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It’s About Time
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Business New Haven
10/16/2000
By: Priscilla Searles
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John H. Carroll is senior associate for the Essex Group, located at 194 Putting Green Road in Trumbull. Performance catalysts, the company works with companies to develop new attitudes, habits, skills and goal-setting practices.
What is the biggest challenge most small businesses face today?
It's not having enough time - time to manage the business, time to develop the business, time to grow one's own skills and develop the skills of your employees.
How does one tackle the time problem?
Sit down and take time to think through and write down the four or five top actions that would make a significant difference in your business, in the way that you manage and lead it and your employees. What we're talking about here is setting important goals for you and your business. A good approach to setting goals is to be smart. That means specific, measurable, attainable, realistic or relevant and time-based.
What exactly does that mean?
We're talking about something that is definable or tangible, exact, measurable. You have to know when you attain it. For example, if someone wanted to get ten new clients, that's measurable and specific. It's not, 'I want to get new clients'; it's to get a specific number. It's measurable.
As to attainable or doable, some people set goals that can never be attained, hence they become discouraged and give up. What might be attainable is getting five new clients. Be realistic about what you can attain. And always put a time line or deadline to accomplish the goal. 'I'll get ten new clients by December 31' - now you have a target.
What happens when people realize, after review, that they have not reached their objective?
Go back and look at your goals. Were they specific enough? Maybe your goals need to be refined. Did you identify what kind of customers, dollar volume, product line, area of service? When it comes to measuring your goals, you're going to know when you have the ten customers when you have the order in hand. A mistake that many business owners make is to count on an order before they really have it. A verbal promise isn't an order. Don't assume you have the customer until they sign on the dotted line.
What else causes people to fail?
It has to be something that you can attain. It can't be so impossible that you give up; it has to be a good stretch goal but not impossible, otherwise you'll give up. And the goal has to be relevant to improving your business. Setting a goal of learning a second language when none of your customers speak a second language isn't relevant, but if your customers are bilingual or speak a different language, then it is a realistic goal. As to timeline, put calendar dates on. Without them you may put off achieving your goals, never actually getting to that point.
What barriers do people run into in trying to achieve goals?
A barrier could be one of following: You don't have skill or knowhow to accomplish the goal, or you didn't have the proper motivation to achieve the goal. You need to have 'can-do' and 'will'do' skills. It's all linked to the end goal: What is it going to do for you and your business, how bad do you want it and are you willing to make the sacrifices to achieve it?
You have to continually review your goals and action plan to achieve them. This would include identifying the barriers to accomplishment and developing a plan to overcome these barriers. A barrier might be, 'I don't even know who or where my customers are; I don't know who I want to reach.' The solution might be to utilize resources such as the chamber [of commerce], business directories and lists, the business section of the library (most of the larger ones have computers with extensive business lists) and networking groups.
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