Well, it’s that time of year again. As we prepare to put a close on 2009, we must look ahead to 2010 and set our goals. There is no better time than at the end of the year to evaluate the year you have just been through, evaluate what worked, what didn’t work, what you need to do differently in the coming year and most importantly to devise viable strategies for accomplishing your goals.
A Failure to Plan is a Plan to Fail…
With that said, let’s take a few minutes to think about our goals together for 2010. This is something that our sales associates do routinely each year, but let’s not forget the importance of setting our own goals. Whether you are a Relocation Director, or work in the Human Resources Department of a company or organization, or work for a relocation company or any other area of real estate and/or relocation, you really should set goals for yourself. In fact, make it your number 1 priority before the end of the year.
Where Should You Start?
The best place to start is by evaluating your accomplishments and/or lack thereof for the current year. To do this, ask yourself the following questions:
- Which strategies over the past year produced the desired outcomes?
- Which strategies did not produce the desired outcomes?
- What were the challenges or obstacles that were in in the way of achieving my goals?
- Did I earn the income that I had hoped for this year?
- What were the factors involved in my earning potential?
- Was I as productive as I would have liked to have been?
- Did I spend too much time being busy instead of productive?
- Did I make valuable new contacts?
- Did I strengthen my existing relationships?
- Did I increase my client base?
Are you getting the hang of it yet? Keep asking questions, and better yet, commit this exercise to writing. Most people are visual by nature, so committing these thoughts to writing will help you see your year with greater perspective, and allow you to better lay out your new year and your new goals.
Many people find it helpful to create a formalized business plan each year. In so doing, you can be very specific about your goal setting, but more importantly, you can make sure that your strategies align with the goals you are setting for yourself. Consider this your road map to success!
Another helpful exercise might be a S.W.O.T. analysis. This is a strategic planning method used by many companies and organizations to identify internal and external factors that have positive and negative influences in achieving their prescribed objectives. I like this method, because it really causes us to think honestly about the factors that impact our goals and the subsequent achievement of those goals. To do this, simply take out a blank sheet of paper and divide it into 4 quadrants, like so:
Then start to formulate a list of each of these elements, based on the following:
Strengths: internal attributes that are helpful to achieving the desired goal.
Weaknesses: internal attributes that hinder the achievement of the desired goal.
Opportunities: external conditions that are helpful in achieving the desired goal.
Threats: external conditions that hinder the achievement of the desired goal.
By doing a S.W.O.T analysis, you be able to identify your strengths and opportunities in order to capitalize on them, while identifying the weaknesses and threats that you need to overcome in order to be able to achieve your goals. I think you will be surprised how telling this simple exercise can be.
A couple of pointers…
When determining your strengths, be sure that you are looking for your unique selling proposition. In other words, what are the strengths that you posses that set you apart from your competition. You need to really spend some time thinking about this one. And how about your brand and that of your company? What sets you apart? Knowing the answer to these questions is essential to being able to sell yourself and the services of your company to potential clients.
You may want to spend a week on time tracking. This will be helpful in seeing where your time is spent and evaluating the things that take up too much of your valuable time. Maybe there are some things that are included in your day that really shouldn’t be there. If that’s the case, tracking your time will reveal this and you can look for ways to give up or give away some of the duties that needlessly usurp your time. This will make way for some of those items that you never seem to be able to get to. Now wouldn’t that be nice? Maybe, just maybe, you can work towards your “To-Do List” actually becoming a “To-Do List” instead of a “Wish List.”
If you are interested in more information about goal setting or business planning, please feel free to contact me. I have engaged in this ritual for many years and would be glad to share my knowledge with you and hopefully gain some pointers from you as well.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Great article. Very articulate with great pointers. I will incorporate some of these ideas into my 2010 business plan. Thank you.
Great article – good strategy!
Thanks for sharing your ideas, Michelle – I have been procrastinating but you have provided some new fuel for the fire.
We must certainly stipulate our objectives and we must try to lead and to motivate our team to take care for same objectives.
Beautiful Article – Global Relocation Services is also a devised nicely and a synoptic web site.
Great article and still relevant 3 months into 2010. Timetracking is a great idea, but scary when you are forced to scrutinise how much of your day is wasted. It gives your productivity levels a great kick though!
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I try to set goals every week and month for myself. Sometimes goals feel like wishes, but that’s what keeps me motivated!!