Setting Goals You Can Achieve

I've always been goal oriented, which is sometimes good & sometimes not so good. I've accomplished a lot,  but maybe my satisfaction was lacking when I didn't quite reach the goal set. I'm a new member of Active Rain, a blogging community for those involved in real estate, and there was an incredibly good post today about setting goals that are within your control, that will lead to your ultimate business goals.

First before I forget, let me give credit for this to Jennifer Allan, author of Sell with Soul. It was Jennifer's blog on Production Quotas that inspired me to translate the achievable goals into ones I can use. I am modifying the goals as I'm not a realtor so some don't make sense.

Jennifer described her goals by quarter which makes sense. Life happens and you'll set weekly goals, some weeks other priorities will preempt your time. Remember to set goals you can achieve, goals that will give you personal satisfaction for a job well done, and encouragement to keep going.

I originally planned to modify Jennifer's "realtor goals" but that's a bigger challenge than I realized so for now, I've just added comments to help me start tweaking these goals for small business owners.

By the end of March:

• Adding 40 people to your Sphere of Influence (SOI)
• 100 homes previewed
• 3 new home neighborhoods visited
• ...2 goals above are about research to build your territory
• 15 lunch dates
• 25 "outings"
• ...I've sent an email to Jennifer as I'm not sure what an outing is
• 5 open houses
• 3 SOI e‑mails sent out
• ...My monthly newsletter but maybe I can do this better if I think about SOI?
  
• 1 mailing that included your business card
• 1 continuing education class ...for business owners, a seminar or book
  
• 50 thank you cards sent

By the end of June:

• 80 names added to your SOI
• 200 homes previewed
• 6 new home neighborhoods visited
• 30 lunch dates
• 50 "outings"
• 10 open houses
• 6 SOI e‑mails sent out
• 2 mailings that included your business card
• 3 continuing education classes
• 100 thank you cards sent
• 1 dinner party for friends

By the end of December:

• 140 names added to your SOI
• 400 homes previewed
• 10 new home neighborhoods visited
• 60 lunch dates
• 100 "outings"
• 20 open houses
• 10 SOI e‑mails sent out
• Your two mailings plus an end‑of‑year mailing (calendar, newsletter, holiday card, etc.)
• 6 continuing education classes
• 200 thank you cards sent
• 2 dinner parties for friends
• 1 housewarming party for a client

These goals are all completely doable and 100% within your control. If you meet these goals, you will have consistent business, no question.

Comments

[Charlene]

Tina,
Setting specific goals is important to keeping a business focused and targeted. I recommend everyone not to forget their dreams in relation to their goal.

Quite awhile back I posted a blog entry that may help some of your readers. Hope it helps , here it is:
http://blog.kamigomarketing.com/index.cfm/2007/8/1/A-Dream-or-A-Goal