– Chinedum Azuh – Vol.3 No.29 Monday, January 26 – Sunday, February 2, 2015

Business milestones are like checkpoints for entrepreneurs, signaling that a business venture is thriving and growing. Milestones are the events that occur on the way toward achieving the desired end results of business goals. They can be short or long-term goals and can be easily achievable or challenging. Developing milestones for your business requires some time and effort, but it is an invaluable exercise, especially if your business is new or has not yet launched.

You should use the Milestones to facilitate real management. For example, during a meeting with all managers, discuss the relevant milestones for that time period. Are you on budget? Are you on time? Do you need to make any corrections?

 The Value of a Plan is Measured in Its Implementation

The Milestones should be one of the most important sections of the entire business plan. Each marketing and sales-related program you plan should be listed in the table and explained in the accompanying text, along with relevant details. You want to cement your sales strategy with programs that make it real.

• How is this strategy to be implemented?
• Do you have concrete and specific plans?
• How will implementation and success be measured?

Developing Your Business Milestones

Let’s look at step-by-step system for developing your business milestones.

Set Goals for Your Business

Goals may focus on profits, marketing, brand recognition or community outreach. For example, if you own an online bookstore, short-term goals may include redesigning your website and reducing your shipping costs; long-term goals may include opening a brick-and mortar storefront and establishing an annual charity book drive. If you have trouble assembling the list, begin by brainstorming, writing down anything that comes to mind related to your business.

Revise Your List of Goals by Eliminating or Changing Those That Are Not Feasible

For instance, if your brainstorming list has the goal of your public-relations agency gaining 50 new clients within a year, you are likely find that this goal, though not necessarily impossible, may be very difficult to achieve. Revise that goal to gaining 15 new clients within a year. Remove unrealistic goals from your list, as they cannot have any effective milestones. The point of a milestone is to spur you toward reaching your goals — not to discourage you by being unreasonable.

Write Down the Objectives that Must be Achieve Before You can Reach Your Goal

If you want your cleaning company to make the switch to being 100-percent eco-friendly, milestones may include finding three affordable suppliers of green cleaning products and developing your own commercial cleaning solutions.

Organize goals and milestones in chronological order: short-term, medium-term and long-term. A well-organized list allows for easy modification and alteration as needed. Alter your milestones and goals only if your business significantly changes. For example, assume that your business experiences an 18-percent loss in profits after the first quarter of the year. That is the time to add new goals and milestones relating to gaining new customers or lowering operating costs, rather than continuing with the items on your initial list. Reaching your old goals and milestones may not be possible until your business recovers a bit.

Refer to your list of milestones at least every six months to ensure that you are on track. As you reach milestones, cross them off, highlight them or signify in some way that you have completed a step toward meeting your goals. A list that is laminated or placed in a document protector and posted in a prominent location in your office can serve as a daily source of motivation.

Work with these ideas and your success is guaranteed!

Take Action Now!