5 Objectives That Improve the Odds Your Small Business Will Be a Success
Every small business owner must set business objectives and goals that make certain his company accomplishes what it needs to achieve to remain a going concern. For example, an objective for a company that develops and delivers leadership courses might be doubling the sales of in-house training courses during a particular time period. In turn, a supporting goal might be to contract with 100 new customers in one month’s time by marketing a bundled offer consisting of a C++ training course and certification exam.
The business goals and objectives from which an entrepreneur can choose are as plentiful as the companies that might adopt them. Here are five objectives that improve the odds that a small business will be a success.
1.Build sales volume
It’s common for a company to set a sales objective and offer an incentive to encourage salespeople to increase their sales volume, a process that can lead to higher profits. For instance, a sales-volume growth incentives might be to double sales to current customers by year end and gain 25 new accounts by the end of the quarter.
Other goals include a salesman’s commitment of 80 percent of his time to 20 percent of his most profitable accounts. Another goal to boost sales volume might be the development of one new market within six months. Additional sales goals include an increase in sales leads, doubling the number of “up sales,” or decreasing the time span between initial customer contact and contract closure.
2.Grow profit
A rise in profit is dependent on a consistent increase in a company’s revenue stream and the conscientious management of manufacturing or service provision costs. One process that supports profit maximization is streamlining business processes by replacing of legacy computer systems with an enterprise resource planning system. Another profit-increasing goal might be to decrease end-of-quarter production line maintenance costs by 20 percent through contracting with a new service provider. A change in a company’s product or service mix or an increase in sales revenue goals might also increase company profit. Another option is to contract with a new supplier to decrease the variable cost of manufacturing a product or providing a service.
3.Improve product quality
To meet customer expectations and requirements, a company must supply high-quality products. Doing otherwise can lead to significant product maintenance and replacement costs, a decrease in repeat sales to existing customers, and a loss of a competitive advantage built on product performance.
Your company’s quality-related goals might include the integration of quality measures in your manufacturing processes by year end and training five service personnel in quality control procedures. Additional quality-related objectives include a 10 percent decline in a product’s defect rate, a 15 percent decrease in quality costs, and a 12 percent reduction in the number of defective units for a particular product line.
4.Boost productivity
You determine your company’s financial performance by the efficient use of available resources to produce goods or services. You improve the utility of available resources by increasing employee productivity. Increased productivity decreases cost per unit, which allows you to decrease prices and become more competitive in your market.
Another objective that can boost productivity is to implement new equipment to decrease process time and production costs. You might also review and revise production-line processes to decrease processing time, wait time, inspection time, and move time, which will decrease your total manufacturing cycle time.
You might also identify new quality measures that will minimize defects and improve productivity by a certain percent. Also, you might improve your capacity by adding a production line that will also enable you to respond quickly to customer demand.
5.Amplify customer satisfaction
Satisfied current customers contribute to increases in sales volume, as well as a source of new customers by means of referrals. Consequently, a high level of customer satisfaction is a goal that all companies should attempt to achieve by a variety of means. For instance, you might work towards on-time delivery of your products at least 98 percent of the time.
Also, you might revise your product design and manufacturing processes to reduce product costs by 10 percent and pass the savings to your customers. Two additional contributions to customer satisfaction are resolving customer issues within 72 hours of the customer’s initial contact and improving the convenience of placing an online order.
A small business owner sets goals that he hopes will ensure his company remains a going concern for years to come. The types of objectives an entrepreneur may choose are many as are the ways the entrepreneur might achieve the objectives. For example, an entrepreneur’s goals might include building sales volume, increasing profitability, improving product quality, boosting productivity or amplifying customer satisfaction.
