You’ve opened a motor car parts shop to offer products to mechanics, car enthusiasts and the general public. You’ve stocked the shelves, marketed the business, and now have a steady flow of customers into the shop.
So what is your next objective?
Sure, you have the ultimate dream of opening another one or two stores in the distant future as you make the motor car parts shop a success. Yet what are your short-term goals for the next 12 months? Are you just looking to survive in your market? Do you want your staff to bring in a certain percentage of sales growth per week? Do you want to reduce employee turnover as your 2 to 5 employees become a dynamic and innovative team who will keep the best interests of the business in mind? Maybe you want to bring in more repeat sales from existing customers?
Sales objectives are types of short-term, actionable goals that can be implemented and monitored immediately. The objective is basically your plan of action on what you want your motor car parts shop to accomplish in the next 12 months. Usually, your main objective is to increase profits. Yet you may also aim for more steady revenue to help your shop survive during the times when the market is slow, to decrease inventory carrying costs, expand the shop or to upsell new product lines to customers.
Three strategies to create actionable sales objectives
Every person in your motor car parts shop should be focused on completing the desired objective within the established time frame. It should be agreed upon by each employee as full cooperation is the only way for your business to reach success in the following 12 months. Strategies to create smart objectives for your business:
- Create clearly defined objectives: Objectives that are thrown together cannot be tracked effectively to determine if you will reach the desired outcome. Employees will also become confused on what your business aim is as they will struggle with their work.
- Ensure objectives are realistic: Realistic objectives should be plans that are immediately actionable and can be accomplished during the set time period. Take into consideration the present market, the finances that will be placed into the objective, and the knowledge and skill level of your employees to be able to accomplish the given tasks.
- Design an objective that can be measured: Most objectives are designed so that they can be measured through statistics, percentages and other number figures. So you may tell your staff to bring in 15% more sales growth in the next 12 months, or to bring in 10 to 15 new customers each week through sales calls.
Always keep in mind that objectives do not have to be set in stone. They may change based on the fluctuating market that can impact your sales, as you will need to establish new goals during that time to increase profits or to help your motor car parts shop survive. Always keep track of your progress through accurate reporting and bookkeeping methods so you can modify and change objectives for the good of your business.
Interestingly, another smart objective for your business is to ensure that you, the business owner, are running the business with a thorough understanding of the finances. This is often a challenge, your industry expertise, in this case motor parts, is beyond question but you’ve an issue with managing the finances. That’s perfectly understandable. We can’t be masters of every aspect of running our business. Take a few minutes and check out Account-Ability, our video training series designed specifically for small business owners. It will help you master the basics of accounts for your business.
Complete the Account-Ability series and you’ll be able to better manage your list of actionable sales objectives.
