Goal Setting…It’s What It’s ALL About…

As many of you know and as I mentioned in some posts a few weeks ago, it is once again time for yearly strategic planning.  Where and on what will you focus your energy for the next 12 months?

The first part of this process is goal setting…personal and professional.  Personal goals can include goals for your family, your health, your personal finances…anything that goes toward the quality of life you are trying to build on the personal side.

Your business goals include anything involved with your business…revenues, new clients, number of meetings per week, technology & service model improvements, etc.

In their book, The One Thing…You Need To Do by “D” Shannon and David Drucker (click here for the amazon.com link – http://www.amazon.com/One-Thing-You-Need-Do/dp/0976497409/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255388671&sr=1-2) Paul & Leslie Strebel (certified as “E-Myth Consultants”) discuss the 10 most important principles in goal setting.  Here they are:

1.  Your most important goals MUST be yours;

2.  Your goals must be meaningful;

3.  Your goals must be specific and measurable;

4.  Your goals must be flexible;

5.  Your goals must be challenging & exciting;

6.  Your goals must be in alignment with your values

7.  Your goals must be well-balanced;

8.  Your goals must be realistic;

9.  Your goals must include contribution;

10.  Your goals need to be supported.

I think these are excellent guidelines articulated in a well-thought out, meaningful manner.

Not having goals (which usually involve change or evolution) is simply doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  Know what word is that the definition for? Insanity.  Think about it!

As a reminder, I have several worksheets on my website (www.backofficeadvisor.com) for getting you started in strategic planning.  These are available for free download.

Good luck and take care, Ginny

What Do Your Clients Think About You and Your Firm…Why Don’t You Just Ask Them?

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to participate in a webinar with Marie Swift and three other outstanding coaches in our industry.  MANY good ideas were discussed and one among them, I believe, is particularly timely right now.

When was the last time you asked your clients what they really think about you and your firm?  What do they value and what do they really not value that might be taking up an inordinate amount of your time?

Right now, in this roller coaster ride of a market, it is extremely important to conserve resources.  Of course, money is always a high consideration but your time is equally important.  It’s a finite resource that must be used wisely.  So, why does it make sense to be doing something that might even be valued by your clients?  It doesn’t so now is a good time to find out exactly where you should be focusing your time.

An additional reason to conduct a survey now is it shows a commitment to your clients to hear what they have to say about you, your staff and your firm?  Do they feel they are receiving what they were promised?  Are they harboring some underlying feeling of anger or resentment over something small that you didn’t even know about?

So, how do you go about this?  Simple…http://surveymonkey.com.  For $29.90 per month (no commitment, stop and start anytime), you can put together a survey, upload client emails in a .csv format and track the results online. You even create a pdf of the survey if you have folks you know will not fill it out online.  Additionally, I have a sample survey on my website (www.backofficeadvisor.com) you can download for free to get you started.

Now, get out there and ask!