Build your strategic plan and short-term business goals.
Strategic objectives deal with the broader, higher level issues, while short-term business goals deal with more narrowly defined items that fit within your strategy. Strategic objectives tend to be more general, while short-term business goals are more specific. Strategic objectives might not change much or often, whereas the short-term goals should be established annually at a minimum, and very likely even more often for a thriving enterprise. For example, a strategic objective to practice “effective communication for all stakeholders,” might lead to a short-term goal of “creating and launching a website,” or another to “publish an eZine to keep in touch with all stakeholders.”
View the Example: Strategic Plan
View the Example: Short Term Business Goals
Action
The narrative from this step will be part of the “Business Concept” section of your final business plan. In your working copy of the Shell Business Plan template, enter the following information under section 2.5 “Strategic Plan and Goals”.
To complete this Element you will need to have completed most of your primary and secondary market research and then do the following:
- Using your Mission and Vision Statements as a base, develop three to six strategic objectives for your business. Strategic objectives are broad in scope and more general, less specific than goals.
- Set goals for Year One. Some areas to consider setting short-term goals are gross revenues, net profits, the number of units to be sold, the number of employees, new products and services, diversification, quality, customers, growth, return on investment, and training and professional development. Set goals only for the ones that are most important to you.
- Prioritize your goals and determine who will perform each.
- Set deadlines for completion (if applicable).