing and increase advocacy by 12%

Pro Tip : Track your startup’s brand awareness and reputation goals using metrics like:

• Impressions
• Online traffic
• Search volume
• Customer reviews
• Sentiment analysis
• Brand mentions
• Social media chatter

Business goals about marketing strategies explore ways to promote products or services, generate more leads, drive customer engagement, and forward highly qualified leads to sales. They guide marketing efforts by specifying outcomes such as boosting conversion rates, increasing brand awareness, unlocking web traffic, etc., to match the larger business goals.

Some examples of marketing strategy goals include:

• Implement content marketing and SEO (search engine optimization) to drive website traffic by 50% in the next 12 months
• Generate 1,000 new leads per month through targeted paid advertising
• Boost email open and click-through rates by 20% and 15% by data-driven optimization of email marketing campaigns
• Increase social media engagement by 25% and earn 3000 new followers in a month through carefully curated content and social media community management
• Launch an attractive referral program to encourage existing customers and loyalists to refer new business
• Optimize your marketing strategies using automation to nurture leads and drive conversions
• Conduct focus group meetings and customer surveys to understand target audience preferences and needs
• Form strategic partnerships with complementary businesses to break into new audiences
• Increase marketing ROI by analyzing and optimizing marketing expenditure across various channels
• Use segmentation and targeted marketing campaigns for a personalized customer experience

Pro Tip : Track your startup’s marketing goals using metrics like:

• Website traffic
• Lead generation rate
• Conversion rate
• Social media follower growth
• Social media engagement rate
• Email open rate
• Click-Through Rate (CTR)
• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)

Sales and revenue goals are an extension of the marketing goals. They focus on attracting more sales or revenue in a time-bound fashion. The sales team may work on acquiring new customers, upselling and cross-selling activities, and other revenue-generating initiatives to infuse sustainability and profitability into your startup’s growth.

Here are a few examples of sales goals to get more sales:

• Achieve $2 million in annual sales revenue by the end of the fiscal year
• Bump up AOV (average order value) by 15% using product bundling
• Drive conversion rates up by 20% through sales process optimization, automation, and training
• Increase your customer base by acquiring 1200 new customers in the next six months
• Improve customer lifetime value by 25% through upselling and cross-selling strategies
• Expand market share by 20% by entering a new geographic or demographic segment
• Launch an attractive sales incentive program to motivate and reward your sales team and their performance
• Accelerate sales cycle by reducing timelines by 20% through improved lead qualification, workflow automation, and timely follow-ups
• Enable the sales team with a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool to track and quantify sales activities across various channels
• Leverage AI-powered predictive models to enhance sales forecasting accuracy, effective resource allocation, and sharp inventory management
• Introduce dynamic pricing to maximize profitability while also staying competitive

ClickUp Smart Tips : Track your startup’s sales and revenue goals using metrics like:

• Total revenue
• Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)
• Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC)
• Sales cycle length
• Sales conversion rate

These business goals focus on enhancing customer satisfaction and delivering memorable customer experiences to cultivate long-term customer relationships. Startups may aim to improve customer retention through various strategies, from loyalty programs to exceptional customer service to improving product quality.

Here are some goals that you can set to improve customer satisfaction:

• Increase customer satisfaction scores by 30% through enhanced customer service and support
• Improve customer retention rates by 20% through personalized re-engagement strategies and customer loyalty programs
• Implement a customer feedback system to capture actionable first-hand insights and address customer pain points
• Leverage proactive communication across preferred channels to share updates and notifications to increase trust and transparency
• Address customer concerns and issues within a prescribed timeline and in the appropriate manner to improve customer satisfaction
• Measure and track NPS (Net Promoter Score) and CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) score to get a realistic idea of customer satisfaction levels
• Identify the KPIs to measure customer satisfaction and measure progress goals using them
• Invest in training and development of customer-facing teams to improve service quality and add value to customer interactions
• Offer perks or value-added services to incentivize repeat purchases and customer loyalty

Pro Tip : Track your startup’s customer satisfaction and retention goals using metrics like:

• Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)
• Net Promoter Score (NPS)
• Customer Effort Score (CES)
• Repeat Purchase Rate (RPR) 
• Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV)
• Customer churn rate
• Customer engagement

Digital Tools To Help Meet Your Startup’s Business Goals

They say a goal is just a wish without a plan. In other words, you must cement your business goals with actionable plans and strategies to make them work.

To develop and execute a solid business plan, you will require the right tools, platforms, software solutions, and systems. These add structure to your plan and help you reach your goals faster .

Here is an overview of the various solutions you can use to meet the different types of business goals:

The project management software is the Swiss Army Knife of setting business goals.

Project management software helps set attainable goals by acting as a centralized platform dedicated to the efficient planning, organization, and execution of projects. To meet this objective, these platforms offer features for task management, project scheduling, collaborative working, team communication, etc.

These enable startups to logically break down long-term business goals into smaller, manageable objectives so that teams can prioritize work tasks . Such hands-on project management improves transparency and accountability, helps track progress, and manages risks and resources to deliver results per specification, timeline, and budget.

We’ll talk more about how you can use ClickUp for Startups in the later section to grant you practical exposure.

CRM tools allow businesses to foster meaningful and enriching customer relationships to drive organizational growth.

CRM platforms centralize all customer data, communication channels, and interactions to offer you a well-rounded view of customer demands, preferences, and behaviors.

Using these insights, startups can curate personalized experiences to improve customer satisfaction and drive brand loyalty. Personalization could be achieved through unique marketing experiences, targeted sales campaigns, or improved customer service to delight customers throughout their journey.

Additionally, its pipeline management features allow startups to track leads, opportunities, and deals to enhance conversions and revenue.

ClickUp functions as both a project management software and CRM, an all-in-one platform designed to streamline various workflows. 

Visualize and manage sales pipelines with over 15+ ClickUp Views , benefit from email integrations, build a customer database, analyze customer data, and much more— all on ClickUp. 

So, if your business goals revolve around acquiring new customers or retaining existing ones, then investing in a CRM platform like ClickUp is a smart move.

Whether it is through the loss of employee productivity or by eating into revenues—inefficient processes cost businesses. While established businesses might be able to absorb some cost overheads, the same could be disastrous for startups. After all, they are often resource-strapped as it is!

Startups may turn to process mapping tools to mitigate risks . Use them to visualize, analyze, and optimize business processes and workflows. They allow you to conduct a thorough analysis of the current processes to identify bottlenecks, inefficiency, and areas of improvement. Understanding these hurdles helps formulate effective solutions and optimization initiatives . They also standardize processes to maintain consistency, quality, and compliance across teams and departments.

Pro Tip : Leverage ClickUp as your process mapping tool. ClickUp Whiteboards and mind maps help visualize business processes.

Such a dynamic approach to optimizing processes drives operational excellence and increases profit margins.

You will require a robust data analytics tool to analyze your marketing and sales performance.  They make these two mission-critical activities measurable and more accurate. Most importantly, they are compatible with high volumes of data to help you manage campaigns on the fly.

Leverage these tools to gain insights into market trends, campaign effectiveness, customer behavior, and conversion rates. Tracking these variables helps identify untapped opportunities, recalibrate strategies, and allocate resources effectively to achieve sales and marketing business goals. From personalizing business messaging to benchmarking performance, marketing and sales analytics tools help startups achieve their growth goals . 

Pro Tip : Use ClickUp Dashboards to track sales and marketing metrics in real time, implement strategies, and benchmark performance.

Financial management systems are crucial for startups to meet their financial goals. It helps startups manage budgets and finances effectively, improve shareholder value, maintain healthy profit margins, and ensure compliance. They may even come equipped with AI tools that help with revenue forecasting, demand-supply prediction, and budget utilization with heightened accuracy.

They help maintain accurate financial records and reports. Such well-documented insights fuel informed decisions while managing cash flows, tracking and controlling costs, and optimizing resources. Additionally, they help maintain legal and regulatory compliance by maintaining an auditable log of all financial decisions. 

By improving financial visibility , these systems maintain transparency and accountability while maintaining financial stability.

Pro Tip : Deploy ClickUp as your account and finance management software to stay ahead of your financial goals.

ClickUp is every startup’s friend. After all, we’re a startup ourselves, and we know how challenging—and exhilarating—the startup journey can be. ClickUp is our attempt to make this journey less stressful for innovative startups.

So, here’s a look at how ClickUp helps in setting business goals:

• Goal tracking : ClickUp Goals help create SMART goals that align with your project requirements. Apart from setting specific and measurable goals along a timeline, ClickUp allows you to track their progress in real time so that you always know where you stand

• Strategic task management : Achievable goals must be broken down into specific projects and tasks. Entrepreneurs can use ClickUp to organize, prioritize, and monitor these tasks. You can even dig in deeper to divide tasks into subtasks. Organize tasks in task lists, filter by priorities, owner, and due dates, set up reminders and notifications, and add task dependencies to ensure that every task is completed on time
• Dynamic resource allocation : ClickUp supports dynamic resource allocation by offering a one-stop view of all activities. Plus, you have workload management and time-tracking features to help you understand how resources are utilized. Having such an overview makes it easier for managers to assign or redistribute resources based on the priority, impact, and urgency of any task or activity

• Collaboration and communication : ClickUp is the ultimate hub for collaborative working. From an assortment of synchronous and asynchronous communication channels to live editing of shared documents—teams can use ClickUp to stay in touch and on track. Use the ClickUp Chat View to exchange messages in real time, assign comments to escalate issues or draw attention, and create, edit, and manage documents collaboratively using ClickUp Docs .  Share ideas, brainstorm, and work together to meet your business goals 
• Interactive dashboards : ClickUp Dashboards possess potent data analytics and reporting capabilities that allow startups to monitor KPIs, track progress, and analyze performance. These dashboards share data-driven insights on the current state of the project, which allows you to develop strategic plans, corrective measures, and informed decisions to get to your desired state 

• Integration ecosystem : Use ClickUp with various third-party tools, apps, and platforms to build a value-loaded interconnected network. Whether it is incorporating file storage platforms like Google Drive or customer support solutions like Zendesk, you can integrate these into the ClickUp ecosystem to build a comprehensive, one-stop platform for all your startup needs

• Rich templates : With ClickUp, you get a rich library of highly configurable templates to help you work smart. From detailed Standard Operating Procedures to the Business Plan Template on ClickUp ensures faster time-to-market as you don’t have to build things from scratch

One of ClickUp’s greatest USPs is that it is highly customizable to meet your specific needs. You can use it as a project management platform, a task management tool for HR and other teams, and a campaign and customer management platform for marketing and customer support—the possibilities are endless.

So, leverage its versatility to meet your different business goals without spreading them across multiple tools and platforms. As we often say, one is all you need!

Startup business goals are your compass for venturing into the seas of entrepreneurship.

 Goals give a sense of direction, act as a marker of progress, generate accountability, motivate teams, support strategic planning, and attract investors and partners. Each of these benefits propels your startup one step closer to success.

We highly recommend the startup business goal examples above, as they will inspire you to set SMART goals for your company. All that remains is to use suitable tools and platforms to execute and track these goals. You can choose from various solutions ranging from CRM to process mapping tools and beyond.

On the other hand, you can select ClickUp and replace the disparate tech stack with a centralized one. ClickUp promises flexibility and scalability that will grow along with your startup.

Sign up for free and explore!

How do I prioritize business goals?

Setting priorities for your business goals involves assessing the importance, urgency, and impact of these goals on your startup’s core objectives. Identify those that tightly couple with the mission, vision, and strategic priorities of your startup and place them first. Then, consider factors like potential risks or setbacks, dependencies, and resource availability to meet these goals. Finally, use prioritization techniques like the MoSCoW method or the Eisenhower matrix to assign weighted priorities to your goals.

How often should I review and update my startup’s business goals?

Review and update your startup’s business goals to keep up with evolving priorities, emerging opportunities, and shifting market conditions. Since startups are more dynamic, you may review your business goals every 3-6 months to stay responsive to volatility. Upon business consolidation, you can perform this exercise annually.

Which tools can help me achieve my business goals?

You can achieve your business goals using the following tools:

• CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform
• Marketing and analytics solutions

What happens when we don’t achieve all of our startup business goals?

Don’t treat falling short of your startup business goals as a failure. On the contrary, think of it as a learning opportunity through which you can:

• Analyze the reasons why you couldn’t meet specific goals
• Optimize your strategies to facilitate goal attainment
• Celebrate the goals or milestones that you managed to achieve
• Identify areas where your startup performed beyond expectations and templatize such success
• Recalibrate your goals to make them more realistic and in line with external factors

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How to Write a Business Plan

Five examples of business goals and how to set them

What are five examples of business goals

• Financial goals
• Growth goals
• Customer goals
• Employee development goals
• Social goals

Moving forward in business is like planning a great trip: You know where you want to end up, but the road there isn’t always straightforward.

Smart business goals help you navigate the twists and turns along the way. While a business plan and vision statement offer a “big picture” perspective about your company and what you want to accomplish, short-term and long-term goals define the specific strategies you’ll use to get there.

However, not all business goals are created equal. In order to be effective, goals must involve specific, actionable items with a clear time frame and responsible parties.

Build business forms for free with Jotform .

Here are five examples of smart goals for small business owners and how you can set them.

1. financial goals.

Financial goals help you focus on driving more revenue, cutting costs to raise profitability and sustain cash flow, and setting new financial targets for future growth.

To create and accomplish financial goals, you have to collaborate with different departments. Each department can help to identify strategies that trim costs, such as supplies or facility expenses. Your team’s expertise may also extend to implementing ideas that accomplish revenue and profitability goals.

When developing financial goals, project the total increase in profits over a long period like a year. Then break that amount down into quarterly financial targets. Make financial goals as specific as possible — for example, “increase production by x percent over three months.”

2. Growth goals

To develop growth goals, you need a clear vision statement that you can segment into achievable steps. Whether it’s reaching new markets, launching new products, increasing your customer base, or raising brand recognition, it’s important to establish a realistic number of goals, actionable tasks, and a team to complete those growth goals.

Start with a market analysis to ensure the approach makes sense. As you implement growth goals, you may need to change their priority or adapt them so you aren’t counteracting other business goals.

For example, growing a customer base may involve promotions that don’t necessarily improve your bottom line at the start. So you’ll need to make assessments along the way to gauge if and when you’ll achieve the financial goal connected to this growth goal.

3. Customer goals

Improving relationships with your target audience doesn’t just solve problems for individual customers. Enhanced customer service also helps your company develop respect among all stakeholders, which promotes additional business growth.

To set goals for customers, identify roadblocks that inhibit exceptional customer experiences. Roadblocks might include a complicated phone menu, significant response lag, or slow checkout time.

With these roadblocks in mind, develop customer goals to solve them, such as

• Simplify call-in customer support options
• Add other customer support channels like an online help desk or a chat option
• Streamline the online/in-store checkout process with new technology

4. Employee development goals

Motivated, engaged employees offer many benefits for a company, such as increased productivity, deeper loyalty, and more creativity. This talent is an essential ingredient in a company’s recipe for success. That’s why it’s critical to design and execute goals that help employees develop skills and knowledge as well as challenge them enough to stay interested in their work.

To set employee development goals, collect regular feedback from team members about the types of incentives they want. Include these goals in performance reviews by aligning development actions like training and ongoing learning opportunities with business objectives like increasing engagement or converting new customers.

5. Social goals

As your business grows, you’ll establish a place in the community you serve. To nurture this position, develop philanthropy and social programs that benefit local and global communities.

Not only does this feel good, but it also boosts your reputation as a socially conscious company. In addition, these social goals prove to the team that the company isn’t just about making money. Instead, it seeks to do good for everyone.

Your social goals don’t have to be financial. In-kind donations of products, services, or your thought leadership often make more of a positive impression than charitable donations. For example, if your small business isn’t yet in the position to donate a certain percentage of the profits from each sale, you can focus on having the team volunteer for a community project or donate products to those in need.

Specific and visible business goals

Studies show people are more likely to accomplish goals that are specific, challenging, and written down.

When creating the types of business goals detailed above, focus on adding a quantitative measure, where relevant, in terms of percentage of improvement or resource savings, growth or productivity improvements, or a deadline to achieve the goal. Also, keeping goals visible helps employees stay focused on business success. They have a way to benchmark their progress. And seeing what’s been achieved can be a prime motivator to continue working toward achieving your goals and tackling new ones in the future.

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Business Plan Goals and Examples for Success

Written by Dave Lavinsky

A well-crafted business plan serves as a roadmap for entrepreneurs and businesses to achieve their objectives. One crucial aspect of a business plan is outlining clear and measurable goals. Business plan goals are the specific targets and milestones that a company aims to achieve within a defined timeframe. They provide a direction and purpose for the business, guiding decision-making, resource allocation, and strategic planning. In this article, we will explore the importance of setting business plan goals and provide examples of common goals.

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Why are Business Plan Goals Important?

Business plan goals are essential for several reasons:

• Strategic Focus : Goals help businesses define their strategic direction and focus their efforts on what matters most. They align the company’s efforts and resources towards achieving specific objectives, ensuring that everyone is working towards a common purpose.
• Measurable Outcomes : Goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). By setting SMART goals, businesses can track progress, measure success, and identify areas for improvement.
• Motivation and Accountability : Goals provide motivation and drive for entrepreneurs and employees. They create a sense of purpose and urgency, encouraging individuals to work towards achieving the desired outcomes. Goals also establish accountability, as progress is monitored and reviewed regularly.
• Decision-Making : Goals serve as a reference point for decision-making. They help businesses prioritize initiatives, allocate resources, and evaluate opportunities based on their alignment with the established goals.

Examples of Business Plan Goals

Business plan goals can vary depending on the nature, size, and stage of the business. Here are some common examples of business plan goals:

Financial Goals:

• Achieve a specific revenue target within a defined timeframe.
• Increase profitability by a certain percentage or dollar amount.
• Reduce costs or increase efficiency in a particular area of the business.
• Secure funding or investment to support business growth.

Market Penetration Goals:

• Expand market share in a specific geographic region or target market.
• Increase brand awareness and recognition among the target audience.
• Launch new products or services in the market.
• Increase customer retention or loyalty.

Operational Goals:

• Improve production or service delivery processes to enhance quality or reduce lead times.
• Enhance supply chain management to optimize inventory levels or reduce costs.
• Implement new technologies or systems to streamline operations or improve customer experience.
• Achieve certifications or industry standards to improve credibility and competitiveness.

Human Resources Goals:

• Hire and retain top talent to support business growth.
• Provide training and development opportunities for employees to enhance their skills and performance.
• Improve employee engagement and satisfaction levels.
• Establish a diverse and inclusive workforce.

Social Responsibility Goals:

• Implement environmentally sustainable practices in the business operations.
• Contribute to the local community through philanthropic initiatives or social impact programs.
• Promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within the organization.
• Establish ethical and responsible business practices.

Business Plan Goals Conclusion

Business plan goals are critical for defining the direction and purpose of a business. They provide measurable outcomes, motivation, and accountability, guiding decision-making and resource allocation. Examples of business plan goals can include financial, market penetration, operational, human resources, and social responsibility objectives. When setting business plan goals, it’s essential to make them SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound – to increase their effectiveness in driving business success. Regular monitoring and review of progress towards these goals can help businesses stay on track and adapt their strategies as needed to achieve their desired outcomes.

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How to Write a Business Plan in 9 Steps (+ Template and Examples)

Every successful business has one thing in common, a good and well-executed business plan. A business plan is more than a document, it is a complete guide that outlines the goals your business wants to achieve, including its financial goals . It helps you analyze results, make strategic decisions, show your business operations and growth.

If you want to start a business or already have one and need to pitch it to investors for funding, writing a good business plan improves your chances of attracting financiers. As a startup, if you want to secure loans from financial institutions, part of the requirements involve submitting your business plan.

Writing a business plan does not have to be a complicated or time-consuming process. In this article, you will learn the step-by-step process for writing a successful business plan.

You will also learn what you need a business plan for, tips and strategies for writing a convincing business plan, business plan examples and templates that will save you tons of time, and the alternatives to the traditional business plan.

Let’s get started.

What Do You Need A Business Plan For?

Businesses create business plans for different purposes such as to secure funds, monitor business growth, measure your marketing strategies, and measure your business success.

1. Secure Funds

One of the primary reasons for writing a business plan is to secure funds, either from financial institutions/agencies or investors.

For you to effectively acquire funds, your business plan must contain the key elements of your business plan . For example, your business plan should include your growth plans, goals you want to achieve, and milestones you have recorded.

A business plan can also attract new business partners that are willing to contribute financially and intellectually. If you are writing a business plan to a bank, your project must show your traction , that is, the proof that you can pay back any loan borrowed.

Also, if you are writing to an investor, your plan must contain evidence that you can effectively utilize the funds you want them to invest in your business. Here, you are using your business plan to persuade a group or an individual that your business is a source of a good investment.

2. Monitor Business Growth

A business plan can help you track cash flows in your business. It steers your business to greater heights. A business plan capable of tracking business growth should contain:

• The business goals
• Methods to achieve the goals
• Time-frame for attaining those goals

A good business plan should guide you through every step in achieving your goals. It can also track the allocation of assets to every aspect of the business. You can tell when you are spending more than you should on a project.

You can compare a business plan to a written GPS. It helps you manage your business and hints at the right time to expand your business.

3. Measure Business Success

A business plan can help you measure your business success rate. Some small-scale businesses are thriving better than more prominent companies because of their track record of success.

Right from the onset of your business operation, set goals and work towards them. Write a plan to guide you through your procedures. Use your plan to measure how much you have achieved and how much is left to attain.

You can also weigh your success by monitoring the position of your brand relative to competitors. On the other hand, a business plan can also show you why you have not achieved a goal. It can tell if you have elapsed the time frame you set to attain a goal.

4. Document Your Marketing Strategies

You can use a business plan to document your marketing plans. Every business should have an effective marketing plan.

Competition mandates every business owner to go the extraordinary mile to remain relevant in the market. Your business plan should contain your marketing strategies that work. You can measure the success rate of your marketing plans.

In your business plan, your marketing strategy must answer the questions:

• How do you want to reach your target audience?
• How do you plan to retain your customers?
• What is/are your pricing plans?
• What is your budget for marketing?

How to Write a Business Plan Step-by-Step

1. create your executive summary.

The executive summary is a snapshot of your business or a high-level overview of your business purposes and plans . Although the executive summary is the first section in your business plan, most people write it last. The length of the executive summary is not more than two pages.

Generally, there are nine sections in a business plan, the executive summary should condense essential ideas from the other eight sections.

A good executive summary should do the following:

• A Snapshot of Growth Potential. Briefly inform the reader about your company and why it will be successful)
• Contain your Mission Statement which explains what the main objective or focus of your business is.
• Product Description and Differentiation. Brief description of your products or services and why it is different from other solutions in the market.
• The Team. Basic information about your company’s leadership team and employees
• Business Concept. A solid description of what your business does.
• Target Market. The customers you plan to sell to.
• Marketing Strategy. Your plans on reaching and selling to your customers
• Current Financial State. Brief information about what revenue your business currently generates.
• Projected Financial State. Brief information about what you foresee your business revenue to be in the future.

The executive summary is the make-or-break section of your business plan. If your summary cannot in less than two pages cannot clearly describe how your business will solve a particular problem of your target audience and make a profit, your business plan is set on a faulty foundation.

Avoid using the executive summary to hype your business, instead, focus on helping the reader understand the what and how of your plan.

View the executive summary as an opportunity to introduce your vision for your company. You know your executive summary is powerful when it can answer these key questions:

• Who is your target audience?
• What sector or industry are you in?
• What are your products and services?
• What is the future of your industry?
• Is your company scaleable?
• Who are the owners and leaders of your company? What are their backgrounds and experience levels?
• What is the motivation for starting your company?
• What are the next steps?

Writing the executive summary last although it is the most important section of your business plan is an excellent idea. The reason why is because it is a high-level overview of your business plan. It is the section that determines whether potential investors and lenders will read further or not.

The executive summary can be a stand-alone document that covers everything in your business plan. It is not uncommon for investors to request only the executive summary when evaluating your business. If the information in the executive summary impresses them, they will ask for the complete business plan.

If you are writing your business plan for your planning purposes, you do not need to write the executive summary.

2. Add Your Company Overview

The company overview or description is the next section in your business plan after the executive summary. It describes what your business does.

Adding your company overview can be tricky especially when your business is still in the planning stages. Existing businesses can easily summarize their current operations but may encounter difficulties trying to explain what they plan to become.

Your company overview should contain the following:

• What products and services you will provide
• Geographical markets and locations your company have a presence
• What you need to run your business
• Who your target audience or customers are
• Who will service your customers
• Your company’s purpose, mission, and vision
• Information about your company’s founders
• Who the founders are
• Notable achievements of your company so far

When creating a company overview, you have to focus on three basics: identifying your industry, identifying your customer, and explaining the problem you solve.

If you are stuck when creating your company overview, try to answer some of these questions that pertain to you.

• Who are you targeting? (The answer is not everyone)
• What pain point does your product or service solve for your customers that they will be willing to spend money on resolving?
• How does your product or service overcome that pain point?
• Where is the location of your business?
• What products, equipment, and services do you need to run your business?
• How is your company’s product or service different from your competition in the eyes of your customers?
• How many employees do you need and what skills do you require them to have?

After answering some or all of these questions, you will get more than enough information you need to write your company overview or description section. When writing this section, describe what your company does for your customers.

The company description or overview section contains three elements: mission statement, history, and objectives.

• Mission Statement

The mission statement refers to the reason why your business or company is existing. It goes beyond what you do or sell, it is about the ‘why’. A good mission statement should be emotional and inspirational.

Your mission statement should follow the KISS rule (Keep It Simple, Stupid). For example, Shopify’s mission statement is “Make commerce better for everyone.”

When describing your company’s history, make it simple and avoid the temptation of tying it to a defensive narrative. Write it in the manner you would a profile. Your company’s history should include the following information:

• Founding Date
• Major Milestones
• Location(s)
• Flagship Products or Services
• Number of Employees
• Executive Leadership Roles

When you fill in this information, you use it to write one or two paragraphs about your company’s history.

Business Objectives

Your business objective must be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.) Failure to clearly identify your business objectives does not inspire confidence and makes it hard for your team members to work towards a common purpose.

3. Perform Market and Competitive Analyses to Proof a Big Enough Business Opportunity

The third step in writing a business plan is the market and competitive analysis section. Every business, no matter the size, needs to perform comprehensive market and competitive analyses before it enters into a market.

Performing market and competitive analyses are critical for the success of your business. It helps you avoid entering the right market with the wrong product, or vice versa. Anyone reading your business plans, especially financiers and financial institutions will want to see proof that there is a big enough business opportunity you are targeting.

This section is where you describe the market and industry you want to operate in and show the big opportunities in the market that your business can leverage to make a profit. If you noticed any unique trends when doing your research, show them in this section.

Market analysis alone is not enough, you have to add competitive analysis to strengthen this section. There are already businesses in the industry or market, how do you plan to take a share of the market from them?

You have to clearly illustrate the competitive landscape in your business plan. Are there areas your competitors are doing well? Are there areas where they are not doing so well? Show it.

Make it clear in this section why you are moving into the industry and what weaknesses are present there that you plan to explain. How are your competitors going to react to your market entry? How do you plan to get customers? Do you plan on taking your competitors' competitors, tap into other sources for customers, or both?

Illustrate the competitive landscape as well. What are your competitors doing well and not so well?

Answering these questions and thoughts will aid your market and competitive analysis of the opportunities in your space. Depending on how sophisticated your industry is, or the expectations of your financiers, you may need to carry out a more comprehensive market and competitive analysis to prove that big business opportunity.

Instead of looking at the market and competitive analyses as one entity, separating them will make the research even more comprehensive.

Market Analysis

Market analysis, boarding speaking, refers to research a business carried out on its industry, market, and competitors. It helps businesses gain a good understanding of their target market and the outlook of their industry. Before starting a company, it is vital to carry out market research to find out if the market is viable.

The market analysis section is a key part of the business plan. It is the section where you identify who your best clients or customers are. You cannot omit this section, without it your business plan is incomplete.

A good market analysis will tell your readers how you fit into the existing market and what makes you stand out. This section requires in-depth research, it will probably be the most time-consuming part of the business plan to write.

• Market Research

To create a compelling market analysis that will win over investors and financial institutions, you have to carry out thorough market research . Your market research should be targeted at your primary target market for your products or services. Here is what you want to find out about your target market.

• Your target market’s needs or pain points
• The existing solutions for their pain points
• Geographic Location
• Demographics

The purpose of carrying out a marketing analysis is to get all the information you need to show that you have a solid and thorough understanding of your target audience.

Only after you have fully understood the people you plan to sell your products or services to, can you evaluate correctly if your target market will be interested in your products or services.

You can easily convince interested parties to invest in your business if you can show them you thoroughly understand the market and show them that there is a market for your products or services.

How to Quantify Your Target Market

One of the goals of your marketing research is to understand who your ideal customers are and their purchasing power. To quantify your target market, you have to determine the following:

• Your Potential Customers: They are the people you plan to target. For example, if you sell accounting software for small businesses , then anyone who runs an enterprise or large business is unlikely to be your customers. Also, individuals who do not have a business will most likely not be interested in your product.
• Total Households: If you are selling household products such as heating and air conditioning systems, determining the number of total households is more important than finding out the total population in the area you want to sell to. The logic is simple, people buy the product but it is the household that uses it.
• Median Income: You need to know the median income of your target market. If you target a market that cannot afford to buy your products and services, your business will not last long.
• Income by Demographics: If your potential customers belong to a certain age group or gender, determining income levels by demographics is necessary. For example, if you sell men's clothes, your target audience is men.

What Does a Good Market Analysis Entail?

Your business does not exist on its own, it can only flourish within an industry and alongside competitors. Market analysis takes into consideration your industry, target market, and competitors. Understanding these three entities will drastically improve your company’s chances of success.

You can view your market analysis as an examination of the market you want to break into and an education on the emerging trends and themes in that market. Good market analyses include the following:

• Industry Description. You find out about the history of your industry, the current and future market size, and who the largest players/companies are in your industry.
• Overview of Target Market. You research your target market and its characteristics. Who are you targeting? Note, it cannot be everyone, it has to be a specific group. You also have to find out all information possible about your customers that can help you understand how and why they make buying decisions.
• Size of Target Market: You need to know the size of your target market, how frequently they buy, and the expected quantity they buy so you do not risk overproducing and having lots of bad inventory. Researching the size of your target market will help you determine if it is big enough for sustained business or not.
• Growth Potential: Before picking a target market, you want to be sure there are lots of potential for future growth. You want to avoid going for an industry that is declining slowly or rapidly with almost zero growth potential.
• Market Share Potential: Does your business stand a good chance of taking a good share of the market?
• Market Pricing and Promotional Strategies: Your market analysis should give you an idea of the price point you can expect to charge for your products and services. Researching your target market will also give you ideas of pricing strategies you can implement to break into the market or to enjoy maximum profits.
• Potential Barriers to Entry: One of the biggest benefits of conducting market analysis is that it shows you every potential barrier to entry your business will likely encounter. It is a good idea to discuss potential barriers to entry such as changing technology. It informs readers of your business plan that you understand the market.
• Research on Competitors: You need to know the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors and how you can exploit them for the benefit of your business. Find patterns and trends among your competitors that make them successful, discover what works and what doesn’t, and see what you can do better.

The market analysis section is not just for talking about your target market, industry, and competitors. You also have to explain how your company can fill the hole you have identified in the market.

Here are some questions you can answer that can help you position your product or service in a positive light to your readers.

• Is your product or service of superior quality?
• What additional features do you offer that your competitors do not offer?
• Are you targeting a ‘new’ market?

Basically, your market analysis should include an analysis of what already exists in the market and an explanation of how your company fits into the market.

Competitive Analysis

In the competitive analysis section, y ou have to understand who your direct and indirect competitions are, and how successful they are in the marketplace. It is the section where you assess the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors, the advantage(s) they possess in the market and show the unique features or qualities that make you different from your competitors.

Many businesses do market analysis and competitive analysis together. However, to fully understand what the competitive analysis entails, it is essential to separate it from the market analysis.

Competitive analysis for your business can also include analysis on how to overcome barriers to entry in your target market.

The primary goal of conducting a competitive analysis is to distinguish your business from your competitors. A strong competitive analysis is essential if you want to convince potential funding sources to invest in your business. You have to show potential investors and lenders that your business has what it takes to compete in the marketplace successfully.

Competitive analysis will s how you what the strengths of your competition are and what they are doing to maintain that advantage.

When doing your competitive research, you first have to identify your competitor and then get all the information you can about them. The idea of spending time to identify your competitor and learn everything about them may seem daunting but it is well worth it.

Find answers to the following questions after you have identified who your competitors are.

• What are your successful competitors doing?
• Why is what they are doing working?
• Can your business do it better?
• What are the weaknesses of your successful competitors?
• What are they not doing well?
• Can your business turn its weaknesses into strengths?
• How good is your competitors’ customer service?
• Where do your competitors invest in advertising?
• What sales and pricing strategies are they using?
• What marketing strategies are they using?
• What kind of press coverage do they get?
• What are their customers saying about your competitors (both the positive and negative)?

If your competitors have a website, it is a good idea to visit their websites for more competitors’ research. Check their “About Us” page for more information.

If you are presenting your business plan to investors, you need to clearly distinguish yourself from your competitors. Investors can easily tell when you have not properly researched your competitors.

Take time to think about what unique qualities or features set you apart from your competitors. If you do not have any direct competition offering your product to the market, it does not mean you leave out the competitor analysis section blank. Instead research on other companies that are providing a similar product, or whose product is solving the problem your product solves.

The next step is to create a table listing the top competitors you want to include in your business plan. Ensure you list your business as the last and on the right. What you just created is known as the competitor analysis table.

Direct vs Indirect Competition

You cannot know if your product or service will be a fit for your target market if you have not understood your business and the competitive landscape.

There is no market you want to target where you will not encounter competition, even if your product is innovative. Including competitive analysis in your business plan is essential.

If you are entering an established market, you need to explain how you plan to differentiate your products from the available options in the market. Also, include a list of few companies that you view as your direct competitors The competition you face in an established market is your direct competition.

In situations where you are entering a market with no direct competition, it does not mean there is no competition there. Consider your indirect competition that offers substitutes for the products or services you offer.

For example, if you sell an innovative SaaS product, let us say a project management software , a company offering time management software is your indirect competition.

There is an easy way to find out who your indirect competitors are in the absence of no direct competitors. You simply have to research how your potential customers are solving the problems that your product or service seeks to solve. That is your direct competition.

Factors that Differentiate Your Business from the Competition

There are three main factors that any business can use to differentiate itself from its competition. They are cost leadership, product differentiation, and market segmentation.

1. Cost Leadership

A strategy you can impose to maximize your profits and gain an edge over your competitors. It involves offering lower prices than what the majority of your competitors are offering.

A common practice among businesses looking to enter into a market where there are dominant players is to use free trials or pricing to attract as many customers as possible to their offer.

2. Product Differentiation

Your product or service should have a unique selling proposition (USP) that your competitors do not have or do not stress in their marketing.

Part of the marketing strategy should involve making your products unique and different from your competitors. It does not have to be different from your competitors, it can be the addition to a feature or benefit that your competitors do not currently have.

3. Market Segmentation

As a new business seeking to break into an industry, you will gain more success from focusing on a specific niche or target market, and not the whole industry.

If your competitors are focused on a general need or target market, you can differentiate yourself from them by having a small and hyper-targeted audience. For example, if your competitors are selling men’s clothes in their online stores , you can sell hoodies for men.

4. Define Your Business and Management Structure

The next step in your business plan is your business and management structure. It is the section where you describe the legal structure of your business and the team running it.

Your business is only as good as the management team that runs it, while the management team can only strive when there is a proper business and management structure in place.

If your company is a sole proprietor or a limited liability company (LLC), a general or limited partnership, or a C or an S corporation, state it clearly in this section.

Use an organizational chart to show the management structure in your business. Clearly show who is in charge of what area in your company. It is where you show how each key manager or team leader’s unique experience can contribute immensely to the success of your company. You can also opt to add the resumes and CVs of the key players in your company.

The business and management structure section should show who the owner is, and other owners of the businesses (if the business has other owners). For businesses or companies with multiple owners, include the percent ownership of the various owners and clearly show the extent of each others’ involvement in the company.

Investors want to know who is behind the company and the team running it to determine if it has the right management to achieve its set goals.

Management Team

The management team section is where you show that you have the right team in place to successfully execute the business operations and ideas. Take time to create the management structure for your business. Think about all the important roles and responsibilities that you need managers for to grow your business.

Include brief bios of each key team member and ensure you highlight only the relevant information that is needed. If your team members have background industry experience or have held top positions for other companies and achieved success while filling that role, highlight it in this section.

A common mistake that many startups make is assigning C-level titles such as (CMO and CEO) to everyone on their team. It is unrealistic for a small business to have those titles. While it may look good on paper for the ego of your team members, it can prevent investors from investing in your business.

Instead of building an unrealistic management structure that does not fit your business reality, it is best to allow business titles to grow as the business grows. Starting everyone at the top leaves no room for future change or growth, which is bad for productivity.

Your management team does not have to be complete before you start writing your business plan. You can have a complete business plan even when there are managerial positions that are empty and need filling.

If you have management gaps in your team, simply show the gaps and indicate you are searching for the right candidates for the role(s). Investors do not expect you to have a full management team when you are just starting your business.

Key Questions to Answer When Structuring Your Management Team

• Who are the key leaders?
• What experiences, skills, and educational backgrounds do you expect your key leaders to have?
• Do your key leaders have industry experience?
• What positions will they fill and what duties will they perform in those positions?
• What level of authority do the key leaders have and what are their responsibilities?
• What is the salary for the various management positions that will attract the ideal candidates?

Additional Tips for Writing the Management Structure Section

1. Avoid Adding ‘Ghost’ Names to Your Management Team

There is always that temptation to include a ‘ghost’ name to your management team to attract and influence investors to invest in your business. Although the presence of these celebrity management team members may attract the attention of investors, it can cause your business to lose any credibility if you get found out.

Seasoned investors will investigate further the members of your management team before committing fully to your business If they find out that the celebrity name used does not play any actual role in your business, they will not invest and may write you off as dishonest.

2. Focus on Credentials But Pay Extra Attention to the Roles

Investors want to know the experience that your key team members have to determine if they can successfully reach the company’s growth and financial goals.

While it is an excellent boost for your key management team to have the right credentials, you also want to pay extra attention to the roles they will play in your company.

Organizational Chart

Adding an organizational chart in this section of your business plan is not necessary, you can do it in your business plan’s appendix.

If you are exploring funding options, it is not uncommon to get asked for your organizational chart. The function of an organizational chart goes beyond raising money, you can also use it as a useful planning tool for your business.

An organizational chart can help you identify how best to structure your management team for maximum productivity and point you towards key roles you need to fill in the future.

You can use the organizational chart to show your company’s internal management structure such as the roles and responsibilities of your management team, and relationships that exist between them.

5. Describe Your Product and Service Offering

In your business plan, you have to describe what you sell or the service you plan to offer. It is the next step after defining your business and management structure. The products and services section is where you sell the benefits of your business.

Here you have to explain how your product or service will benefit your customers and describe your product lifecycle. It is also the section where you write down your plans for intellectual property like patent filings and copyrighting.

The research and development that you are undertaking for your product or service need to be explained in detail in this section. However, do not get too technical, sell the general idea and its benefits.

If you have any diagrams or intricate designs of your product or service, do not include them in the products and services section. Instead, leave them for the addendum page. Also, if you are leaving out diagrams or designs for the addendum, ensure you add this phrase “For more detail, visit the addendum Page #.”

Your product and service section in your business plan should include the following:

• A detailed explanation that clearly shows how your product or service works.
• The pricing model for your product or service.
• Your business’ sales and distribution strategy.
• The ideal customers that want your product or service.
• The benefits of your products and services.
• Reason(s) why your product or service is a better alternative to what your competitors are currently offering in the market.
• Plans for filling the orders you receive
• If you have current or pending patents, copyrights, and trademarks for your product or service, you can also discuss them in this section.

What to Focus On When Describing the Benefits, Lifecycle, and Production Process of Your Products or Services

In the products and services section, you have to distill the benefits, lifecycle, and production process of your products and services.

When describing the benefits of your products or services, here are some key factors to focus on.

• Unique features
• Translating the unique features into benefits
• The emotional, psychological, and practical payoffs to attract customers
• Intellectual property rights or any patents

When describing the product life cycle of your products or services, here are some key factors to focus on.

• Upsells, cross-sells, and down-sells
• Time between purchases
• Plans for research and development.

When describing the production process for your products or services, you need to think about the following:

• The creation of new or existing products and services.
• The sources for the raw materials or components you need for production.
• Assembling the products
• Maintaining quality control
• Supply-chain logistics (receiving the raw materials and delivering the finished products)
• The day-to-day management of the production processes, bookkeeping, and inventory.

Tips for Writing the Products or Services Section of Your Business Plan

1. Avoid Technical Descriptions and Industry Buzzwords

The products and services section of your business plan should clearly describe the products and services that your company provides. However, it is not a section to include technical jargons that anyone outside your industry will not understand.

A good practice is to remove highly detailed or technical descriptions in favor of simple terms. Industry buzzwords are not necessary, if there are simpler terms you can use, then use them. If you plan to use your business plan to source funds, making the product or service section so technical will do you no favors.

2. Describe How Your Products or Services Differ from Your Competitors

When potential investors look at your business plan, they want to know how the products and services you are offering differ from that of your competition. Differentiating your products or services from your competition in a way that makes your solution more attractive is critical.

If you are going the innovative path and there is no market currently for your product or service, you need to describe in this section why the market needs your product or service.

For example, overnight delivery was a niche business that only a few companies were participating in. Federal Express (FedEx) had to show in its business plan that there was a large opportunity for that service and they justified why the market needed that service.

3. Long or Short Products or Services Section

Should your products or services section be short? Does the long products or services section attract more investors?

There are no straightforward answers to these questions. Whether your products or services section should be long or relatively short depends on the nature of your business.

If your business is product-focused, then automatically you need to use more space to describe the details of your products. However, if the product your business sells is a commodity item that relies on competitive pricing or other pricing strategies, you do not have to use up so much space to provide significant details about the product.

Likewise, if you are selling a commodity that is available in numerous outlets, then you do not have to spend time on writing a long products or services section.

The key to the success of your business is most likely the effectiveness of your marketing strategies compared to your competitors. Use more space to address that section.

If you are creating a new product or service that the market does not know about, your products or services section can be lengthy. The reason why is because you need to explain everything about the product or service such as the nature of the product, its use case, and values.

A short products or services section for an innovative product or service will not give the readers enough information to properly evaluate your business.

4. Describe Your Relationships with Vendors or Suppliers

Your business will rely on vendors or suppliers to supply raw materials or the components needed to make your products. In your products and services section, describe your relationships with your vendors and suppliers fully.

Avoid the mistake of relying on only one supplier or vendor. If that supplier or vendor fails to supply or goes out of business, you can easily face supply problems and struggle to meet your demands. Plan to set up multiple vendor or supplier relationships for better business stability.

5. Your Primary Goal Is to Convince Your Readers

The primary goal of your business plan is to convince your readers that your business is viable and to create a guide for your business to follow. It applies to the products and services section.

When drafting this section, think like the reader. See your reader as someone who has no idea about your products and services. You are using the products and services section to provide the needed information to help your reader understand your products and services. As a result, you have to be clear and to the point.

While you want to educate your readers about your products or services, you also do not want to bore them with lots of technical details. Show your products and services and not your fancy choice of words.

Your products and services section should provide the answer to the “what” question for your business. You and your management team may run the business, but it is your products and services that are the lifeblood of the business.

Key Questions to Answer When Writing your Products and Services Section

Answering these questions can help you write your products and services section quickly and in a way that will appeal to your readers.

• Are your products existing on the market or are they still in the development stage?
• What is your timeline for adding new products and services to the market?
• What are the positives that make your products and services different from your competitors?
• Do your products and services have any competitive advantage that your competitors’ products and services do not currently have?
• Do your products or services have any competitive disadvantages that you need to overcome to compete with your competitors? If your answer is yes, state how you plan to overcome them,
• How much does it cost to produce your products or services? How much do you plan to sell it for?
• What is the price for your products and services compared to your competitors? Is pricing an issue?
• What are your operating costs and will it be low enough for you to compete with your competitors and still take home a reasonable profit margin?
• What is your plan for acquiring your products? Are you involved in the production of your products or services?
• Are you the manufacturer and produce all the components you need to create your products? Do you assemble your products by using components supplied by other manufacturers? Do you purchase your products directly from suppliers or wholesalers?
• Do you have a steady supply of products that you need to start your business? (If your business is yet to kick-off)
• How do you plan to distribute your products or services to the market?

You can also hint at the marketing or promotion plans you have for your products or services such as how you plan to build awareness or retain customers. The next section is where you can go fully into details about your business’s marketing and sales plan.

6. Show and Explain Your Marketing and Sales Plan

Providing great products and services is wonderful, but it means nothing if you do not have a marketing and sales plan to inform your customers about them. Your marketing and sales plan is critical to the success of your business.

The sales and marketing section is where you show and offer a detailed explanation of your marketing and sales plan and how you plan to execute it. It covers your pricing plan, proposed advertising and promotion activities, activities and partnerships you need to make your business a success, and the benefits of your products and services.

There are several ways you can approach your marketing and sales strategy. Ideally, your marketing and sales strategy has to fit the unique needs of your business.

In this section, you describe how the plans your business has for attracting and retaining customers, and the exact process for making a sale happen. It is essential to thoroughly describe your complete marketing and sales plans because you are still going to reference this section when you are making financial projections for your business.

Outline Your Business’ Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

The sales and marketing section is where you outline your business’s unique selling proposition (USP). When you are developing your unique selling proposition, think about the strongest reasons why people should buy from you over your competition. That reason(s) is most likely a good fit to serve as your unique selling proposition (USP).

Target Market and Target Audience

Plans on how to get your products or services to your target market and how to get your target audience to buy them go into this section. You also highlight the strengths of your business here, particularly what sets them apart from your competition.

Before you start writing your marketing and sales plan, you need to have properly defined your target audience and fleshed out your buyer persona. If you do not first understand the individual you are marketing to, your marketing and sales plan will lack any substance and easily fall.

Creating a Smart Marketing and Sales Plan

Marketing your products and services is an investment that requires you to spend money. Like any other investment, you have to generate a good return on investment (ROI) to justify using that marketing and sales plan. Good marketing and sales plans bring in high sales and profits to your company.

Avoid spending money on unproductive marketing channels. Do your research and find out the best marketing and sales plan that works best for your company.

Your marketing and sales plan can be broken into different parts: your positioning statement, pricing, promotion, packaging, advertising, public relations, content marketing, social media, and strategic alliances.

Your Positioning Statement

Your positioning statement is the first part of your marketing and sales plan. It refers to the way you present your company to your customers.

Are you the premium solution, the low-price solution, or are you the intermediary between the two extremes in the market? What do you offer that your competitors do not that can give you leverage in the market?

Before you start writing your positioning statement, you need to spend some time evaluating the current market conditions. Here are some questions that can help you to evaluate the market

• What are the unique features or benefits that you offer that your competitors lack?
• What are your customers’ primary needs and wants?
• Why should a customer choose you over your competition? How do you plan to differentiate yourself from the competition?
• How does your company’s solution compare with other solutions in the market?

After answering these questions, then you can start writing your positioning statement. Your positioning statement does not have to be in-depth or too long.

All you need to explain with your positioning statement are two focus areas. The first is the position of your company within the competitive landscape. The other focus area is the core value proposition that sets your company apart from other alternatives that your ideal customer might consider.

Here is a simple template you can use to develop a positioning statement.

For [description of target market] who [need of target market], [product or service] [how it meets the need]. Unlike [top competition], it [most essential distinguishing feature].

For example, let’s create the positioning statement for fictional accounting software and QuickBooks alternative , TBooks.

“For small business owners who need accounting services, TBooks is an accounting software that helps small businesses handle their small business bookkeeping basics quickly and easily. Unlike Wave, TBooks gives small businesses access to live sessions with top accountants.”

You can edit this positioning statement sample and fill it with your business details.

After writing your positioning statement, the next step is the pricing of your offerings. The overall positioning strategy you set in your positioning statement will often determine how you price your products or services.

Pricing is a powerful tool that sends a strong message to your customers. Failure to get your pricing strategy right can make or mar your business. If you are targeting a low-income audience, setting a premium price can result in low sales.

You can use pricing to communicate your positioning to your customers. For example, if you are offering a product at a premium price, you are sending a message to your customers that the product belongs to the premium category.

Basic Rules to Follow When Pricing Your Offering

Setting a price for your offering involves more than just putting a price tag on it. Deciding on the right pricing for your offering requires following some basic rules. They include covering your costs, primary and secondary profit center pricing, and matching the market rate.

• Covering Your Costs: The price you set for your products or service should be more than it costs you to produce and deliver them. Every business has the same goal, to make a profit. Depending on the strategy you want to use, there are exceptions to this rule. However, the vast majority of businesses follow this rule.
• Primary and Secondary Profit Center Pricing: When a company sets its price above the cost of production, it is making that product its primary profit center. A company can also decide not to make its initial price its primary profit center by selling below or at even with its production cost. It rather depends on the support product or even maintenance that is associated with the initial purchase to make its profit. The initial price thus became its secondary profit center.
• Matching the Market Rate: A good rule to follow when pricing your products or services is to match your pricing with consumer demand and expectations. If you price your products or services beyond the price your customer perceives as the ideal price range, you may end up with no customers. Pricing your products too low below what your customer perceives as the ideal price range may lead to them undervaluing your offering.

Pricing Strategy

Your pricing strategy influences the price of your offering. There are several pricing strategies available for you to choose from when examining the right pricing strategy for your business. They include cost-plus pricing, market-based pricing, value pricing, and more.

• Cost-plus Pricing: This strategy is one of the simplest and oldest pricing strategies. Here you consider the cost of producing a unit of your product and then add a profit to it to arrive at your market price. It is an effective pricing strategy for manufacturers because it helps them cover their initial costs. Another name for the cost-plus pricing strategy is the markup pricing strategy.
• Market-based Pricing: This pricing strategy analyses the market including competitors’ pricing and then sets a price based on what the market is expecting. With this pricing strategy, you can either set your price at the low-end or high-end of the market.
• Value Pricing: This pricing strategy involves setting a price based on the value you are providing to your customer. When adopting a value-based pricing strategy, you have to set a price that your customers are willing to pay. Service-based businesses such as small business insurance providers , luxury goods sellers, and the fashion industry use this pricing strategy.

After carefully sorting out your positioning statement and pricing, the next item to look at is your promotional strategy. Your promotional strategy explains how you plan on communicating with your customers and prospects.

As a business, you must measure all your costs, including the cost of your promotions. You also want to measure how much sales your promotions bring for your business to determine its usefulness. Promotional strategies or programs that do not lead to profit need to be removed.

There are different types of promotional strategies you can adopt for your business, they include advertising, public relations, and content marketing.

Advertising

Your business plan should include your advertising plan which can be found in the marketing and sales plan section. You need to include an overview of your advertising plans such as the areas you plan to spend money on to advertise your business and offers.

Ensure that you make it clear in this section if your business will be advertising online or using the more traditional offline media, or the combination of both online and offline media. You can also include the advertising medium you want to use to raise awareness about your business and offers.

Some common online advertising mediums you can use include social media ads, landing pages, sales pages, SEO, Pay-Per-Click, emails, Google Ads, and others. Some common traditional and offline advertising mediums include word of mouth, radios, direct mail, televisions, flyers, billboards, posters, and others.

A key component of your advertising strategy is how you plan to measure the effectiveness and success of your advertising campaign. There is no point in sticking with an advertising plan or medium that does not produce results for your business in the long run.

Public Relations

A great way to reach your customers is to get the media to cover your business or product. Publicity, especially good ones, should be a part of your marketing and sales plan. In this section, show your plans for getting prominent reviews of your product from reputable publications and sources.

Your business needs that exposure to grow. If public relations is a crucial part of your promotional strategy, provide details about your public relations plan here.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a popular promotional strategy used by businesses to inform and attract their customers. It is about teaching and educating your prospects on various topics of interest in your niche, it does not just involve informing them about the benefits and features of the products and services you have,

Businesses publish content usually for free where they provide useful information, tips, and advice so that their target market can be made aware of the importance of their products and services. Content marketing strategies seek to nurture prospects into buyers over time by simply providing value.

Your company can create a blog where it will be publishing content for its target market. You will need to use the best website builder such as Wix and Squarespace and the best web hosting services such as Bluehost, Hostinger, and other Bluehost alternatives to create a functional blog or website.

If content marketing is a crucial part of your promotional strategy (as it should be), detail your plans under promotions.

Including high-quality images of the packaging of your product in your business plan is a lovely idea. You can add the images of the packaging of that product in the marketing and sales plan section. If you are not selling a product, then you do not need to include any worry about the physical packaging of your product.

When organizing the packaging section of your business plan, you can answer the following questions to make maximum use of this section.

• Is your choice of packaging consistent with your positioning strategy?
• What key value proposition does your packaging communicate? (It should reflect the key value proposition of your business)
• How does your packaging compare to that of your competitors?

Social Media

Your 21st-century business needs to have a good social media presence. Not having one is leaving out opportunities for growth and reaching out to your prospect.

You do not have to join the thousands of social media platforms out there. What you need to do is join the ones that your customers are active on and be active there.

Businesses use social media to provide information about their products such as promotions, discounts, the benefits of their products, and content on their blogs.

Social media is also a platform for engaging with your customers and getting feedback about your products or services. Make no mistake, more and more of your prospects are using social media channels to find more information about companies.

You need to consider the social media channels you want to prioritize your business (prioritize the ones your customers are active in) and your branding plans in this section.

Strategic Alliances

If your company plans to work closely with other companies as part of your sales and marketing plan, include it in this section. Prove details about those partnerships in your business plan if you have already established them.

Strategic alliances can be beneficial for all parties involved including your company. Working closely with another company in the form of a partnership can provide access to a different target market segment for your company.

The company you are partnering with may also gain access to your target market or simply offer a new product or service (that of your company) to its customers.

Mutually beneficial partnerships can cover the weaknesses of one company with the strength of another. You should consider strategic alliances with companies that sell complimentary products to yours. For example, if you provide printers, you can partner with a company that produces ink since the customers that buy printers from you will also need inks for printing.

Steps Involved in Creating a Marketing and Sales Plan

1. Focus on Your Target Market

Identify who your customers are, the market you want to target. Then determine the best ways to get your products or services to your potential customers.

2. Evaluate Your Competition

One of the goals of having a marketing plan is to distinguish yourself from your competition. You cannot stand out from them without first knowing them in and out.

You can know your competitors by gathering information about their products, pricing, service, and advertising campaigns.

These questions can help you know your competition.

• What makes your competition successful?
• What are their weaknesses?
• What are customers saying about your competition?

3. Consider Your Brand

Customers' perception of your brand has a strong impact on your sales. Your marketing and sales plan should seek to bolster the image of your brand. Before you start marketing your business, think about the message you want to pass across about your business and your products and services.

4. Focus on Benefits

The majority of your customers do not view your product in terms of features, what they want to know is the benefits and solutions your product offers. Think about the problems your product solves and the benefits it delivers, and use it to create the right sales and marketing message.

Your marketing plan should focus on what you want your customer to get instead of what you provide. Identify those benefits in your marketing and sales plan.

5. Focus on Differentiation

Your marketing and sales plan should look for a unique angle they can take that differentiates your business from the competition, even if the products offered are similar. Some good areas of differentiation you can use are your benefits, pricing, and features.

Key Questions to Answer When Writing Your Marketing and Sales Plan

• What is your company’s budget for sales and marketing campaigns?
• What key metrics will you use to determine if your marketing plans are successful?
• What are your alternatives if your initial marketing efforts do not succeed?
• Who are the sales representatives you need to promote your products or services?
• What are the marketing and sales channels you plan to use? How do you plan to get your products in front of your ideal customers?
• Where will you sell your products?

You may want to include samples of marketing materials you plan to use such as print ads, website descriptions, and social media ads. While it is not compulsory to include these samples, it can help you better communicate your marketing and sales plan and objectives.

The purpose of the marketing and sales section is to answer this question “How will you reach your customers?” If you cannot convincingly provide an answer to this question, you need to rework your marketing and sales section.

7. Clearly Show Your Funding Request

If you are writing your business plan to ask for funding from investors or financial institutions, the funding request section is where you will outline your funding requirements. The funding request section should answer the question ‘How much money will your business need in the near future (3 to 5 years)?’

A good funding request section will clearly outline and explain the amount of funding your business needs over the next five years. You need to know the amount of money your business needs to make an accurate funding request.

Also, when writing your funding request, provide details of how the funds will be used over the period. Specify if you want to use the funds to buy raw materials or machinery, pay salaries, pay for advertisements, and cover specific bills such as rent and electricity.

In addition to explaining what you want to use the funds requested for, you need to clearly state the projected return on investment (ROI) . Investors and creditors want to know if your business can generate profit for them if they put funds into it.

Ensure you do not inflate the figures and stay as realistic as possible. Investors and financial institutions you are seeking funds from will do their research before investing money in your business.

If you are not sure of an exact number to request from, you can use some range of numbers as rough estimates. Add a best-case scenario and a work-case scenario to your funding request. Also, include a description of your strategic future financial plans such as selling your business or paying off debts.

Funding Request: Debt or Equity?

When making your funding request, specify the type of funding you want. Do you want debt or equity? Draw out the terms that will be applicable for the funding, and the length of time the funding request will cover.

Case for Equity

If your new business has not yet started generating profits, you are most likely preparing to sell equity in your business to raise capital at the early stage. Equity here refers to ownership. In this case, you are selling a portion of your company to raise capital.

Although this method of raising capital for your business does not put your business in debt, keep in mind that an equity owner may expect to play a key role in company decisions even if he does not hold a major stake in the company.

Most equity sales for startups are usually private transactions . If you are making a funding request by offering equity in exchange for funding, let the investor know that they will be paid a dividend (a share of the company’s profit). Also, let the investor know the process for selling their equity in your business.

Case for Debt

You may decide not to offer equity in exchange for funds, instead, you make a funding request with the promise to pay back the money borrowed at the agreed time frame.

When making a funding request with an agreement to pay back, note that you will have to repay your creditors both the principal amount borrowed and the interest on it. Financial institutions offer this type of funding for businesses.

Large companies combine both equity and debt in their capital structure. When drafting your business plan, decide if you want to offer both or one over the other.

Before you sell equity in exchange for funding in your business, consider if you are willing to accept not being in total control of your business. Also, before you seek loans in your funding request section, ensure that the terms of repayment are favorable.

You should set a clear timeline in your funding request so that potential investors and creditors can know what you are expecting. Some investors and creditors may agree to your funding request and then delay payment for longer than 30 days, meanwhile, your business needs an immediate cash injection to operate efficiently.

Additional Tips for Writing the Funding Request Section of your Business Plan

The funding request section is not necessary for every business, it is only needed by businesses who plan to use their business plan to secure funding.

If you are adding the funding request section to your business plan, provide an itemized summary of how you plan to use the funds requested. Hiring a lawyer, accountant, or other professionals may be necessary for the proper development of this section.

You should also gather and use financial statements that add credibility and support to your funding requests. Ensure that the financial statements you use should include your projected financial data such as projected cash flows, forecast statements, and expenditure budgets.

If you are an existing business, include all historical financial statements such as cash flow statements, balance sheets and income statements .

Provide monthly and quarterly financial statements for a year. If your business has records that date back beyond the one-year mark, add the yearly statements of those years. These documents are for the appendix section of your business plan.

8. Detail Your Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projections

If you used the funding request section in your business plan, supplement it with a financial plan, metrics, and projections. This section paints a picture of the past performance of your business and then goes ahead to make an informed projection about its future.

The goal of this section is to convince readers that your business is going to be a financial success. It outlines your business plan to generate enough profit to repay the loan (with interest if applicable) and to generate a decent return on investment for investors.

If you have an existing business already in operation, use this section to demonstrate stability through finance. This section should include your cash flow statements, balance sheets, and income statements covering the last three to five years. If your business has some acceptable collateral that you can use to acquire loans, list it in the financial plan, metrics, and projection section.

Apart from current financial statements, this section should also contain a prospective financial outlook that spans the next five years. Include forecasted income statements, cash flow statements, balance sheets, and capital expenditure budget.

If your business is new and is not yet generating profit, use clear and realistic projections to show the potentials of your business.

When drafting this section, research industry norms and the performance of comparable businesses. Your financial projections should cover at least five years. State the logic behind your financial projections. Remember you can always make adjustments to this section as the variables change.

The financial plan, metrics, and projection section create a baseline which your business can either exceed or fail to reach. If your business fails to reach your projections in this section, you need to understand why it failed.

Investors and loan managers spend a lot of time going through the financial plan, metrics, and projection section compared to other parts of the business plan. Ensure you spend time creating credible financial analyses for your business in this section.

Many entrepreneurs find this section daunting to write. You do not need a business degree to create a solid financial forecast for your business. Business finances, especially for startups, are not as complicated as they seem. There are several online tools and templates that make writing this section so much easier.

Use Graphs and Charts

The financial plan, metrics, and projection section is a great place to use graphs and charts to tell the financial story of your business. Charts and images make it easier to communicate your finances.

Accuracy in this section is key, ensure you carefully analyze your past financial statements properly before making financial projects.

Address the Risk Factors and Show Realistic Financial Projections

Keep your financial plan, metrics, and projection realistic. It is okay to be optimistic in your financial projection, however, you have to justify it.

You should also address the various risk factors associated with your business in this section. Investors want to know the potential risks involved, show them. You should also show your plans for mitigating those risks.

What You Should In The Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projection Section of Your Business Plan

The financial plan, metrics, and projection section of your business plan should have monthly sales and revenue forecasts for the first year. It should also include annual projections that cover 3 to 5 years.

A three-year projection is a basic requirement to have in your business plan. However, some investors may request a five-year forecast.

Your business plan should include the following financial statements: sales forecast, personnel plan, income statement, income statement, cash flow statement, balance sheet, and an exit strategy.

1. Sales Forecast

Sales forecast refers to your projections about the number of sales your business is going to record over the next few years. It is typically broken into several rows, with each row assigned to a core product or service that your business is offering.

One common mistake people make in their business plan is to break down the sales forecast section into long details. A sales forecast should forecast the high-level details.

For example, if you are forecasting sales for a payroll software provider, you could break down your forecast into target market segments or subscription categories.

Your sales forecast section should also have a corresponding row for each sales row to cover the direct cost or Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). The objective of these rows is to show the expenses that your business incurs in making and delivering your product or service.

Note that your Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) should only cover those direct costs incurred when making your products. Other indirect expenses such as insurance, salaries, payroll tax, and rent should not be included.

For example, the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) for a restaurant is the cost of ingredients while for a consulting company it will be the cost of paper and other presentation materials.

2. Personnel Plan

The personnel plan section is where you provide details about the payment plan for your employees. For a small business, you can easily list every position in your company and how much you plan to pay in the personnel plan.

However, for larger businesses, you have to break the personnel plan into functional groups such as sales and marketing.

The personnel plan will also include the cost of an employee beyond salary, commonly referred to as the employee burden. These costs include insurance, payroll taxes , and other essential costs incurred monthly as a result of having employees on your payroll.

3. Income Statement

The income statement section shows if your business is making a profit or taking a loss. Another name for the income statement is the profit and loss (P&L). It takes data from your sales forecast and personnel plan and adds other ongoing expenses you incur while running your business.

Every business plan should have an income statement. It subtracts your business expenses from its earnings to show if your business is generating profit or incurring losses.

The income statement has the following items: sales, Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), gross margin, operating expenses, total operating expenses, operating income , total expenses, and net profit.

• Sales refer to the revenue your business generates from selling its products or services. Other names for sales are income or revenue.
• Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) refers to the total cost of selling your products. Other names for COGS are direct costs or cost of sales. Manufacturing businesses use the Costs of Goods Manufactured (COGM) .
• Gross Margin is the figure you get when you subtract your COGS from your sales. In your income statement, you can express it as a percentage of total sales (Gross margin / Sales = Gross Margin Percent).
• Operating Expenses refer to all the expenses you incur from running your business. It exempts the COGS because it stands alone as a core part of your income statement. You also have to exclude taxes, depreciation, and amortization. Your operating expenses include salaries, marketing expenses, research and development (R&D) expenses, and other expenses.
• Total Operating Expenses refers to the sum of all your operating expenses including those exemptions named above under operating expenses.
• Operating Income refers to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. It is simply known as the acronym EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization). Calculating your operating income is simple, all you need to do is to subtract your COGS and total operating expenses from your sales.
• Total Expenses refer to the sum of your operating expenses and your business’ interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.
• Net profit shows whether your business has made a profit or taken a loss during a given timeframe.

4. Cash Flow Statement

The cash flow statement tracks the money you have in the bank at any given point. It is often confused with the income statement or the profit and loss statement. They are both different types of financial statements. The income statement calculates your profits and losses while the cash flow statement shows you how much you have in the bank.

5. Balance Sheet

The balance sheet is a financial statement that provides an overview of the financial health of your business. It contains information about the assets and liabilities of your company, and owner’s or shareholders’ equity.

You can get the net worth of your company by subtracting your company’s liabilities from its assets.

6. Exit Strategy

The exit strategy refers to a probable plan for selling your business either to the public in an IPO or to another company. It is the last thing you include in the financial plan, metrics, and projection section.

You can choose to omit the exit strategy from your business plan if you plan to maintain full ownership of your business and do not plan on seeking angel investment or virtual capitalist (VC) funding.

Investors may want to know what your exit plan is. They invest in your business to get a good return on investment.

Your exit strategy does not have to include long and boring details. Ensure you identify some interested parties who may be interested in buying the company if it becomes a success.

Key Questions to Answer with Your Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projection

Your financial plan, metrics, and projection section helps investors, creditors, or your internal managers to understand what your expenses are, the amount of cash you need, and what it takes to make your company profitable. It also shows what you will be doing with any funding.

You do not need to show actual financial data if you do not have one. Adding forecasts and projections to your financial statements is added proof that your strategy is feasible and shows investors you have planned properly.

Here are some key questions to answer to help you develop this section.

• What is your sales forecast for the next year?
• When will your company achieve a positive cash flow?
• What are the core expenses you need to operate?
• How much money do you need upfront to operate or grow your company?
• How will you use the loans or investments?

9. Add an Appendix to Your Business Plan

Adding an appendix to your business plan is optional. It is a useful place to put any charts, tables, legal notes, definitions, permits, résumés, and other critical information that do not fit into other sections of your business plan.

The appendix section is where you would want to include details of a patent or patent-pending if you have one. You can always add illustrations or images of your products here. It is the last section of your business plan.

When writing your business plan, there are details you cut short or remove to prevent the entire section from becoming too lengthy. There are also details you want to include in the business plan but are not a good fit for any of the previous sections. You can add that additional information to the appendix section.

Businesses also use the appendix section to include supporting documents or other materials specially requested by investors or lenders.

You can include just about any information that supports the assumptions and statements you made in the business plan under the appendix. It is the one place in the business plan where unrelated data and information can coexist amicably.

If your appendix section is lengthy, try organizing it by adding a table of contents at the beginning of the appendix section. It is also advisable to group similar information to make it easier for the reader to access them.

A well-organized appendix section makes it easier to share your information clearly and concisely. Add footnotes throughout the rest of the business plan or make references in the plan to the documents in the appendix.

The appendix section is usually only necessary if you are seeking funding from investors or lenders, or hoping to attract partners.

People reading business plans do not want to spend time going through a heap of backup information, numbers, and charts. Keep these documents or information in the Appendix section in case the reader wants to dig deeper.

Common Items to Include in the Appendix Section of Your Business Plan

The appendix section includes documents that supplement or support the information or claims given in other sections of the business plans. Common items you can include in the appendix section include:

• Additional data about the process of manufacturing or creation
• Additional description of products or services such as product schematics
• Additional financial documents or projections
• Articles of incorporation and status
• Backup for market research or competitive analysis
• Bank statements
• Business registries
• Client testimonials (if your business is already running)
• Copies of insurances
• Credit histories (personal or/and business)
• Deeds and permits
• Equipment leases
• Examples of marketing and advertising collateral
• Industry associations and memberships
• Images of product
• Intellectual property
• Key customer contracts
• Legal documents and other contracts
• Letters of reference
• Links to references
• Market research data
• Organizational charts
• Photographs of potential facilities
• Professional licenses pertaining to your legal structure or type of business
• Purchase orders
• Resumes of the founder(s) and key managers
• State and federal identification numbers or codes
• Trademarks or patents’ registrations

Avoid using the appendix section as a place to dump any document or information you feel like adding. Only add documents or information that you support or increase the credibility of your business plan.

Tips and Strategies for Writing a Convincing Business Plan

To achieve a perfect business plan, you need to consider some key tips and strategies. These tips will raise the efficiency of your business plan above average.

1. Know Your Audience

When writing a business plan, you need to know your audience . Business owners write business plans for different reasons. Your business plan has to be specific. For example, you can write business plans to potential investors, banks, and even fellow board members of the company.

The audience you are writing to determines the structure of the business plan. As a business owner, you have to know your audience. Not everyone will be your audience. Knowing your audience will help you to narrow the scope of your business plan.

Consider what your audience wants to see in your projects, the likely questions they might ask, and what interests them.

• A business plan used to address a company's board members will center on its employment schemes, internal affairs, projects, stakeholders, etc.
• A business plan for financial institutions will talk about the size of your market and the chances for you to pay back any loans you demand.
• A business plan for investors will show proof that you can return the investment capital within a specific time. In addition, it discusses your financial projections, tractions, and market size.

2. Get Inspiration from People

Writing a business plan from scratch as an entrepreneur can be daunting. That is why you need the right inspiration to push you to write one. You can gain inspiration from the successful business plans of other businesses. Look at their business plans, the style they use, the structure of the project, etc.

To make your business plan easier to create, search companies related to your business to get an exact copy of what you need to create an effective business plan. You can also make references while citing examples in your business plans.

When drafting your business plan, get as much help from others as you possibly can. By getting inspiration from people, you can create something better than what they have.

3. Avoid Being Over Optimistic

Many business owners make use of strong adjectives to qualify their content. One of the big mistakes entrepreneurs make when preparing a business plan is promising too much.

The use of superlatives and over-optimistic claims can prepare the audience for more than you can offer. In the end, you disappoint the confidence they have in you.

In most cases, the best option is to be realistic with your claims and statistics. Most of the investors can sense a bit of incompetency from the overuse of superlatives. As a new entrepreneur, do not be tempted to over-promise to get the interests of investors.

The concept of entrepreneurship centers on risks, nothing is certain when you make future analyses. What separates the best is the ability to do careful research and work towards achieving that, not promising more than you can achieve.

To make an excellent first impression as an entrepreneur, replace superlatives with compelling data-driven content. In this way, you are more specific than someone promising a huge ROI from an investment.

4. Keep it Simple and Short

When writing business plans, ensure you keep them simple throughout. Irrespective of the purpose of the business plan, your goal is to convince the audience.

One way to achieve this goal is to make them understand your proposal. Therefore, it would be best if you avoid the use of complex grammar to express yourself. It would be a huge turn-off if the people you want to convince are not familiar with your use of words.

Another thing to note is the length of your business plan. It would be best if you made it as brief as possible.

You hardly see investors or agencies that read through an extremely long document. In that case, if your first few pages can’t convince them, then you have lost it. The more pages you write, the higher the chances of you derailing from the essential contents.

To ensure your business plan has a high conversion rate, you need to dispose of every unnecessary information. For example, if you have a strategy that you are not sure of, it would be best to leave it out of the plan.

5. Make an Outline and Follow Through

A perfect business plan must have touched every part needed to convince the audience. Business owners get easily tempted to concentrate more on their products than on other sections. Doing this can be detrimental to the efficiency of the business plan.

For example, imagine you talking about a product but omitting or providing very little information about the target audience. You will leave your clients confused.

To ensure that your business plan communicates your full business model to readers, you have to input all the necessary information in it. One of the best ways to achieve this is to design a structure and stick to it.

This structure is what guides you throughout the writing. To make your work easier, you can assign an estimated word count or page limit to every section to avoid making it too bulky for easy reading. As a guide, the necessary things your business plan must contain are:

• Table of contents
• Introduction
• Product or service description
• Target audience
• Market size
• Competition analysis
• Financial projections

Some specific businesses can include some other essential sections, but these are the key sections that must be in every business plan.

6. Ask a Professional to Proofread

When writing a business plan, you must tie all loose ends to get a perfect result. When you are done with writing, call a professional to go through the document for you. You are bound to make mistakes, and the way to correct them is to get external help.

You should get a professional in your field who can relate to every section of your business plan. It would be easier for the professional to notice the inner flaws in the document than an editor with no knowledge of your business.

In addition to getting a professional to proofread, get an editor to proofread and edit your document. The editor will help you identify grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and inappropriate writing styles.

Writing a business plan can be daunting, but you can surmount that obstacle and get the best out of it with these tips.

Business Plan Examples and Templates That’ll Save You Tons of Time

1. hubspot's one-page business plan.

The one-page business plan template by HubSpot is the perfect guide for businesses of any size, irrespective of their business strategy. Although the template is condensed into a page, your final business plan should not be a page long! The template is designed to ask helpful questions that can help you develop your business plan.

Hubspot’s one-page business plan template is divided into nine fields:

• Business opportunity
• Company description
• Industry analysis
• Target market
• Implementation timeline
• Marketing plan
• Financial summary
• Funding required

2. Bplan’s Free Business Plan Template

Bplans' free business plan template is investor-approved. It is a rich template used by prestigious educational institutions such as Babson College and Princeton University to teach entrepreneurs how to create a business plan.

The template has six sections: the executive summary, opportunity, execution, company, financial plan, and appendix. There is a step-by-step guide for writing every little detail in the business plan. Follow the instructions each step of the way and you will create a business plan that impresses investors or lenders easily.

3. HubSpot's Downloadable Business Plan Template

HubSpot’s downloadable business plan template is a more comprehensive option compared to the one-page business template by HubSpot. This free and downloadable business plan template is designed for entrepreneurs.

The template is a comprehensive guide and checklist for business owners just starting their businesses. It tells you everything you need to fill in each section of the business plan and how to do it.

There are nine sections in this business plan template: an executive summary, company and business description, product and services line, market analysis, marketing plan, sales plan, legal notes, financial considerations, and appendix.

4. Business Plan by My Own Business Institute

My Own Business Institute (MOBI) which is a part of Santa Clara University's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship offers a free business plan template. You can either copy the free business template from the link provided above or download it as a Word document.

The comprehensive template consists of a whopping 15 sections.

• The Business Profile
• The Vision and the People
• Home-Based Business and Freelance Business Opportunities
• Organization
• Licenses and Permits
• Business Insurance
• Communication Tools
• Acquisitions
• Location and Leasing
• Accounting and Cash Flow
• Opening and Marketing
• Managing Employees
• Expanding and Handling Problems

There are lots of helpful tips on how to fill each section in the free business plan template by MOBI.

5. Score's Business Plan Template for Startups

Score is an American nonprofit organization that helps entrepreneurs build successful companies. This business plan template for startups by Score is available for free download. The business plan template asks a whooping 150 generic questions that help entrepreneurs from different fields to set up the perfect business plan.

The business plan template for startups contains clear instructions and worksheets, all you have to do is answer the questions and fill the worksheets.

There are nine sections in the business plan template: executive summary, company description, products and services, marketing plan, operational plan, management and organization, startup expenses and capitalization, financial plan, and appendices.

The ‘refining the plan’ resource contains instructions that help you modify your business plan to suit your specific needs, industry, and target audience. After you have completed Score’s business plan template, you can work with a SCORE mentor for expert advice in business planning.

6. Minimalist Architecture Business Plan Template by Venngage

The minimalist architecture business plan template is a simple template by Venngage that you can customize to suit your business needs .

There are five sections in the template: an executive summary, statement of problem, approach and methodology, qualifications, and schedule and benchmark. The business plan template has instructions that guide users on what to fill in each section.

7. Small Business Administration Free Business Plan Template

The Small Business Administration (SBA) offers two free business plan templates, filled with practical real-life examples that you can model to create your business plan. Both free business plan templates are written by fictional business owners: Rebecca who owns a consulting firm, and Andrew who owns a toy company.

There are five sections in the two SBA’s free business plan templates.

• Executive Summary
• Company Description
• Service Line
• Marketing and Sales

8. The $100 Startup's One-Page Business Plan

The one-page business plan by the $100 startup is a simple business plan template for entrepreneurs who do not want to create a long and complicated plan . You can include more details in the appendices for funders who want more information beyond what you can put in the one-page business plan.

There are five sections in the one-page business plan such as overview, ka-ching, hustling, success, and obstacles or challenges or open questions. You can answer all the questions using one or two sentences.

9. PandaDoc’s Free Business Plan Template

The free business plan template by PandaDoc is a comprehensive 15-page document that describes the information you should include in every section.

There are 11 sections in PandaDoc’s free business plan template.

• Executive summary
• Business description
• Products and services
• Operations plan
• Management organization
• Financial plan
• Conclusion / Call to action
• Confidentiality statement

You have to sign up for its 14-day free trial to access the template. You will find different business plan templates on PandaDoc once you sign up (including templates for general businesses and specific businesses such as bakeries, startups, restaurants, salons, hotels, and coffee shops)

PandaDoc allows you to customize its business plan templates to fit the needs of your business. After editing the template, you can send it to interested parties and track opens and views through PandaDoc.

10. Invoiceberry Templates for Word, Open Office, Excel, or PPT

InvoiceBerry is a U.K based online invoicing and tracking platform that offers free business plan templates in .docx, .odt, .xlsx, and .pptx formats for freelancers and small businesses.

Before you can download the free business plan template, it will ask you to give it your email address. After you complete the little task, it will send the download link to your inbox for you to download. It also provides a business plan checklist in .xlsx file format that ensures you add the right information to the business plan.

Alternatives to the Traditional Business Plan

A business plan is very important in mapping out how one expects their business to grow over a set number of years, particularly when they need external investment in their business. However, many investors do not have the time to watch you present your business plan. It is a long and boring read.

Luckily, there are three alternatives to the traditional business plan (the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, and Startup Pitch Deck). These alternatives are less laborious and easier and quicker to present to investors.

Business Model Canvas (BMC)

The business model canvas is a business tool used to present all the important components of setting up a business, such as customers, route to market, value proposition, and finance in a single sheet. It provides a very focused blueprint that defines your business initially which you can later expand on if needed.

The sheet is divided mainly into company, industry, and consumer models that are interconnected in how they find problems and proffer solutions.

Segments of the Business Model Canvas

The business model canvas was developed by founder Alexander Osterwalder to answer important business questions. It contains nine segments.

• Key Partners: Who will be occupying important executive positions in your business? What do they bring to the table? Will there be a third party involved with the company?
• Key Activities: What important activities will production entail? What activities will be carried out to ensure the smooth running of the company?
• The Product’s Value Propositions: What does your product do? How will it be different from other products?
• Customer Segments: What demography of consumers are you targeting? What are the habits of these consumers? Who are the MVPs of your target consumers?
• Customer Relationships: How will the team support and work with its customer base? How do you intend to build and maintain trust with the customer?
• Key Resources: What type of personnel and tools will be needed? What size of the budget will they need access to?
• Channels: How do you plan to create awareness of your products? How do you intend to transport your product to the customer?
• Cost Structure: What is the estimated cost of production? How much will distribution cost?
• Revenue Streams: For what value are customers willing to pay? How do they prefer to pay for the product? Are there any external revenues attached apart from the main source? How do the revenue streams contribute to the overall revenue?

Lean Canvas

The lean canvas is a problem-oriented alternative to the standard business model canvas. It was proposed by Ash Maurya, creator of Lean Stack as a development of the business model generation. It uses a more problem-focused approach and it majorly targets entrepreneurs and startup businesses.

Lean Canvas uses the same 9 blocks concept as the business model canvas, however, they have been modified slightly to suit the needs and purpose of a small startup. The key partners, key activities, customer relationships, and key resources are replaced by new segments which are:

• Problem: Simple and straightforward number of problems you have identified, ideally three.
• Solution: The solutions to each problem.
• Unfair Advantage: Something you possess that can't be easily bought or replicated.
• Key Metrics: Important numbers that will tell how your business is doing.

Startup Pitch Deck

While the business model canvas compresses into a factual sheet, startup pitch decks expand flamboyantly.

Pitch decks, through slides, convey your business plan, often through graphs and images used to emphasize estimations and observations in your presentation. Entrepreneurs often use pitch decks to fully convince their target audience of their plans before discussing funding arrangements.

Considering the likelihood of it being used in a small time frame, a good startup pitch deck should ideally contain 20 slides or less to have enough time to answer questions from the audience.

Unlike the standard and lean business model canvases, a pitch deck doesn't have a set template on how to present your business plan but there are still important components to it. These components often mirror those of the business model canvas except that they are in slide form and contain more details.

Using Airbnb (one of the most successful start-ups in recent history) for reference, the important components of a good slide are listed below.

• Cover/Introduction Slide: Here, you should include your company's name and mission statement. Your mission statement should be a very catchy tagline. Also, include personal information and contact details to provide an easy link for potential investors.
• Problem Slide: This slide requires you to create a connection with the audience or the investor that you are pitching. For example in their pitch, Airbnb summarized the most important problems it would solve in three brief points – pricing of hotels, disconnection from city culture, and connection problems for local bookings.
• Solution Slide: This slide includes your core value proposition. List simple and direct solutions to the problems you have mentioned
• Customer Analysis: Here you will provide information on the customers you will be offering your service to. The identity of your customers plays an important part in fundraising as well as the long-run viability of the business.
• Market Validation: Use competitive analysis to show numbers that prove the presence of a market for your product, industry behavior in the present and the long run, as well as the percentage of the market you aim to attract. It shows that you understand your competitors and customers and convinces investors of the opportunities presented in the market.
• Business Model: Your business model is the hook of your presentation. It may vary in complexity but it should generally include a pricing system informed by your market analysis. The goal of the slide is to confirm your business model is easy to implement.
• Marketing Strategy: This slide should summarize a few customer acquisition methods that you plan to use to grow the business.
• Competitive Advantage: What this slide will do is provide information on what will set you apart and make you a more attractive option to customers. It could be the possession of technology that is not widely known in the market.
• Team Slide: Here you will give a brief description of your team. Include your key management personnel here and their specific roles in the company. Include their educational background, job history, and skillsets. Also, talk about their accomplishments in their careers so far to build investors' confidence in members of your team.
• Traction Slide: This validates the company’s business model by showing growth through early sales and support. The slide aims to reduce any lingering fears in potential investors by showing realistic periodic milestones and profit margins. It can include current sales, growth, valuable customers, pre-orders, or data from surveys outlining current consumer interest.
• Funding Slide: This slide is popularly referred to as ‘the ask'. Here you will include important details like how much is needed to get your business off the ground and how the funding will be spent to help the company reach its goals.
• Appendix Slides: Your pitch deck appendix should always be included alongside a standard pitch presentation. It consists of additional slides you could not show in the pitch deck but you need to complement your presentation.

It is important to support your calculations with pictorial renditions. Infographics, such as pie charts or bar graphs, will be more effective in presenting the information than just listing numbers. For example, a six-month graph that shows rising profit margins will easily look more impressive than merely writing it.

Lastly, since a pitch deck is primarily used to secure meetings and you may be sharing your pitch with several investors, it is advisable to keep a separate public version that doesn't include financials. Only disclose the one with projections once you have secured a link with an investor.

Advantages of the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, and Startup Pitch Deck over the Traditional Business Plan

• Time-Saving: Writing a detailed traditional business plan could take weeks or months. On the other hand, all three alternatives can be done in a few days or even one night of brainstorming if you have a comprehensive understanding of your business.
• Easier to Understand: Since the information presented is almost entirely factual, it puts focus on what is most important in running the business. They cut away the excess pages of fillers in a traditional business plan and allow investors to see what is driving the business and what is getting in the way.
• Easy to Update: Businesses typically present their business plans to many potential investors before they secure funding. What this means is that you may regularly have to amend your presentation to update statistics or adjust to audience-specific needs. For a traditional business plan, this could mean rewriting a whole section of your plan. For the three alternatives, updating is much easier because they are not voluminous.
• Guide for a More In-depth Business Plan: All three alternatives have the added benefit of being able to double as a sketch of your business plan if the need to create one arises in the future.

Business Plan FAQ

Business plans are important for any entrepreneur who is looking for a framework to run their company over some time or seeking external support. Although they are essential for new businesses, every company should ideally have a business plan to track their growth from time to time.  They can be used by startups seeking investments or loans to convey their business ideas or an employee to convince his boss of the feasibility of starting a new project. They can also be used by companies seeking to recruit high-profile employee targets into key positions or trying to secure partnerships with other firms.

Business plans often vary depending on your target audience, the scope, and the goals for the plan. Startup plans are the most common among the different types of business plans.  A start-up plan is used by a new business to present all the necessary information to help get the business up and running. They are usually used by entrepreneurs who are seeking funding from investors or bank loans. The established company alternative to a start-up plan is a feasibility plan. A feasibility plan is often used by an established company looking for new business opportunities. They are used to show the upsides of creating a new product for a consumer base. Because the audience is usually company people, it requires less company analysis. The third type of business plan is the lean business plan. A lean business plan is a brief, straight-to-the-point breakdown of your ideas and analysis for your business. It does not contain details of your proposal and can be written on one page. Finally, you have the what-if plan. As it implies, a what-if plan is a preparation for the worst-case scenario. You must always be prepared for the possibility of your original plan being rejected. A good what-if plan will serve as a good plan B to the original.

A good business plan has 10 key components. They include an executive plan, product analysis, desired customer base, company analysis, industry analysis, marketing strategy, sales strategy, financial projection, funding, and appendix. Executive Plan Your business should begin with your executive plan. An executive plan will provide early insight into what you are planning to achieve with your business. It should include your mission statement and highlight some of the important points which you will explain later. Product Analysis The next component of your business plan is your product analysis. A key part of this section is explaining the type of item or service you are going to offer as well as the market problems your product will solve. Desired Consumer Base Your product analysis should be supplemented with a detailed breakdown of your desired consumer base. Investors are always interested in knowing the economic power of your market as well as potential MVP customers. Company Analysis The next component of your business plan is your company analysis. Here, you explain how you want to run your business. It will include your operational strategy, an insight into the workforce needed to keep the company running, and important executive positions. It will also provide a calculation of expected operational costs.  Industry Analysis A good business plan should also contain well laid out industry analysis. It is important to convince potential investors you know the companies you will be competing with, as well as your plans to gain an edge on the competition. Marketing Strategy Your business plan should also include your marketing strategy. This is how you intend to spread awareness of your product. It should include a detailed explanation of the company brand as well as your advertising methods. Sales Strategy Your sales strategy comes after the market strategy. Here you give an overview of your company's pricing strategy and how you aim to maximize profits. You can also explain how your prices will adapt to market behaviors. Financial Projection The financial projection is the next component of your business plan. It explains your company's expected running cost and revenue earned during the tenure of the business plan. Financial projection gives a clear idea of how your company will develop in the future. Funding The next component of your business plan is funding. You have to detail how much external investment you need to get your business idea off the ground here. Appendix The last component of your plan is the appendix. This is where you put licenses, graphs, or key information that does not fit in any of the other components.

The business model canvas is a business management tool used to quickly define your business idea and model. It is often used when investors need you to pitch your business idea during a brief window.

A pitch deck is similar to a business model canvas except that it makes use of slides in its presentation. A pitch is not primarily used to secure funding, rather its main purpose is to entice potential investors by selling a very optimistic outlook on the business.

Business plan competitions help you evaluate the strength of your business plan. By participating in business plan competitions, you are improving your experience. The experience provides you with a degree of validation while practicing important skills. The main motivation for entering into the competitions is often to secure funding by finishing in podium positions. There is also the chance that you may catch the eye of a casual observer outside of the competition. These competitions also provide good networking opportunities. You could meet mentors who will take a keen interest in guiding you in your business journey. You also have the opportunity to meet other entrepreneurs whose ideas can complement yours.

Exlore Further

• 12 Key Elements of a Business Plan (Top Components Explained)
• 13 Sources of Business Finance For Companies & Sole Traders
• 5 Common Types of Business Structures (+ Pros & Cons)
• How to Buy a Business in 8 Steps (+ Due Diligence Checklist)

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Martin luenendonk.

Martin loves entrepreneurship and has helped dozens of entrepreneurs by validating the business idea, finding scalable customer acquisition channels, and building a data-driven organization. During his time working in investment banking, tech startups, and industry-leading companies he gained extensive knowledge in using different software tools to optimize business processes.

This insights and his love for researching SaaS products enables him to provide in-depth, fact-based software reviews to enable software buyers make better decisions.

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How to Set Small Business Goals

8 min. read

Updated January 4, 2024

How happy are you with your business’s performance? Are you patting yourself on the back, having nailed every goal? 

If the answer is no, you’re like many business owners who struggle to hit business targets. You know exactly what you want—a bigger business, larger per-customer sales, more leads, higher profits—but you struggle to meet your goals.

In this article, we’ll show you how to set clear and actionable business goals to help you reach your full potential as an entrepreneur. 

How to set achievable business goals

There is always so much to do when you’re a business owner. You need to find new clients, keep your existing clients happy, manage your finances, streamline your processes, and motivate your employees—all at the same time. Here’s how you sort through all that clutter and set goals to move the needle.

1. Clarify the goals you’ll prioritize

To ensure you don’t waste time and money—you must know your top priorities when setting company goals for the year. These should be clear opportunities or issues that show the most significant potential to grow your business.

So, how do you identify them?

A SWOT analysis provides a simple but effective framework. You’ll look at your business and competitors to identify potential advantages and shortcomings that can set you apart. 

If you’re an up-and-running business, you’ll find additional value by reviewing your financial statements and forecasts . 

• Where did you over or underperform?
• Is your cash on hand what you expected?
• Are you overspending in any areas?

Answering questions like these will help you understand your current financial position. From there, you can dig deeper into specific departments, initiatives, line items, etc., and uncover what opportunities are worth tackling in the next year.  

Example: You run a local salon, and during your review, there was an immediate red flag—revenue is down. Exploring a bit further, you found that the average order value of each customer had decreased and that the number of new customers was far lower than the previous year. 

Considering those issues, you develop the following business goals:

• Introduce new product offerings and add-ons to increase revenue from existing clients.
• Increase client base by targeting local office workers.

Please note: These aren’t goals yet! They are your key areas to focus on. After you’ve discussed them with your team—which we’ll cover next—you’ll turn them into SMART goals (specific, measurable goals) to ensure that you’ll take action on them.

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2. Review these goals with your team

Your team is out there every day, working on your products or talking to clients. They are the people who can tell you what’s working and what’s not, what’s holding your business back, and where you should be focusing your efforts and setting your business goals for the year ahead.

So, once you’ve selected what you think should be the top goals for your business, sit down with your employees, and get their feedback. They may agree or have valuable insights that you haven’t considered.

By involving your employees in the goal-setting process, you make them feel valued and engaged while at the same time ensuring your goals are realistic and achievable.

Dig deeper: How to set team goals that actually work

3. Make your goals SMART

You have two to three business goals. Now, it’s time to make them actionable. While you can use several different goal-setting frameworks to do this, we recommend SMART goals:

• Specific: What exactly are you going to do?
• Measurable: How will you know if you are succeeding?
• Achievable: How will you implement the goal?
• Relevant: Does the goal connect to your overall objectives?
• Timely: When will you achieve the goal by?

Let’s take one of our business goals and turn it into a SMART goal.

Original idea: Increase client base by targeting local office workers.

• Specific: Gain 20 new customers from the surrounding office buildings.
• Measurable: Measure progress by tracking the number of new customers won and profits made while maintaining our existing customer base.
• Achievable: We will create a customized sales promotion, which we will publicize via leaflets and flyers in the office building.
• Relevant: This will help us increase the number of new customers, thus growing the salon business and profits.
• Timely: We will achieve this by the end of Q2 2024.

Dig deeper: How to set SMART business goals

4. Set key performance indicators (KPIs)

The SMART goal format should give you an idea of your timeline and what it will take to achieve your goal. However, you need to establish how you’ll measure your progress. One of the most common ways to do this is by adopting Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) .

These numerical values, like the number of new clients from a specific campaign or monthly sales targets, indicate whether the goal is within reach. While creating SMART goals, you’ll define relevant KPIs, ensuring they align with company and individual objectives. 

For example, a salon might have overall KPIs related to customer acquisition from a campaign, while a stylist might focus on customer satisfaction and spending KPIs.

Dig deeper: 12 tips for choosing effective KPIs

5. Set a structure to review and revise

If you want to make something happen, you need to create a schedule and build good habits around it.

If you want to get healthier, you need to add exercise to your schedule, plan time to cook healthy meals, and so on. You should treat your business goals the same way. You need to schedule the actions you’ll take to reach your KPIs.

It’s a great idea to put regular (possibly monthly) business plan review meetings on your company calendar now This will help you set, revisit and revise specific short-and-long-term business goals and objectives.

To make these meetings less overwhelming, try and automate as much as possible. Use a calendar for both you and your staff, and add reminders and online task management software to organize tasks, set deadlines, and prompt you for repeat actions. 

Dig deeper: How to develop a strategic action plan

• The importance of setting business goals

Why are goals important? Here are a few reasons:

Goals provide clarity

There are plenty of things that you want to accomplish as a business owner. But what tasks are most important? How do you know if you’re making progress? 

Setting well-structured goals will help you prioritize work, establish a direction, and provide a framework to measure success. No more random assignments or distractions—just a clear idea of what you want to achieve and how you’ll get there.

Goals motivate and align your team

Aimlessly taking on work does not lead to success. Without a set goal, there’s no shining beacon ahead that you’re trying to reach. And no milestones on the way there to celebrate and keep you going.

Having company and team goals provides greater motivation. It also makes it far easier to set individual goals that connect each employee’s work to that larger objective. 

Goals provide a structure to measure success 

Setting goals requires you to consider what metrics you’ll use to measure success. Doing this upfront makes tracking your progress much more manageable and lets you know if you’re still on track.

Skipping the goal-setting process means your ideas of success will remain vague and aimless. You’ll be more likely to run down unproductive rabbit holes and may never actually realize your aspirations.

Goals help your business grow

Much like writing a business plan increases your chances of successfully launching a business —setting goals increases your chances of achieving regular business growth. You’ll have well-structured ideas of where you want to go, how to get there, and if you’re progressing. 

And by continuing to set, review, and revise your goals—you’ll speed up the process and avoid costly mistakes.  

• Types of business goals

The goal-setting process in this article focused primarily on long-term business performance goals—the kind you’ll set once a year. These broader goals may focus on any of the following:

Financial goals

Whether it’s achieving a specific net profit margin or finding ways to cut back on certain expenses—these goals focus on growing or maintaining financial health.

Customer-related goals

These goals are all about better serving your target customer. This may include improving customer service, increasing repeat purchases, or expanding your clientele.

Operational goals

Sometimes, you’ll find savings by optimizing current workflows. This could mean reducing product production times, eliminating error rates, or streamlining your supply chain.

Marketing and sales goals

Marketing and sales goals can be broad, like boosting brand awareness, or very specific, like improving specific channel sales or launching a new marketing campaign.

Employee and team goals

These are goals focused on reducing employee turnover, boosting team spirit, or furthering education to keep everyone at the top of their game.

Sustainability and social responsibility goals

These are goals that may not directly impact your bottom line. Instead, they focus on accomplishing an altruistic mission such as shrinking your carbon footprint or giving back to the community.

Innovation and development goals

Far more opportunistic and research-based goals that could include launching a new product, embracing the latest tech, or venturing into new markets.

Compliance and risk management goals

Goals to ensure your operations meet all legal requirements and have strategies in place to dodge financial and operational pitfalls.

• Choosing the right goals is a process

Selecting goals and creating a plan to reach them takes time. Even by following the steps in this article, there’s no guarantee that you’ll select the best opportunity and be able to efficiently pursue it. 

That’s why the review process is so crucial. Rather than pursuing a goal that won’t make an impact, you can quickly pivot if you realize something isn’t working. 

Goal setting is just the start, and plenty of other ways to better manage and grow your business. 

• Create a business strategy
• Manage during a crisis
• Selling your business

Kody Wirth is a content writer and SEO specialist for Palo Alto Software—the creator's of Bplans and LivePlan. He has 3+ years experience covering small business topics and runs a part-time content writing service in his spare time.

Table of Contents

• How to set business goals

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10 SMART Goals Examples for Small Businesses (+ Template)

Published January 23, 2023

Published Jan 23, 2023

WRITTEN BY: Rebecca Michael

Utilizing the SMART goals methodology will help your company achieve its strategic objectives. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals. This strategy will focus your team members on the most important objectives for your business, which will help you in achieving them efficiently.

We outlined some SMART goals examples you can use to help you create your own and stay focused on what you’re trying to achieve. Practical application is the best way to truly understand how SMART goals are utilized in small business today. These examples show you how you might apply the process for your own business.

1. Create a Marketing Plan for a New Business Within 1 Month

When starting a new business, there are plans within plans to make. Creating the marketing plan for the new company is an important SMART goal.

• Specific: We need to create a marketing plan that has a specific outline we can follow to ensure we covered the most important information.
• Measurable: Each week of the month, we will finalize 25% of the plan’s details to ensure completion within one month.
• Achievable: One month should be plenty of time to do all the market research and company analysis required to create a good marketing plan.
• Relevant: Without a solid plan for marketing, the company is missing a crucial component to success.
• Time-bound: The time limit is one month.

Check out our guides to writing a marketing plan and creating an effective blog content strategy for additional information on SMART marketing goals.

2. Pay Off $10,000 in Business Debt Within 30 Months

Setting financial goals is an important step toward gaining control of your business finances. One SMART goal example may be to pay down the company’s debt, thus making more money available for employee pay increases and other projects.

• Specific: Pay off $10,000.
• Measurable: We can measure progress by monitoring our cash accounts as we go, and track how we are doing month to month.
• Achievable: We will achieve this by spending less on growth-goal related items and will work to encourage vendors to pay on time and in full.
• Relevant: We will highlight development and project opportunities throughout the year that can benefit from increased investment once the debt is paid down.
• Time-bound: Within 30 months, we will achieve our objective.

Did You Know?

SMART goals actually do work. According to a study by Dominican University , 76% of people that recorded their goals, created actionable steps to do and reported on them weekly to another person achieved their goals. This is 33% better than those who didn’t write down their goals.

3. Set Up a Remote Sales Networking System Within 7 Days

This scenario became painfully real to many companies in the early months of 2020. Setting SMART goals for transitioning to remote operations at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic was an important part of maintaining an effective sales culture during a very stressful time. This SMART goal example is rooted in a real-world experience that many people faced.

• Specific: Every member of our remote sales team should be connected and operational.
• Measurable: The task is complete when the networking system is operating and our remote workers are able to work.
• Achievable: Although this goal might be ambitious, we can move this to the top of our priority list and temporarily pull in resources from longer-term projects to complete this necessary goal.
• Relevant: Remote work is a good setup even when there’s not a pandemic making it necessary. In 2020, remote networking allowed companies to continue operating. In a post-COVID world, remote networking helps employees be productive and companies achieve results.
• Time-bound: The time limitation for this goal is seven days.

4. Increase New Customer Reviews by 30% Year Over Year

Most companies’ growth these days has to do with the brand awareness your business has in the market. One of your most important goals in brand cultivation is your brand awareness growth throughout the year.

One SMART goal example for this: The number of new customer reviews we get must increase 30% on a year-over-year (YoY) basis.

• Specific: Increase customer reviews by 30%.
• Measurable: We measure our progress through monthly reporting, and it shows if we reach our target or not.
• Achievable: We increased our customer reviews last year by 20%. We believe the 30% target is achievable.
• Relevant: Based on our research to date, an increase in the number of customer reviews corresponds with increased sales in our top growth channels.
• Time-bound: This is a YoY comparison.

5. Ensure All Our Overseas Factory Workers Are Paid a Living Wage Within 3 Months

As consumers become more conscious of where their goods come from, the demand for ethically sourced products increases. If you source your products ethically, you can gain customer loyalty and charge a premium while doing it.

The word “ethical” is vague and can mean many things. Different companies have different standards of ethics that they are able and willing to implement. For example, you might insist that the overseas workers who make your product be paid 25% higher than the average wage for that industry, or that your production lines provide well-paying jobs and valuable job training to women escaping domestic violence. You might also make your manufacturing carbon-neutral by planting trees to offset the carbon emissions produced in creating your products. In this SMART goals example, the specific goal is to vet the working conditions of our overseas factories and ensure that all workers are paid a living wage.

• Specific: We are focused on all our overseas factory workers earning a living wage.
• Measurable: We will request cost of living data from our overseas partners and then evaluate their compliance with our living wage goal or select new partners on a region-by-region basis.
• Achievable: Since we already work with overseas factories, vetting suppliers and choosing new partners based on our updated requirements is an achievable goal.
• Relevant: Many customers base their spending habits on their ethical values. Sourcing our products ethically will help us win loyal customers.
• Time-bound: The goal is to accomplish this within three months.

6. Grow Worldwide Market Share of Our Top-selling Software at Least 10% by the End of the Year

Growing market share is the goal of most organizations, large or small.

• Specific: We know the geographic area, the product line, and the level of growth (10%) we’re looking for.
• Measurable: We will be able to measure our goal by tracking new customers, growth in new markets, and overall growth in current markets.
• Achievable: We grew, overall, by 8% last year and we feel this increased goal is doable.
• Relevant: Growth in market share often results in higher revenue and more customers, among other benefits.
• Time-bound: We will reach our goal by the end of the year.

It’s very important to create and use SMART objectives because they provide a frame of reference for all involved. That way, at the end of the period being measured your team can reassess whether or not it was truly “achievable.”

7. Transition IT Support From Contract to In-house in 6 Months

All companies that use computers have to have IT support. Many companies hire IT support companies to take care of their computer needs. As a company grows, it might become more financially beneficial to create an IT department and handle those needs in-house rather than contracting out to a service, as in this SMART goal example.

• Specific: This goal requires adding a new department to the organization structure and staffing it.
• Measurable: This goal is measurable by the existence or non-existence of an IT department. The number of people who will need to be hired is another measurement that will be determined in a sub-goal of this overarching goal because SMART goals can and usually do have additional goals required to make the plan happen.
• Achievable: This is a reasonable timeline for this goal, and we have the resources and expertise to create this department and hire qualified people.
• Relevant: An in-house IT department will save us time and money and make our employees more productive by decreasing technology-related downtime.
• Time-bound: The timeline for this goal is six months.

8. Plan 5 Customer Education Webinars by the Fourth Quarter

A good idea here may be to plan and execute five customer education webinars by the fourth quarter with 15-plus attendees per event and at least 80% highly satisfied or very satisfied responses regarding content.

• Specific: The goal is to plan five webinars.
• Measurable: We will assess the number of attendees in each webinar and distribute and analyze attendee survey results.
• Achievable: The personnel and system resources are available and the need is active.
• Relevant: These webinars will help generate additional customers and/or our brand will establish expertise in the market.
• Time-bound: We will have this completed by the fourth quarter of the current year.

9. Increase Sales Cold Calls by 10% This Year

In many businesses, cold calls are key to sales. Whether you’re doing business-to-business or direct-to-customer sales, if your business model requires you to reach out, then increasing your cold calls can be the key to setting higher sales goals , as demonstrated in this SMART goals example.

• Specific: We want to make 10% more cold calls this year than last year.
• Measurable: It is easy to compare the number of calls made last year to the number of calls made this year.
• Achievable: We can add incentives to push our team to make more calls. If we need to hire more people or move some part-time employees to full-time, we can do that.
• Relevant: If the conversion rate for our calls remains constant, this will increase our overall sales.
• Time-bound: We have until the end of this year to complete this goal.

10. Increase Website Traffic 25% by December 2023

If your website is successful, you already are aware of your overall conversion rates, both in terms of click-throughs from search engines and social media and in terms of sales generated per click-through. Increasing your website traffic will increase your sales, as long as your sales conversion rate remains relatively constant, in this SMART business goals example.

• Specific: To increase the number of visitors that come to our site by 25%.
• Measurable: Increase our annual visitors from 100,000 to 125,000.
• Achievable: Our inbound marketing team has solid social media and content creation strategies in place. We can hire additional experts as needed to increase our visibility and our website traffic.
• Relevant:  The more traffic we have, the more money we make and the larger our reach.
• Time-bound: We want to complete this goal by December 2023.

According to the Center for Management & Organization Effectiveness, studies show that goal-setting teams enjoy 20%-25% improved performance . In addition, employees with goals are happier at work, less stressed, and more productive.

How SMART Goals Work

Here’s how each letter in a SMART goal acronym helps you focus your efforts to achieve desired results:

S = Specific

The “S” in a SMART goal stands for “Specificity.”

We all know that it helps us to remember to write down what we want to do, using action words. For example, instead of saying, “I want more clients,” you might say, “I’m going to sign up four new clients within this next quarter.” Being specific and using action verbs focuses you on what exactly you, or your team, needs to do. The key questions that you are asking you or your team are the following:

• What’s the objective?
• What needs to be accomplished?
• Who (what team) is responsible for completing or driving this task or project?
• What steps will you or your team take to achieve it?

In the following SMART goals examples, notice how the goals provide information about what exactly you need to do, even though you still need to outline further tasks and sub-goals to flesh out your plan.

M = Measurable

The “M” in a SMART goal helps you clarify and quantify your efforts so you can “Measure” them.

In the SMART goals example of signing up new clients, we can add the additional note that your goal is to increase, by four, the number of new clients. Although establishing a target may seem obvious, many fail to add this important component to their goal framework. In short, your measurements determine whether or not you achieve your goal.

A = Achievable

The “A” in SMART goals represents the goal’s “Achievability” factor.

This step reminds us to check to make sure the goal is within reach; is it practical? Experienced leaders will tell you that people are motivated by goals that stretch them, as long as they’re not unrealistic. Let’s assume, for example, four new clients is an achievable goal, but the timeline suggested is not. Ensure that you are both ambitious as well as practical.

R = Relevant

The “R” in SMART goals addresses the “Relevance” of the goal.

If your overall business plan calls for increasing profitability, instead of sales, perhaps new customers aren’t your primary goal. Instead of focusing on new customers you may need to focus on retention of existing customers and their profitability per sale transaction, price increases, or reducing production costs. Make sure the goal you set makes sense for you. In the following SMART goals examples, notice how Relevant often means “how will this benefit me?”

T = Time-bound

The “T” in SMART goals references the “Time” aspect of your goal.

Setting a time frame around your goals is essential; it not only identifies the end or conclusion of your goal’s duration, but motivates the identified endeavor. Working to achieve four new customers is fine, but if you don’t set a time frame it could diminish the objective overall as it could take much longer to achieve four customers than desired.

(ADD: Infographic template for SMART goals. Fill in the blank format, with the following entry fields: “S: What SPECIFICALLY do I want to do?” “M: How is this MEASURED?” “A: Is this ACHIEVABLE?” “R: How is this RELEVANT to my business?” “T: How much TIME do I have?”)

Do's and Don'ts in Setting SMART Goals

Now that you have seen some SMART goals examples, we want to share with you the “do’s and don’ts” of setting SMART goals. This shortlist has examples of what others have done in the past that have impeded their ability to set successful SMART goals and execute on them thoroughly.

As you can see, following a few simple rules and ensuring that your team follows suit will aid you in setting SMART goals that make sense to everyone on the team.

Additional Tips for Setting SMART Goals

There are strategies for getting your team on board with your SMART goals, which will make you more likely to be successful at implementing your goals. Keep these tips in mind while you’re considering your SMART business goals examples.

• Get your team involved . People are more passionate about goals they help create. Have your team brainstorm ideas, and involve them in the process of narrowing and selecting the goals they want to work on.
• Make a plan of action . There should be specific goals for each step of the way. This is like making mini-SMART goals to help you reach your overall SMART goal.
• Write it down . Every team member needs a copy of the plan, with the big goal and the smaller goals. This helps everyone stay on track.
• Evaluate, evaluate, evaluate . After every project, have everyone evaluate their own performance and the team’s performance as a whole. What was the goal? Did you achieve it? What went well? What went wrong? What could you have done better? What did you learn? What specific actions can you take to improve your performance in the future?
• Reassess the goals as needed . As you work on a project, you might find that you need to change your plan, or even adjust your broader SMART goal. Take time to make sure the plan you have is still in alignment with your overall goals and vision.
• Use a performance management system . It can be hard to keep up with all the elements of goal setting and follow-up, especially in a large organization. A performance management system can help you keep track of everything.

Bottom Line

Not having a goal is like hiking without a map or building a boat without a plan. Making your goals SMART ensures that you not only know what you want to achieve, but how you will get there (as well as a way to measure your progress along the way). We encourage you to read more about using SMART goals as part of your performance management process as well.

About the Author

Find Rebecca On LinkedIn

Rebecca Michael

Rebecca Michael has more than 15 years of experience in publishing and digital media. She previously served as a Head of Content and Editor-in-Chief for a large digital marketing company specializing in content strategies for small businesses. Rebecca has over 20 years of writing experience in online TV, blogs, and news sites. She is the Director of Content for Fit Small Business and The Close , where she’s developed topic teams of excellence that deliver high-quality content to our readers.

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From Vision to Victory: Achieving Big Wins with Long-Term Business Goals

Table of Contents

Nare Khachatryan

Business Analyst at PrometAI

When we think about long-term business goals, we often picture big dreams or a clear vision statement . These are the guiding lights for any business, helping to shape its future and giving everyone on the team a clear direction. But setting these goals and achieving them can feel a bit overwhelming at times.

The good news? Reaching those long-term business goals doesn’t have to be complicated. With the right approach, you can turn your vision into real results.

What are Business Goals?

Business goals are the specific targets a company sets to grow, improve, or achieve something valuable. These goals and objectives of the business give direction to the team and help everyone focus on what really matters.

Setting goals isn’t just about dreaming big—it’s about smart, strategic decision-making that guides each step forward. Whether a business wants to increase sales, expand into new markets, or improve customer service, having clear goals is key.

With solid goals in place, every choice, big or small, starts to feel more focused and meaningful.

Business Goals Examples

Here are some smart goals examples for business that show clear, simple targets you can aim for:

Increase monthly sales: Set a goal to gradually improve sales and grow monthly revenue.

Grow the customer base: Focus on attracting new customers by enhancing outreach and customer experience.

Lower production costs: Work on finding ways to reduce costs without compromising on quality.

Launch a new product: Set a timeline for developing and introducing a new product to expand the business.

Boost customer satisfaction: Gather customer feedback and make changes to improve overall satisfaction.

Drive more website traffic: Use marketing strategies to attract more visitors to the company website.

Each of these smart goals examples for business reflects a clear, measurable step to help drive growth.

What are Long-Term Goals?

Long-term goals are big-picture targets that a business wants to achieve over several years. These goals help shape a company’s future and give it a clear direction to grow.

Long-term goals also serve as a roadmap for making important decisions. When everyone understands these goals, each choice and action feels more connected to the business’s overall path forward. Setting long-term goals keeps a company moving toward its vision, step by step.

Long-Term Business Goals vs Short-Term Business Goals

Long-term business goals and short term goals for a business serve different purposes, but both are important. Long-term goals focus on where a company wants to be in the future. These goals are often related to growth, expansion, or building a strong brand. They take time, so businesses need to stay patient and work toward them step by step.

On the other hand, short term goals for a business aim for quick wins or immediate improvements. These goals are easier to reach and can include things like boosting monthly sales or improving customer service. Short-term goals keep the business moving forward in the present, while long-term goals keep the focus on the big picture.

Balancing both types of goals helps a business grow steadily while staying focused on future success.

Benefits of Long-Term Business Goals

Here are some benefits of setting long-term business goals that help a company stay on track:

Gives clear direction: Long-term business goals provide a roadmap for where the business is heading.

Supports better planning: Knowing the long-term goals helps in planning resources and actions more effectively.

Keeps teams motivated: Working toward big goals can inspire and motivate everyone involved.

Builds a stronger brand: Long-term goals focused on growth can help establish a trusted and recognizable brand.

Improves decision-making: Decisions become easier when they are aligned with the business's long-term vision.

Encourages steady growth: Long-term business goals encourage the company to grow in a steady, consistent way.

These benefits make long-term goals a valuable part of any business strategy.

How to Make a Successful Business Plan to Reach Your Long-Term Business Goals?

Creating a business plan with clear goals is key to achieving long-term success. Start by defining your vision—this is the foundation of everything you want your business to accomplish. Think about what success looks like in the future and let that vision guide the rest of your plan.

When setting business plan goals, it’s helpful to break down big dreams into more manageable and realistic targets. This approach makes each step toward your goal feel achievable. Incorporating business forecasting into your plan can also help you predict trends and set realistic goals based on data. Outlining the main actions you’ll need to take also adds clarity and focus. For example, you can decide on specific projects, initiatives, or changes that will help you reach each goal.

How PrometAI Helps You Create Business Plans with Long-Term Goals

PrometAI makes it easy to create a business plan that focuses on long-term goals and growth. With our AI-powered platform, you can generate detailed plans that include valuable insights, financial projections , and practical growth strategies . These plans don’t just set goals—they provide the numbers and data that support each decision, helping you understand the best path forward.

PrometAI’s business plans also cover essential statistics and analysis, making it easier to see future opportunities and challenges. By combining data with clear, long-term business goals, our platform gives you a roadmap that’s both realistic and inspiring.

Long-term business goals are essential for guiding a company toward a future of growth and success. With PrometAI, reaching those long-term goals becomes even easier. Our platform provides AI-generated business plans filled with insights, financial analysis, and data to support smart decisions. With the right tools and clear goals, turning a vision into real results is within reach.

Ready to start planning for success? Begin setting your long-term business goals today, and watch your vision become a reality!

What is the main goal of business?

The main goal of any business is to create value by providing products or services that satisfy customer needs. This, in turn, generates revenue and drives growth, helping the business remain profitable and sustainable over time.

What are good business goals for an eCommerce apparel business?

Good goals for an eCommerce apparel business could include increasing online traffic, improving customer satisfaction, reducing product return rates, expanding product variety, and boosting social media engagement. Setting specific sales targets, improving website speed, and increasing customer retention rates are also effective goals. Incorporating business forecasting can also help the business predict demand trends, manage inventory efficiently, and set realistic sales targets.

What is the primary goal of business continuity planning?

The primary goal of business continuity planning is to ensure that a business can continue operating during and after a disruption. This includes preparing for unexpected events like natural disasters, system failures, or security threats to protect key assets, maintain customer trust, and minimize financial losses.

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What Are Business Goals? Definitions, Examples, & How To Effectively Set Them

Megan Jeromchek

Running a business without clear goals is like heading out on a trip without a destination. At the end of the day, you’d have depleted your resources, lost motivation, and still not gotten to your destination.

It’s little wonder that setting business goals is one of the most critical elements of running — no matter the company’s size or location.

But what are business goals? Why are these goals so important? What are the types and examples of goals you can set? And how can you set business goals that work?

Read on to find the answers to these questions.

Definition Of Business Goals

A business goal is a broad and overarching target or outcome that a business wants to achieve in the short or long term.

Here are some excellent examples of business goals you can set:

• Maximize profits
• Increase revenue
• Launch new products
• Improve customer service
• Increase management efficiency
• Become a thought leader or industry expert
• Rank higher on the search engine results page
• Increase the company’s social media presence
• Create an employee reward or loyalty program

While often muddled, business goals and objectives don’t mean the same thing. Business objectives  are usually short-term, measurable actions to achieve a company’s overarching business goals. Business objectives are typically set up to achieve a business goal.

If your goal is to get to a destination, then the objectives (to achieve said goal) would include filling up your fuel tank, grabbing a map or loading the GPS, and driving within the speed limit.

So, for instance, if you have the goal of improving your website’s performance on the SERP, some of the objectives to achieve such a goal could include the following:

• Writing and publishing one new blog post or article per week
• Getting ten fresh backlinks from authoritative websites
• Optimizing or refreshing existing blog posts to update information, remove dead links, etc.

Importance Of Business Goals

Setting business goals gives your organization and team members targets to strive towards. Without goals, your business won’t have a clear sense of direction and could, quite frankly, inhibit your company from attaining the successes it otherwise would have.

Some other reasons why you need clearly-defined goals for your business are:

Measure Progress

Goals help you track and measure the areas in your business where you’re succeeding or making progress. You’ll also be able to identify the areas that need a bit more work.

For instance, if your goal over the last six months was to gain at least 30 new leads monthly, then you should have no less than 180 leads by now. If you have less than 180, it means there’s an issue, and you need to find out how to fix it.

Provide Clarity

Remember that setting a business goal is like having a destination in mind before embarking on a road trip. When you have business goals, what you want to achieve (or your final destination) is evident in your mind and the minds of your team members.

Set Targets To Work Towards

Having goals helps you set the targets you want to meet for your organization. You’ll be motivated to do more and set even bigger targets as you set and meet the current targets you’re working towards.

Inform Decision Making

Another reason why business goals are essential is that they help inform decision-making. When you have a goal, your decisions will be geared toward achieving said goal. That way, you don’t even bother taking specific actions since they don’t align with your business goals.

Keep Everyone Accountable

Original research from CoSchedule shows that marketers who set goals are 376% more likely to report success than those who don’t . Because these marketers set goals  (decide to do something), they follow through and take the necessary steps to achieve the said goal —making them more successful than those who don’t set goals.

Now that you know what business goals are and their importance let’s examine 6 broad types of business goals.

Social Media Business Goals

Social media business goals  are goals you set to ensure the time and money invested in social media aren’t wasted. With over 4.7 billion social media users today , it’s a no-brainer to set business goals that maximize how you can use social media platforms to win more business or grow your authority.

Some social media goals to set could be to increase website traffic from social, grow your followers count, and generate new leads from social media.

Financial Business Goals

Financial business goals are either short or long-term goals a company sets consistently to increase revenue generated or improve profit margins.

Examples of financial business goals you can set include reducing expenses, making investments, and increasing the prices of products and services.

Employee Business Goals

Employers or employees usually set employee business goals to align with the organization’s goals and objectives. Most times, these employee business goals are tied to performance.

Some goals you can set for your employees include learning new skills, doing things faster and better, and improving communication with team members and customers.

Customer Business Goals

Without customers, you’ll barely be in business. You must set business goals that reflect your customers’ importance.

Customer business goals increase customer conversions, retention, and loyalty. Examples of such goals could be to increase response time, improve customer satisfaction, and create a customer loyalty program.

Process Business Goals

A process business goal involves taking specific actions or processes to achieve a simple, short-term goal. The goals here are usually low-risk and within the control of the individual setting them.

Examples of process business goals could include completing a checklist before publishing a blog post and reaching out to 10 new people daily on LinkedIn.

Time-based Business Goals

Time-based business goals are goals set to be achieved within a specific period. These goals are either short-term (between days and a few months) or long-term ( between months and years).

An example of a short-term time-based business goal could be to improve customer service within 90 days, while a long-term goal could be to generate more revenue at the end of the year.

How To Set Business Goals

The technique you use in setting your business goals is just as—or even more—important than the goals themselves. If your goals aren’t set correctly, you’ll spend time, effort, and resources on unproductive endeavors.

So how can you set business goals the right way? One of the most effective techniques individuals and organizations worldwide use is the SMART goals formula.

SMART goals  stand for:

• Specific: Your goal must focus on one clearly defined metric.
• Measurable: You must measure your goal against that defined metric.
• Attainable: You need to be able to achieve the goal within a specific timeframe.
• Relevant: Your goal aligns with your company values and objectives.
• Timely: Specify when you can achieve these results.

Let’s consider a SMART business goal example:

“By the end of Q4, the sales department will convert 200 new leads into customers (a 20% boost from last quarter) to boost revenue.”

Specific: “By the end of Q4, the sales department will convert 200 new leads into customers (a 20% boost from last quarter).”

This specific goal makes clear what the sales team needs to achieve.

Measurable: “200 leads into customers.”

Here, the sales team knows the metric they’ll use to determine whether they achieved their goal or not.

Attainable:  “200 new leads into customers (a 20% boost from last quarter).”

This goal, with reasonable efforts, is attainable considering the sales team converted 160 leads into customers in the previous quarter.

Relevant: “To boost revenue.”

Increasing sales conversion is relevant because it directly ties to how much revenue the organization can generate.

Timely: “By the end of Q4.”

December or the end of Q4 is a clearly defined deadline for this goal to be accomplished. Having this date in mind helps the team avoid procrastination and other forms of time-wasting.

12 Common Examples Of Business Goals

Here are examples of 12 goals you can set today in your business.

1. Increase Profits

It’s not simply enough to generate a ton of revenue, especially when you have small profit margins. That’s why organizations often set the goal of increasing their profit margins. They usually do this by lowering expenses or increasing the prices of their products and services.

2. Expand Market Share

Introducing your products and services is a great goal if you want to attract more prospects or customers. This goal indirectly also helps businesses increase their brand awareness.

3. Drive More Sales

Driving more sales is perhaps one of the most common business goals ever. Everybody wants to make more sales, and how you achieve this specific goal often affects the other goals.

4. Secure Funding

This is a common goal for startups or businesses that need a considerably large sum of money from investors to run their operations more smoothly.

5. Develop Stronger Relationships With Stakeholders

A positive and strong relationship with stakeholders is vital to the realization of any project. You can achieve this goal by having the communication channel between you and your stakeholders open at all times and involving the stakeholders in decision-making.

6. Grow Brand Awareness

You cannot light a lamp, place it under a basket, and expect it to illuminate a dark room. Similarly, you cannot hide your products and services and expect your target audience to find you.

That’s why it’s essential to grow brand awareness. The more people are aware of your business, the higher the chances your potential customers will find you.

7. Increase Website Traffic

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)  is one of the most effective and cost-friendly ways businesses today generate leads. By increasing your website traffic, you attract more leads, improve your website’s authority on search engines, and build trust with your audience.

8. Reach New Audiences Or Demographics

Reaching new audiences, demographics, or markets helps you improve your brand’s presence and makes you stand out from the competition.

9. Improve Customer Experience

Your customers are your business’s lifeblood. As such, it’s not surprising that many companies aim to improve their customer’s experience with their brand. With improved customer experience comes higher customer retention rates , lower acquisition costs, and, sometimes, brand evangelists.

10. Enter New Markets Or Territories

Entering new markets allows businesses to reach even more people and increase profitability. Before entering new markets, however, you must first conduct thorough market research .

11. Diversify Lead Sources

It’s not practical for businesses to rely on a single lead source. Why? The business will likely suffer when leads from that source dry up. That’s why it’s vital to set the goal of diversifying your lead sources. So, when one source begins to dry up, you can always turn to the other sources.

12. Improve Employee Retention

Your employees are a crucial part of your business, so paying attention to their needs and satisfaction is essential. One goal you can set for your business is to have incentives or programs that increase your employee’s productivity and makes them want to continue working with your company.

What Are Business Goals Examples?

Some common business goals examples include:

• Increase profits
• Diversify lead sources
• Grow brand awareness
• Expand to new markets
• Increase website traffic
• Improve employee retention
• Drive more sales or generate more revenue
• Execute marketing strategies efficiently

What Are The 5 Goals Of A Business?

Use the SMART goal-setting formula to develop your five business goals. This means any goal you set should have all these five elements.

Your goals must be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.

What Are The Types Of Business Goals?

The different types of categories of business goals are financial business goals, employee business goals, and customer business goals, among others.

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October 10, 2024

Short-term vs. long-term business goals: Comparison + 30 examples

Monika Gudova

Content Writer and Editor

Table of contents

Achieving business success is much like baking your mom’s famous chocolate cake: it requires a mix of ingredients, careful steps, and a good measure of patience. Just as baking leads to delightful results, short-term efforts in business pave the way for long-term success. 

Both short-term and long-term goals are essential to driving a business forward. But what exactly are these goals, and how are they established? In this article, we’ll define and compare short-term and long-term goals and provide you with 30 practical examples of each.

What is a long-term business goal?

Long-term business goals represent the major milestones your company aims to achieve over a significant period, usually ranging from one to ten years. These goals are high-level strategies that guide your organisation toward its vision, providing a roadmap for sustained growth and success.

Effective long-term goals are designed to be flexible, allowing your business to adapt to technological advancements, political shifts, and other environmental changes. While these goals set an ambitious direction, they also influence and are influenced by short-term objectives and daily operations.

Maintaining a sense of direction is crucial, but so is fostering a bottom-up approach that encourages adaptability, creativity, and diverse input in decision-making. This balance ensures that your long-term goals remain relevant and achievable.

What is a short-term business goal?

Short-term business goals are the objectives that your company aims to achieve in the near future, typically within a timeframe ranging from a week to a year. These goals are focused on immediate outcomes, enhancing productivity, and improving time management .

Short-term goals are specific, actionable, and often targeted at individual or team efforts rather than the overall company strategy. Despite their immediate focus, they should be aligned with your long-term objectives to ensure coherent progress toward your overarching vision.

In simple terms, short-term goals are the steps you need to take to reach your long-term aspirations. They serve as a practical tool to ensure your business is on the right track, providing regular checkpoints and adjustments along the way.

Short-term vs. long-term goals

Short-term and long-term goals have different purposes, but they complement each other. Here are three key factors that distinguish them:

Long-term goals are strategic, outlining the future direction and aspirations of the business. Short-term goals are more tactical, focusing on immediate performance and contributing to the overall success of the business in the present.

Short-term goals are measured in weeks or months, while long-term goals span years. Long-term strategies rely on the achievement of multiple short-term goals to progress toward the ultimate vision.

Flexibility

Short-term and long-term goals differ in adaptability. Short-term goals are specific and actionable, addressing immediate needs. Long-term goals are flexible, allowing adjustments as strategies and conditions change.

Examples of short-term and long-term goals in business

Looking for real-world examples to help you craft business goals? By applying the SMART methodology —ensuring goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound—we’ve compiled examples of both long- and short-term business goals that are easily adaptable.

Short-term vs long-term marketing goal examples

Long-term goal:

Increase traffic to the shop section of the website

And the short-term business goals that support this long-term strategy might look like this:

• Develop a social media strategy to boost posting frequency from 3 times a week to daily
• Plan an email campaign aiming for an average click rate of 10% before the new product launch

Short-term vs long-term finance goal examples

Reduce operating costs

And to support the long-term strategy, short-term finance goals may look like this:

• Automate 50% of payroll duties by adopting accounting software by June 30
• Reduce the cost of goods sold (COGS) expenses by 20% this quarter

Short-term vs long-term HR goal examples

Improve employee retention rate

Whereas the short-term HR goals for the long-term strategy may look like this:

• Allocate 10% of the HR budget to personal development training
• Implement a monthly feedback form for greater visibility of company issues

Short-term vs long-term sales goal examples

Increase total sales revenue

In contrast, the short-term goals for sales might be as follows:

• Generate 50% of sales from clients X and Y by the end of June
• Secure $30,000 in new deals by the end of the quarter

Short-term vs long-term customer service goal examples

Increase customer satisfaction

Whereas customer service short-term goals are more likely to be specific:

• Improve the first-contact resolution rate by 10% by the end of the quarter
• Enhance first reply time by 5% overall by the end of the month

Other examples of short-term and long-term goals for business

Content marketing.

• Short-term goal: Increase blog traffic by 25% in the next three months by optimising existing content for SEO and publishing weekly articles on trending topics.
• Long-term goal: Establish the company as a thought leader in its industry within two years by consistently producing high-quality, research-backed content that addresses key challenges and trends.

Email marketing

• Short-term goal: Improve email open rates by 10% over the next quarter through A/B testing of subject lines and personalised content.
• Long-term goal: Double the email subscriber list size within the next 18 months by leveraging lead magnets and optimising signup forms across all digital platforms.
• Short-term goal: Redesign the company homepage to improve visual appeal and user engagement within the next two months.
• Long-term goal: Establish a cohesive brand identity across all products and marketing materials within two years, enhancing brand recognition and consistency.

User experience (UX)

• Short-term goal: Decrease website bounce rate by 20% in the next six months through improved navigation and faster page load times.
• Long-term goal: Achieve top-tier customer satisfaction scores for the digital experience within the next three years by continuously refining and personalising the user journey.
• Short-term goal: Reduce deployment time by 30% within the next quarter through the implementation of automated deployment pipelines.
• Long-term goal: Achieve a 99.9% uptime for all critical systems within the next two years by enhancing monitoring, scalability, and disaster recovery strategies.

Software development

• Short-term goal: Complete the development of a new mobile application feature within the next three months to meet market demand.
• Long-term goal: Transition the entire software portfolio to a microservices architecture within the next five years to improve scalability and maintainability.

Project management

• Short-term goal: Improve project completion rates by 15% over the next six months by adopting agile project management methodologies.
• Long-term goal: Implement a company-wide project management software solution within the next year to enhance collaboration, tracking, and reporting capabilities.

How to turn short-term business goals into OKRs

Whether you're 20 years into trading or just starting out, moving beyond the 'vision' phase of goal setting can be challenging. You might know where you want to go, but figuring out how to get there is the hard part.

OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results . It's a goal-setting framework that bridges the gap between vision and strategy, providing a simple, shared language to define the focus of different teams within your organisation.

Here’s how to turn your short-term business goals into OKRs in three easy steps:

1. Define your objectives

Start by defining your overall objective. If you're setting quarterly goals, create a clear statement that explains what you aim to achieve by the end of the quarter.

For example, a Customer Success team might have the objective of significantly improving user satisfaction.

2. Select your metrics

With your objective in place, the next step is to identify the Customer Success KPIs that align with this objective. These could include:

• NPS (Net Promoter Score)
• Average response time
• CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score)

These metrics will become your Key Results.

3. Use the SMART formula to turn metrics into Key Results

Finally, convert your KPIs into SMART goals , making them Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

Your quarterly OKRs might look like this:

Objective: Significantly improve customer satisfaction

• KR1: Increase NPS from 20 to 50
• KR2: Reduce average response time from 2 hours to 30 minutes
• KR3: Improve CSAT by 15%

While mastering the nuances of OKRs may take some practice, numerous guides can help you transform your vision into a clear set of actionable OKRs .

How to write measurable business goals in seconds

You can save a lot of time by using Tability’s goal-setting AI to create business goals in the form of OKRs. Use natural language to describe your objectives and constraints and Tability will then produce a template that you can refine further or start using for execution.

• Create your Tability account
• Go to Tability’s plan editor
• Open up the goal generator AI
• Describe your goals using natural language

The AI response will include both the proposed OKR and some suggestions to refine goals further. From there you can iterate further or use this template to start tracking progress on your new objectives.

How to track short-term and long-term goals

Setting goals is the first step toward achieving success. Without goals, it's challenging to identify what you want to accomplish and how to get there. Equally important, however, is tracking your progress toward these goals . This practice keeps you focused, motivated, and accountable. By consistently monitoring your short-term and long-term goals, you can ensure steady progress toward achieving your objectives.

How to track weekly progress on your goals

In order to properly track progress on your goals, you will need several things:

• Visual dashboards to see trends
• Weekly reminders to create accountability
• The ability to track both quantitative and qualitative updates
• The ability to share and discuss progress with your team

Tability combines all of these things in a single platform to allow you to use goals as true drivers of strategy (instead of letting them collect dust in a spreadsheet).

• Create a Tability account
• Add your goals, or import them from a spreadsheet
• Start tracking progress

Tability will give you a top-level dashboard for each team, allowing them to see at glance which goals are healthy, and which goals are getting off track.

From there you will be able to click on any goal to get a week-by-week progress detail, allowing you to give feedback and offer advice.

Benefits of tracking short-term business goals

Tracking short-term goals is crucial for maintaining urgency and motivation. These goals are essential for ensuring daily business productivity and providing immediate progress feedback, acting as stepping stones to make long-term objectives feel more attainable.

Benefits of tracking long-term business goals

Long-term goals provide a clear vision and direction for the future. Unlike short-term goals, which focus on immediate results, long-term objectives guide the company toward its overarching aspirations, looking years ahead. They help steer the business, ensuring all efforts contribute to a cohesive strategy.

Balancing both

It's important to keep track of both short-term and long-term goals to maintain a healthy balance. Short-term goals drive immediate actions and results, while long-term goals ensure that these actions align with the broader vision. This balance keeps the business on track, ensuring consistent progress and long-term success.

Optimising business goal-tracking: Choosing between spreadsheets and specialised platforms

The role of spreadsheets for goal-tracking.

Spreadsheets are widely used in businesses because they are flexible and easy to use. They are great for organising data and monitoring business goals. However, while they are versatile and allow for custom calculations, they may not be the best option for tracking goals comprehensively .

Spreadsheets need regular manual updates, which take up time and increase the risk of errors. This manual process can lead to inaccuracies, affecting your ability to make informed decisions. Additionally, spreadsheets lack advanced data visualisation capabilities, making it hard to identify trends, predict performance, and make strategic adjustments. Without dynamic visualisations, it's difficult to pinpoint areas of success or improvement.

Specialised goal-tracking software will save you hours at work

Consider using a dedicated goal-tracking platform like Tability to simplify goal management. These platforms provide a structured method for setting, tracking, and achieving business objectives. Unlike spreadsheets, specialised software offers dynamic OKR dashboards that promptly address specific questions.

One significant advantage of these platforms is their ability to integrate with other tools, such as project management systems, allowing you to seamlessly map relevant strategic projects to your objectives. This integration ensures that all aspects of goal-tracking are interconnected, providing a holistic view of progress and performance.

Finding the right balance

Achieving business success is like perfecting a beloved recipe; it requires precision, timing, and patience. Establishing a balanced blend of short- and long-term goals is essential, as it serves as the roadmap that guides your business forward. While short-term goals drive daily operations, long-term goals ensure that you are steering towards the bigger picture with confidence and clarity.

Combining well-defined goals with the right tracking tools, such as Tability , becomes the secret ingredient to not just reaching but surpassing your business aspirations. By leveraging specialised platforms, you can save time, reduce errors, and gain valuable insights, ensuring that your business stays on track and achieves its objectives.

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Curating OKR, planning, remote and work culture tips from the brightest minds around the world. New articles every week.

Copyright © 2024 Tability Inc.

• Business Planning

How to Write a Business Plan Conclusion (W/ Example)

Written by Vinay Kevadiya

Published Nov. 4 2024 · 11 Min Read

Finishing a business plan can feel tough, especially the conclusion. You’ve put in all this work on market research, numbers, and goals—so, how do you wrap it up in a way that sticks?

Some people rush this part or skip it, but a weak ending can make the whole plan feel incomplete. A good conclusion ties everything together and shows why your plan matters.

In this post, we’ll go over how to write a business plan conclusion and give you an example to follow.

But first let us start with some basics:

What is the business plan conclusion?

A business plan conclusion is a short final section that wraps up the key points.

It highlights the strengths of your business, shows why it’s a solid idea, and reassures readers about its potential for success. It also explains why getting involved with your business could be a smart move.

Most business plan conclusions are about 3-4 paragraphs, written to leave a lasting impact and encourage action.

How to write a conclusion for your business plan

From what details to include to where to put it—this section will walk you through how to write a business plan conclusion that’s strong and memorable.

1. Decide the best spot for your conclusion

You have two options for where to put your conclusion: right after the executive summary or at the very end of your document.

Which spot you choose depends on your audience:

• For investors: Place your conclusion right after the executive summary. This boosts the chances they’ll read it and get excited about your idea upfront.
• For internal use or partners: Put the conclusion at the end. Here, it serves as a final review, highlighting the company’s strengths and reinforcing key points.

2. Highlight the important information

Your business plan’s conclusion should be a quick summary of the most important ideas. Show why your business will succeed and how you plan to make it happen. This is your final chance to convince potential investors to support your vision.

If the plan is for internal use, you can take a more forward-looking approach. Share future goals or expansion plans to give your team a sense of the direction you see for the company.

Here’s what to include if you’re aiming to win over investors:

• Current financial status of your business.
• Funding needs for future growth.
• Your target customers and demand in the market.
• What makes your business stand out.
• Your marketing strategy for driving revenue.
• Industry trends

For internal readers, here are some points to consider:

• Brief overview of your company and its services
• Long-term goals
• Plans for growth or expansion

These aren’t the only details to include, but they’re some of the most important!

3. Restate your article’s objective and goals

Your business plan conclusion doesn’t have to be long—just a sentence or a few lines that bring everything together and leave an impact.

For example, if you’re pitching a new coffee shop, your conclusion could restate the big idea in a clear way: “With our unique blend and cozy atmosphere, we’re ready to serve a community that loves quality coffee and local charm.”

Some readers may skip straight to the conclusion, so make sure it gives them a clear sense of what your business is about and why it’s worth supporting.

For those who’ve read the full plan, keep this section brief—enough to give a final impression without repeating too much. And to spark curiosity, you might mention a key point from earlier. For instance, “As detailed in our market analysis, our shop will meet a growing demand for local coffee experiences.”

This can even encourage readers to go back and review specific details they may have missed.

4. Answer the important question “So What?”

Think about the last book you read or movie you watched. When the climax happened—the mystery solved or the challenge overcome—the story didn’t end there. There were a few final moments that tied everything together and left you with something meaningful.

This is the “So What?” moment. You spent time following that story, and the author or director wants you to know why it mattered. What’s the takeaway?

A business plan conclusion works in a similar way. It doesn’t just repeat what you’ve covered—it explains why it all matters. It should answer why your plan, goals, and ideas are important and why readers should care about the direction you’re taking.

For example: If you’re writing a plan for a new sustainable clothing brand, your conclusion might wrap up with something like this:

This approach gives investors or partners a clear reason to care—it's not just another clothing line; it's contributing to a larger cause.

Answering the “So What?” helps readers see the wide impact of your business and feel more connected to the vision.

5. Keep it professional and data-driven

Business plans' conclusions should be professional and based on facts. Every projection and assumption needs solid backing—whether it’s from past achievements, data points, or your team’s experience. Think of it like a scientist who builds a hypothesis on proven facts.

For example, if you’re projecting that a new funding round can increase factory production by 50% and lead to a 150% revenue boost, back it up with specific data. Show the numbers or past performance that make this possible, so readers see it as a realistic outcome rather than a hopeful prediction.

Avoid vague claims and assumptions. If a chart or graphic would make your data easier to understand, go ahead and add one. This makes your case more compelling and straightforward.

6. Add end notes and references

Target market research is an essential part of any business plan. The more complex the business, the more critical it is to verify regulations, industry trends, and tech developments. End notes are crucial components of a business plan, serving as expert resources that support your claims—similar to a bibliography in a research paper.

Each end note links to specific data in the plan, listed in the order they’re used. For instance, if you’re referencing consumer data in a market analysis section, you’d add an end note. If it’s the third citation, it’ll be marked as “3” in the plan, matching the third end note for easy reference.

7. Write your future vision

As you close your business plan, think about what’s next. How will your business grow? Share your vision with potential investors and partners.

Here’s what to include:

• Goals: What do you want to achieve? Set specific, measurable targets. For example, "We aim to increase market share by 10% in a year or launch a new product next quarter".
• Strategies: How will you reach those goals? Outline your business strategy. Maybe you’ll expand distribution or invest in research.
• Opportunities: What’s next? Identify new trends or regulatory problems you might face.
• Competitive advantage or edge: What makes you stand out? show your unique qualities, whether it's innovation, quality, or customer service.
• Financial projections: What are your numbers? Share revenue and expense forecasts for the next few years, backed by solid data.

By sharing your outlook, you show you have a clear plan. This builds trust and confidence. Keep it optimistic but grounded in reality. Make sure your final thoughts stick with your readers.

8. Guide your readers to take action

Guide your readers to take action by putting a clear and personalized call to action (CTA) that shows how they’ll benefit from your business.

For example:

• Join us as a silent partner by investing in Beanco.
• Invest $2 million and secure a 20% stake in equity.
• Support our growth by sharing references.

Moreover, if you’re asking for funding, be direct about it. Even if you’re not, your CTA should still show how readers can help your business thrive.

9. Review and proofread

After you’ve finished your conclusion, take a moment to read it over. Look for any grammar or spelling mistakes. Make sure it flows well and is free of fluff, so your conclusion is sharp and convincing.

It’s also a good idea to ask friends or business partners to take a look. They can help you see if your message is clear and straightforward. If it’s not, make the needed changes.

Business plan conclusion examples

Use this business plan conclusion as a guide and customize it to fit the goals, needs, and audience for your business plan .

Context: GreenTech is a renewable energy startup dedicated to providing solar-powered solutions for homes and small businesses across the United States.

GreenTech’s solar-powered solutions are here to transform how homes and small businesses approach energy—making it sustainable, affordable, and accessible. Our innovative technology and efficient design position us to stand out in the renewable energy space.

We’re set to make a real difference in clean energy, and we’d love for [Investor's Name] to be part of our journey.

Here’s what joining us means:

Be Part of the Future of Energy: GreenTech is driven by a mission to reduce fossil fuel dependency, led by a skilled team with over 15 years in energy innovation.

Create Community Impact: Help bring dependable solar power to neighborhoods and businesses, reducing costs and contributing to a cleaner environment.

Invest in Growth: Secure equity in a forward-looking startup with a strong plan for expansion and the potential for impressive returns as we grow.

Together, we can bring renewable energy to more homes. If you’re inspired by our vision for a sustainable future, let’s make it happen.

Why is a conclusion in business plans important?

Many people skip over the business plan conclusion, thinking it’s just a quick summary. But that’s a missed opportunity!

Here’s why:

• It’s your last chance to make your case – You want to leave readers with a strong sense that your business is solid and can succeed. It’s your moment to show you’ve thought everything through and have a handle on any risks.
• It highlights your edge – Remind readers why you’re unique. Whether you’re solving a key problem or filling a big gap in the market, show them what sets you apart.
• It shows you’re all in – Wrap it up with passion! Let them see you’re not just dreaming; you’re dedicated and ready to make this happen, with a willingness to adapt along the way.

But since it’s also a summary, is a conclusion any different from an executive summary?

Business plan conclusion vs. executive summary

Many people confuse conclusion and executive summary, but they’re very different. Let’s break it down:

Executive summary

Creating an executive summary is like writing a teaser for your business plan.

If you’re planning to open a new coffee shop, your executive summary would quickly explain:

• What your shop is all about
• Who your customers will be
• What your financial goals are.

It’s about letting them know what’s to come!

Business plan conclusion

This is where you bring everything together. For the coffee shop, your conclusion would highlight why your shop is unique.

Maybe it’s your special coffee blend or the warm, inviting atmosphere.

This is your moment to get readers excited and show them why they should back your idea.

So, while the executive summary gives an overview, the conclusion is all about motivating your readers to take action.

Wrapping up

Now that you understand the process and have a solid example, let’s finish your business plan.

Remember to focus on the important information you want to highlight, summarize it in a compelling conclusion, and include a strong call to action (CTA).

Keep in mind that the conclusion is what seals the deal. It’s your business plan that will keep your readers engaged from start to finish. With Bizplanr's AI business plan generator , you can create captivating business plans with effective conclusions in about 10 minutes.

So, refine your business plan, finish with a persuasive conclusion, and head towards your business goals today!

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Frequently Asked Questions

How long should a business plan conclusion be?

Ideally, a business plan conclusion should be concise, spanning about three to five paragraphs. This length allows you to summarize key aspects without overwhelming the reader, making your closing more memorable.

Can I include financial projections in the conclusion?

Yes, including financial projections is beneficial. Highlighting your expected profitability and potential return on investment reinforces your business's viability and can attract interest from investors.

Should the conclusion be formal or casual?

Your conclusion should strike a balance between professionalism and approachability. Use clear language that avoids jargon, making your business idea and message accessible while still conveying confidence and seriousness about your business.

As the founder and CEO of Upmetrics, Vinay Kevadiya has over 12 years of experience in business planning. He provides valuable insights to help entrepreneurs build and manage successful business plans.

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Crypto Business Plan

Got an amazing idea to establish your own crypto business? Great call!

Well, it can be an exciting venture with big earning potential. But before you dive into the crypto world, you’ll need a well-thought-out business plan to guide your way.

I understand—writing a business plan can be a bit overwhelming and a daunting task, especially when you’re new to this game. But trust me, it’s worth keeping one for your cryptocurrency business.

Need a hand with your plan? Not to worry!

Explore this crypto business plan template that guides you through the process of crafting a business plan, including why it works best for your crypto startup.

Why do you need a cryptocurrency business plan?

A cryptocurrency business plan isn’t just a professional document—it’s your roadmap to success. If you’re looking to break into the crypto space, a business plan is a must-have tool. Here’s why:

Gives you clear direction

Writing a business plan instills you to organize your business ideas on paper and outline your business goals.

It also lets you clearly define your specific goals, offerings, target audience, potential customers, marketing efforts, and financial projections. It serves as your guide to stay focused when there are a million other things to do.

Attracts investors and builds trust

Many investors are still cautious about jumping into the crypto businesses, especially when they’ve been burned before.

However, a solid crypto business plan in your hands shows potential investors that you’ve done thorough research and built a clear financial plan to earn profits. This is very important if you’re looking to raise funds.

Helps navigate crypto regulations

Well, the crypto industry is known for its complex regulatory environment. But a cryptocurrency business plan allows you to outline how you’ll comply with laws and regulations.

Whether it’s getting specific licenses or addressing anti-money laundering (AML) & KYC (know your customer) requirements.

Prepares you for challenges

If you’ve been in crypto for a while, you will know the market can swing wildly—One day, Bitcoin is up, and the next, it’s taking a nosedive!

At that time, having a crypto business plan enables you to think about those market dips and spikes, giving you strategies for managing these fluctuations. So, it prepares you for good times and tough times as well.

Now, without further ado; let’s proceed to the sections of the crypto business plan.

How to write a crypto business plan?

Writing a crypto business plan involves several actionable steps and key elements to encapsulate your business idea, goals, and strategies. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you draft a successful crypto business plan:

1. Executive summary

An executive summary is the first section that anyone reads. So, think of it like your sales pitch, providing a quick, high-level overview of the complete crypto business plan.

If your executive summary is interesting, it helps you capture readers’ or potential investors’ attention and convince them to learn more about your crypto business. That’s why keep it clear and concise yet informative—outline what your crypto business is all about.

To plan this section, consider including:

• Crypto business name and concept
• The problem you’re solving
• Your target market
• Sales and marketing strategies
• Key success factors
• Financial goals and projections
• Funding needs

Though it’s an introductory part, writing your plan summary would be more convenient at the end once the entire doc is ready. Why? Because it lets you summarize all the essential points more effectively.

2. Business overview

Now, it’s time to go into more detail as the business overview section is a detailed description of your crypto business.

It sheds light on the foundational facts of your crypto business, starting from its legal structure and location to future goals and growth strategies that potential investors need to understand.

Also, give a clear explanation of your crypto business idea. Whether it’s an exchange, a wallet service, a Decentralized Finance (DeFi) platform, or a blockchain consulting firm.

After that, tell your background story, why you started this company, and what makes it special. Plus, mention the problem you aim to solve in the crypto market.

Lastly, don’t forget to emphasize your vision and mission statement to let you showcase how your business stands out in the crowded marketplace. For example:

Vision statement

“To make digital finance easy, secure, and accessible for everyone, no matter where they are in the world. We see a future where crypto and blockchain tech are as common as sending a text, giving people more control over their money and opportunities.”

Mission statement

“We’re building a simple, secure crypto platform with all the tools people need to buy, trade, and grow their assets. Our goal is to create a space where users can manage their crypto confidently, supported by strong security and transparency. We’re committed to pushing blockchain’s limits while always keeping our community at the heart of everything we do.”

3. Market analysis

Conduct a thorough market analysis to build a strong foundation for your cryptocurrency business.

It will help you get valuable insights into the external crypto industry, along with the specific market niche, target audience, market trends, and primary competitors.

While drafting this section, answer the following kind of questions:

• What’s currently happening in the crypto world?
• How big is the size of the crypto market (in dollars)? Is it growing or declining?
• What are the emerging market trends (like the rise of DeFi, or NFTs)?
• Who’s your target market? Who’s your ideal customer? Beginners, tech-savvy traders, businesses looking for blockchain solutions?
• Who else is doing a similar type of crypto business? What they’re good at, and where they’re missing the mark?

For example, if you’re starting a new exchange, explore platforms like Coinbase, Binance, or Kraken. What do they do well, and where can you do better?

Ensure you identify the market gaps and devise strategies to fill those gaps, allowing you to get a competitive advantage in the market.

4. Product and service offerings

In this section, describe the main products or services your crypto business is going to offer.

Also, explain how it solves a problem and benefits your customers, like making crypto more accessible or giving top-notch security.

Will you provide a crypto trading platform, a secure digital wallet, a DeFi app, or perhaps blockchain consulting services? 

Highlight the unique features of your business offerings and specify what makes them different. Maybe you’ve got a user-friendly interface, lower fees, or educational resources for beginners.

If you plan to offer any additional services —premium user support, educational webinars, or custom consulting packages, mention them as well. (Think about how you can diversify your income streams.)

5. Marketing strategy

Well, the crypto industry is highly competitive. So, you’ll require a solid marketing plan to reach your target audience and bring in new users. Here’s what to include in your marketing strategy for crypto businesses:

Promotion channels

Where will you promote or market your services? Social media platforms like Twitter and Reddit are great for reaching crypto influencers, while YouTube can help you share educational content.

Community building

Crypto is all about community. Engage with users on Discord, Telegram, or even host AMAs (Ask Me Anything) sessions to build trust and transparency.

Sales funnel

How will you convert a curious visitor into a paying user? Map out your user journey, from discovering your brand to signing up and making their first trade.

Pricing strategy

Explain how you’ll price your services—like transaction fees, subscription tiers, or premium features. Make sure your pricing makes sense compared to competitors.

6. Management team

A strong team is essential for strategic planning and informed decision-making. So here, introduce your management team in this section.

First, share a bit about yourself (or other business owners, if any) and highlight why you’re passionate about crypto. If you have relevant industry experience, mention it too.

After that, include short resume-styled bios for the key team members, including their educational qualifications, expertise, work experience, and how they add value to your business.

Plus, illustrate the organizational chart that defines the hierarchical structure and explains how key roles are interconnected. Here’s an example:

By clearly defining the authority, investors will get to know that you’ve got the right people to drive the company’s vision and manage your crypto business operations.

7. Operations plan

Next, provide a detailed overview of the day-to-day business activities and operations. Clarify how everything will run behind the scenes.

Try to cover all the following operational intricacies in your plan:

• What technology will you use for your platform? Think blockchain protocols, security measures, and user interfaces.
• How will you handle security, like encryption and multi-factor authentication, to protect users’ funds?
• How will you stay compliant with local regulations, such as obtaining licenses or working with legal advisors to stay updated?
• What will be your hiring plan, if your team is lacking? Need developers, customer support, or a security expert?

By detailing all these operational aspects, you show financial packers that your crypto business runs smoothly and is managed effectively. So keep this section more practical.

8. Financial plan

Crypto businesses might be digital, but the bills are real! And the financial plan is all about how your business will generate revenue and manage costs.

Typically, the startup financial plan involves the comprehensive analysis of your financial projections for the next few (5-7) years.

Here’s a list of the critical financial statements and reports that you must include in your crypto financial plan:

• Profit and loss statement

Cash flow statement

Balance sheet.

• Break-even analysis
• Funding needs (if applicable)

Besides that, outline your expected startup costs, including tech development, marketing, and legal fees. Then, estimate your revenue projections, like how much you expect to make from transaction fees or premium services.

While presenting your financial data, try to develop tables, graphs, and charts that are clear and easy to read. This will help potential investors or lenders make informed decisions wisely.

For example, you may consider formulating the financial forecasts as shown below:

Profit and loss statement (income statement)

Moreover, be sure to account for potential risks or market volatility and how it might impact your income. This will let you plan for those ups and downs, showing you’re well-prepared for emergencies.

Download our free crypto business plan template

Ready to kickstart your crypto business plan writing from scratch? But need more assistance? No worries; we’ve got you covered. Download our free crypto business plan template to get started.

This sample plan covers a real-world example of what a polished business plan looks like. You can use it as a reference while writing your own plan. Just remember to modify it to fit your unique business idea and needs!

The Quickest Way to turn a Business Idea into a Business Plan

Fill-in-the-blanks and automatic financials make it easy.

Now, that’s a wrap! We’ve discussed all the key sections of a crypto business plan and how to draft each of them. So, it’s much easier for you to draft a professional-looking business plan for your crypto venture.

But if you need extra help or are seeking an easy way to develop your plan, try using Upmetrics . It’s an AI-powered business plan software that will simplify the entire planning process for you and generate an actionable plan quickly and efficiently.

So, wait no longer; start preparing your plan with us!

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Frequently Asked Questions

What should be included in a crypto business plan.

You should consider including the following key components in a crypto business plan:

• Engaging executive summary
• Detailed company overview
• Thorough market research
• Data-driven competitor analysis
• Unique products or service offerings
• Well-structured operations plan
• Effective sales & marketing strategies
• Strong management team
• Realistic financial plan
• Strategic risk analysis

How much does it cost to write a cryptocurrency business plan?

The cost of writing a cryptocurrency business plan can vary greatly anywhere from $7 to $20,000 or even more based on the business plan creation method, the level of detail, and the type of business plan you want to create.

How can I make my crypto business plan stand out to investors?

To make your crypto business plan stand out to investors, follow these steps:

• Focus on what makes your crypto business unique
• Provide strong market research
• Outline a clear plan for growth and success in the competitive market
• Include realistic financial projections and risk mitigation strategies
• Showcase your team’s expertise and how it adds value to your business

How long does it take to write a cryptocurrency business plan?

Writing a cryptocurrency business plan might be as quick as a few minutes or take several weeks—it really depends on the mode of your business plan approach. If you’re starting from scratch, it might take several weeks or even a few months to write a detailed plan.

However, with the help of an AI business plan generator , you can create a comprehensive yet professional business plan for your cryptocurrency in just a few minutes. It also handles market analysis and financial planning for you.

About the Author

Upmetrics Team

Upmetrics is the #1 business planning software that helps entrepreneurs and business owners create investment-ready business plans using AI. We regularly share business planning insights on our blog. Check out the Upmetrics blog for such interesting reads. Read more

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