Setting goals for your business

Having a strong business plan is your guide to growing a successful business. One of the best places to start is with setting goals. For some, setting goals is very easy. For others, it’s much more difficult. If you struggle with setting goals here are some tips to help you get started. Many people struggle with setting goals because they don’t want to specialize in a field (say maternity photography) they want to be a generalist (maternity, newborns, family, weddings, seniors, etc.) Because they are not focused in one area, they find it difficult to set goals. Sound familiar? If so, I recommend you step back and look at the big picture. Instead of looking at an individual market (at least at first), set goals for your company as a whole. These might include:

• Number of appointments per week/month • Average sales per appointment • Number of new contacts/prospects per month • Number of referrals per month

For the generalist this can be across a variety of markets, but you may want to fine tune these a little more. Maybe you want a goal for the number of senior sessions in a year or season. Likewise, you may want to have a certain number of weddings each year. Now the question is: How do I determine what these numbers should be? If you already have your business going, you might want to look at historical numbers as a guide, but I always recommend starting with your "ultimate goal".

 

For some this will be a dollar figure:

How much money do you want to make this year?

For others this will be more focused on time:

How many hours do you want to work each week?

Whatever drives you; think about what the ideal situation is for your business. If you want sell $100,000 (gross sales) and work 30 hours per week, how many sessions can you have each week and how much does each session need to sell? Are those numbers realistic for you? Play with the numbers and reflect on your goals. Make sure you write everything down and track your progress so you’ll know where you are at and what you need to do change your course. If you have questions or want more information on specific topics, leave a comment below and I'll address comments and questions in the comments for in future articles. Good luck! Christina  

Guest Columnist: Christina Roth

Christina Roth is the owner of Summit View Communications, LLC a full-service marketing agency dedicated to helping small businesses grow through business planning and marketing. Ashe Design and Summit View Communications have joined forces to bring photographers tools and resources to market their business in a whole new way. We know that your expertise is in taking photos and capturing those special moments. We want you to spend as much time as possible using your talents. That’s why we offer our combined marketing and design services in affordable packages to help you market your business and events, and ultimately grow your business without investing a lot of time.All of our marketing kits and resources can be easily integrated into your business – keeping you behind the camera lens more! Learn more about Summit View Communications by visiting www.SummitViewCommunications.com.