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Goals and Objectives for Business Plan with Examples

Published Nov.05, 2023

Updated Apr.23, 2024

By: Jakub Babkins

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Table of Content

Every business needs a clear vision of what it wants to achieve and how it plans to get there. A business plan is a document that outlines the goals and objectives of a business, as well as the strategies and actions to achieve them. A well-written business plan from business plan specialists can help a business attract investors, secure funding, and guide its growth.

Understanding Business Objectives

Business objectives are S pecific, M easurable, A chievable, R elevant, and T ime-bound (SMART) statements that describe what a business wants to accomplish in a given period. They are derived from the overall vision and mission of the business, and they support its strategic direction.

Business plan objectives can be categorized into different types, depending on their purpose and scope. Some common types of business objectives are:

• Financial objectives
• Operational objectives
• Marketing objectives
• Social objectives

For example, a sample of business goals and objectives for a business plan for a bakery could be:

• To increase its annual revenue by 20% in the next year.
• To reduce its production costs by 10% in the next six months.
• To launch a new product line of gluten-free cakes in the next quarter.
• To improve its customer satisfaction rating by 15% in the next month.

The Significance of Business Objectives

Business objectives are important for several reasons. They help to:

• Clarify and direct the company and stakeholders
• Align the company’s efforts and resources to a common goal
• Motivate and inspire employees to perform better
• Measure and evaluate the company’s progress and performance
• Communicate the company’s value and advantage to customers and the market

For example, by setting a revenue objective, a bakery can focus on increasing its sales and marketing efforts, monitor its sales data and customer feedback, motivate its staff to deliver quality products and service, communicate its unique selling points and benefits to its customers, and adjust its pricing and product mix according to market demand.

Advantages of Outlining Business Objectives

Outlining business objectives is a crucial step in creating a business plan. It serves as a roadmap for the company’s growth and development. Outlining business objectives has several advantages, such as:

• Clarifies the company’s vision, direction, scope, and boundaries
• Break down the company’s goals into smaller tasks and milestones
• Assigns roles and responsibilities and delegates tasks
• Establishes standards and criteria for success and performance
• Anticipates risks and challenges and devises contingency plans

For example, by outlining its business objective for increasing the average revenue per customer in its business plan, a bakery can:

• Attract investors with its viable business plan for investors
• Secure funding from banks or others with its realistic financial plan
• Partner with businesses or organizations that complement or enhance its products or services
• Choose the best marketing, pricing, product, staff, location, etc. for its target market and customers

Setting Goals and Objectives for a Business Plan

Setting goals and objectives for a business plan is not a one-time task. It requires careful planning, research, analysis, and evaluation. To set effective goals and objectives for a business plan, one should follow some best practices, such as:

OPTION 1: Use the SMART framework. A SMART goal or objective is clear, quantifiable, realistic, aligned with the company’s mission and vision, and has a deadline. SMART stands for:

• Specific – The goal or objective should be clear, concise, and well-defined.
• Measurable – The goal or objective should be quantifiable or verifiable.
• Achievable – The goal or objective should be realistic and attainable.
• Relevant – The goal or objective should be aligned with the company’s vision, mission, and values.
• Time-bound – The goal or objective should have a deadline or timeframe.

For example, using the SMART criteria, a bakery can refine its business objective for increasing the average revenue per customer as follows:

• Specific – Increase revenue with new products and services from $5 to $5.50.
• Measurable – Track customer revenue monthly with sales reports.
• Achievable – Research the market, develop new products and services, and train staff to upsell and cross-sell.
• Relevant – Improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, profitability and cash flow, and market competitiveness.
• Time-bound – Achieve this objective in six months, from January 1st to June 30th.

OPTION 2: Use the OKR framework. OKR stands for O bjectives and K ey R esults. An OKR is a goal-setting technique that links the company’s objectives with measurable outcomes. An objective is a qualitative statement of what the company wants to achieve. A key result is a quantitative metric that shows how the objective will be achieved.

OPTION 3: Use the SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for S trengths, W eaknesses, O pportunities, and T hreats. A SWOT analysis is a strategic tool that helps the company assess the internal and external factors that affect its goals and objectives.

• Strengths – Internal factors that give the company an advantage over others. 
• Weaknesses – Internal factors that limit the company’s performance or growth. 
• Opportunities – External factors that allow the company to improve or expand. 
• Threats – External factors that pose a risk or challenge to the company.

For example, using these frameworks, a bakery might set the following goals and objectives for its SBA business plan :

Objective – To launch a new product line of gluten-free cakes in the next quarter.

Key Results:

• Research gluten-free cake market demand and preferences by month-end.
• Create and test 10 gluten-free cake recipes by next month-end.
• Make and sell 100 gluten-free cakes weekly online or in-store by quarter-end.

SWOT Analysis:

• Expertise and experience in baking and cake decorating.
• Loyal and satisfied customer base.
• Strong online presence and reputation.

Weaknesses:

• Limited production capacity and equipment.
• High production costs and low-profit margins.
• Lack of knowledge and skills in gluten-free baking.

Opportunities:

• Growing demand and awareness for gluten-free products.
• Competitive advantage and differentiation in the market.
• Potential partnerships and collaborations with health-conscious customers and organizations.
• Increasing competition from other bakeries and gluten-free brands.
• Changing customer tastes and preferences.
• Regulatory and legal issues related to gluten-free labeling and certification.

Examples of Business Goals and Objectives

To illustrate how to write business goals and objectives for a business plan, let’s use a hypothetical example of a bakery business called Sweet Treats. Sweet Treats is a small bakery specializing in custom-made cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and other baked goods for various occasions.

Here are some examples of possible startup business goals and objectives for Sweet Treats:

Earning and Preserving Profitability

Profitability is the ability of a company to generate more revenue than expenses. It indicates the financial health and performance of the company. Profitability is essential for a business to sustain its operations, grow its market share, and reward its stakeholders.

Some possible objectives for earning and preserving profitability for Sweet Treats are:

• To increase the gross profit margin by 5% in the next quarter by reducing the cost of goods sold
• To achieve a net income of $100,000 in the current fiscal year by increasing sales and reducing overhead costs

Ensuring Consistent Cash Flow

Cash flow is the amount of money that flows in and out of a company. A company needs to have enough cash to cover its operating expenses, pay its debts, invest in its growth, and reward its shareholders.

Some possible objectives for ensuring consistent cash flow for Sweet Treats are:

• Increase monthly operating cash inflow by 15% by the end of the year by improving the efficiency and productivity of the business processes
• Increase the cash flow from investing activities by selling or disposing of non-performing or obsolete assets

Creating and Maintaining Efficiency

Efficiency is the ratio of output to input. It measures how well a company uses its resources to produce its products or services. Efficiency can help a business improve its quality, productivity, customer satisfaction, and profitability.

Some possible objectives for creating and maintaining efficiency for Sweet Treats are:

• To reduce the production time by 10% in the next month by implementing lean manufacturing techniques
• To increase the customer service response rate by 20% in the next week by using chatbots or automated systems

Winning and Keeping Clients

Clients are the people or organizations that buy or use the products or services of a company. They are the source of revenue and growth for a company. Therefore, winning and keeping clients is vital to generating steady revenue, increasing customer loyalty, and enhancing word-of-mouth marketing.

Some possible objectives for winning and keeping clients for Sweet Treats are:

• To acquire 100 new clients in the next quarter by launching a referral program or a promotional campaign
• To retain 90% of existing clients in the current year by offering loyalty rewards or satisfaction guarantees

Building a Recognizable Brand

A brand is the name, logo, design, or other features distinguishing a company from its competitors. It represents the identity, reputation, and value proposition of a company. Building a recognizable brand is crucial for attracting and retaining clients and creating a loyal fan base.

Some possible objectives for building a recognizable brand for Sweet Treats are:

• To increase brand awareness by 50% in the next six months by creating and distributing engaging content on social media platforms
• To improve brand image by 30% in the next year by participating in social causes or sponsoring events that align with the company’s values

Expanding and Nurturing an Audience with Marketing

An audience is a group of people interested in or following a company’s products or services. They can be potential or existing clients, fans, influencers, or partners. Expanding and nurturing an audience with marketing is essential for increasing a company’s visibility, reach, and engagement.

Some possible objectives for expanding and nurturing an audience with marketing for Sweet Treats are:

• To grow the email list by 1,000 subscribers in the next month by offering a free ebook or a webinar
• To nurture leads by sending them relevant and valuable information through email newsletters or blog posts

Strategizing for Expansion

Expansion is the process of increasing a company’s size, scope, or scale. It can involve entering new markets, launching new products or services, opening new locations, or forming new alliances. Strategizing for expansion is important for diversifying revenue streams, reaching new audiences, and gaining competitive advantages.

Some possible objectives for strategizing for expansion for Sweet Treats are:

• To launch a new product or service line by developing and testing prototypes
• To open a new branch or franchise by securing funding and hiring staff

Template for Business Objectives

A template for writing business objectives is a format or structure that can be used as a guide or reference for creating your objectives. A template for writing business objectives can help you to ensure that your objectives are SMART, clear, concise, and consistent.

To use this template, fill in the blanks with your information. Here is an example of how you can use this template:

Example of Business Objectives

Our business is a _____________ (type of business) that provides _____________ (products or services) to _____________ (target market). Our vision is to _____________ (vision statement) and our mission is to _____________ (mission statement).

Our long-term business goals and objectives for the next _____________ (time period) are:

S pecific: We want to _____________ (specific goal) by _____________ (specific action).

M easurable: We will measure our progress by _____________ (quantifiable indicator).

A chievable: We have _____________ (resources, capabilities, constraints) that will enable us to achieve this goal.

R elevant: This goal supports our vision and mission by _____________ (benefit or impact).

T ime-bound: We will complete this goal by _____________ (deadline).

Repeat this process for each goal and objective for your business plan.

How to Monitor Your Business Objectives?

After setting goals and objectives for your business plan, you should check them regularly to see if you are achieving them. Monitoring your business objectives can help you to:

• Track your progress and performance
• Identify and overcome any challenges
• Adjust your actions and strategies as needed

Some of the tools and methods that you can use to monitor your business objectives are:

• Dashboards – Show key data and metrics for your objectives with tools like Google Data Studio, Databox, or DashThis.
• Reports – Get detailed information and analysis for your objectives with tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, or SEMrush.
• Feedback – Learn from your customers and their needs and expectations with tools like SurveyMonkey, Typeform, or Google Forms.

Strategies for Realizing Business Objectives

To achieve your business objectives, you need more than setting and monitoring them. You need strategies and actions that support them. Strategies are the general methods to reach your objectives. Actions are the specific steps to implement your strategies.

Different objectives require different strategies and actions. Some common types are:

• Marketing strategies
• Operational strategies
• Financial strategies
• Human resource strategies
• Growth strategies

To implement effective strategies and actions, consider these factors:

• Alignment – They should match your vision, mission, values, goals, and objectives
• Feasibility – They should be possible with your capabilities, resources, and constraints
• Suitability – They should fit the context and needs of your business

How OGSCapital Can Help You Achieve Your Business Objectives?

We at OGSCapital can help you with your business plan and related documents. We have over 15 years of experience writing high-quality business plans for various industries and regions. We have a team of business plan experts who can assist you with market research, financial analysis, strategy formulation, and presentation design. We can customize your business plan to suit your needs and objectives, whether you need funding, launching, expanding, or entering a new market. We can also help you with pitch decks, executive summaries, feasibility studies, and grant proposals. Contact us today for a free quote and start working on your business plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the goals and objectives in business.

Goals and objectives in a business plan are the desired outcomes that a company works toward. To describe company goals and objectives for a business plan, start with your mission statement and then identify your strategic and operational objectives. To write company objectives, you must brainstorm, organize, prioritize, assign, track, and review them using the SMART framework and KPIs.

What are the examples of goals and objectives in a business plan?

Examples of goals and objectives in a business plan are: Goal: To increase revenue by 10% each year for the next five years. Objective: To launch a new product line and create a marketing campaign to reach new customers.

What are the 4 main objectives of a business?

The 4 main objectives of a business are economic, social, human, and organic. Economic objectives deal with financial performance, social objectives deal with social responsibility, human objectives deal with employee welfare, and organic objectives deal with business growth and development.

What are goals and objectives examples?

Setting goals and objectives for a business plan describes what a business or a team wants to achieve and how they will do it. For example: Goal: To provide excellent customer service. Objective: To increase customer satisfaction scores by 20% by the end of the quarter. 

At OGSCapital, our business planning services offer expert guidance and support to create a realistic and actionable plan that aligns with your vision and mission. Get in touch to discuss further!

OGSCapital’s team has assisted thousands of entrepreneurs with top-rate business plan development, consultancy and analysis. They’ve helped thousands of SME owners secure more than $1.5 billion in funding, and they can do the same for you.

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Setting Business Goals & Objectives: 4 Considerations

• 31 Oct 2023

Setting business goals and objectives is important to your company’s success. They create a roadmap to help you identify and manage risk , gain employee buy-in, boost team performance , and execute strategy . They’re also an excellent marker to measure your business’s performance.

Yet, meeting those goals can be difficult. According to an Economist study , 90 percent of senior executives from companies with annual revenues of one billion dollars or more admitted they failed to reach all their strategic goals because of poor implementation. In order to execute strategy, it’s important to first understand what’s attainable when developing organizational goals and objectives.

If you’re struggling to establish realistic benchmarks for your business, here’s an overview of what business goals and objectives are, how to set them, and what you should consider during the process.

Access your free e-book today.

What Are Business Goals and Objectives?

Business objectives dictate how your company plans to achieve its goals and address the business’s strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities. While your business goals may shift, your objectives won’t until there’s an organizational change .

Business goals describe where your company wants to end up and define your business strategy’s expected achievements.

According to the Harvard Business School Online course Strategy Execution , there are different types of strategic goals . Some may even push you and your team out of your comfort zone, yet are important to implement.

For example, David Rodriguez, global chief human resources officer at Marriott, describes in Strategy Execution the importance of stretch goals and “pushing people to not accept today's level of success as a final destination but as a starting point for what might be possible in the future.”

It’s important to strike a balance between bold and unrealistic, however. To do this, you must understand how to responsibly set your business goals and objectives.

Related: A Manager’s Guide To Successful Strategy Implementation

How to Set Business Goals and Objectives

While setting your company’s business goals and objectives might seem like a simple task, it’s important to remember that these goals shouldn’t be based solely on what you hope to achieve. There should be a correlation between your company’s key performance indicators (KPIs)—quantifiable success measures—and your business strategy to justify why the goal should, and needs to, be achieved.

This is often illustrated through a strategy map —an illustration of the cause-and-effect relationships that underpin your strategy. This valuable tool can help you identify and align your business goals and objectives.

“A strategy map gives everyone in your business a road map to understand the relationship between goals and measures and how they build on each other to create value,” says HBS Professor Robert Simons in Strategy Execution .

While this roadmap can be incredibly helpful in creating the right business goals and objectives, a balanced scorecard —a tool to help you track and assess non-financial measures—ensures they’re achievable through your current business strategy.

“Ask yourself, if I picked up a scorecard and examined the measures on that scorecard, could I infer what the business's strategy was,” Simon says. “If you've designed measures well, the answer should be yes.”

According to Strategy Execution , these measures are necessary to ensure your performance goals are achieved. When used in tandem, a balanced scorecard and strategy map can also tell you whether your goals and objectives will create value for you and your customers.

“The balanced scorecard combines the traditional financial perspective with additional perspectives that focus on customers, internal business processes, and learning and development,” Simons says.

These four perspectives are key considerations when setting your business goals and objectives. Here’s an overview of what those perspectives are and how they can help you set the right goals for your business.

4 Things to Consider When Setting Business Goals and Objectives

1. financial measures.

It’s important to ensure your plans and processes lead to desired levels of economic value. Therefore, some of your business goals and objectives should be financial.

Some examples of financial performance goals include:

• Cutting costs
• Increasing revenue
• Improving cash flow management

“Businesses set financial goals by building profit plans—one of the primary diagnostic control systems managers use to execute strategy,” Simons says in Strategy Execution . “They’re budgets drawn up for business units that have both revenues and expenses, and summarize the anticipated revenue inflows and expense outflows for a specified accounting period.”

Profit plans are essential when setting your business goals and objectives because they provide a critical link between your business strategy and economic value creation.

According to Simons, it’s important to ask three questions when profit planning:

• Does my business strategy generate enough profit to cover costs and reinvest in the business?
• Does my business generate enough cash to remain solvent through the year?
• Does my business create sufficient financial returns for investors?

By mapping out monetary value, you can weigh the cost of different strategies and how likely it is you’ll meet your company and investors’ financial expectations.

2. Customer Satisfaction

To ensure your business goals and objectives aid in your company’s long-term success, you need to think critically about your customers’ satisfaction. This is especially important in a world where customer reviews and testimonials are crucial to your organization’s success.

“Everything that's important to the business, we have a KPI and we measure it,” says Tom Siebel, founder, chairman, and CEO of C3.ai, in Strategy Execution . “And what could be more important than customer satisfaction?”

Unlike your company’s reputation, measuring customer satisfaction has a far more personal touch in identifying what customers love and how to capitalize on it through future strategic initiatives .

“We do anonymous customer satisfaction surveys every quarter to see how we're measuring up to our customer expectations,” Siebel says.

While this is one example, your customer satisfaction measures should reflect your desired market position and focus on creating additional value for your audience.

Related: 3 Effective Methods for Assessing Customer Needs

3. Internal Business Processes

Internal business processes is another perspective that should factor into your goal setting. It refers to several aspects of your business that aren’t directly affected by outside forces. Since many goals and objectives are driven by factors such as business competition and market shifts, considering internal processes can create a balanced business strategy.

“Our goals are balanced to make sure we’re holistically managing the business from a financial performance, quality assurance, innovation, and human talent perspective,” says Tom Polen, CEO and president of Becton Dickinson, in Strategy Execution .

According to Strategy Execution , internal business operations are broken down into the following processes:

• Operations management
• Customer management

While improvements to internal processes aren’t driven by economic value, these types of goals can still reap a positive return on investment.

“We end up spending much more time on internal business process goals versus financial goals,” Polen says. “Because if we take care of them, the financial goals will follow at the end of the day.”

4. Learning and Growth Opportunities

Another consideration while setting business goals and objectives is learning and growth opportunities for your team. These are designed to increase employee satisfaction and productivity.

According to Strategy Execution , learning and growth opportunities touch on three types of capital:

• Human: Your employees and the skills and knowledge required for them to meet your company’s goals
• Information: The databases, networks, and IT systems needed to support your long-term growth
• Organization: Ensuring your company’s leadership and culture provide people with purpose and clear objectives

Employee development is a common focus for learning and growth goals. Through professional development opportunities , your team will build valuable business skills and feel empowered to take more risks and innovate.

To create a culture of innovation , it’s important to ensure there’s a safe space for your team to make mistakes—and even fail.

“We ask that people learn from their mistakes,” Rodriguez says in Strategy Execution . “It's really important to us that people feel it’s safe to try new things. And all we ask is people extract their learnings and apply it to the next situation.”

Achieve Your Business Goals

Business goals aren’t all about your organization’s possible successes. It’s also about your potential failures.

“When we set goals, we like to imagine a bright future with our business succeeding,” Simons says in Strategy Execution . “But to identify your critical performance variables, you need to engage in an uncomfortable exercise and consider what can cause your strategy to fail.”

Anticipating potential failures isn’t easy. Enrolling in an online course—like HBS Online’s Strategy Execution —can immerse you in real-world case studies of past strategy successes and failures to help you better understand where these companies went wrong and how to avoid it in your business.

Do you need help setting your business goals and objectives? Explore Strategy Execution —one of our online strategy courses —and download our free strategy e-book to gain the insights to create a successful strategy.

About the Author

Small Business Trends

How to create a business plan: examples & free template.

Whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur or launching your very first startup, the guide will give you the insights, tools, and confidence you need to create a solid foundation for your business.

Table of Contents

How to Write a Business Plan

Executive summary.

It’s crucial to include a clear mission statement, a brief description of your primary products or services, an overview of your target market, and key financial projections or achievements.

Our target market includes environmentally conscious consumers and businesses seeking to reduce their carbon footprint. We project a 200% increase in revenue within the first three years of operation.

Overview and Business Objectives

Example: EcoTech’s primary objective is to become a market leader in sustainable technology products within the next five years. Our key objectives include:

Company Description

Example: EcoTech is committed to developing cutting-edge sustainable technology products that benefit both the environment and our customers. Our unique combination of innovative solutions and eco-friendly design sets us apart from the competition. We envision a future where technology and sustainability go hand in hand, leading to a greener planet.

Define Your Target Market

Market analysis.

The Market Analysis section requires thorough research and a keen understanding of the industry. It involves examining the current trends within your industry, understanding the needs and preferences of your customers, and analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors.

Our research indicates a gap in the market for high-quality, innovative eco-friendly technology products that cater to both individual and business clients.

SWOT Analysis

Including a SWOT analysis demonstrates to stakeholders that you have a balanced and realistic understanding of your business in its operational context.

Competitive Analysis

Organization and management team.

Provide an overview of your company’s organizational structure, including key roles and responsibilities. Introduce your management team, highlighting their expertise and experience to demonstrate that your team is capable of executing the business plan successfully.

Products and Services Offered

This section should emphasize the value you provide to customers, demonstrating that your business has a deep understanding of customer needs and is well-positioned to deliver innovative solutions that address those needs and set your company apart from competitors.

Marketing and Sales Strategy

Discuss how these marketing and sales efforts will work together to attract and retain customers, generate leads, and ultimately contribute to achieving your business’s revenue goals.

Logistics and Operations Plan

Inventory control is another crucial aspect, where you explain strategies for inventory management to ensure efficiency and reduce wastage. The section should also describe your production processes, emphasizing scalability and adaptability to meet changing market demands.

We also prioritize efficient distribution through various channels, including online platforms and retail partners, to deliver products to our customers in a timely manner.

Financial Projections Plan

This forward-looking financial plan is crucial for demonstrating that you have a firm grasp of the financial nuances of your business and are prepared to manage its financial health effectively.

Income Statement

Cash flow statement.

A cash flow statement is a crucial part of a financial business plan that shows the inflows and outflows of cash within your business. It helps you monitor your company’s liquidity, ensuring you have enough cash on hand to cover operating expenses, pay debts, and invest in growth opportunities.

Tips on Writing a Business Plan

4. Focus on your unique selling proposition (USP): Clearly articulate what sets your business apart from the competition. Emphasize your USP throughout your business plan to showcase your company’s value and potential for success.

FREE Business Plan Template

To help you get started on your business plan, we have created a template that includes all the essential components discussed in the “How to Write a Business Plan” section. This easy-to-use template will guide you through each step of the process, ensuring you don’t miss any critical details.

What is a Business Plan?

Why you should write a business plan.

Understanding the importance of a business plan in today’s competitive environment is crucial for entrepreneurs and business owners. Here are five compelling reasons to write a business plan:

What are the Different Types of Business Plans?

Using Business Plan Software

Upmetrics provides a simple and intuitive platform for creating a well-structured business plan. It features customizable templates, financial forecasting tools, and collaboration capabilities, allowing you to work with team members and advisors. Upmetrics also offers a library of resources to guide you through the business planning process.

Business Plan FAQs

What is a good business plan.

A good business plan is a well-researched, clear, and concise document that outlines a company’s goals, strategies, target market, competitive advantages, and financial projections. It should be adaptable to change and provide a roadmap for achieving success.

What are the 3 main purposes of a business plan?

Can i write a business plan by myself, is it possible to create a one-page business plan.

Yes, a one-page business plan is a condensed version that highlights the most essential elements, including the company’s mission, target market, unique selling proposition, and financial goals.

How long should a business plan be?

What is a business plan outline, what are the 5 most common business plan mistakes, what questions should be asked in a business plan.

A business plan should address questions such as: What problem does the business solve? Who is the specific target market ? What is the unique selling proposition? What are the company’s objectives? How will it achieve those objectives?

What’s the difference between a business plan and a strategic plan?

How is business planning for a nonprofit different.

Business growth

Business tips

Business objectives: How to set them (with 5 examples and a template)

As anyone who played rec league sports in the '90s might remember, being on a team for some reason required you to sell knockoff candy bars to raise funds. Every season, my biggest customer was always me. Some kids went door-to-door, some set up outside local businesses, some sent boxes to their parents' jobs—I just used my allowance to buy a few for myself.

Aside from initiative, what my approach lacked was a plan, a goal, and accountability. A lot to ask of an unmotivated nine-year-old, I know, but 100% required for anyone who runs an actual business.

Business objectives help companies avoid my pitfalls by laying the groundwork for all the above so they can pursue achievable growth.

Table of contents:

What are business objectives?

What you want the company to achieve

How you can measure success

Which players are involved in driving success

The timelines needed to plan, initiate, and implement steps

How, if successful, these actions can be integrated sustainably going forward

Business objectives vs. goals

Here's what that breakdown could have looked like for nine-year-old me selling candy for my little league team: 

Business objective: I will increase my sales output by learning and implementing point-of-sale conversion frameworks. I'll measure success by comparing week-over-week sales growth to median sales across players on my baseball team.

Business goal: I will sell more candy bars than anyone on my team and earn the grand prize: a team party at Pizza Hut.

The benefits of setting business objectives

You might think it's good enough to continue working status quo toward your goals, but as the cliche goes, good enough usually isn't. Establishing and following defined, actionable steps through business objectives can:

Help establish clear roadmaps: You can translate your objectives into time-sensitive sequences to chart your path toward growth.

Set groundwork for culture: Clear objectives should reflect the culture you envision, and, in turn, they should help guide your team to foster it.

Influence talent acquisition: Once you know your objectives, you can use them to find the people with the specific skills and experiences needed to actualize them.

Encourage teamwork: People work together better when they know what they're working toward.

Establish accountability: By measuring progress, you can see where errors and inefficiencies come from.

Drive productivity: The endgame of an objective is to make individual team members and processes more effective.

How to set business objectives

Setting business objectives takes a thoughtful, top-to-bottom approach. At every level of your business—whether you're a massive candy corporation or one kid selling chocolate almond bars door-to-door—there are improvements to make, steps to take, and players with stakes (or in my case, bats) in the game.

1. Establish clear goals

You can't hit a home run without a fence, and you can't reach a goal without setting it. Before you start brainstorming your objectives, you need to know what your objectives will help you work toward.

Increase total revenue by 25% over the next two years

Reduce production costs by 10% by the end of the year

Provide health insurance for employees by next fiscal year

Grow design department to 10+ employees this year

Reach 100k Instagram followers ahead of new product launch

Implement full rebrand before new partnership announcement

Once you have these goals in place, you can establish individual objectives that position your company to reach them.

2. Set a baseline

Like a field manager before a game, you've got to set your baselines. (Very niche pun, I know.) With a definite goal in mind, the only way to know your progress is to know where you're starting from. 

Analyzing your baselines could also help you recalibrate your goals. You may have decided abstractly that you want conversion rates to double in six months, but is that really possible? If your measurables show there's potentially a heavier lift involved than you expected, you can always roll back the goal performance or expand the timeline.

3. Involve players at all levels in the conversation

Too often, the most important people are left out of conversations about goals and objectives. The more levels of complexity and oversight, the more important it is to hear from everyone—yet the more likely it is that some will be excluded.

Let's say you want to reduce overhead by 5% over the next two years for your sporting goods manufacturing outfit. At a high level, your team finds you can reduce production costs by using cheaper materials for baseball gloves. A member of your sales team points out that the reduction in quality, which your brand is famous for, could lead to losses that offset those savings. Meanwhile, a factory representative points out that replacing outdated machines would be expensive initially but would increase efficiency, reduce defects, and cut maintenance costs, breaking even in four years.

By involving various teams at multiple levels, you find it's worth it to extend timelines from two to four years. Your overhead reduction may be lower than 5% by year two but should be much higher than that by year four based on these changes.

The takeaway from this pretty crude example is that it's helpful to make sure every team that touches anything related to your objective gets consulted. They should give valuable, practical input thanks to their boots- (or cleats-) on-the-ground experience.

4. Define measurable outcomes

An objective should be exactly that. Using KPIs (key performance indicators) to apply a level of objectivity to your action steps allows you to measure their progress and success over time and either adapt as you go along or stay the course.

How do you know if your specific objectives are leading to increased web traffic, or if that's just natural (or even incidental) growth? How do you know if your recruiting efforts lead to better candidates, or whether your employees are actually more satisfied? Here are a few examples of measurable outcomes to show proof:

Percentage change (15% overall increase in revenue)

Goal number (10,000 subscribers)

Success range (five to 10 new clients)

Clear change (new company name)

Executable action (weekly newsletter launch)

5. Outline a roadmap with a schedule

You've got your organizational goals defined, logged your baselines, sourced objectives from across your company, and know your metrics for defining success. Now it's time to set an actionable plan you can execute.

Your objectives roadmap should include all involved team members and departments and clear timelines for reaching milestones. Within your objectives, set action items with deadlines to stay on track, along with corresponding progress markers. For the objective of "increase lead conversion efficiency by 10%," that could look like:

May 15: Begin time logging 

June 1: Register team members for productivity seminar

June 15: Integrate Trello for managing processes

June 15: Audit time log

August 1: Audit time log—goal efficiency increase of 5%

6. Integrate successful changes

You've successfully achieved your objectives—great! But as Yogi Berra famously said, "It ain't over till it's over," and it ain't over yet. 

Don't let this win be a one-off accomplishment. Berra also said "You can observe a lot by just watching," and applying what you observed from this process will help you continue growing your company. Take what worked, and integrate it into your business processes for sustainable improvement. Then create new objectives, so you can continue the cycle.

Examples of business objectives and goals

Business objectives aren't collated plans or complicated flowcharts—they're short, impactful statements that are easy to memorize and communicate. There are four basic components every business objective should have: 

A growth-oriented intention (improve efficiency)

One or more actions (implement monthly training sessions)

A measurement for success (20% increase)

A timeline to reach success (by end of year)

Our SaaS product's implementation team will grow to five during the next fiscal year. This will require us to submit a budget proposal by the end of the quarter and look into restructured growth tracks, new job posting templates, and revised role descriptions by the start of next fiscal year.

We will increase customer satisfaction for our mobile app product demonstrably by the end of the year by integrating a new AI chatbot feature. To measure the change in customer satisfaction, we will monitor ratings in the app store, specifically looking for decreases in rates of negative reviews by 5%-10%  as well as increases in overall positive reviews by 5%-10%.

Each of our water filtration systems will achieve NSF certification ahead of the launch of our rebranding campaign. Our product team will establish a checklist of changes necessary for meeting certification requirements and communicate timelines to the marketing team.

HR will implement bi-annual performance reviews starting next year. Review timelines will be built into scheduling software, and HR will automate email reminders to managers to communicate to their teams.

Business objective template

Business objectives can be as simple as one action or as complex as a multi-year roadmap—but they should be able to fall into a clear, actionable framework.

Tips for achieving business objectives

Calling your shot to the left centerfield wall and hitting a ball over that wall are two different things—the same goes for setting an objective and actualizing it.

Start with clear, attainable goals: Objectives should position your business to reach broader growth goals, so start by establishing those.

Align decisions with objectives: Once you set objectives, they should inform other decisions. Decision-makers should think about how changes they make along the way affect their objectives' timelines and execution.

Listen to team members at all levels: Those most affected by organizational changes can be the ones with the least say in the matter. Great ideas and insights can come from any level—even if they're only tangentially related to an outcome.

What makes business objectives so useful is that they can help you build a plan with defined steps to reach obtainable growth goals. As (one more time) Yogi Berra also once said, "You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you are going, because you might not get there." 

As you outline your objectives, here are some guides that can help you find KPIs and improvement opportunities:

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Bryce Emley

Currently based in Albuquerque, NM, Bryce Emley holds an MFA in Creative Writing from NC State and nearly a decade of writing and editing experience. His work has been published in magazines including The Atlantic, Boston Review, Salon, and Modern Farmer and has received a regional Emmy and awards from venues including Narrative, Wesleyan University, the Edward F. Albee Foundation, and the Pablo Neruda Prize. When he isn’t writing content, poetry, or creative nonfiction, he enjoys traveling, baking, playing music, reliving his barista days in his own kitchen, camping, and being bad at carpentry.

• Small business
• Sales & business development

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How to Write a Business Plan Goals & Objectives [Sample Template]

By: Author Tony Martins Ajaero

Home » Business Plans

Having answered the “what” and “why” questions about your business, it’s time to answer the “how.” Are you in the process of writing a business plan for your small business? Do you need help writing your business plan goals and objectives? Then below is an in-depth guide on how to write a business plan goals and objectives.

Without a business plan, your business would be like a rudderless ship drifting aimlessly on a vast, stormy sea. A business plan is the compass that guides your business through its journey to growth and success. The most important components of your business plans are your business goals and objectives. Without these, your business plan is simply empty. Well-chosen goals and objectives keep a new business on track.

The business objectives section reveals how you are going to execute your vision and mission and bring them to reality. This is where setting goals and objectives come into play. As a rule of thumb, your business goals and objectives must be SMART. That is, they must be specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-based.

Before we dig deeper into how you can plan your business goals and objectives, let me explain what both terms mean and how they are different. (Many people think both terms can be used interchangeably, but they have different meanings).

What are business goals?

Goals tend to be more qualitative, while objectives are usually quantitative. Also, goals usually revolve around achieving big picture business intentions that are centered around market position, customer service, growth, and company culture among other key things. Goals are the ultimate successes that you plan to achieve after some activity or practice.

For example, one of your business goals could be “to expand your business from small scale to medium scale by the next 5 years.” Business goals outline the destination you are heading for and the time you plan to reach those destinations. Goals also help you improve the overall effectiveness of your business. The more carefully you define them, the more likely you are to achieve them in the long run.

What are business objectives?

Objectives, on the other hand, focus more on practical, day-in day-out metrics that revolve around revenue, number of customers, and product-related metrics. Objectives are specific procedures for achieving a goal. They are the steps that you need to take in order to achieve your desired goals. For instance, if your goal is to expand your business from small scale to medium scale in the next 5 years, you are likely to have the following as your objectives:

• To market your business aggressively in order to attract more customers
• To reward loyal customers as a way of retaining them
• To develop an online marketing strategy
• To research and analyze possible growth opportunities such as acquisitions, mergers, etc.
• To introduce new products and services
• To open more offices in various locations

In short, your objectives specify what steps to take and when you should take them. Now, let’s briefly define the timelines for an entrepreneurial venture. “Short-term” ”means the next 9 – 12 months, while “long-term” means the next 1 – 5 years. With the above in mind, let’s now look at how goals and objectives work together to propel a business to success.

• Goals specify where you want to go, while objectives specify how exactly you will get there.
• While goals can increase your effectiveness, objectives make you even more efficient by showing you how realistic your goals are.
• Goals are defined in words, and they are usually very brief. But objectives are usually more detailed, and they come with numbers and specific dates.

Having well-defined goals and objectives for your business means forming a road map for your company’s future. Without them, you are very likely to make wrong decisions and waste precious resources. After having discussed their importance, let’s now discuss how to develop or outline perfect goals and objectives for your business.

Writing your Business Plan Goals and Objectives

Firstly, when establishing your goals and objectives, try to involve everyone who has roles to play in the achievement of those goals and objectives after you outline them. Secondly, start with as few goals as possible. Anything between 5 and 8 is a good number to start with. If your goals are too many, you may have a hard time accomplishing them. But be sure to outline enough goals that you will need to drive your success. Here’s a checklist for defining your goals and objectives:

• Outline how determined you are to succeed. If your determination isn’t strong enough or you are nursing fears of obstacles ahead, you are less likely to succeed.
• Define whether you are willing to invest your own money and time for no pay and carrying on with this sacrifice for many months, at least.
• Define how many employees your business will have when your efforts start paying off.
• Define what you want your annual revenue to be after one year, five years, ten years, and so on.
• Define what would be your market share in that time frame you have set.
• Define whether your business will concentrate on just one niche or it will offer a wide range of products and services.
• Outline your plans for geographic expansion; local, national, or global.
• Define whether you will be in charge of most tasks or you will delegate most tasks to others.
• Ask yourself if you are comfortable taking direction from others or working with partners or investors who may have some input in the management of the business.
• Define whether your business will remain privately owned or it will go public after some time.

Finally, before incorporating your goals and objectives into your business plan, you must fine-tune them to ensure that they are clear, specific, realistic, and in line with your pattern of business.

• Go to Chapter 8 Part D: Writing a Business Plan Job Description
• Go Back to Chapter 8 Part B: Writing your Business Plan Mission and Vision Statement
• Go Back to Chapter 7: How to Write a Business Plan Executive Summary
• Go Back to Introduction and Table of Content

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How to Write a Business Plan in 9 Steps (+ Template and Examples)

Every successful business has one thing in common, a good and well-executed business plan. A business plan is more than a document, it is a complete guide that outlines the goals your business wants to achieve, including its financial goals . It helps you analyze results, make strategic decisions, show your business operations and growth.

If you want to start a business or already have one and need to pitch it to investors for funding, writing a good business plan improves your chances of attracting financiers. As a startup, if you want to secure loans from financial institutions, part of the requirements involve submitting your business plan.

Writing a business plan does not have to be a complicated or time-consuming process. In this article, you will learn the step-by-step process for writing a successful business plan.

You will also learn what you need a business plan for, tips and strategies for writing a convincing business plan, business plan examples and templates that will save you tons of time, and the alternatives to the traditional business plan.

Let’s get started.

What Do You Need A Business Plan For?

Businesses create business plans for different purposes such as to secure funds, monitor business growth, measure your marketing strategies, and measure your business success.

1. Secure Funds

One of the primary reasons for writing a business plan is to secure funds, either from financial institutions/agencies or investors.

For you to effectively acquire funds, your business plan must contain the key elements of your business plan . For example, your business plan should include your growth plans, goals you want to achieve, and milestones you have recorded.

A business plan can also attract new business partners that are willing to contribute financially and intellectually. If you are writing a business plan to a bank, your project must show your traction , that is, the proof that you can pay back any loan borrowed.

Also, if you are writing to an investor, your plan must contain evidence that you can effectively utilize the funds you want them to invest in your business. Here, you are using your business plan to persuade a group or an individual that your business is a source of a good investment.

2. Monitor Business Growth

A business plan can help you track cash flows in your business. It steers your business to greater heights. A business plan capable of tracking business growth should contain:

• The business goals
• Methods to achieve the goals
• Time-frame for attaining those goals

A good business plan should guide you through every step in achieving your goals. It can also track the allocation of assets to every aspect of the business. You can tell when you are spending more than you should on a project.

You can compare a business plan to a written GPS. It helps you manage your business and hints at the right time to expand your business.

3. Measure Business Success

A business plan can help you measure your business success rate. Some small-scale businesses are thriving better than more prominent companies because of their track record of success.

Right from the onset of your business operation, set goals and work towards them. Write a plan to guide you through your procedures. Use your plan to measure how much you have achieved and how much is left to attain.

You can also weigh your success by monitoring the position of your brand relative to competitors. On the other hand, a business plan can also show you why you have not achieved a goal. It can tell if you have elapsed the time frame you set to attain a goal.

4. Document Your Marketing Strategies

You can use a business plan to document your marketing plans. Every business should have an effective marketing plan.

Competition mandates every business owner to go the extraordinary mile to remain relevant in the market. Your business plan should contain your marketing strategies that work. You can measure the success rate of your marketing plans.

In your business plan, your marketing strategy must answer the questions:

• How do you want to reach your target audience?
• How do you plan to retain your customers?
• What is/are your pricing plans?
• What is your budget for marketing?

How to Write a Business Plan Step-by-Step

1. create your executive summary.

The executive summary is a snapshot of your business or a high-level overview of your business purposes and plans . Although the executive summary is the first section in your business plan, most people write it last. The length of the executive summary is not more than two pages.

Generally, there are nine sections in a business plan, the executive summary should condense essential ideas from the other eight sections.

A good executive summary should do the following:

• A Snapshot of Growth Potential. Briefly inform the reader about your company and why it will be successful)
• Contain your Mission Statement which explains what the main objective or focus of your business is.
• Product Description and Differentiation. Brief description of your products or services and why it is different from other solutions in the market.
• The Team. Basic information about your company’s leadership team and employees
• Business Concept. A solid description of what your business does.
• Target Market. The customers you plan to sell to.
• Marketing Strategy. Your plans on reaching and selling to your customers
• Current Financial State. Brief information about what revenue your business currently generates.
• Projected Financial State. Brief information about what you foresee your business revenue to be in the future.

The executive summary is the make-or-break section of your business plan. If your summary cannot in less than two pages cannot clearly describe how your business will solve a particular problem of your target audience and make a profit, your business plan is set on a faulty foundation.

Avoid using the executive summary to hype your business, instead, focus on helping the reader understand the what and how of your plan.

View the executive summary as an opportunity to introduce your vision for your company. You know your executive summary is powerful when it can answer these key questions:

• Who is your target audience?
• What sector or industry are you in?
• What are your products and services?
• What is the future of your industry?
• Is your company scaleable?
• Who are the owners and leaders of your company? What are their backgrounds and experience levels?
• What is the motivation for starting your company?
• What are the next steps?

Writing the executive summary last although it is the most important section of your business plan is an excellent idea. The reason why is because it is a high-level overview of your business plan. It is the section that determines whether potential investors and lenders will read further or not.

The executive summary can be a stand-alone document that covers everything in your business plan. It is not uncommon for investors to request only the executive summary when evaluating your business. If the information in the executive summary impresses them, they will ask for the complete business plan.

If you are writing your business plan for your planning purposes, you do not need to write the executive summary.

2. Add Your Company Overview

The company overview or description is the next section in your business plan after the executive summary. It describes what your business does.

Adding your company overview can be tricky especially when your business is still in the planning stages. Existing businesses can easily summarize their current operations but may encounter difficulties trying to explain what they plan to become.

Your company overview should contain the following:

• What products and services you will provide
• Geographical markets and locations your company have a presence
• What you need to run your business
• Who your target audience or customers are
• Who will service your customers
• Your company’s purpose, mission, and vision
• Information about your company’s founders
• Who the founders are
• Notable achievements of your company so far

When creating a company overview, you have to focus on three basics: identifying your industry, identifying your customer, and explaining the problem you solve.

If you are stuck when creating your company overview, try to answer some of these questions that pertain to you.

• Who are you targeting? (The answer is not everyone)
• What pain point does your product or service solve for your customers that they will be willing to spend money on resolving?
• How does your product or service overcome that pain point?
• Where is the location of your business?
• What products, equipment, and services do you need to run your business?
• How is your company’s product or service different from your competition in the eyes of your customers?
• How many employees do you need and what skills do you require them to have?

After answering some or all of these questions, you will get more than enough information you need to write your company overview or description section. When writing this section, describe what your company does for your customers.

The company description or overview section contains three elements: mission statement, history, and objectives.

• Mission Statement

The mission statement refers to the reason why your business or company is existing. It goes beyond what you do or sell, it is about the ‘why’. A good mission statement should be emotional and inspirational.

Your mission statement should follow the KISS rule (Keep It Simple, Stupid). For example, Shopify’s mission statement is “Make commerce better for everyone.”

When describing your company’s history, make it simple and avoid the temptation of tying it to a defensive narrative. Write it in the manner you would a profile. Your company’s history should include the following information:

• Founding Date
• Major Milestones
• Location(s)
• Flagship Products or Services
• Number of Employees
• Executive Leadership Roles

When you fill in this information, you use it to write one or two paragraphs about your company’s history.

Business Objectives

Your business objective must be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.) Failure to clearly identify your business objectives does not inspire confidence and makes it hard for your team members to work towards a common purpose.

3. Perform Market and Competitive Analyses to Proof a Big Enough Business Opportunity

The third step in writing a business plan is the market and competitive analysis section. Every business, no matter the size, needs to perform comprehensive market and competitive analyses before it enters into a market.

Performing market and competitive analyses are critical for the success of your business. It helps you avoid entering the right market with the wrong product, or vice versa. Anyone reading your business plans, especially financiers and financial institutions will want to see proof that there is a big enough business opportunity you are targeting.

This section is where you describe the market and industry you want to operate in and show the big opportunities in the market that your business can leverage to make a profit. If you noticed any unique trends when doing your research, show them in this section.

Market analysis alone is not enough, you have to add competitive analysis to strengthen this section. There are already businesses in the industry or market, how do you plan to take a share of the market from them?

You have to clearly illustrate the competitive landscape in your business plan. Are there areas your competitors are doing well? Are there areas where they are not doing so well? Show it.

Make it clear in this section why you are moving into the industry and what weaknesses are present there that you plan to explain. How are your competitors going to react to your market entry? How do you plan to get customers? Do you plan on taking your competitors' competitors, tap into other sources for customers, or both?

Illustrate the competitive landscape as well. What are your competitors doing well and not so well?

Answering these questions and thoughts will aid your market and competitive analysis of the opportunities in your space. Depending on how sophisticated your industry is, or the expectations of your financiers, you may need to carry out a more comprehensive market and competitive analysis to prove that big business opportunity.

Instead of looking at the market and competitive analyses as one entity, separating them will make the research even more comprehensive.

Market Analysis

Market analysis, boarding speaking, refers to research a business carried out on its industry, market, and competitors. It helps businesses gain a good understanding of their target market and the outlook of their industry. Before starting a company, it is vital to carry out market research to find out if the market is viable.

The market analysis section is a key part of the business plan. It is the section where you identify who your best clients or customers are. You cannot omit this section, without it your business plan is incomplete.

A good market analysis will tell your readers how you fit into the existing market and what makes you stand out. This section requires in-depth research, it will probably be the most time-consuming part of the business plan to write.

• Market Research

To create a compelling market analysis that will win over investors and financial institutions, you have to carry out thorough market research . Your market research should be targeted at your primary target market for your products or services. Here is what you want to find out about your target market.

• Your target market’s needs or pain points
• The existing solutions for their pain points
• Geographic Location
• Demographics

The purpose of carrying out a marketing analysis is to get all the information you need to show that you have a solid and thorough understanding of your target audience.

Only after you have fully understood the people you plan to sell your products or services to, can you evaluate correctly if your target market will be interested in your products or services.

You can easily convince interested parties to invest in your business if you can show them you thoroughly understand the market and show them that there is a market for your products or services.

How to Quantify Your Target Market

One of the goals of your marketing research is to understand who your ideal customers are and their purchasing power. To quantify your target market, you have to determine the following:

• Your Potential Customers: They are the people you plan to target. For example, if you sell accounting software for small businesses , then anyone who runs an enterprise or large business is unlikely to be your customers. Also, individuals who do not have a business will most likely not be interested in your product.
• Total Households: If you are selling household products such as heating and air conditioning systems, determining the number of total households is more important than finding out the total population in the area you want to sell to. The logic is simple, people buy the product but it is the household that uses it.
• Median Income: You need to know the median income of your target market. If you target a market that cannot afford to buy your products and services, your business will not last long.
• Income by Demographics: If your potential customers belong to a certain age group or gender, determining income levels by demographics is necessary. For example, if you sell men's clothes, your target audience is men.

What Does a Good Market Analysis Entail?

Your business does not exist on its own, it can only flourish within an industry and alongside competitors. Market analysis takes into consideration your industry, target market, and competitors. Understanding these three entities will drastically improve your company’s chances of success.

You can view your market analysis as an examination of the market you want to break into and an education on the emerging trends and themes in that market. Good market analyses include the following:

• Industry Description. You find out about the history of your industry, the current and future market size, and who the largest players/companies are in your industry.
• Overview of Target Market. You research your target market and its characteristics. Who are you targeting? Note, it cannot be everyone, it has to be a specific group. You also have to find out all information possible about your customers that can help you understand how and why they make buying decisions.
• Size of Target Market: You need to know the size of your target market, how frequently they buy, and the expected quantity they buy so you do not risk overproducing and having lots of bad inventory. Researching the size of your target market will help you determine if it is big enough for sustained business or not.
• Growth Potential: Before picking a target market, you want to be sure there are lots of potential for future growth. You want to avoid going for an industry that is declining slowly or rapidly with almost zero growth potential.
• Market Share Potential: Does your business stand a good chance of taking a good share of the market?
• Market Pricing and Promotional Strategies: Your market analysis should give you an idea of the price point you can expect to charge for your products and services. Researching your target market will also give you ideas of pricing strategies you can implement to break into the market or to enjoy maximum profits.
• Potential Barriers to Entry: One of the biggest benefits of conducting market analysis is that it shows you every potential barrier to entry your business will likely encounter. It is a good idea to discuss potential barriers to entry such as changing technology. It informs readers of your business plan that you understand the market.
• Research on Competitors: You need to know the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors and how you can exploit them for the benefit of your business. Find patterns and trends among your competitors that make them successful, discover what works and what doesn’t, and see what you can do better.

The market analysis section is not just for talking about your target market, industry, and competitors. You also have to explain how your company can fill the hole you have identified in the market.

Here are some questions you can answer that can help you position your product or service in a positive light to your readers.

• Is your product or service of superior quality?
• What additional features do you offer that your competitors do not offer?
• Are you targeting a ‘new’ market?

Basically, your market analysis should include an analysis of what already exists in the market and an explanation of how your company fits into the market.

Competitive Analysis

In the competitive analysis section, y ou have to understand who your direct and indirect competitions are, and how successful they are in the marketplace. It is the section where you assess the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors, the advantage(s) they possess in the market and show the unique features or qualities that make you different from your competitors.

Many businesses do market analysis and competitive analysis together. However, to fully understand what the competitive analysis entails, it is essential to separate it from the market analysis.

Competitive analysis for your business can also include analysis on how to overcome barriers to entry in your target market.

The primary goal of conducting a competitive analysis is to distinguish your business from your competitors. A strong competitive analysis is essential if you want to convince potential funding sources to invest in your business. You have to show potential investors and lenders that your business has what it takes to compete in the marketplace successfully.

Competitive analysis will s how you what the strengths of your competition are and what they are doing to maintain that advantage.

When doing your competitive research, you first have to identify your competitor and then get all the information you can about them. The idea of spending time to identify your competitor and learn everything about them may seem daunting but it is well worth it.

Find answers to the following questions after you have identified who your competitors are.

• What are your successful competitors doing?
• Why is what they are doing working?
• Can your business do it better?
• What are the weaknesses of your successful competitors?
• What are they not doing well?
• Can your business turn its weaknesses into strengths?
• How good is your competitors’ customer service?
• Where do your competitors invest in advertising?
• What sales and pricing strategies are they using?
• What marketing strategies are they using?
• What kind of press coverage do they get?
• What are their customers saying about your competitors (both the positive and negative)?

If your competitors have a website, it is a good idea to visit their websites for more competitors’ research. Check their “About Us” page for more information.

If you are presenting your business plan to investors, you need to clearly distinguish yourself from your competitors. Investors can easily tell when you have not properly researched your competitors.

Take time to think about what unique qualities or features set you apart from your competitors. If you do not have any direct competition offering your product to the market, it does not mean you leave out the competitor analysis section blank. Instead research on other companies that are providing a similar product, or whose product is solving the problem your product solves.

The next step is to create a table listing the top competitors you want to include in your business plan. Ensure you list your business as the last and on the right. What you just created is known as the competitor analysis table.

Direct vs Indirect Competition

You cannot know if your product or service will be a fit for your target market if you have not understood your business and the competitive landscape.

There is no market you want to target where you will not encounter competition, even if your product is innovative. Including competitive analysis in your business plan is essential.

If you are entering an established market, you need to explain how you plan to differentiate your products from the available options in the market. Also, include a list of few companies that you view as your direct competitors The competition you face in an established market is your direct competition.

In situations where you are entering a market with no direct competition, it does not mean there is no competition there. Consider your indirect competition that offers substitutes for the products or services you offer.

For example, if you sell an innovative SaaS product, let us say a project management software , a company offering time management software is your indirect competition.

There is an easy way to find out who your indirect competitors are in the absence of no direct competitors. You simply have to research how your potential customers are solving the problems that your product or service seeks to solve. That is your direct competition.

Factors that Differentiate Your Business from the Competition

There are three main factors that any business can use to differentiate itself from its competition. They are cost leadership, product differentiation, and market segmentation.

1. Cost Leadership

A strategy you can impose to maximize your profits and gain an edge over your competitors. It involves offering lower prices than what the majority of your competitors are offering.

A common practice among businesses looking to enter into a market where there are dominant players is to use free trials or pricing to attract as many customers as possible to their offer.

2. Product Differentiation

Your product or service should have a unique selling proposition (USP) that your competitors do not have or do not stress in their marketing.

Part of the marketing strategy should involve making your products unique and different from your competitors. It does not have to be different from your competitors, it can be the addition to a feature or benefit that your competitors do not currently have.

3. Market Segmentation

As a new business seeking to break into an industry, you will gain more success from focusing on a specific niche or target market, and not the whole industry.

If your competitors are focused on a general need or target market, you can differentiate yourself from them by having a small and hyper-targeted audience. For example, if your competitors are selling men’s clothes in their online stores , you can sell hoodies for men.

4. Define Your Business and Management Structure

The next step in your business plan is your business and management structure. It is the section where you describe the legal structure of your business and the team running it.

Your business is only as good as the management team that runs it, while the management team can only strive when there is a proper business and management structure in place.

If your company is a sole proprietor or a limited liability company (LLC), a general or limited partnership, or a C or an S corporation, state it clearly in this section.

Use an organizational chart to show the management structure in your business. Clearly show who is in charge of what area in your company. It is where you show how each key manager or team leader’s unique experience can contribute immensely to the success of your company. You can also opt to add the resumes and CVs of the key players in your company.

The business and management structure section should show who the owner is, and other owners of the businesses (if the business has other owners). For businesses or companies with multiple owners, include the percent ownership of the various owners and clearly show the extent of each others’ involvement in the company.

Investors want to know who is behind the company and the team running it to determine if it has the right management to achieve its set goals.

Management Team

The management team section is where you show that you have the right team in place to successfully execute the business operations and ideas. Take time to create the management structure for your business. Think about all the important roles and responsibilities that you need managers for to grow your business.

Include brief bios of each key team member and ensure you highlight only the relevant information that is needed. If your team members have background industry experience or have held top positions for other companies and achieved success while filling that role, highlight it in this section.

A common mistake that many startups make is assigning C-level titles such as (CMO and CEO) to everyone on their team. It is unrealistic for a small business to have those titles. While it may look good on paper for the ego of your team members, it can prevent investors from investing in your business.

Instead of building an unrealistic management structure that does not fit your business reality, it is best to allow business titles to grow as the business grows. Starting everyone at the top leaves no room for future change or growth, which is bad for productivity.

Your management team does not have to be complete before you start writing your business plan. You can have a complete business plan even when there are managerial positions that are empty and need filling.

If you have management gaps in your team, simply show the gaps and indicate you are searching for the right candidates for the role(s). Investors do not expect you to have a full management team when you are just starting your business.

Key Questions to Answer When Structuring Your Management Team

• Who are the key leaders?
• What experiences, skills, and educational backgrounds do you expect your key leaders to have?
• Do your key leaders have industry experience?
• What positions will they fill and what duties will they perform in those positions?
• What level of authority do the key leaders have and what are their responsibilities?
• What is the salary for the various management positions that will attract the ideal candidates?

Additional Tips for Writing the Management Structure Section

1. Avoid Adding ‘Ghost’ Names to Your Management Team

There is always that temptation to include a ‘ghost’ name to your management team to attract and influence investors to invest in your business. Although the presence of these celebrity management team members may attract the attention of investors, it can cause your business to lose any credibility if you get found out.

Seasoned investors will investigate further the members of your management team before committing fully to your business If they find out that the celebrity name used does not play any actual role in your business, they will not invest and may write you off as dishonest.

2. Focus on Credentials But Pay Extra Attention to the Roles

Investors want to know the experience that your key team members have to determine if they can successfully reach the company’s growth and financial goals.

While it is an excellent boost for your key management team to have the right credentials, you also want to pay extra attention to the roles they will play in your company.

Organizational Chart

Adding an organizational chart in this section of your business plan is not necessary, you can do it in your business plan’s appendix.

If you are exploring funding options, it is not uncommon to get asked for your organizational chart. The function of an organizational chart goes beyond raising money, you can also use it as a useful planning tool for your business.

An organizational chart can help you identify how best to structure your management team for maximum productivity and point you towards key roles you need to fill in the future.

You can use the organizational chart to show your company’s internal management structure such as the roles and responsibilities of your management team, and relationships that exist between them.

5. Describe Your Product and Service Offering

In your business plan, you have to describe what you sell or the service you plan to offer. It is the next step after defining your business and management structure. The products and services section is where you sell the benefits of your business.

Here you have to explain how your product or service will benefit your customers and describe your product lifecycle. It is also the section where you write down your plans for intellectual property like patent filings and copyrighting.

The research and development that you are undertaking for your product or service need to be explained in detail in this section. However, do not get too technical, sell the general idea and its benefits.

If you have any diagrams or intricate designs of your product or service, do not include them in the products and services section. Instead, leave them for the addendum page. Also, if you are leaving out diagrams or designs for the addendum, ensure you add this phrase “For more detail, visit the addendum Page #.”

Your product and service section in your business plan should include the following:

• A detailed explanation that clearly shows how your product or service works.
• The pricing model for your product or service.
• Your business’ sales and distribution strategy.
• The ideal customers that want your product or service.
• The benefits of your products and services.
• Reason(s) why your product or service is a better alternative to what your competitors are currently offering in the market.
• Plans for filling the orders you receive
• If you have current or pending patents, copyrights, and trademarks for your product or service, you can also discuss them in this section.

What to Focus On When Describing the Benefits, Lifecycle, and Production Process of Your Products or Services

In the products and services section, you have to distill the benefits, lifecycle, and production process of your products and services.

When describing the benefits of your products or services, here are some key factors to focus on.

• Unique features
• Translating the unique features into benefits
• The emotional, psychological, and practical payoffs to attract customers
• Intellectual property rights or any patents

When describing the product life cycle of your products or services, here are some key factors to focus on.

• Upsells, cross-sells, and down-sells
• Time between purchases
• Plans for research and development.

When describing the production process for your products or services, you need to think about the following:

• The creation of new or existing products and services.
• The sources for the raw materials or components you need for production.
• Assembling the products
• Maintaining quality control
• Supply-chain logistics (receiving the raw materials and delivering the finished products)
• The day-to-day management of the production processes, bookkeeping, and inventory.

Tips for Writing the Products or Services Section of Your Business Plan

1. Avoid Technical Descriptions and Industry Buzzwords

The products and services section of your business plan should clearly describe the products and services that your company provides. However, it is not a section to include technical jargons that anyone outside your industry will not understand.

A good practice is to remove highly detailed or technical descriptions in favor of simple terms. Industry buzzwords are not necessary, if there are simpler terms you can use, then use them. If you plan to use your business plan to source funds, making the product or service section so technical will do you no favors.

2. Describe How Your Products or Services Differ from Your Competitors

When potential investors look at your business plan, they want to know how the products and services you are offering differ from that of your competition. Differentiating your products or services from your competition in a way that makes your solution more attractive is critical.

If you are going the innovative path and there is no market currently for your product or service, you need to describe in this section why the market needs your product or service.

For example, overnight delivery was a niche business that only a few companies were participating in. Federal Express (FedEx) had to show in its business plan that there was a large opportunity for that service and they justified why the market needed that service.

3. Long or Short Products or Services Section

Should your products or services section be short? Does the long products or services section attract more investors?

There are no straightforward answers to these questions. Whether your products or services section should be long or relatively short depends on the nature of your business.

If your business is product-focused, then automatically you need to use more space to describe the details of your products. However, if the product your business sells is a commodity item that relies on competitive pricing or other pricing strategies, you do not have to use up so much space to provide significant details about the product.

Likewise, if you are selling a commodity that is available in numerous outlets, then you do not have to spend time on writing a long products or services section.

The key to the success of your business is most likely the effectiveness of your marketing strategies compared to your competitors. Use more space to address that section.

If you are creating a new product or service that the market does not know about, your products or services section can be lengthy. The reason why is because you need to explain everything about the product or service such as the nature of the product, its use case, and values.

A short products or services section for an innovative product or service will not give the readers enough information to properly evaluate your business.

4. Describe Your Relationships with Vendors or Suppliers

Your business will rely on vendors or suppliers to supply raw materials or the components needed to make your products. In your products and services section, describe your relationships with your vendors and suppliers fully.

Avoid the mistake of relying on only one supplier or vendor. If that supplier or vendor fails to supply or goes out of business, you can easily face supply problems and struggle to meet your demands. Plan to set up multiple vendor or supplier relationships for better business stability.

5. Your Primary Goal Is to Convince Your Readers

The primary goal of your business plan is to convince your readers that your business is viable and to create a guide for your business to follow. It applies to the products and services section.

When drafting this section, think like the reader. See your reader as someone who has no idea about your products and services. You are using the products and services section to provide the needed information to help your reader understand your products and services. As a result, you have to be clear and to the point.

While you want to educate your readers about your products or services, you also do not want to bore them with lots of technical details. Show your products and services and not your fancy choice of words.

Your products and services section should provide the answer to the “what” question for your business. You and your management team may run the business, but it is your products and services that are the lifeblood of the business.

Key Questions to Answer When Writing your Products and Services Section

Answering these questions can help you write your products and services section quickly and in a way that will appeal to your readers.

• Are your products existing on the market or are they still in the development stage?
• What is your timeline for adding new products and services to the market?
• What are the positives that make your products and services different from your competitors?
• Do your products and services have any competitive advantage that your competitors’ products and services do not currently have?
• Do your products or services have any competitive disadvantages that you need to overcome to compete with your competitors? If your answer is yes, state how you plan to overcome them,
• How much does it cost to produce your products or services? How much do you plan to sell it for?
• What is the price for your products and services compared to your competitors? Is pricing an issue?
• What are your operating costs and will it be low enough for you to compete with your competitors and still take home a reasonable profit margin?
• What is your plan for acquiring your products? Are you involved in the production of your products or services?
• Are you the manufacturer and produce all the components you need to create your products? Do you assemble your products by using components supplied by other manufacturers? Do you purchase your products directly from suppliers or wholesalers?
• Do you have a steady supply of products that you need to start your business? (If your business is yet to kick-off)
• How do you plan to distribute your products or services to the market?

You can also hint at the marketing or promotion plans you have for your products or services such as how you plan to build awareness or retain customers. The next section is where you can go fully into details about your business’s marketing and sales plan.

6. Show and Explain Your Marketing and Sales Plan

Providing great products and services is wonderful, but it means nothing if you do not have a marketing and sales plan to inform your customers about them. Your marketing and sales plan is critical to the success of your business.

The sales and marketing section is where you show and offer a detailed explanation of your marketing and sales plan and how you plan to execute it. It covers your pricing plan, proposed advertising and promotion activities, activities and partnerships you need to make your business a success, and the benefits of your products and services.

There are several ways you can approach your marketing and sales strategy. Ideally, your marketing and sales strategy has to fit the unique needs of your business.

In this section, you describe how the plans your business has for attracting and retaining customers, and the exact process for making a sale happen. It is essential to thoroughly describe your complete marketing and sales plans because you are still going to reference this section when you are making financial projections for your business.

Outline Your Business’ Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

The sales and marketing section is where you outline your business’s unique selling proposition (USP). When you are developing your unique selling proposition, think about the strongest reasons why people should buy from you over your competition. That reason(s) is most likely a good fit to serve as your unique selling proposition (USP).

Target Market and Target Audience

Plans on how to get your products or services to your target market and how to get your target audience to buy them go into this section. You also highlight the strengths of your business here, particularly what sets them apart from your competition.

Before you start writing your marketing and sales plan, you need to have properly defined your target audience and fleshed out your buyer persona. If you do not first understand the individual you are marketing to, your marketing and sales plan will lack any substance and easily fall.

Creating a Smart Marketing and Sales Plan

Marketing your products and services is an investment that requires you to spend money. Like any other investment, you have to generate a good return on investment (ROI) to justify using that marketing and sales plan. Good marketing and sales plans bring in high sales and profits to your company.

Avoid spending money on unproductive marketing channels. Do your research and find out the best marketing and sales plan that works best for your company.

Your marketing and sales plan can be broken into different parts: your positioning statement, pricing, promotion, packaging, advertising, public relations, content marketing, social media, and strategic alliances.

Your Positioning Statement

Your positioning statement is the first part of your marketing and sales plan. It refers to the way you present your company to your customers.

Are you the premium solution, the low-price solution, or are you the intermediary between the two extremes in the market? What do you offer that your competitors do not that can give you leverage in the market?

Before you start writing your positioning statement, you need to spend some time evaluating the current market conditions. Here are some questions that can help you to evaluate the market

• What are the unique features or benefits that you offer that your competitors lack?
• What are your customers’ primary needs and wants?
• Why should a customer choose you over your competition? How do you plan to differentiate yourself from the competition?
• How does your company’s solution compare with other solutions in the market?

After answering these questions, then you can start writing your positioning statement. Your positioning statement does not have to be in-depth or too long.

All you need to explain with your positioning statement are two focus areas. The first is the position of your company within the competitive landscape. The other focus area is the core value proposition that sets your company apart from other alternatives that your ideal customer might consider.

Here is a simple template you can use to develop a positioning statement.

For [description of target market] who [need of target market], [product or service] [how it meets the need]. Unlike [top competition], it [most essential distinguishing feature].

For example, let’s create the positioning statement for fictional accounting software and QuickBooks alternative , TBooks.

“For small business owners who need accounting services, TBooks is an accounting software that helps small businesses handle their small business bookkeeping basics quickly and easily. Unlike Wave, TBooks gives small businesses access to live sessions with top accountants.”

You can edit this positioning statement sample and fill it with your business details.

After writing your positioning statement, the next step is the pricing of your offerings. The overall positioning strategy you set in your positioning statement will often determine how you price your products or services.

Pricing is a powerful tool that sends a strong message to your customers. Failure to get your pricing strategy right can make or mar your business. If you are targeting a low-income audience, setting a premium price can result in low sales.

You can use pricing to communicate your positioning to your customers. For example, if you are offering a product at a premium price, you are sending a message to your customers that the product belongs to the premium category.

Basic Rules to Follow When Pricing Your Offering

Setting a price for your offering involves more than just putting a price tag on it. Deciding on the right pricing for your offering requires following some basic rules. They include covering your costs, primary and secondary profit center pricing, and matching the market rate.

• Covering Your Costs: The price you set for your products or service should be more than it costs you to produce and deliver them. Every business has the same goal, to make a profit. Depending on the strategy you want to use, there are exceptions to this rule. However, the vast majority of businesses follow this rule.
• Primary and Secondary Profit Center Pricing: When a company sets its price above the cost of production, it is making that product its primary profit center. A company can also decide not to make its initial price its primary profit center by selling below or at even with its production cost. It rather depends on the support product or even maintenance that is associated with the initial purchase to make its profit. The initial price thus became its secondary profit center.
• Matching the Market Rate: A good rule to follow when pricing your products or services is to match your pricing with consumer demand and expectations. If you price your products or services beyond the price your customer perceives as the ideal price range, you may end up with no customers. Pricing your products too low below what your customer perceives as the ideal price range may lead to them undervaluing your offering.

Pricing Strategy

Your pricing strategy influences the price of your offering. There are several pricing strategies available for you to choose from when examining the right pricing strategy for your business. They include cost-plus pricing, market-based pricing, value pricing, and more.

• Cost-plus Pricing: This strategy is one of the simplest and oldest pricing strategies. Here you consider the cost of producing a unit of your product and then add a profit to it to arrive at your market price. It is an effective pricing strategy for manufacturers because it helps them cover their initial costs. Another name for the cost-plus pricing strategy is the markup pricing strategy.
• Market-based Pricing: This pricing strategy analyses the market including competitors’ pricing and then sets a price based on what the market is expecting. With this pricing strategy, you can either set your price at the low-end or high-end of the market.
• Value Pricing: This pricing strategy involves setting a price based on the value you are providing to your customer. When adopting a value-based pricing strategy, you have to set a price that your customers are willing to pay. Service-based businesses such as small business insurance providers , luxury goods sellers, and the fashion industry use this pricing strategy.

After carefully sorting out your positioning statement and pricing, the next item to look at is your promotional strategy. Your promotional strategy explains how you plan on communicating with your customers and prospects.

As a business, you must measure all your costs, including the cost of your promotions. You also want to measure how much sales your promotions bring for your business to determine its usefulness. Promotional strategies or programs that do not lead to profit need to be removed.

There are different types of promotional strategies you can adopt for your business, they include advertising, public relations, and content marketing.

Advertising

Your business plan should include your advertising plan which can be found in the marketing and sales plan section. You need to include an overview of your advertising plans such as the areas you plan to spend money on to advertise your business and offers.

Ensure that you make it clear in this section if your business will be advertising online or using the more traditional offline media, or the combination of both online and offline media. You can also include the advertising medium you want to use to raise awareness about your business and offers.

Some common online advertising mediums you can use include social media ads, landing pages, sales pages, SEO, Pay-Per-Click, emails, Google Ads, and others. Some common traditional and offline advertising mediums include word of mouth, radios, direct mail, televisions, flyers, billboards, posters, and others.

A key component of your advertising strategy is how you plan to measure the effectiveness and success of your advertising campaign. There is no point in sticking with an advertising plan or medium that does not produce results for your business in the long run.

Public Relations

A great way to reach your customers is to get the media to cover your business or product. Publicity, especially good ones, should be a part of your marketing and sales plan. In this section, show your plans for getting prominent reviews of your product from reputable publications and sources.

Your business needs that exposure to grow. If public relations is a crucial part of your promotional strategy, provide details about your public relations plan here.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a popular promotional strategy used by businesses to inform and attract their customers. It is about teaching and educating your prospects on various topics of interest in your niche, it does not just involve informing them about the benefits and features of the products and services you have,

Businesses publish content usually for free where they provide useful information, tips, and advice so that their target market can be made aware of the importance of their products and services. Content marketing strategies seek to nurture prospects into buyers over time by simply providing value.

Your company can create a blog where it will be publishing content for its target market. You will need to use the best website builder such as Wix and Squarespace and the best web hosting services such as Bluehost, Hostinger, and other Bluehost alternatives to create a functional blog or website.

If content marketing is a crucial part of your promotional strategy (as it should be), detail your plans under promotions.

Including high-quality images of the packaging of your product in your business plan is a lovely idea. You can add the images of the packaging of that product in the marketing and sales plan section. If you are not selling a product, then you do not need to include any worry about the physical packaging of your product.

When organizing the packaging section of your business plan, you can answer the following questions to make maximum use of this section.

• Is your choice of packaging consistent with your positioning strategy?
• What key value proposition does your packaging communicate? (It should reflect the key value proposition of your business)
• How does your packaging compare to that of your competitors?

Social Media

Your 21st-century business needs to have a good social media presence. Not having one is leaving out opportunities for growth and reaching out to your prospect.

You do not have to join the thousands of social media platforms out there. What you need to do is join the ones that your customers are active on and be active there.

Businesses use social media to provide information about their products such as promotions, discounts, the benefits of their products, and content on their blogs.

Social media is also a platform for engaging with your customers and getting feedback about your products or services. Make no mistake, more and more of your prospects are using social media channels to find more information about companies.

You need to consider the social media channels you want to prioritize your business (prioritize the ones your customers are active in) and your branding plans in this section.

Strategic Alliances

If your company plans to work closely with other companies as part of your sales and marketing plan, include it in this section. Prove details about those partnerships in your business plan if you have already established them.

Strategic alliances can be beneficial for all parties involved including your company. Working closely with another company in the form of a partnership can provide access to a different target market segment for your company.

The company you are partnering with may also gain access to your target market or simply offer a new product or service (that of your company) to its customers.

Mutually beneficial partnerships can cover the weaknesses of one company with the strength of another. You should consider strategic alliances with companies that sell complimentary products to yours. For example, if you provide printers, you can partner with a company that produces ink since the customers that buy printers from you will also need inks for printing.

Steps Involved in Creating a Marketing and Sales Plan

1. Focus on Your Target Market

Identify who your customers are, the market you want to target. Then determine the best ways to get your products or services to your potential customers.

2. Evaluate Your Competition

One of the goals of having a marketing plan is to distinguish yourself from your competition. You cannot stand out from them without first knowing them in and out.

You can know your competitors by gathering information about their products, pricing, service, and advertising campaigns.

These questions can help you know your competition.

• What makes your competition successful?
• What are their weaknesses?
• What are customers saying about your competition?

3. Consider Your Brand

Customers' perception of your brand has a strong impact on your sales. Your marketing and sales plan should seek to bolster the image of your brand. Before you start marketing your business, think about the message you want to pass across about your business and your products and services.

4. Focus on Benefits

The majority of your customers do not view your product in terms of features, what they want to know is the benefits and solutions your product offers. Think about the problems your product solves and the benefits it delivers, and use it to create the right sales and marketing message.

Your marketing plan should focus on what you want your customer to get instead of what you provide. Identify those benefits in your marketing and sales plan.

5. Focus on Differentiation

Your marketing and sales plan should look for a unique angle they can take that differentiates your business from the competition, even if the products offered are similar. Some good areas of differentiation you can use are your benefits, pricing, and features.

Key Questions to Answer When Writing Your Marketing and Sales Plan

• What is your company’s budget for sales and marketing campaigns?
• What key metrics will you use to determine if your marketing plans are successful?
• What are your alternatives if your initial marketing efforts do not succeed?
• Who are the sales representatives you need to promote your products or services?
• What are the marketing and sales channels you plan to use? How do you plan to get your products in front of your ideal customers?
• Where will you sell your products?

You may want to include samples of marketing materials you plan to use such as print ads, website descriptions, and social media ads. While it is not compulsory to include these samples, it can help you better communicate your marketing and sales plan and objectives.

The purpose of the marketing and sales section is to answer this question “How will you reach your customers?” If you cannot convincingly provide an answer to this question, you need to rework your marketing and sales section.

7. Clearly Show Your Funding Request

If you are writing your business plan to ask for funding from investors or financial institutions, the funding request section is where you will outline your funding requirements. The funding request section should answer the question ‘How much money will your business need in the near future (3 to 5 years)?’

A good funding request section will clearly outline and explain the amount of funding your business needs over the next five years. You need to know the amount of money your business needs to make an accurate funding request.

Also, when writing your funding request, provide details of how the funds will be used over the period. Specify if you want to use the funds to buy raw materials or machinery, pay salaries, pay for advertisements, and cover specific bills such as rent and electricity.

In addition to explaining what you want to use the funds requested for, you need to clearly state the projected return on investment (ROI) . Investors and creditors want to know if your business can generate profit for them if they put funds into it.

Ensure you do not inflate the figures and stay as realistic as possible. Investors and financial institutions you are seeking funds from will do their research before investing money in your business.

If you are not sure of an exact number to request from, you can use some range of numbers as rough estimates. Add a best-case scenario and a work-case scenario to your funding request. Also, include a description of your strategic future financial plans such as selling your business or paying off debts.

Funding Request: Debt or Equity?

When making your funding request, specify the type of funding you want. Do you want debt or equity? Draw out the terms that will be applicable for the funding, and the length of time the funding request will cover.

Case for Equity

If your new business has not yet started generating profits, you are most likely preparing to sell equity in your business to raise capital at the early stage. Equity here refers to ownership. In this case, you are selling a portion of your company to raise capital.

Although this method of raising capital for your business does not put your business in debt, keep in mind that an equity owner may expect to play a key role in company decisions even if he does not hold a major stake in the company.

Most equity sales for startups are usually private transactions . If you are making a funding request by offering equity in exchange for funding, let the investor know that they will be paid a dividend (a share of the company’s profit). Also, let the investor know the process for selling their equity in your business.

Case for Debt

You may decide not to offer equity in exchange for funds, instead, you make a funding request with the promise to pay back the money borrowed at the agreed time frame.

When making a funding request with an agreement to pay back, note that you will have to repay your creditors both the principal amount borrowed and the interest on it. Financial institutions offer this type of funding for businesses.

Large companies combine both equity and debt in their capital structure. When drafting your business plan, decide if you want to offer both or one over the other.

Before you sell equity in exchange for funding in your business, consider if you are willing to accept not being in total control of your business. Also, before you seek loans in your funding request section, ensure that the terms of repayment are favorable.

You should set a clear timeline in your funding request so that potential investors and creditors can know what you are expecting. Some investors and creditors may agree to your funding request and then delay payment for longer than 30 days, meanwhile, your business needs an immediate cash injection to operate efficiently.

Additional Tips for Writing the Funding Request Section of your Business Plan

The funding request section is not necessary for every business, it is only needed by businesses who plan to use their business plan to secure funding.

If you are adding the funding request section to your business plan, provide an itemized summary of how you plan to use the funds requested. Hiring a lawyer, accountant, or other professionals may be necessary for the proper development of this section.

You should also gather and use financial statements that add credibility and support to your funding requests. Ensure that the financial statements you use should include your projected financial data such as projected cash flows, forecast statements, and expenditure budgets.

If you are an existing business, include all historical financial statements such as cash flow statements, balance sheets and income statements .

Provide monthly and quarterly financial statements for a year. If your business has records that date back beyond the one-year mark, add the yearly statements of those years. These documents are for the appendix section of your business plan.

8. Detail Your Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projections

If you used the funding request section in your business plan, supplement it with a financial plan, metrics, and projections. This section paints a picture of the past performance of your business and then goes ahead to make an informed projection about its future.

The goal of this section is to convince readers that your business is going to be a financial success. It outlines your business plan to generate enough profit to repay the loan (with interest if applicable) and to generate a decent return on investment for investors.

If you have an existing business already in operation, use this section to demonstrate stability through finance. This section should include your cash flow statements, balance sheets, and income statements covering the last three to five years. If your business has some acceptable collateral that you can use to acquire loans, list it in the financial plan, metrics, and projection section.

Apart from current financial statements, this section should also contain a prospective financial outlook that spans the next five years. Include forecasted income statements, cash flow statements, balance sheets, and capital expenditure budget.

If your business is new and is not yet generating profit, use clear and realistic projections to show the potentials of your business.

When drafting this section, research industry norms and the performance of comparable businesses. Your financial projections should cover at least five years. State the logic behind your financial projections. Remember you can always make adjustments to this section as the variables change.

The financial plan, metrics, and projection section create a baseline which your business can either exceed or fail to reach. If your business fails to reach your projections in this section, you need to understand why it failed.

Investors and loan managers spend a lot of time going through the financial plan, metrics, and projection section compared to other parts of the business plan. Ensure you spend time creating credible financial analyses for your business in this section.

Many entrepreneurs find this section daunting to write. You do not need a business degree to create a solid financial forecast for your business. Business finances, especially for startups, are not as complicated as they seem. There are several online tools and templates that make writing this section so much easier.

Use Graphs and Charts

The financial plan, metrics, and projection section is a great place to use graphs and charts to tell the financial story of your business. Charts and images make it easier to communicate your finances.

Accuracy in this section is key, ensure you carefully analyze your past financial statements properly before making financial projects.

Address the Risk Factors and Show Realistic Financial Projections

Keep your financial plan, metrics, and projection realistic. It is okay to be optimistic in your financial projection, however, you have to justify it.

You should also address the various risk factors associated with your business in this section. Investors want to know the potential risks involved, show them. You should also show your plans for mitigating those risks.

What You Should In The Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projection Section of Your Business Plan

The financial plan, metrics, and projection section of your business plan should have monthly sales and revenue forecasts for the first year. It should also include annual projections that cover 3 to 5 years.

A three-year projection is a basic requirement to have in your business plan. However, some investors may request a five-year forecast.

Your business plan should include the following financial statements: sales forecast, personnel plan, income statement, income statement, cash flow statement, balance sheet, and an exit strategy.

1. Sales Forecast

Sales forecast refers to your projections about the number of sales your business is going to record over the next few years. It is typically broken into several rows, with each row assigned to a core product or service that your business is offering.

One common mistake people make in their business plan is to break down the sales forecast section into long details. A sales forecast should forecast the high-level details.

For example, if you are forecasting sales for a payroll software provider, you could break down your forecast into target market segments or subscription categories.

Your sales forecast section should also have a corresponding row for each sales row to cover the direct cost or Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). The objective of these rows is to show the expenses that your business incurs in making and delivering your product or service.

Note that your Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) should only cover those direct costs incurred when making your products. Other indirect expenses such as insurance, salaries, payroll tax, and rent should not be included.

For example, the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) for a restaurant is the cost of ingredients while for a consulting company it will be the cost of paper and other presentation materials.

2. Personnel Plan

The personnel plan section is where you provide details about the payment plan for your employees. For a small business, you can easily list every position in your company and how much you plan to pay in the personnel plan.

However, for larger businesses, you have to break the personnel plan into functional groups such as sales and marketing.

The personnel plan will also include the cost of an employee beyond salary, commonly referred to as the employee burden. These costs include insurance, payroll taxes , and other essential costs incurred monthly as a result of having employees on your payroll.

3. Income Statement

The income statement section shows if your business is making a profit or taking a loss. Another name for the income statement is the profit and loss (P&L). It takes data from your sales forecast and personnel plan and adds other ongoing expenses you incur while running your business.

Every business plan should have an income statement. It subtracts your business expenses from its earnings to show if your business is generating profit or incurring losses.

The income statement has the following items: sales, Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), gross margin, operating expenses, total operating expenses, operating income , total expenses, and net profit.

• Sales refer to the revenue your business generates from selling its products or services. Other names for sales are income or revenue.
• Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) refers to the total cost of selling your products. Other names for COGS are direct costs or cost of sales. Manufacturing businesses use the Costs of Goods Manufactured (COGM) .
• Gross Margin is the figure you get when you subtract your COGS from your sales. In your income statement, you can express it as a percentage of total sales (Gross margin / Sales = Gross Margin Percent).
• Operating Expenses refer to all the expenses you incur from running your business. It exempts the COGS because it stands alone as a core part of your income statement. You also have to exclude taxes, depreciation, and amortization. Your operating expenses include salaries, marketing expenses, research and development (R&D) expenses, and other expenses.
• Total Operating Expenses refers to the sum of all your operating expenses including those exemptions named above under operating expenses.
• Operating Income refers to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. It is simply known as the acronym EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization). Calculating your operating income is simple, all you need to do is to subtract your COGS and total operating expenses from your sales.
• Total Expenses refer to the sum of your operating expenses and your business’ interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.
• Net profit shows whether your business has made a profit or taken a loss during a given timeframe.

4. Cash Flow Statement

The cash flow statement tracks the money you have in the bank at any given point. It is often confused with the income statement or the profit and loss statement. They are both different types of financial statements. The income statement calculates your profits and losses while the cash flow statement shows you how much you have in the bank.

5. Balance Sheet

The balance sheet is a financial statement that provides an overview of the financial health of your business. It contains information about the assets and liabilities of your company, and owner’s or shareholders’ equity.

You can get the net worth of your company by subtracting your company’s liabilities from its assets.

6. Exit Strategy

The exit strategy refers to a probable plan for selling your business either to the public in an IPO or to another company. It is the last thing you include in the financial plan, metrics, and projection section.

You can choose to omit the exit strategy from your business plan if you plan to maintain full ownership of your business and do not plan on seeking angel investment or virtual capitalist (VC) funding.

Investors may want to know what your exit plan is. They invest in your business to get a good return on investment.

Your exit strategy does not have to include long and boring details. Ensure you identify some interested parties who may be interested in buying the company if it becomes a success.

Key Questions to Answer with Your Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projection

Your financial plan, metrics, and projection section helps investors, creditors, or your internal managers to understand what your expenses are, the amount of cash you need, and what it takes to make your company profitable. It also shows what you will be doing with any funding.

You do not need to show actual financial data if you do not have one. Adding forecasts and projections to your financial statements is added proof that your strategy is feasible and shows investors you have planned properly.

Here are some key questions to answer to help you develop this section.

• What is your sales forecast for the next year?
• When will your company achieve a positive cash flow?
• What are the core expenses you need to operate?
• How much money do you need upfront to operate or grow your company?
• How will you use the loans or investments?

9. Add an Appendix to Your Business Plan

Adding an appendix to your business plan is optional. It is a useful place to put any charts, tables, legal notes, definitions, permits, résumés, and other critical information that do not fit into other sections of your business plan.

The appendix section is where you would want to include details of a patent or patent-pending if you have one. You can always add illustrations or images of your products here. It is the last section of your business plan.

When writing your business plan, there are details you cut short or remove to prevent the entire section from becoming too lengthy. There are also details you want to include in the business plan but are not a good fit for any of the previous sections. You can add that additional information to the appendix section.

Businesses also use the appendix section to include supporting documents or other materials specially requested by investors or lenders.

You can include just about any information that supports the assumptions and statements you made in the business plan under the appendix. It is the one place in the business plan where unrelated data and information can coexist amicably.

If your appendix section is lengthy, try organizing it by adding a table of contents at the beginning of the appendix section. It is also advisable to group similar information to make it easier for the reader to access them.

A well-organized appendix section makes it easier to share your information clearly and concisely. Add footnotes throughout the rest of the business plan or make references in the plan to the documents in the appendix.

The appendix section is usually only necessary if you are seeking funding from investors or lenders, or hoping to attract partners.

People reading business plans do not want to spend time going through a heap of backup information, numbers, and charts. Keep these documents or information in the Appendix section in case the reader wants to dig deeper.

Common Items to Include in the Appendix Section of Your Business Plan

The appendix section includes documents that supplement or support the information or claims given in other sections of the business plans. Common items you can include in the appendix section include:

• Additional data about the process of manufacturing or creation
• Additional description of products or services such as product schematics
• Additional financial documents or projections
• Articles of incorporation and status
• Backup for market research or competitive analysis
• Bank statements
• Business registries
• Client testimonials (if your business is already running)
• Copies of insurances
• Credit histories (personal or/and business)
• Deeds and permits
• Equipment leases
• Examples of marketing and advertising collateral
• Industry associations and memberships
• Images of product
• Intellectual property
• Key customer contracts
• Legal documents and other contracts
• Letters of reference
• Links to references
• Market research data
• Organizational charts
• Photographs of potential facilities
• Professional licenses pertaining to your legal structure or type of business
• Purchase orders
• Resumes of the founder(s) and key managers
• State and federal identification numbers or codes
• Trademarks or patents’ registrations

Avoid using the appendix section as a place to dump any document or information you feel like adding. Only add documents or information that you support or increase the credibility of your business plan.

Tips and Strategies for Writing a Convincing Business Plan

To achieve a perfect business plan, you need to consider some key tips and strategies. These tips will raise the efficiency of your business plan above average.

1. Know Your Audience

When writing a business plan, you need to know your audience . Business owners write business plans for different reasons. Your business plan has to be specific. For example, you can write business plans to potential investors, banks, and even fellow board members of the company.

The audience you are writing to determines the structure of the business plan. As a business owner, you have to know your audience. Not everyone will be your audience. Knowing your audience will help you to narrow the scope of your business plan.

Consider what your audience wants to see in your projects, the likely questions they might ask, and what interests them.

• A business plan used to address a company's board members will center on its employment schemes, internal affairs, projects, stakeholders, etc.
• A business plan for financial institutions will talk about the size of your market and the chances for you to pay back any loans you demand.
• A business plan for investors will show proof that you can return the investment capital within a specific time. In addition, it discusses your financial projections, tractions, and market size.

2. Get Inspiration from People

Writing a business plan from scratch as an entrepreneur can be daunting. That is why you need the right inspiration to push you to write one. You can gain inspiration from the successful business plans of other businesses. Look at their business plans, the style they use, the structure of the project, etc.

To make your business plan easier to create, search companies related to your business to get an exact copy of what you need to create an effective business plan. You can also make references while citing examples in your business plans.

When drafting your business plan, get as much help from others as you possibly can. By getting inspiration from people, you can create something better than what they have.

3. Avoid Being Over Optimistic

Many business owners make use of strong adjectives to qualify their content. One of the big mistakes entrepreneurs make when preparing a business plan is promising too much.

The use of superlatives and over-optimistic claims can prepare the audience for more than you can offer. In the end, you disappoint the confidence they have in you.

In most cases, the best option is to be realistic with your claims and statistics. Most of the investors can sense a bit of incompetency from the overuse of superlatives. As a new entrepreneur, do not be tempted to over-promise to get the interests of investors.

The concept of entrepreneurship centers on risks, nothing is certain when you make future analyses. What separates the best is the ability to do careful research and work towards achieving that, not promising more than you can achieve.

To make an excellent first impression as an entrepreneur, replace superlatives with compelling data-driven content. In this way, you are more specific than someone promising a huge ROI from an investment.

4. Keep it Simple and Short

When writing business plans, ensure you keep them simple throughout. Irrespective of the purpose of the business plan, your goal is to convince the audience.

One way to achieve this goal is to make them understand your proposal. Therefore, it would be best if you avoid the use of complex grammar to express yourself. It would be a huge turn-off if the people you want to convince are not familiar with your use of words.

Another thing to note is the length of your business plan. It would be best if you made it as brief as possible.

You hardly see investors or agencies that read through an extremely long document. In that case, if your first few pages can’t convince them, then you have lost it. The more pages you write, the higher the chances of you derailing from the essential contents.

To ensure your business plan has a high conversion rate, you need to dispose of every unnecessary information. For example, if you have a strategy that you are not sure of, it would be best to leave it out of the plan.

5. Make an Outline and Follow Through

A perfect business plan must have touched every part needed to convince the audience. Business owners get easily tempted to concentrate more on their products than on other sections. Doing this can be detrimental to the efficiency of the business plan.

For example, imagine you talking about a product but omitting or providing very little information about the target audience. You will leave your clients confused.

To ensure that your business plan communicates your full business model to readers, you have to input all the necessary information in it. One of the best ways to achieve this is to design a structure and stick to it.

This structure is what guides you throughout the writing. To make your work easier, you can assign an estimated word count or page limit to every section to avoid making it too bulky for easy reading. As a guide, the necessary things your business plan must contain are:

• Table of contents
• Introduction
• Product or service description
• Target audience
• Market size
• Competition analysis
• Financial projections

Some specific businesses can include some other essential sections, but these are the key sections that must be in every business plan.

6. Ask a Professional to Proofread

When writing a business plan, you must tie all loose ends to get a perfect result. When you are done with writing, call a professional to go through the document for you. You are bound to make mistakes, and the way to correct them is to get external help.

You should get a professional in your field who can relate to every section of your business plan. It would be easier for the professional to notice the inner flaws in the document than an editor with no knowledge of your business.

In addition to getting a professional to proofread, get an editor to proofread and edit your document. The editor will help you identify grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and inappropriate writing styles.

Writing a business plan can be daunting, but you can surmount that obstacle and get the best out of it with these tips.

Business Plan Examples and Templates That’ll Save You Tons of Time

1. hubspot's one-page business plan.

The one-page business plan template by HubSpot is the perfect guide for businesses of any size, irrespective of their business strategy. Although the template is condensed into a page, your final business plan should not be a page long! The template is designed to ask helpful questions that can help you develop your business plan.

Hubspot’s one-page business plan template is divided into nine fields:

• Business opportunity
• Company description
• Industry analysis
• Target market
• Implementation timeline
• Marketing plan
• Financial summary
• Funding required

2. Bplan’s Free Business Plan Template

Bplans' free business plan template is investor-approved. It is a rich template used by prestigious educational institutions such as Babson College and Princeton University to teach entrepreneurs how to create a business plan.

The template has six sections: the executive summary, opportunity, execution, company, financial plan, and appendix. There is a step-by-step guide for writing every little detail in the business plan. Follow the instructions each step of the way and you will create a business plan that impresses investors or lenders easily.

3. HubSpot's Downloadable Business Plan Template

HubSpot’s downloadable business plan template is a more comprehensive option compared to the one-page business template by HubSpot. This free and downloadable business plan template is designed for entrepreneurs.

The template is a comprehensive guide and checklist for business owners just starting their businesses. It tells you everything you need to fill in each section of the business plan and how to do it.

There are nine sections in this business plan template: an executive summary, company and business description, product and services line, market analysis, marketing plan, sales plan, legal notes, financial considerations, and appendix.

4. Business Plan by My Own Business Institute

My Own Business Institute (MOBI) which is a part of Santa Clara University's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship offers a free business plan template. You can either copy the free business template from the link provided above or download it as a Word document.

The comprehensive template consists of a whopping 15 sections.

• The Business Profile
• The Vision and the People
• Home-Based Business and Freelance Business Opportunities
• Organization
• Licenses and Permits
• Business Insurance
• Communication Tools
• Acquisitions
• Location and Leasing
• Accounting and Cash Flow
• Opening and Marketing
• Managing Employees
• Expanding and Handling Problems

There are lots of helpful tips on how to fill each section in the free business plan template by MOBI.

5. Score's Business Plan Template for Startups

Score is an American nonprofit organization that helps entrepreneurs build successful companies. This business plan template for startups by Score is available for free download. The business plan template asks a whooping 150 generic questions that help entrepreneurs from different fields to set up the perfect business plan.

The business plan template for startups contains clear instructions and worksheets, all you have to do is answer the questions and fill the worksheets.

There are nine sections in the business plan template: executive summary, company description, products and services, marketing plan, operational plan, management and organization, startup expenses and capitalization, financial plan, and appendices.

The ‘refining the plan’ resource contains instructions that help you modify your business plan to suit your specific needs, industry, and target audience. After you have completed Score’s business plan template, you can work with a SCORE mentor for expert advice in business planning.

6. Minimalist Architecture Business Plan Template by Venngage

The minimalist architecture business plan template is a simple template by Venngage that you can customize to suit your business needs .

There are five sections in the template: an executive summary, statement of problem, approach and methodology, qualifications, and schedule and benchmark. The business plan template has instructions that guide users on what to fill in each section.

7. Small Business Administration Free Business Plan Template

The Small Business Administration (SBA) offers two free business plan templates, filled with practical real-life examples that you can model to create your business plan. Both free business plan templates are written by fictional business owners: Rebecca who owns a consulting firm, and Andrew who owns a toy company.

There are five sections in the two SBA’s free business plan templates.

• Executive Summary
• Company Description
• Service Line
• Marketing and Sales

8. The $100 Startup's One-Page Business Plan

The one-page business plan by the $100 startup is a simple business plan template for entrepreneurs who do not want to create a long and complicated plan . You can include more details in the appendices for funders who want more information beyond what you can put in the one-page business plan.

There are five sections in the one-page business plan such as overview, ka-ching, hustling, success, and obstacles or challenges or open questions. You can answer all the questions using one or two sentences.

9. PandaDoc’s Free Business Plan Template

The free business plan template by PandaDoc is a comprehensive 15-page document that describes the information you should include in every section.

There are 11 sections in PandaDoc’s free business plan template.

• Executive summary
• Business description
• Products and services
• Operations plan
• Management organization
• Financial plan
• Conclusion / Call to action
• Confidentiality statement

You have to sign up for its 14-day free trial to access the template. You will find different business plan templates on PandaDoc once you sign up (including templates for general businesses and specific businesses such as bakeries, startups, restaurants, salons, hotels, and coffee shops)

PandaDoc allows you to customize its business plan templates to fit the needs of your business. After editing the template, you can send it to interested parties and track opens and views through PandaDoc.

10. Invoiceberry Templates for Word, Open Office, Excel, or PPT

InvoiceBerry is a U.K based online invoicing and tracking platform that offers free business plan templates in .docx, .odt, .xlsx, and .pptx formats for freelancers and small businesses.

Before you can download the free business plan template, it will ask you to give it your email address. After you complete the little task, it will send the download link to your inbox for you to download. It also provides a business plan checklist in .xlsx file format that ensures you add the right information to the business plan.

Alternatives to the Traditional Business Plan

A business plan is very important in mapping out how one expects their business to grow over a set number of years, particularly when they need external investment in their business. However, many investors do not have the time to watch you present your business plan. It is a long and boring read.

Luckily, there are three alternatives to the traditional business plan (the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, and Startup Pitch Deck). These alternatives are less laborious and easier and quicker to present to investors.

Business Model Canvas (BMC)

The business model canvas is a business tool used to present all the important components of setting up a business, such as customers, route to market, value proposition, and finance in a single sheet. It provides a very focused blueprint that defines your business initially which you can later expand on if needed.

The sheet is divided mainly into company, industry, and consumer models that are interconnected in how they find problems and proffer solutions.

Segments of the Business Model Canvas

The business model canvas was developed by founder Alexander Osterwalder to answer important business questions. It contains nine segments.

• Key Partners: Who will be occupying important executive positions in your business? What do they bring to the table? Will there be a third party involved with the company?
• Key Activities: What important activities will production entail? What activities will be carried out to ensure the smooth running of the company?
• The Product’s Value Propositions: What does your product do? How will it be different from other products?
• Customer Segments: What demography of consumers are you targeting? What are the habits of these consumers? Who are the MVPs of your target consumers?
• Customer Relationships: How will the team support and work with its customer base? How do you intend to build and maintain trust with the customer?
• Key Resources: What type of personnel and tools will be needed? What size of the budget will they need access to?
• Channels: How do you plan to create awareness of your products? How do you intend to transport your product to the customer?
• Cost Structure: What is the estimated cost of production? How much will distribution cost?
• Revenue Streams: For what value are customers willing to pay? How do they prefer to pay for the product? Are there any external revenues attached apart from the main source? How do the revenue streams contribute to the overall revenue?

Lean Canvas

The lean canvas is a problem-oriented alternative to the standard business model canvas. It was proposed by Ash Maurya, creator of Lean Stack as a development of the business model generation. It uses a more problem-focused approach and it majorly targets entrepreneurs and startup businesses.

Lean Canvas uses the same 9 blocks concept as the business model canvas, however, they have been modified slightly to suit the needs and purpose of a small startup. The key partners, key activities, customer relationships, and key resources are replaced by new segments which are:

• Problem: Simple and straightforward number of problems you have identified, ideally three.
• Solution: The solutions to each problem.
• Unfair Advantage: Something you possess that can't be easily bought or replicated.
• Key Metrics: Important numbers that will tell how your business is doing.

Startup Pitch Deck

While the business model canvas compresses into a factual sheet, startup pitch decks expand flamboyantly.

Pitch decks, through slides, convey your business plan, often through graphs and images used to emphasize estimations and observations in your presentation. Entrepreneurs often use pitch decks to fully convince their target audience of their plans before discussing funding arrangements.

Considering the likelihood of it being used in a small time frame, a good startup pitch deck should ideally contain 20 slides or less to have enough time to answer questions from the audience.

Unlike the standard and lean business model canvases, a pitch deck doesn't have a set template on how to present your business plan but there are still important components to it. These components often mirror those of the business model canvas except that they are in slide form and contain more details.

Using Airbnb (one of the most successful start-ups in recent history) for reference, the important components of a good slide are listed below.

• Cover/Introduction Slide: Here, you should include your company's name and mission statement. Your mission statement should be a very catchy tagline. Also, include personal information and contact details to provide an easy link for potential investors.
• Problem Slide: This slide requires you to create a connection with the audience or the investor that you are pitching. For example in their pitch, Airbnb summarized the most important problems it would solve in three brief points – pricing of hotels, disconnection from city culture, and connection problems for local bookings.
• Solution Slide: This slide includes your core value proposition. List simple and direct solutions to the problems you have mentioned
• Customer Analysis: Here you will provide information on the customers you will be offering your service to. The identity of your customers plays an important part in fundraising as well as the long-run viability of the business.
• Market Validation: Use competitive analysis to show numbers that prove the presence of a market for your product, industry behavior in the present and the long run, as well as the percentage of the market you aim to attract. It shows that you understand your competitors and customers and convinces investors of the opportunities presented in the market.
• Business Model: Your business model is the hook of your presentation. It may vary in complexity but it should generally include a pricing system informed by your market analysis. The goal of the slide is to confirm your business model is easy to implement.
• Marketing Strategy: This slide should summarize a few customer acquisition methods that you plan to use to grow the business.
• Competitive Advantage: What this slide will do is provide information on what will set you apart and make you a more attractive option to customers. It could be the possession of technology that is not widely known in the market.
• Team Slide: Here you will give a brief description of your team. Include your key management personnel here and their specific roles in the company. Include their educational background, job history, and skillsets. Also, talk about their accomplishments in their careers so far to build investors' confidence in members of your team.
• Traction Slide: This validates the company’s business model by showing growth through early sales and support. The slide aims to reduce any lingering fears in potential investors by showing realistic periodic milestones and profit margins. It can include current sales, growth, valuable customers, pre-orders, or data from surveys outlining current consumer interest.
• Funding Slide: This slide is popularly referred to as ‘the ask'. Here you will include important details like how much is needed to get your business off the ground and how the funding will be spent to help the company reach its goals.
• Appendix Slides: Your pitch deck appendix should always be included alongside a standard pitch presentation. It consists of additional slides you could not show in the pitch deck but you need to complement your presentation.

It is important to support your calculations with pictorial renditions. Infographics, such as pie charts or bar graphs, will be more effective in presenting the information than just listing numbers. For example, a six-month graph that shows rising profit margins will easily look more impressive than merely writing it.

Lastly, since a pitch deck is primarily used to secure meetings and you may be sharing your pitch with several investors, it is advisable to keep a separate public version that doesn't include financials. Only disclose the one with projections once you have secured a link with an investor.

Advantages of the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, and Startup Pitch Deck over the Traditional Business Plan

• Time-Saving: Writing a detailed traditional business plan could take weeks or months. On the other hand, all three alternatives can be done in a few days or even one night of brainstorming if you have a comprehensive understanding of your business.
• Easier to Understand: Since the information presented is almost entirely factual, it puts focus on what is most important in running the business. They cut away the excess pages of fillers in a traditional business plan and allow investors to see what is driving the business and what is getting in the way.
• Easy to Update: Businesses typically present their business plans to many potential investors before they secure funding. What this means is that you may regularly have to amend your presentation to update statistics or adjust to audience-specific needs. For a traditional business plan, this could mean rewriting a whole section of your plan. For the three alternatives, updating is much easier because they are not voluminous.
• Guide for a More In-depth Business Plan: All three alternatives have the added benefit of being able to double as a sketch of your business plan if the need to create one arises in the future.

Business Plan FAQ

Business plans are important for any entrepreneur who is looking for a framework to run their company over some time or seeking external support. Although they are essential for new businesses, every company should ideally have a business plan to track their growth from time to time.  They can be used by startups seeking investments or loans to convey their business ideas or an employee to convince his boss of the feasibility of starting a new project. They can also be used by companies seeking to recruit high-profile employee targets into key positions or trying to secure partnerships with other firms.

Business plans often vary depending on your target audience, the scope, and the goals for the plan. Startup plans are the most common among the different types of business plans.  A start-up plan is used by a new business to present all the necessary information to help get the business up and running. They are usually used by entrepreneurs who are seeking funding from investors or bank loans. The established company alternative to a start-up plan is a feasibility plan. A feasibility plan is often used by an established company looking for new business opportunities. They are used to show the upsides of creating a new product for a consumer base. Because the audience is usually company people, it requires less company analysis. The third type of business plan is the lean business plan. A lean business plan is a brief, straight-to-the-point breakdown of your ideas and analysis for your business. It does not contain details of your proposal and can be written on one page. Finally, you have the what-if plan. As it implies, a what-if plan is a preparation for the worst-case scenario. You must always be prepared for the possibility of your original plan being rejected. A good what-if plan will serve as a good plan B to the original.

A good business plan has 10 key components. They include an executive plan, product analysis, desired customer base, company analysis, industry analysis, marketing strategy, sales strategy, financial projection, funding, and appendix. Executive Plan Your business should begin with your executive plan. An executive plan will provide early insight into what you are planning to achieve with your business. It should include your mission statement and highlight some of the important points which you will explain later. Product Analysis The next component of your business plan is your product analysis. A key part of this section is explaining the type of item or service you are going to offer as well as the market problems your product will solve. Desired Consumer Base Your product analysis should be supplemented with a detailed breakdown of your desired consumer base. Investors are always interested in knowing the economic power of your market as well as potential MVP customers. Company Analysis The next component of your business plan is your company analysis. Here, you explain how you want to run your business. It will include your operational strategy, an insight into the workforce needed to keep the company running, and important executive positions. It will also provide a calculation of expected operational costs.  Industry Analysis A good business plan should also contain well laid out industry analysis. It is important to convince potential investors you know the companies you will be competing with, as well as your plans to gain an edge on the competition. Marketing Strategy Your business plan should also include your marketing strategy. This is how you intend to spread awareness of your product. It should include a detailed explanation of the company brand as well as your advertising methods. Sales Strategy Your sales strategy comes after the market strategy. Here you give an overview of your company's pricing strategy and how you aim to maximize profits. You can also explain how your prices will adapt to market behaviors. Financial Projection The financial projection is the next component of your business plan. It explains your company's expected running cost and revenue earned during the tenure of the business plan. Financial projection gives a clear idea of how your company will develop in the future. Funding The next component of your business plan is funding. You have to detail how much external investment you need to get your business idea off the ground here. Appendix The last component of your plan is the appendix. This is where you put licenses, graphs, or key information that does not fit in any of the other components.

The business model canvas is a business management tool used to quickly define your business idea and model. It is often used when investors need you to pitch your business idea during a brief window.

A pitch deck is similar to a business model canvas except that it makes use of slides in its presentation. A pitch is not primarily used to secure funding, rather its main purpose is to entice potential investors by selling a very optimistic outlook on the business.

Business plan competitions help you evaluate the strength of your business plan. By participating in business plan competitions, you are improving your experience. The experience provides you with a degree of validation while practicing important skills. The main motivation for entering into the competitions is often to secure funding by finishing in podium positions. There is also the chance that you may catch the eye of a casual observer outside of the competition. These competitions also provide good networking opportunities. You could meet mentors who will take a keen interest in guiding you in your business journey. You also have the opportunity to meet other entrepreneurs whose ideas can complement yours.

Exlore Further

• 12 Key Elements of a Business Plan (Top Components Explained)
• 13 Sources of Business Finance For Companies & Sole Traders
• 5 Common Types of Business Structures (+ Pros & Cons)
• How to Buy a Business in 8 Steps (+ Due Diligence Checklist)

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Goals and Objectives

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Goals can be somewhat abstract and big picture, but they set a wide, overarching target for the company to set their eyes on as a whole. Goals define the general intentions and ambitions of the business but can be difficult to measure. Setting goals is an important step of business planning, as a well-defined broad primary outcome will have an impact on areas including your mission statement, financial objectives, corporate culture and marketing strategy. Goal setting helps individuals and organizations motivate themselves towards a destination or achievement. In a positive work environment, developing lofty goals can boost employee engagement and create excitement that spurs action. Once a core goal is set, setting business objectives is the next step towards fostering a clear understanding of how to reach the desired outcome. The main difference between objectives and goals is that objectives are precise actions or measurable steps individuals and groups take to move closer to the goal. They are specific targets that typically have a time-bound schedule or timeline for completion. For example, a company may have a goal of becoming the most profitable advertising agency in the country. Objectives related to this goal might include increasing their new business sales by five percent each quarter, growing their market share by a set time frame, improving client retention rates by ten percent each month or adding two new products to their product line by the end of the fiscal year. Setting goals without assigning measurable objectives will likely lead to goals that never get accomplished. Creating objectives without a broad goal or target lacks meaning. Goals can seem impossible or overwhelming without breaking them down into measurable tasks with objectives. Many companies use the S.M.A.R.T. goal setting method to lay out specific objectives towards reaching each goal. Whether you are self-employed, have a small business or are part of a large organization, your goals need to be supported with precise objectives. S.M.A.R.T goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely. Once you’ve established your business goals and mapped out specific objectives, you have to measure your progress towards them to stay on track towards your targets. Teams often use a variety of goal-tracking methods, tools and software to help measure progress towards specific outcomes and increase accountability of tasks.

Goals & Objectives template contains all the necessary tools to build project goals. The first and third slides allow you to use target infographics that symbolize the accuracy of the goals and their achievability. The next slide is presented as a roadmap on which you can indicate your main goals. This template will be useful for planning managers, project managers, logistics and purchasing managers. The last slide is presented in the form of a puzzle, which symbolizes the achievement of the task only by joint and team actions. Project Goals template can be used by startups, business coaches, development team leaders. All slide of this template are editable depending on your needs.

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Company goals and objectives template

Turn big-picture strategy and goals into action and results with this company goals and milestones template.

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Tips for setting and managing your company goals with our business goals template

Fortunately, Asana can help. Set and share your business goals, visualize progress, and track all of your  objectives and key results  in one place. With our business goals template you can:

Connect strategy to tactics. Break down goals into projects and tasks so everyone knows how their daily work ladders up to the big picture.

Nail your execution plan. Give each goal or objective a clear owner and due date to drive action and accountability.

Track your progress. Once work is kicked off, share team updates so everyone knows how you’re progressing towards your business objectives and where there are blockers.

A digital OKR template works well for individual teams, but you can level up your goal-setting process with Asana’s Goals feature . Instead of just working on the team level, Goals is an organization-wide tool that can help your entire company set, track, and communicate about goals.

Examples of business goals you can plan with Asana

Company goal planning process

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All of your questions, answered:

What is a business goal? A business goal is an initiative or objective that your individual, team, and company’s work ladders up to. Business goals can be shorter-term, like team goals for the quarter, or longer-term, like company goals that bring the company closer to its mission.

How do I set business goals? Business goals should be specific and measurable. Consider using a framework, like OKRs, which can help your team set and measure your goals. To learn more about how to set good OKRs while avoiding common goal-setting pitfalls, download our free ebook .

Why is setting goals important? Setting goals is critical for businesses to clearly define objectives and align their initiatives with those objectives. But most teams lack the clarity they need to connect their work to their organization’s goals. A recent study found that only 26% of employees have a very clear understanding of how their work relates to their company’s goals, and just 16% say their company is very effective at setting and communicating goals. With a goal setting framework, your team can bridge the gap between daily projects and organizational impact.

Get started with company goal and milestones planning with our  business goals template . But to really take your organization’s goal planning to the next level, try  Goals . With Goals, you can align your organization’s work to your mission, so you can keep goals top of mind and do more work that delivers measurable results.

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Plan Your Business Plan Before you put pen to paper, find out how to assess your business's goals and objectives.

You've decided to write a business plan, and you're ready to get started. Congratulations. You've just greatly increased the chances that your business venture will succeed. But before you start drafting your plan, you need to--you guessed it--plan your draft.

One of the most important reasons to plan your plan is that you may be held accountable for the projections and proposals it contains. That's especially true if you use your plan to raise money to finance your company. Let's say you forecast opening four new locations in the second year of your retail operation. An investor may have a beef if, due to circumstances you could have foreseen, you only open two. A business plan can take on a life of its own, so thinking a little about what you want to include in your plan is no more than common prudence.

Second, as you'll soon learn if you haven't already, business plans can be complicated documents. As you draft your plan, you'll be making lots of decisions on serious matters, such as what strategy you'll pursue, as well as less important ones, like what color paper to print it on. Thinking about these decisions in advance is an important way to minimize the time you spend planning your business and maximize the time you spend generating income.

To sum up, planning your plan will help control your degree of accountability and reduce time-wasting indecision. To plan your plan, you'll first need to decide what your goals and objectives in business are. As part of that, you'll assess the business you've chosen to start, or are already running, to see what the chances are that it will actually achieve those ends. Finally, you'll take a look at common elements of most plans to get an idea of which ones you want to include and how each will be treated.

Determine Your Objectives Close your eyes. Imagine that the date is five years from now. Where do you want to be? Will you be running a business that hasn't increased significantly in size? Will you command a rapidly growing empire? Will you have already cashed out and be relaxing on a beach somewhere, enjoying your hard-won gains?

Answering these questions is an important part of building a successful business plan. In fact, without knowing where you're going, it's not really possible to plan at all.

Now is a good time to free-associate a little bit--to let your mind roam, exploring every avenue that you'd like your business to go down. Try writing a personal essay on your business goals. It could take the form of a letter to yourself, written from five years in the future, describing all you have accomplished and how it came about.

As you read such a document, you may make a surprising discovery, such as that you don't really want to own a large, fast-growing enterprise but would be content with a stable small business. Even if you don't learn anything new, though, getting a firm handle on your goals and objectives is a big help in deciding how you'll plan your business.

Goals and Objectives Checklist If you're having trouble deciding what your goals and objectives are, here are some questions to ask yourself:

• How determined am I to see this succeed?
• Am I willing to invest my own money and work long hours for no pay, sacrificing personal time and lifestyle, maybe for years?
• What's going to happen to me if this venture doesn't work out?
• If it does succeed, how many employees will this company eventually have?
• What will be its annual revenues in a year? Five years?
• What will be its market share in that time frame?
• Will it be a niche marketer, or will it sell a broad spectrum of good and services?
• What are my plans for geographic expansion? Local? National? Global?
• Am I going to be a hands-on manager, or will I delegate a large proportion of tasks to others?
• If I delegate, what sorts of tasks will I share? Sales? Technical? Others?
• How comfortable am I taking direction from others? Could I work with partners or investors who demand input into the company's management?
• Is it going to remain independent and privately owned, or will it eventually be acquired or go public?

Your Financing Goals

It doesn't necessarily take a lot of money to make a lot of money, but it does take some. That's especially true if, as part of examining your goals and objectives, you envision very rapid growth.

Energetic, optimistic entrepreneurs often tend to believe that sales growth will take care of everything, that they'll be able to fund their own growth by generating profits. However, this is rarely the case, for one simple reason: You usually have to pay your own suppliers before your customers pay you. This cash flow conundrum is the reason so many fast-growing companies have to seek bank financing or equity sales to finance their growth. They are literally growing faster than they can afford.

Start by asking yourself what kinds of financing you're likely to need--and what you'd be willing to accept. It's easy when you're short of cash, or expect to be short of cash, to take the attitude that almost any source of funding is just fine. But each kind of financing has different characteristics that you should take into consideration when planning your plan. These characteristics take three primary forms:

• First, there's the amount of control you'll have to surrender. An equal partner may, quite naturally, demand approximately equal control. Venture capitalists often demand significant input into management decisions by, for instance, placing one or more people on your board of directors. Angel investors may be very involved or not involved at all, depending on their personal style. Bankers, at the other end of the scale, are likely to offer no advice whatsoever as long as you make payments of principal and interest on time and are not in violation of any other terms of your loan.
• You should also consider the amount of money you're likely to need. Any amount less than several million dollars is too small to be considered for a standard initial public offering of stock, for example. Venture capital investors are most likely to invest amounts of $250,000 to $3 million. On the other hand, only the richest angel investor will be able to provide more than a few hundred thousand dollars, if that.

Almost any source of funds, from a bank to a factor, has some guidelines about the size of financing it prefers. Anticipating the size of your needs now will guide you in preparing your plan.

• The third consideration is cost. This can be measured in terms of interest rates and shares of ownership as well as in time, paperwork and plain old hassle.

How Will You Use Your Plan

Believe it or not, part of planning your plan is planning what you'll do with it. No, we haven't gone crazy--at least not yet. A business plan can be used for several things, from monitoring your company's progress toward goals to enticing key employees to join your firm. Deciding how you intend to use yours is an important part of preparing to write it.

Do you intend to use your plan to help you raise money? In that case, you'll have to focus very carefully on the executive summary, the management, and marketing and financial aspects. You'll need to have a clearly focused vision of how your company is going to make money. If you're looking for a bank loan, you'll need to stress your ability to generate sufficient cash flow to service loans. Equity investors, especially venture capitalists, must be shown how they can cash out of your company and generate a rate of return they'll find acceptable.

Do you intend to use your plan to attract talented employees? Then you'll want to emphasize such things as stock options and other aspects of compensation as well as location, work environment, corporate culture and opportunities for growth and advancement.

Do you anticipate showing your plan to suppliers to demonstrate that you're a worthy customer? A solid business plan may convince a supplier of some precious commodity to favor you over your rivals. It may also help you arrange supplier credit. You may want to stress your blue-ribbon customer list and spotless record of repaying trade debts in this plan.

Assessing Your Company's Potential

For most of us, unfortunately, our desires about where we would like to go aren't as important as our businesses' ability to take us there. Put another way, if you choose the wrong business, you're going nowhere.

Luckily, one of the most valuable uses of a business plan is to help you decide whether the venture you have your heart set on is really likely to fulfill your dreams. Many, many business ideas never make it past the planning stage because their would-be founders, as part of a logical and coherent planning process, test their assumptions and find them wanting.

Test your idea against at least two variables. First, financial, to make sure this business makes economic sense. Second, lifestyle, because who wants a successful business that they hate?

Answer the following questions to help you outline your company's potential. There are no wrong answers. The objective is simply to help you decide how well your proposed venture is likely to match up with your goals and objectives.

• What initial investment will the business require?
• How much control are you willing to relinquish to investors?
• When will the business turn a profit?
• When can investors, including you, expect a return on their money?
• What are the projected profits of the business over time?
• Will you be able to devote yourself full time to the business, financially?
• What kind of salary or profit distribution can you expect to take home?
• What are the chances the business will fail?
• What will happen if it does?
• Where are you going to live?
• What kind of work are you going to be doing?
• How many hours will you be working?
• Will you be able to take vacations?
• What happens if you get sick?
• Will you earn enough to maintain your lifestyle?
• Does your family understand and agree with the sacrifices you envision?

Sources: The Small Business Encyclopedia , Business Plans Made Easy, Start Your Own Business and Entrepreneur magazine.

Continue on to the next section of our Business Plan How-To >> Elements of a Business Plan

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Business Plan Goals and Examples for Success

Written by Dave Lavinsky

A well-crafted business plan serves as a roadmap for entrepreneurs and businesses to achieve their objectives. One crucial aspect of a business plan is outlining clear and measurable goals. Business plan goals are the specific targets and milestones that a company aims to achieve within a defined timeframe. They provide a direction and purpose for the business, guiding decision-making, resource allocation, and strategic planning. In this article, we will explore the importance of setting business plan goals and provide examples of common goals.

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Why are Business Plan Goals Important?

Business plan goals are essential for several reasons:

• Strategic Focus : Goals help businesses define their strategic direction and focus their efforts on what matters most. They align the company’s efforts and resources towards achieving specific objectives, ensuring that everyone is working towards a common purpose.
• Measurable Outcomes : Goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). By setting SMART goals, businesses can track progress, measure success, and identify areas for improvement.
• Motivation and Accountability : Goals provide motivation and drive for entrepreneurs and employees. They create a sense of purpose and urgency, encouraging individuals to work towards achieving the desired outcomes. Goals also establish accountability, as progress is monitored and reviewed regularly.
• Decision-Making : Goals serve as a reference point for decision-making. They help businesses prioritize initiatives, allocate resources, and evaluate opportunities based on their alignment with the established goals.

Examples of Business Plan Goals

Business plan goals can vary depending on the nature, size, and stage of the business. Here are some common examples of business plan goals:

Financial Goals:

• Achieve a specific revenue target within a defined timeframe.
• Increase profitability by a certain percentage or dollar amount.
• Reduce costs or increase efficiency in a particular area of the business.
• Secure funding or investment to support business growth.

Market Penetration Goals:

• Expand market share in a specific geographic region or target market.
• Increase brand awareness and recognition among the target audience.
• Launch new products or services in the market.
• Increase customer retention or loyalty.

Operational Goals:

• Improve production or service delivery processes to enhance quality or reduce lead times.
• Enhance supply chain management to optimize inventory levels or reduce costs.
• Implement new technologies or systems to streamline operations or improve customer experience.
• Achieve certifications or industry standards to improve credibility and competitiveness.

Human Resources Goals:

• Hire and retain top talent to support business growth.
• Provide training and development opportunities for employees to enhance their skills and performance.
• Improve employee engagement and satisfaction levels.
• Establish a diverse and inclusive workforce.

Social Responsibility Goals:

• Implement environmentally sustainable practices in the business operations.
• Contribute to the local community through philanthropic initiatives or social impact programs.
• Promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within the organization.
• Establish ethical and responsible business practices.

Business Plan Goals Conclusion

Business plan goals are critical for defining the direction and purpose of a business. They provide measurable outcomes, motivation, and accountability, guiding decision-making and resource allocation. Examples of business plan goals can include financial, market penetration, operational, human resources, and social responsibility objectives. When setting business plan goals, it’s essential to make them SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound – to increase their effectiveness in driving business success. Regular monitoring and review of progress towards these goals can help businesses stay on track and adapt their strategies as needed to achieve their desired outcomes.

Business Plan Example and Template

Learn how to create a business plan

What is a Business Plan?

A business plan is a document that contains the operational and financial plan of a business, and details how its objectives will be achieved. It serves as a road map for the business and can be used when pitching investors or financial institutions for debt or equity financing .

A business plan should follow a standard format and contain all the important business plan elements. Typically, it should present whatever information an investor or financial institution expects to see before providing financing to a business.

Contents of a Business Plan

A business plan should be structured in a way that it contains all the important information that investors are looking for. Here are the main sections of a business plan:

1. Title Page

The title page captures the legal information of the business, which includes the registered business name, physical address, phone number, email address, date, and the company logo.

2. Executive Summary

The executive summary is the most important section because it is the first section that investors and bankers see when they open the business plan. It provides a summary of the entire business plan. It should be written last to ensure that you don’t leave any details out. It must be short and to the point, and it should capture the reader’s attention. The executive summary should not exceed two pages.

3. Industry Overview

The industry overview section provides information about the specific industry that the business operates in. Some of the information provided in this section includes major competitors, industry trends, and estimated revenues. It also shows the company’s position in the industry and how it will compete in the market against other major players.

4. Market Analysis and Competition

The market analysis section details the target market for the company’s product offerings. This section confirms that the company understands the market and that it has already analyzed the existing market to determine that there is adequate demand to support its proposed business model.

Market analysis includes information about the target market’s demographics , geographical location, consumer behavior, and market needs. The company can present numbers and sources to give an overview of the target market size.

A business can choose to consolidate the market analysis and competition analysis into one section or present them as two separate sections.

5. Sales and Marketing Plan

The sales and marketing plan details how the company plans to sell its products to the target market. It attempts to present the business’s unique selling proposition and the channels it will use to sell its goods and services. It details the company’s advertising and promotion activities, pricing strategy, sales and distribution methods, and after-sales support.

6. Management Plan

The management plan provides an outline of the company’s legal structure, its management team, and internal and external human resource requirements. It should list the number of employees that will be needed and the remuneration to be paid to each of the employees.

Any external professionals, such as lawyers, valuers, architects, and consultants, that the company will need should also be included. If the company intends to use the business plan to source funding from investors, it should list the members of the executive team, as well as the members of the advisory board.

7. Operating Plan

The operating plan provides an overview of the company’s physical requirements, such as office space, machinery, labor, supplies, and inventory . For a business that requires custom warehouses and specialized equipment, the operating plan will be more detailed, as compared to, say, a home-based consulting business. If the business plan is for a manufacturing company, it will include information on raw material requirements and the supply chain.

8. Financial Plan

The financial plan is an important section that will often determine whether the business will obtain required financing from financial institutions, investors, or venture capitalists. It should demonstrate that the proposed business is viable and will return enough revenues to be able to meet its financial obligations. Some of the information contained in the financial plan includes a projected income statement , balance sheet, and cash flow.

9. Appendices and Exhibits

The appendices and exhibits part is the last section of a business plan. It includes any additional information that banks and investors may be interested in or that adds credibility to the business. Some of the information that may be included in the appendices section includes office/building plans, detailed market research , products/services offering information, marketing brochures, and credit histories of the promoters.

Business Plan Template

Here is a basic template that any business can use when developing its business plan:

Section 1: Executive Summary

• Present the company’s mission.
• Describe the company’s product and/or service offerings.
• Give a summary of the target market and its demographics.
• Summarize the industry competition and how the company will capture a share of the available market.
• Give a summary of the operational plan, such as inventory, office and labor, and equipment requirements.

Section 2: Industry Overview

• Describe the company’s position in the industry.
• Describe the existing competition and the major players in the industry.
• Provide information about the industry that the business will operate in, estimated revenues, industry trends, government influences, as well as the demographics of the target market.

Section 3: Market Analysis and Competition

• Define your target market, their needs, and their geographical location.
• Describe the size of the market, the units of the company’s products that potential customers may buy, and the market changes that may occur due to overall economic changes.
• Give an overview of the estimated sales volume vis-à-vis what competitors sell.
• Give a plan on how the company plans to combat the existing competition to gain and retain market share.

Section 4: Sales and Marketing Plan

• Describe the products that the company will offer for sale and its unique selling proposition.
• List the different advertising platforms that the business will use to get its message to customers.
• Describe how the business plans to price its products in a way that allows it to make a profit.
• Give details on how the company’s products will be distributed to the target market and the shipping method.

Section 5: Management Plan

• Describe the organizational structure of the company.
• List the owners of the company and their ownership percentages.
• List the key executives, their roles, and remuneration.
• List any internal and external professionals that the company plans to hire, and how they will be compensated.
• Include a list of the members of the advisory board, if available.

Section 6: Operating Plan

• Describe the location of the business, including office and warehouse requirements.
• Describe the labor requirement of the company. Outline the number of staff that the company needs, their roles, skills training needed, and employee tenures (full-time or part-time).
• Describe the manufacturing process, and the time it will take to produce one unit of a product.
• Describe the equipment and machinery requirements, and if the company will lease or purchase equipment and machinery, and the related costs that the company estimates it will incur.
• Provide a list of raw material requirements, how they will be sourced, and the main suppliers that will supply the required inputs.

Section 7: Financial Plan

• Describe the financial projections of the company, by including the projected income statement, projected cash flow statement, and the balance sheet projection.

Section 8: Appendices and Exhibits

• Quotes of building and machinery leases
• Proposed office and warehouse plan
• Market research and a summary of the target market
• Credit information of the owners
• List of product and/or services

Related Readings

Thank you for reading CFI’s guide to Business Plans. To keep learning and advancing your career, the following CFI resources will be helpful:

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• Business Model Canvas Examples
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How To Set Business Goals (+ Examples for Inspiration)

Updated: July 22, 2024

Published: October 24, 2023

You’re a business owner — the captain of your own ship. But how do you ensure you’re steering your company in the right direction? 

Without clear-cut goals and a plan to reach them, you risk setting your sails on the course of dangerous icebergs. 

Table of contents:

• What are business goals?

Why business goals are important

How to set business goals, tips to achieve business goals, business goals examples, what are business goals .

Business goals are the desired outcomes that an organization aims to achieve within a specific time frame. These goals help define the purpose and direction of the company, guiding decision-making and resource allocation. They can be short-term or long-term objectives , aligned with the company’s mission and vision.

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Operating a business using your gut and feelings will only get you so far. If you’re looking to build a sustainable company, then you need to set goals in advance and follow through with them. 

Here’s what goal setting can do to make your business a success:

• Give your business direction. Business goals align everyone toward a common purpose and ensure all efforts and resources are directed toward achieving specific outcomes.
• Keep everyone motivated to keep pushing forward. Goals provide employees with a sense of purpose and motivation. According to research from BiWorldwide, goal setting makes employees 14.2x more inspired at work and 3.6x more likely to be committed to the organization.
• Create benchmarks to work toward (and above). Goals provide a basis for measuring and evaluating the performance of the organization. They serve as benchmarks to assess progress, identify areas of improvement, and make informed decisions about resource allocation and strategy adjustments .
• Prioritize activities and allocate resources effectively. Goals help you identify the most important initiatives, ensuring that time, money, and effort are invested in activities that align with the overall objectives.
• Make continuous organizational improvements. Goals drive continuous improvement by setting targets for growth and progress. They encourage businesses to constantly evaluate their performance, identify areas for refinement, and implement strategies to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.

Nothing creates solidarity among teams and departments like shared goals. So be sure to get everyone involved to boost camaraderie. 

Setting business goals requires careful consideration and planning. By defining specific and measurable targets, you can track progress and make necessary adjustments along the way.

Here are the steps to effectively set business goals.

Step 1: Identify key areas to improve in your business

Start by assessing the current state of your organization. Identify areas that require improvement or growth. This could include increasing revenue, expanding your customer base, improving employee satisfaction, or enhancing product offerings.

Step 2: Choose specific and measurable goals 

Setting clear and specific goals is essential. Use the SMART goal framework to ensure your goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. For example, instead of setting a vague goal like “increase revenue,” set a specific goal like “increase revenue by 15% in the next quarter.”

Step 3: Prioritize which goals to tackle first

Not all goals are equally important or urgent. Evaluate the impact and feasibility of each goal and prioritize them accordingly. By ranking your goals, you can focus your efforts and resources on the most critical objectives.

Step 4: Break down your goals into smaller milestones

Breaking down each goal into smaller, manageable tasks makes them more attainable. Assign responsibilities and set deadlines for each step. This approach helps track progress and ensures accountability.

Step 5: Decide what your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will be

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are metrics used to measure progress toward your goals. Set realistic and relevant KPIs that align with your objectives. For example, if your goal is to increase customer acquisition, a relevant KPI could be the number of new customers acquired per month.

Now that you have set your business goals, it’s time to take action and work toward achieving them. Here are some tips to help you stay on track:

1. Write down your action plan 

Develop a detailed plan of action for each goal. Identify the necessary resources, strategies, and milestones to achieve them. A well-defined action plan provides a road map for success.

2. Foster a culture that’s goal-oriented

Encourage your employees to embrace and contribute to your goals. Foster a culture that values goal setting and achievement. Recognize and reward individuals or teams that make significant progress toward the goals.

3. Regularly track and evaluate progress

Monitor the progress toward each goal and make adjustments as needed. Use project management tools or software to track and visualize progress. Regularly review and evaluate your performance to ensure you’re on the right track.

4. Seek feedback and adapt

Gather feedback from employees, customers, and stakeholders. Their insights can provide valuable perspectives and help you refine your goals and strategies. Adapt your approach based on feedback to increase your chances of success.

5. Stay focused and motivated (even when you fail)

Staying motivated to achieve goals is difficult, especially when you come up short or fail. But don’t let this set you back. Continue pushing forward with your goals or readjust the direction as needed. Then do whatever you can to avoid distractions so you stay committed to your action plan.

Also, remember to celebrate small wins and milestones along the way to keep your team motivated and engaged.

Free SMART Goal Template

A free template to help you create S.M.A.R.T. goals for marketing campaign success.

• Set your goals
• Calculate your metrics
• Evaluate your success

To provide inspiration, here are some examples of common business goals:

1. Revenue growth

Revenue growth is a business goal that focuses on increasing the overall income generated by the company. Setting a specific target percentage increase in revenue can create a measurable goal to work toward.

Strategies for achieving revenue growth may include:

• Expanding the customer base through targeted marketing campaigns
• Improving customer retention and loyalty
• Upselling or cross-selling to existing customers
• Increasing the average order value by offering premium products or services

Example: A retail company sets a goal to increase its revenue by 10% in the next fiscal year. To achieve this, it implements several strategies, including launching a digital marketing campaign to attract new customers, offering personalized discounts and promotions to encourage repeat purchases, and introducing a premium product line to increase the average order value.

2. Customer acquisition

Customer acquisition focuses on expanding the customer base by attracting new customers to the business. Setting a specific goal for the number of new customers helps businesses track their progress and measure the effectiveness of their marketing efforts.

Strategies for customer acquisition may include:

• Running targeted advertising campaigns
• Implementing referral programs to incentivize existing customers to refer new ones
• Forming strategic partnerships with complementary businesses to reach a wider audience

Example: A software-as-a-service (SaaS) company aims to acquire 1k new customers in the next quarter. To achieve this, it launches a social media marketing campaign targeting its ideal customer profile, offers a referral program where existing customers receive a discount for referring new customers, and forms partnerships with industry influencers to promote its product.

3. Employee development

Employee development goals focus on enhancing the skills and knowledge of employees to improve their performance and contribute to the organization’s growth. By setting goals for employee training and skill development, businesses can create a culture of continuous learning and provide opportunities for career advancement.

Strategies for employee development may include:

• Offering training programs
• Providing mentorship opportunities
• Sponsoring professional certifications
• Creating a career development plan for each employee

Example: A technology company aims to have 80% of its employees complete at least one professional certification within the next year. To achieve this, it offers financial support and study materials for employees interested in obtaining certifications, provides dedicated study time during working hours, and celebrates employees’ achievements upon certification completion.

4. Product development

Product development goals focus on creating and improving products or services to meet customer needs and stay competitive in the market. Setting goals for product development can prioritize your efforts and so you can allocate resources effectively.

Strategies for product development may include:

• Conducting market research to identify customer preferences and trends
• Gathering customer feedback through surveys or focus groups
• Investing in research and development to create new products or enhance existing ones
• Collaborating with customers or industry experts to co-create innovative solutions

Example: An electronics company sets a goal to launch three new product lines within the next year. To achieve this, it conducts market research to identify emerging trends and customer demands, gathers feedback from its target audience through surveys and usability testing, allocates resources to research and development teams for product innovation, and collaborates with external design agencies to create visually appealing and user-friendly products.

5. Social responsibility

Social responsibility goals focus on making a positive impact on society or the environment. These goals go beyond financial success and emphasize the importance of ethical and sustainable business practices. Setting goals for social responsibility allows businesses to align their values with their actions and contribute to causes that resonate with their stakeholders.

Strategies for social responsibility may include: 

• Implementing sustainable practices to reduce environmental impact
• Donating a percentage of profits to charitable organizations
• Supporting local communities through volunteer programs
• Promoting diversity and inclusion within the organization

Example: A clothing retailer aims to reduce its carbon footprint by 20% in the next two years. To achieve this, it implements sustainable practices, such as using eco-friendly materials, optimizing packaging to minimize waste, and partnering with ethical manufacturers. It also donates a percentage of its profits to an environmental conservation organization.

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Free Goal Setting Templates and Goal Tracking Templates

By Kate Eby | April 16, 2018

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When it comes to setting goals, planning action steps, and tracking progress, there are a few options for organizing the process, including detailed planning worksheets, online tools, traditional calendars, and good old pen and paper. One of the easiest ways to get started is to use a goal planning template that you can customize to suit your needs.

Included on this page are 17 free templates for Microsoft Excel and Word, PDF, and Google Docs, such as templates for business uses , general goal planning and tracking , and personal use cases .

Goal Templates for Business Use

Project goals and objectives template.

Download Project Goals and Objectives Template

Excel  |  Word  |  PDF

This S.M.A.R.T. goals template for Excel is designed for planning a project goal and one or more objectives. State your primary goal in two to three sentences to ensure that it is clearly defined. Then, follow the S.M.A.R.T. process to outline the actions, metrics, tools required, and other details. This worksheet provides an easy-to-use layout to further simplify the planning process.

Business Goals Template

Download Business Goals Template

Excel  |  PDF

Use this business goals setting template to quickly identify top priorities, short- and long-term goals, and issues that need to be addressed. This template is available in Excel, Word, and PDF, and provides a quick overview that can then be expanded upon as you create action plans for different goals. Consider using this as a communication tool to include in presentations, team meetings, or monthly reports.

Action Plan Template

Download Action Plan Template

Excel  | Smartsheet

Create a detailed action plan for one or more goals, including starting and due dates and who is responsible for each step. For each goal, provide a clear purpose statement, describe intended outcomes, and list required resources. This Excel template can be used as a planning or tracking tool for managing multiple goals.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals Worksheet

Download S.M.A.R.T. Goals Worksheet

Excel    |    Word    |    PDF

This template walks you through the process of creating S.M.A.R.T. goals, which may be particularly useful when trying to achieve complex or challenging goals that require clarity and structure to ensure successful completion. Use this Word worksheet to evaluate and fine-tune a goal, including the specifics of what you want to accomplish and why, how you plan to measure progress, what is required to achieve the goal, and a realistic deadline.

Employee Goals Template

Download Employee Goals Template

Word    |    PDF

Employees can use this work goals template to create a strategic plan for reaching specific objectives related to performance, productivity, training, or other metrics of success. An individual employee can use it as a professional development plan, and a department or team can utilize it to assign tasks to multiple people in order to reach a shared goal. The Word template includes sections for identifying potential problems and creating an evaluation plan.

Yearly Sales Goals Template

‌ Download Yearly Sales Goals Template

Create monthly and yearly sales goals for multiple products. This template compares amounts from the previous year to current goals, and automatically calculates total amounts and the percentage of change on a monthly and annual basis. This is a simple Excel spreadsheet template for planning and tracking sales goals over time.

Goals Spreadsheet Template

Download Goals Spreadsheet Template

Excel    |    PDF

This goals sheet template is designed for managing more than one goal simultaneously when each of these goals requires multiple action steps. This capability makes it a simple tool for dealing with complex processes. The template provides a measure of progress by showing both starting and ending metrics. It also includes sections for assigning tasks, noting budget or other resource requirements, and setting start and end dates for each task. You can edit this Google spreadsheet to include additional rows or columns as needed.

General Goal Planning and Tracking Templates

Printable goals planning template.

Download Printable Goals Planning Template

This goals planner template can be used to craft personal or business goals, providing a structured planning approach that’s informed by S.M.A.R.T. goals. Create a detailed yet concise plan on a single page, and list clearly defined goals, actionable steps, measurements for success, solutions for potential obstacles, and desired outcomes. You can fill out this Word template on your computer, save it to the cloud, share it via email, or print and fill it out by hand.

Goals Chart Template

Download Goals Chart Template

As you begin to identify and evaluate goals, a goals chart template can be a useful tool for a brainstorming session. The format provides a quick overview, which allows you to compare several goals and analyze the relevance and practicality of pursuing them. You can also use this Word/PDF chart template to drill down into a single goal by using the rows to refine and revise initial ideas. This kind of granular focus can help facilitate your work toward a final plan.

Weekly Goals Assessment Template

Download Weekly Goals Assessment Template

Use this weekly goals template to evaluate your progress, analyze roadblocks that may have occurred, and adjust your weekly plan based on new insights. Available in Excel, Word, and PDF, this template is a helpful tool for assessing short-term goals, which may include personal lifestyle aims, work objectives, weekly school assignments, or other endeavors. It may also serve as a motivational and planning tool to help you set and accomplish realistic goals each week.

Monthly Goals Tracking Template

‌ Download Monthly Goals Tracking Template

Daily Goals Template

Create a goals tracking sheet to monitor multiple goals on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. Divide this Google template into separate project goals, or create a combination of business and personal endeavors that you want to keep track of. You can break down your goals into various tasks so that you can see a detailed list of what needs to be completed.

Download Daily Goals Template

Set daily goals and create a schedule of tasks that you can mark as complete as you accomplish each one. This is a simple way to organize your day and break down goals into manageable steps. Prioritize tasks in order of importance to ensure that you don’t overlook your top goals. This Excel/Word/PDF template can also be used as a basic to-do list or event planning tool.

Personal Goals Templates

Life goals worksheet.

Download Life Goals Worksheet

This life goals worksheet provides separate sections for short-, mid-, and long-term goals to help you plan ahead and create a gradual staircase of goals to climb. You can set objectives related to career, finances, and personal endeavors to translate your dreams into fully realized actions. Taking time to think through life goals is a great opportunity to assess what your most important goals are and how and when you want to achieve them. Use this template (available in Excel, Word, and PDF) as a planning tool and reminder of your long-term vision.

Financial Goals Worksheet

Download Financial Goals Worksheet

Whether you want to pay off debt, save for retirement, or plan a future vacation, this template is designed to help you clarify financial goals, identify potential obstacles, and list clear action steps to help you succeed. Setting measurable goals and giving yourself a timeline will make it easier to create a realistic action plan and track ongoing progress. This worksheet, available in Excel, Word, and PDF, can serve as a brainstorming tool for defining and prioritizing your financial goals.

Student Goals Template

Download Student Goals Template

This template can be used by younger students in the classroom, college students planning for the future, or families helping children learn how to set and work toward goals. Simply edit the template to focus on school subject areas, learning new skills, improving grades, improving study habits, or other goals. Available in Word and PDF, this tool may help students identify strengths and weaknesses and organize goals into manageable steps.

Career Goals Template

Download Career Goals Template

Create strategies for professional development or a career change with this Word or PDF template that helps you identify skills, interests, experience, or achievements that you want to attain. Consider how certain steps might advance your business or career, where you’d like to be in five or 10 years, and other important questions related to work life. You can use this template for setting both long-term goals and short-term actions related to career development and satisfaction.

Weight Loss Goal Tracker Template

Download Weight Loss Goal Tracker Template

If you’re working toward a weight loss goal, this template may provide both accountability and motivation as you keep track of your progress. As with any goal, the actions you take will determine the outcome, so including a specific plan related to fitness or diet will provide clear steps for reaching your goal weight. This Excel template will automatically calculate your weight loss based on the numbers entered, so you can compare your daily or weekly weight to your goal.

Procrastination Management Worksheet

Download Procrastination Management Worksheet

Word  |  PDF

Procrastination not only interferes with time management, staying organized, and maintaining a schedule, but can also make it much harder to reach goals. If you’re struggling to meet certain objectives, follow your action plans, or stick to the timelines set for certain goals, use this Word worksheet to determine where procrastination might be getting in the way. This is essentially a worksheet to help you create strategies and set goals for dealing with procrastination so that you can work toward the goals that matter most. It’s also designed to help you evaluate the impact of your actions (or inaction) and the importance of certain tasks.

What Is a Goal?

A goal is generally defined as something that an individual or group is trying to achieve. People often set goals within a specific time frame so there is a deadline for completion. Both short- and long-term goals may need to be broken down into a set of tasks — doing so essentially turns one goal into several mini-goals. These tasks, or action steps designed to work toward a larger goal, are often referred to as objectives .

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What Is an Objective?

Objectives are measurable and specific actions that can be taken to achieve an end result. They are often planned and carried out on a shorter-term basis and may be designed to help an individual, group, or organization reach a broader, long-term goal.

What Is the Difference between a Goal and an Objective?

The terms goal and objective are often used interchangeably and both refer to an aim or desired outcome that a person or group hopes to accomplish. However, goals often point to a larger purpose, a long-term vision, or a less tangible result, whereas objectives tend to be time-limited, measurable actions with tangible outcomes that help push progress toward broader goals.

What Are S.M.A.R.T. Goals?

The S.M.A.R.T. approach to handling goals came out of the corporate world in the early 1980s. It describes a method for setting and working toward goals, and the acronym stands for the following:

Specific : Clearly define goals as succinctly as possible.

Measurable : Identify metrics for measuring progress and success.

Achievable : Set realistic goals that can be completed within specific parameters.

Relevant : Ensure that goals are worth pursuing.

Time-Bound : Assign deadlines to goals and related action steps.

Using the S.M.A.R.T. framework for managing goals and objectives can help you examine the motivation behind pursuing a certain goal. It can also help you determine what resources will be required to reach that goal. The S.M.A.R.T. guidelines break down the goal planning process into clear steps so that vital questions can be answered efficiently. What exactly needs to be accomplished? How will you know when your goal has been reached? What is the timeline, and who is responsible for the different actions required to reach the goal?

S.M.A.R.T. goals may be especially useful when dealing with complex goals that need to be broken down into multiple, actionable steps that you delegate to various team members and track over time. This framework can also be combined with other strategic planning by analyzing strengths and weaknesses, identifying internal and external resources, and evaluating risk. Planning for potential problems and tracking metrics closely can help reduce risk, keep progress on track, and increase the chances of reaching a goal by the desired completion date.

Tips for Setting (and Reaching) Attainable Goals

Here are a few tips to keep in mind as you set goals and create plans for reaching them:

Start Small and Build on Success : Whether you’re aiming to retire by a certain age, lose 50 pounds, or grow business profits over a five-year period, create a plan that starts with steps you can take now. Add benchmarks down the road so you have clear short-term steps to reach your ultimate goal — doing so provides a manageable ladder for you to climb and gives you ongoing gratification as you reach each objective leading to the end goal.

Focus on the Most Important Goal : Dealing with the goals of a complex organization, long-term project, or even an individual life can feel overwhelming. In any situation, identify the most important goal — this will help you create an effective plan of action and prioritize other goals.

Consider Both Lead and Lag Measures : Measuring key indicators is vital to tracking the progress and effectiveness of business endeavors. Leading and lagging indicators are both important measures of success, but each provides different information. Simply put, lead measures are drivers that can help you achieve a goal, while lag measures are outcomes; the former is predictive, while the latter provides information about a completed process. Lagging indicators offer measurable results that can be used to analyze progress. However, when planning business goals, it is vital to consider the leading indicators that may improve those outcomes.

Keep Goals in a Visible Place : This is a simple tip that can go a long way toward maintaining focus and tracking progress. It could mean keeping files easily accessible, so updates are shared among stakeholders. Or, it could simply mean posting a printed sheet in your home office as a reminder of high-priority tasks that need to be completed or long-term goals that you are working toward.

Consider Accountability as a Form of Motivation : Goals for work projects may have  accountability built in via deadlines and performance reviews. But, when undertaking personal goals, it may help to choose an accountability partner or let friends and family know what goal you are working toward.

Set, Track, and Achieve Goals with Smartsheet Templates for Project Management

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The Smartsheet platform makes it easy to plan, capture, manage, and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done. Report on key metrics and get real-time visibility into work as it happens with roll-up reports, dashboards, and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed. 

When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time.  Try Smartsheet for free, today.

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Business Goal-Setting and Objectives Templates

RELATED TAGS:

goal setting , Strategic Planning

Setting goals for your business is essential to its success. Your plan serves as a roadmap for where you want to go and how you’ll get there. Proper execution means having the right tools in place to organize, align, and track your progress. At AchieveIt, our business goals and objectives templates can help.

In This Article

The benefits of following a templated plan for setting business goals.

• Strategic Plan
• SMART Goals

Improve Your Goal-Setting

Our free business goals templates help you concentrate on executing your plan. Use these guides to stay:

• More organized: Set out simple top-to-bottom strategies and align tasks with your business priorities. You’ll have a clearly defined path for meeting each goal, from deliverables to due dates.
• More accountable: Empower team members to see their role in reaching objectives . You’ll encourage them to stay more engaged and take ownership of their work.
• More transparent: Create an easy-to-follow view of your initiatives with a well-structured plan . You’ll have complete visibility into your plan’s performance and goal status.

3 Business Goal-Setting and Objectives Templates

AchieveIt offers three business goal-setting templates to help you succeed.

1. Strategic Plan

Even planning newbies find this template helpful for team discussion and goal-setting . Simply enter your company’s needs and data to outline a blueprint that will help you achieve them. Our step-by-step process takes you through:

• Review: Build your plan on our recommendations with your terminology.
• Identification: Choose from our five prebuilt themes or find commonalities within your own process to design around business-wide themes.
• Implementation: Deconstruct each goal into an objective, a strategy, and action steps. 
• Collaboration: Keep teamwork at the forefront by understanding and defining who is responsible for what and when.
• Measurement: Quantify success with relevant metrics that reflect progress.

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Download this guide to learn how the most successful executives use goal-setting methodologies and technology to empower their teams and improve execution.

2. SMART Goals

Many companies rely on the SMART system to design and carry out a plan for meeting goals. Use our template to set goals that are:

• Specific: Define goals with a narrow focus for maximum impact. Having a clear idea in mind keeps everyone on the same page.
• Measurable: Track results with concrete metrics to understand your progress. While success looks different for every company, you need an objective way to gauge performance.
• Achievable: Make goals realistic enough to reach. Choosing practical milestones keeps teams engaged.
• Relevant: Focus initiatives on the overarching business objectives. Strategies must align with your company’s vision of what you want to achieve.
• Timely: Set a deadline for reaching the goal. Having a definitive timeline ensures steady progress.

Our DMAIC template integrates seamlessly with organizations using Six Sigma methodologies. Download this template to:

• Define the problem: What needs improving and how will you do it?
• Measure progress: Where are you compared to where you need to be?
• Analyze efforts: What strategies are working and which aren’t?
• Improve processes: Where can we build on our successes?
• Control the flow: When and where are we testing our process quality?

Pair our business goals templates with the full AchieveIt web-based platform for measurable results. AchieveIt specializes in helping companies realize their visions with a simplified process. Request a personalized demonstration today and our team members will show you how integrated plan management works better with our tools.

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Organizations of all types leverage AchieveIt to manage, execute, and connect their most important initiatives. Replace manual processes & siloed systems with interconnected plans in a single, automated platform .

Meet the Author   Chelsea Damon

Chelsea Damon is the Content Strategist at AchieveIt. When she's not publishing content about strategy execution, you'll likely find her outside or baking bread.

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Business goals examples: What they are and how to set them right

• August, 14 2024

Table of contents

Are you setting realistic business goals that push your business toward success? How about ensuring that your team’s efforts are aligned with current resources? Have you thought about the right structure to measure progress, make informed decisions, and keep everyone focused on your top priorities? This is where business goals examples come in.

If you’re struggling for answers, the guide below contains the 10 most important business goals examples . They should help you set the right goals for your business so you can see it thrive without resorting to complicated strategies. All it takes is proper planning. Let’s get started!

What are business goals?

Business goals are the long-term achievements an organization seeks to accomplish. They are aligned with the company’s mission and vision and serve as a roadmap for growth and success.

As opposed to objectives, which are specific, measurable, and set for a shorter time span, business goals include general, long-term intentions. They contain no specifics but rather a general direction and an estimated outcome. 

Organizations that set and clearly communicate goals are 1.4 times more likely to achieve success. Whether you’re running a small business or a major corporation, SMART business goals examples will help you connect with your audience better, on more fronts, and with long-term results.

How to set business goals

To set effective business goals, start by defining clear, achievable targets that align with your organization’s vision and mission. Those goals will fall into the following categories.

Short-term goals

Short-term goals are specific, actionable targets, set to be achieved in the near future, typically within a few months to a year. They are designed to deliver quick wins and immediate results that contribute to the accomplishment of long-term goals.

• Increasing sales revenue
• Launching a new product
• Improving customer service
• Enhancing employee training

Importance and impact

Essential for achieving quick wins that boost morale and momentum, short-term goals provide immediate, tangible results that can keep team members on track and motivated. They help break down larger, long-term objectives into manageable tasks, allowing leaders to adjust their strategies in response to new challenges or opportunities.

Long-term goals

Long-term goals are strategic objectives that an organization aims to achieve over a longer period, meaning three to five years or more. These goals are aligned with the company’s vision and serve as the basis for setting shorter-term goals and objectives.

• Achieving carbon neutrality
• Developing new technologies
• Doubling the company’s return on investment
• Becoming a top-three recognized brand across operations

Long-term goals act as a compass, guiding decision-making and resource allocation over extended periods. They motivate teams to work consistently toward achieving major milestones, encouraging proactive planning and anticipating business needs. 

SMART goals

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. These types of goals are meant to provide clarity and focus, making it easier to achieve desired outcomes.

• Improving customer satisfaction
• Improving time management skills for employees
• Expanding market reach by accessing the international market

Types of SMART business goals

Let’s look into several types of SMART goals, along with real-life examples of companies that successfully implemented them, creating a structured approach to success.

Financial goals

These goals are mostly tied to revenue, profitability, cost management, and overall financial health. They help ensure the organization’s long-term sustainability and growth, providing a clear benchmark for measuring business success and making informed decisions.

• Improving cash flow
• Achieving a profit margin
• Increasing annual revenue
• Reducing operational costs

Back in 2018, Apple set out to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization . They planned on getting there by expanding their product line, but they also focused on keeping high-profit margins and keeping costs in line. Once they achieved what they set out to do, their position as a leader in the tech industry became rock solid.

Operational goals

They aim to improve day-to-day operations, streamline workflows, and enhance productivity. Operational goals are crucial for resource optimization and cost reduction. When operations run smoothly, customer demands can be met more efficiently. 

Examples 

• Reducing production lead time
• Implementing a new inventory management system
• Improving supply chain efficiency by reducing delivery times
• Increasing manufacturing efficiency by automating manual processes

Marketing goals

Crucial for expanding the business and reaching new audiences, they drive customer engagement , sales growth, and brand recognition, helping businesses reach their target audience and achieve a competitive advantage.

• Increasing brand awareness
• Generating more leads through digital marketing channels
• Launching a new product campaign to achieve a higher market share
• Improving customer acquisition cost (CAC) through targeted advertising

Nike launched a global marketing campaign focused on sustainability and inclusivity. Its final goal was to increase brand awareness and customer engagement around its eco-friendly product line. The campaign was called “ Move to Zero “, hinting at their attempts to reduce their carbon footprint. It increased brand awareness in key markets and was a great success, especially among environmentalists.

Customer service goals

Customer service goals aim to improve service quality, response times, and overall customer satisfaction. In time, they lead to higher customer loyalty and retention, driving repeat business and referrals.

• Reducing average response time
• Increasing customer retention rates
• Achieving a higher customer satisfaction score
• Implementing a new customer feedback system

Employee development goals

These goals focus on enhancing the skills, knowledge, and overall performance of the workforce. They foster a positive work environment and help attract and retain top talent, contributing to employee satisfaction, retention, and productivity.

• Increasing employee engagement scores
• Implementing a leadership training program
• Offering professional development opportunities
• Reducing employee turnover by x% by improving career development pathways

Innovation and growth goals

These include expanding the business through new products, services, markets, or processes. If you’re looking to stay competitive and adapt to market changes, to drive long-term success, these are the goals you need to set. They will also help identify new market opportunities.

Launching new products or services, expanding into new international markets, increasing R&D spending, developing and patenting a new technology.

Textmagic continually expanded its product offerings and market reach, taking its platform from a simple deck for sending text messages to a comprehensive business messaging platform. Today, it includes features like email-to-SMS, SMS chat, and integration with CRM systems, allowing businesses to manage their customer communication more effectively.

Sustainability goals

These goals aim to minimize the business’s environmental impact and promote social responsibility. They enhance the company’s reputation, meet regulatory requirements, and appeal to socially conscious consumers.

• Reducing carbon emissions
• Implementing a company-wide recycling program
• Achieving zero waste in manufacturing processes
• Sourcing x% of materials from sustainable suppliers

Why are business goals important?

Business goals provide direction, focus, and a clear roadmap for success. Let’s see why you need to be clear about what you want to achieve before diving into anything else.

• They enhance organizational performance: Business goals align individual and team efforts with the overall objectives, leading to improved productivity and better performance across the board. 
• They encourage resource efficiency: Goals help prioritize initiatives, ensuring that resources are directed toward activities that offer the greatest return on investment and minimize waste.
• They improve employee engagement: Clear goals come with a sense of purpose and direction, helping employees see the value in their efforts and remain committed to their tasks.
• They promote continuous improvement: Regularly reviewing and setting new goals allows the organization to pinpoint areas for improvement, stay competitive, and adapt to shifting market conditions.
• They support informed decision-making: Adequate goals lead to more consistent and effective decision-making, reducing the risk of getting stuck on initiatives that do not support the company’s long-term vision.
• They increase chances of achieving long-term success: Clear goals help ensure that the organization stays on track and makes small but steady progress toward its vision.
• They strengthen team collaboration: Teams work together more effectively when they understand how their efforts impact the company’s overall objectives. 
• They align efforts with company vision and mission: Business goals keep everyone focused on what matters for the company at a specific time or in the long run, ensuring all efforts contribute to its higher purpose.

10 common business goals examples

Here are 10 common examples of business goals that companies prioritize to drive growth and sustainability, along with strategies to achieve them.

1. Increase revenue

Boosting sales and profitability is typically done by implementing new marketing strategies, expanding product lines, or entering new markets. Also consider price optimization. 

2. Expand market share

You can capture a larger portion of the market by outperforming competitors, reaching new markets, or detailing product offerings.

3. Improve customer satisfaction

Improve service quality by setting clear targets, like answering inquiries within 1 hour and resolving issues in 24 hrs. Where possible, automate routine tasks.

4. Enhance operational efficiency

Looking to streamline processes? Negotiate better deals with suppliers, consider faster delivery, and implement just-in-time inventory practices to reduce storage costs.

5. Develop new products or services

Start exploring new markets to see where your product could solve a problem, then tweak it so that it remains a solution for the following years. 

6. Increase online presence

Improve web traffic, boost social media engagement, or increase online sales. Easier said than done? Understand your audience’s needs, then act to fix customers’ pain points .

7. Strengthen employee engagement

Draw up a detailed employee development program that includes enhancing technical (hard) skills relevant to specific job roles and soft skills such as communication, leadership, and teamwork.

8. Achieve sustainability goals

Are you using too much energy, or is your supply chain management faulty? Optimize logistics and transportation, considering using electric or hybrid vehicles, consolidating shipments, and sourcing materials locally. 

9. Enhance financial stability

Examine expenses, optimize cash flow, and diversify revenue streams. Set aside profits for an emergency fund, consider liquid assets for urgent needs, and include a business continuity plan to ensure operational resilience during disruptions.

10. Expand workforce

Growing the company’s talent pool?  Recruit and retain top talent, enhancing diversity and inclusion along the way. Break this down into quarterly or monthly hiring targets to track progress.

Setting goals is a tailor-fit process. It should include unique business parameters like economic environment, emerging opportunities, and present resources. The best way to go about this process is to look at the bigger picture.

Set yourself up for long-term success by setting business goals that are in line with your target audience’s needs. Prioritize those that impact your bottom line in the long run, and never stop tweaking. 

There’s nothing worse than a generic, one-size-fits-all strategy. Companies with well-defined goals and performance management processes are 4.2 times more likely to outperform their competitors in terms of profitability and growth.

Create your plan and stick to it, but above all, make it easy to manage by including milestones to keep track of your progress. 

Raluca Mocanu is a seasoned content writer, specializing in content marketing since 2016. With a strong focus on customer behavior analysis and SEO optimization, she crafts compelling narratives that drive engagement and boost conversions.

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Business Objectives: How to Set Clear Business Objectives [7 Examples and a Template)

Setting clear and effective business objectives is not just a crucial step but also the cornerstone of steering your organization toward unprecedented success. Regardless of whether you find yourself at the helm of a small startup or a well-established corporate giant, the process of crafting well-defined objectives is akin to plotting a precise roadmap for your company's journey. Not only does it serve as the North Star guiding your path, but it also has the power to harmonize your entire team's efforts, thus ensuring a collective stride toward a shared destination. Moreover, these objectives act as the yardstick by which you measure progress, holding up a mirror to reflect upon your achievements and areas where improvement is needed. In addition, integrating AI-automation tools is essential, whether you're leading a startup or a large corporation. These technologies not only guide your strategy but also enhance team efficiency and accuracy. They provide data-driven insights, making your objectives more measurable and objective-focused. In this comprehensive guide, we won't merely scratch the surface; we'll delve deep into the art and science of setting business objectives. We will dissect the very essence of why this process is indispensable, and we will provide you with seven meticulously crafted examples of objectives, each designed to inspire and propel your organization toward unparalleled greatness.

Why are Clear Business Objectives Important?

Business objectives serve as the foundation for your company's strategic planning and decision-making processes. They offer several key benefits:

• Providing Direction and Purpose: Business objectives serve as a compass, pointing the way forward. They offer a clear sense of direction, answering the fundamental question of "Where are we headed?" This clarity of purpose not only guides the leadership but also filters down to every member of the team. It aligns their efforts with the organization's overarching mission, fostering a shared sense of purpose.
• Enabling Focus and Prioritization: In today's dynamic business environment, distractions are plentiful, and resources are finite. Business objectives act as a filter, helping organizations sift through the myriad of opportunities and challenges they face. They assist in prioritizing efforts by highlighting what truly matters, ensuring that time, energy, and resources are directed toward the most critical initiatives.
• Facilitating Measurement and Evaluation: Well-defined objectives are inherently measurable. They provide organizations with tangible criteria against which to measure their progress. These measurable objectives are often accompanied by specific key performance indicators (KPIs) that serve as metrics of success. As such, they empower organizations to gauge their performance, identify areas for improvement, and celebrate achievements.
• Fostering Motivation and Accountability: Employees are driven by a sense of purpose and the knowledge that their contributions matter. By leveraging app integration technology, team members can clearly see how their roles tie into the broader business objectives, naturally boosting their motivation to excel. When individuals understand how their roles tie into the achievement of broader business objectives, they are naturally motivated to excel. Additionally, objectives create a sense of ownership and accountability. Team members take pride in their responsibilities and strive to fulfill them to the best of their abilities, knowing that their contributions impact the organization's success.
• Navigating Adaptability in a Shifting Landscape: The business landscape is marked by constant change. New opportunities arise, while unforeseen challenges emerge. In this ever-evolving environment, business objectives serve as a crucial framework for adaptability. Organizations can adjust and realign their objectives to stay in sync with shifting market conditions, technological advancements, or changes in consumer preferences. This flexibility ensures that organizations remain agile and responsive.

How to Set Business Objectives?

Setting business objectives that are truly effective and actionable involves a methodical approach. As mentioned earlier, one of the most widely used frameworks for creating such objectives is the SMART criteria, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Here's a step-by-step guide to setting business objectives using the SMART criteria:

Step 1: Start with a Vision

Begin by articulating your organization's long-term vision. What do you aspire to achieve in the next 5, 10, or even 20 years? Your vision should be ambitious and inspiring, serving as the North Star that your objectives will contribute to.

Step 2: Align with Your Mission

Ensure that your objectives align seamlessly with your company's mission statement and core values. This alignment helps maintain consistency in your organization's actions and goals, reinforcing your commitment to your mission.

Step 3: Be SMART

Utilize the SMART criteria to structure your objectives. Each objective should meet the following criteria:

• Specific: Clearly state what you want to accomplish. Avoid vague language and ensure that the objective is well-defined. The objective should answer the "who," "what," "where," and "why" questions.
• Measurable: Identify the key metrics or Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that will be used to track progress. These metrics should be quantifiable, allowing you to measure success objectively.
• Achievable: Evaluate whether the objective is attainable with the resources, time, and capabilities available. While objectives should challenge your organization, they should also be realistic. Consider potential roadblocks and how they can be overcome.
• Relevant: Explain how the objective aligns with your mission, vision, and strategic goals. Ensure that the objective is directly related to the overall purpose and direction of your organization.
• Time-bound: Set a deadline or timeframe for achieving the objective. This adds a sense of urgency and helps with planning, execution, and accountability. Determine when the objective should be completed.

Step 4: Prioritize

Recognize that not all objectives are of equal importance. Determine which objectives are most critical for your business at the present moment. These are the objectives that will have the most significant impact on your organization's success. Prioritization helps allocate resources effectively.

Step 5: Set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

To measure progress toward each objective, define the specific metrics or KPIs that will be tracked. These KPIs serve as the means to gauge success and determine whether you are on track to achieve your objectives. Select KPIs that align with the specific nature of each objective.

Step 6: Involve Stakeholders

Include key stakeholders in the objective-setting process. This can include employees, managers, customers, suppliers, and investors. Their input can provide valuable insights, garner support, and enhance the quality of your objectives. Collaborative goal-setting can also improve buy-in from team members. This can be done using collaboration and productivity apps .

Step 7: Review and Update

Recognize that businesses and market conditions evolve. Regularly review your objectives to ensure they remain relevant and effective. Be willing to adapt and adjust them as needed to stay aligned with your vision and responsive to changing circumstances.

Example of Business Objective Template

Objective Statement: Expand our online presence and increase e-commerce sales by 20% in the next six months.

Priority: High

SMART Criteria:

Specific: Enhance our online presence through digital marketing, website optimization, and social media engagement. Increase e-commerce sales for our product line.

Measurable: Track website traffic, conversion rates, and revenue from e-commerce sales.

Achievable: We have the necessary digital marketing expertise and resources to implement these strategies.

Relevant: This objective aligns with our mission of reaching a broader audience and offering convenient online shopping options.

Time-bound: Achieve a 20% sales increase within the next six months.

Key Stakeholders: Marketing team, e-commerce department, sales team, IT department.

Action Plan:

• Conduct a website audit to identify areas for improvement.
• Develop a digital marketing campaign focused on increasing online visibility.
• Implement SEO strategies to improve search engine rankings.
• Enhance the user experience on our website, including mobile optimization.
• Launch targeted social media advertising campaigns.
• Monitor website analytics and sales data regularly.
• Continuously optimize the website and marketing efforts based on performance metrics.

Business Objective Examples

Setting clear and effective business objectives is fundamental for organizational success. These objectives act as a guiding compass, providing direction, focus, and a means of measurement. In this guide, we delve into the art of setting business objectives, emphasizing the importance of SMART criteria and providing practical examples to inspire your goal-setting endeavors. Let's explore seven examples of business objectives that illustrate the application of the SMART criteria:

1. Increase Annual Revenue

Objective Statement: Increase annual revenue by 15%.

Specific: Increase annual revenue through various strategies, including the introduction of new product lines and expansion into new markets.

Measurable: Track monthly sales and profits.

Achievable: We have the financial resources and market potential to support this growth.

Relevant: This objective aligns with our growth strategy and long-term vision.

Time-bound: Achieve this within the next fiscal year.

2. Improve Customer Satisfaction

Objective Statement: Enhance overall customer satisfaction scores.

Priority: Medium

Specific: Improve overall customer satisfaction by addressing pain points and enhancing the customer experience.

Measurable: Monitor Net Promoter Score (NPS) and customer feedback.

Achievable: We have the resources to invest in customer support training and product quality improvements.

Relevant: This objective reflects our commitment to being customer-centric.

Time-bound: Show measurable improvement within six months.

3. Reduce Operating Costs

Objective Statement: Decrease annual operating costs by 10%.

Specific: Identify cost-saving opportunities and streamline processes to reduce annual operating costs.

Measurable: Track expenses and monitor the implementation of cost-saving initiatives.

Achievable: We can achieve this by optimizing our supply chain and renegotiating vendor contracts.

Relevant: Cost reduction supports profitability and competitiveness.

Time-bound: Achieve cost reduction within one year.

4. Expand Market Share

Objective Statement: Increase market share in a specific region by 20%.

Specific: Expand market presence through targeted marketing campaigns and strategic partnerships in a specific geographic region.

Measurable: Monitor sales and market share data.

Achievable: Market research indicates significant growth potential in the target region.

Relevant: This objective aligns with our growth and expansion strategy.

Time-bound: Achieve the target within two years.

5. Enhance Employee Productivity

Objective Statement: Improve employee productivity by 15%.

Specific: Enhance employee productivity by providing training and optimizing workflows.

Measurable: Measure output per employee and time management.

Achievable: We can achieve this by investing in employee development and providing better tools.

Relevant: Improved productivity contributes to operational efficiency.

Time-bound: Show productivity gains within six months.

6. Achieve Sustainability Goals

Objective Statement: Reduce carbon emissions by 25%.

Specific: Implement energy-efficient practices, source renewable energy, and reduce carbon emissions.

Measurable: Monitor emissions data and track sustainability initiatives.

Achievable: We have the resources to invest in sustainable practices and technology.

Relevant: This objective aligns with our corporate social responsibility (CSR) objectives.

Time-bound: Achieve the reduction within three years.

7. Enhance Brand Recognition

Objective Statement: Increase brand recognition by 20% among the target audience.

Specific: Enhance brand recognition through branding campaigns and public relations efforts targeted at the desired audience.

Measurable: Measure brand awareness through surveys and online presence.

Achievable: We have the marketing resources and expertise to achieve this goal.

Relevant: Increased brand recognition supports our market positioning and growth.

Time-bound: Achieve the increase within one year.

How to Achieve Your Business Objectives?

Achieving business objectives requires strategic planning and effective execution. Here are some tips to help you succeed:

• Set Clear and Specific Objectives: Ensure your objectives are well-defined, measurable, and aligned with your company's mission and values.
• Break Down Objectives: Divide larger objectives into smaller, manageable tasks or milestones. This makes them more achievable and easier to track.
• Involve Your Team: Engage your employees in the goal-setting process. When they understand the objectives and their roles, they're more motivated to contribute.
• Prioritize Tasks: Focus on high-priority tasks that have the most significant impact on your objectives. Avoid getting sidetracked by less important activities.
• Regular Monitoring: Continuously track progress using key performance indicators (KPIs). This allows you to make adjustments as needed.
• Adapt to Changes: Be flexible and willing to adjust your strategies and objectives when necessary. The business landscape evolves, and you should too.
• Allocate Resources Wisely: Ensure that you have the necessary resources, including budget, talent, and technology, to support your objectives.
• Celebrate Milestones: Recognize and celebrate achievements along the way. It boosts morale and motivates your team to keep pushing forward.
• Communication is Key: Keep everyone informed about the objectives, progress, and any changes. Effective communication fosters alignment and teamwork.
• Learn from Failures: If you encounter setbacks, view them as learning opportunities. Analyze what went wrong and use that knowledge to improve.
• Stay Committed: Achieving business objectives often takes time and persistence. Stay committed to the long-term vision.
• Seek Expert Guidance: Consider consulting experts or mentors who have experience in achieving similar objectives. Their insights can be invaluable.
• Customer-Centric Approach: Ensure that your objectives align with meeting customer needs and delivering value. Satisfied customers are more likely to contribute to your success.
• Continuous Improvement: Encourage a culture of continuous improvement within your organization. Strive for excellence in all areas.
• Integrate Apps for Efficiency and Collaboration: Utilize app integrations like integrate Slack with other apps for team communication, integrate Zoom for virtual meetings, and integrate Harvest for more smooht workflow automation. These tools streamline processes, enhance collaboration, and ensure that everyone is aligned and updated on progress.
• Evaluate and Adjust: Periodically review your objectives and assess whether they remain relevant. Make adjustments based on changing market conditions or new opportunities.

Setting effective business objectives is a critical step in achieving long-term success for your organization. By following the SMART criteria and involving key stakeholders, you can create objectives that provide clear direction, focus, and accountability.In this process, using workflow automation tools can play a pivotal role. Automation tools can streamline complex processes, reduce manual errors, and save time, allowing your team to focus on strategic tasks that align with your objectives. Regularly review and update your objectives to adapt to changing business conditions and ensure alignment with your vision. Remember that business objectives should be tailored to your organization's unique goals and circumstances. Use the provided template and examples as a starting point, but customize them to fit your specific needs. With well-defined objectives in place, your business will be better equipped to navigate challenges, seize opportunities, and ultimately achieve its mission and vision.

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Losing Focus? Stay Aligned With a Business Goals Template

• OKR - Objectives & Key Results

Business Goals Template [Free Download]

How to use the business goals template, “what are business goals examples”, spreadsheets vs okr software: implement goal effectively, how to set business goals using a dedicated okr software , get organized and take goal-setting to the next level.

Effective business leaders not only have a clear vision, they also know how to communicate it clearly and translate it into action plans. Understanding the company’s direction and knowing how individual contribution (output) is attributed to achieving overarching business objectives ( outcomes ) is the essence of creating a goal-setting and growth mindset.

“Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion” – Jack Welch

For instance, your company’s goals or business objectives could be to:

• Generate $200K in revenue
• Increase customer retention by 25%
• Launch 5 new products

Considering only these high-level annual business goals without day-to-day/weekly/monthly action plans can lead to loss of focus and misalignment.

That’s why business goal-setting using an effective approach is important. The Objective and Key Results (OKR) framework is a proven methodology used by leading companies to achieve their business goals.

Try OKR Goal Setting Software

Keep business goals front and center with tracking functionalities and visual dashboards – stay focused, achieve real results.

If you have created your business goals already, here is an effective way to track them and stay aligned.

Download your free business goals planning template here !

This simple, business goals template is easy to use and perfect for articulating your business goals in one place. It can be used by any type of business across industry sectors.

1. Define Company Vision

This is the most important part of your goal-setting process. Your business vision is the foundation of your overall business.

The vision needs to be a brief and concrete mission statement. While you can redefine your vision annually, it ideally should stay consistent for at least 5-10 years.

Define success and visualize how your business would be when it’s most successful. For instance, your vision could be “to become the biggest company with the largest market share in your sector”, or “to become the #1 customer-centric company delivering the highest customer value”, or it could be to “become the company with the highest brand value”.

Typically your vision must be an aspirational statement that provides direction and focus for everyone in the company to keep in mind when creating their goals.

2. Define Strategy

A strategy is an important part of running a successful business. While you may have different strategies for different business functions, you must have one overall strategy for success.

When starting out, you can choose a strategy that is tried and tested for your business. In time, you can change to align them with new business goals that you aspire to reach. Think about your niche segment and how you can realistically gain a competitive position in the market within a specified period.

3. Define Annual Focus Areas 

Record the most important focus areas for the year. This could be simple as “revenue” or “invest in public relations”.

Focus areas would be the “theme” of your fiscal year. What do you want to focus on in twelve months? Why do you want to focus on it? Does this focus result in you achieving your vision and strategy?

For instance, the focus area could be to “invest heavily in content marketing and link building” to achieve the 5-10 year vision to “have the biggest organic traffic in the software market.”

4. Set OKRs

The Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) section of the template is where quarterly planning happens. Define an Objective you want to achieve within 3 months and set Key Results that will help you track and measure progress made toward that Objective.

The OKR goal-setting methodology is popular among leading companies like Google. This goal system is a simple process to understand and is different from traditional planning methods in that it is constantly set, tracked, and evaluated.

💡 Keep in mind that you can learn how leading companies set their goals but you must tailor your OKR approach to fit your needs.

Use a Guided OKR-writing Tool

Write high quality OKRs from scratch with a built-in OKR Wizard and example OKRs. Keep goals front and center with color-coded tracking and visual dashboards.

In the business goals template provide we have listed three Objectives:

• Improve brand presence
• Improve content and distribution
• Achieve record metrics in blog organic traffic

For every Objective, make sure to list the Key Results you want to achieve (up to five per Objective) and the metrics to measure them. Also, include a reasonable deadline to achieve each Key Result.

For instance, for the Objective to “improve brand presence” a Key Result you may want to achieve could be to “earn five placements in mainstream media in the quarter”. You could measure this on a scale of 1 to 5. Revisit and evaluate Objectives and Key Results every quarter and revise them if it is not achieved. 

Here’s a snapshot of an OKR example:

👉 Read more to learn how to write good OKRs and watch how to implement OKRs and to put theory to practice using a step-by-step OKR example.

5. Plan, Track and Review Weekly

The weekly planning ( Plans, Progress, and Problems ) process gives you an idea about the progress made toward achieving your goals. 

Ideally conducted on a Friday it gives a snapshot of weekly performance. What did you accomplish in the week? What do you plan to accomplish next week? What problems do you expect? It is best to keep it concise and also include achievements no matter how small (such as publishing two blog posts).

6. Review Desired Outcomes

Revisit your desired outcome weekly and define the measurements for success for the next week. A simple example could be “Increase the number of new visitors to the blog by 35%”. Keeping these measurements brief and realistic works well.

Track Business Goals with OKRs

A dedicated OKR software with automated reminders, tracking features and visual dashboards can help you stay focused, aligned, and achieve outcomes.

The weekly planning (Plans, Progress, and Problems) structure should be visited once a week (we suggest Friday) to look at how different goals have been accomplished.

Look at how the week went. What did you accomplish this week? What do you plan on accomplishing next week? What problems do you expect to run into? Be brief here and don’t be afraid to include achievements that are relatively small, such as publishing two blog posts.

6. Desired Outcome

Like the above section, you’ll want to revisit your desired outcome each and every week on a Friday. Define the measurements for success for the next week. This can be as simple as having an agreed roadmap that your marketing team can use for writing content for the next few months. Keep these measurements brief and realistic.

Business goals can be either long term (1 + years) or short term (3 months or less). 

Examples of short-term business goals:

• Increase the number of published blog posts per week from 3 to 5
• Create a marketing campaign for collecting clients’ reviews
• Increase traffic to the company’s template library
• Hire a new product marketing manager within the next month

Examples of long-term business goals:

• Increase Community Outreach
• Increase Market Share
• Increase the total income of your company by 30% over the next year
• Reduce production expenses by 10% over the next three months
• Grow Shareholder Value
• Increase overall brand awareness
• Develop and launch three new products.

📚 Searching for more examples? Here are 40 + business goals examples to get you started and learn different goal setting frameworks you can adopt. 

Setting goals may be easy, but aligning them and tracking progress can be challenging. That’s why using spreadsheets to track goals and OKRs are not suitable. Instead, to implement the OKR framework accurately, using a dedicated software platform delivers better results. 

Why Spreadsheets are Less Effective

Here are some of the reasons spreadsheets are not a feasible option compared to software applications for implementing OKRs:

• Spreadsheets enable only recording of goals and do not provide an efficient way to track and align them
• The process of recording and updating progress of company goals can be time-consuming and 
• The manual process of updating goals could lead to errors and does not provide the agility to make changes
• A static record of goals does not encourage engagement and making the team aware of regular updates can be tedious
• Compliance and participation in goal setting can be difficult to achieve
• It can get difficult to use spreadsheets when cascading OKRs 
• Alignment and ensuring dependencies are connected could be challenging to maintain
• Tracking goals of multiple teams and projects in multiple spreadsheets can be unfeasible

Why a Dedicated OKR Software Works for Implementing Goals

• View and track business objectives and key results of all teams and the company in one place
• Get visibility into team-level and company goals and ensure alignment
• Encourage engagement with reminders to update metrics of key results
• Monitor the progress of goals effectively using reporting dashboards 
• Get an overview of overall progress in an instant to make improvements with agility 
• Streamline workflows and ensure meetings more constructive with effective tracking and reporting features

It can be difficult to set and maintain company goals in spreadsheets. To make goal setting a collaborative process using a dedicated OKR software is an ideal option. Setting your company goals using a platform can add more value to tracking business goals.

Here’s a simple process to set OKRs in a software application:

• Begin with the Company Objective. Objectives on the Company level represent high-level aspirational goals. 
• Set team level OKRs. Team Objectives are improvement goals aligned with the overarching goals and must be linked to the Company Objective. They technically translate to Company level Key Results.
• Add Key Results. Each Team Objective must ideally have between 3-5 Key Results which are measurable outcomes that represent a valuable change in the business. Key Results can be measured on a scale of 0-100% or any numerical unit (for example, $, %, items, clients, etc.).

• Ensure to leave comments every time you update progress on a KR. This provides helpful insights and records lessons learned.

Using a business goals template is a good way to organize company goals and start the next quarter with specific milestones. This business goal-setting worksheet helps to collaboratively set and track OKRs as a team. Here are some resources that could help you use the business goals template more effectively:

• OKR examples for different teams – to transform ideas to action
• Should you use a spreadsheet or goal-setting software ?
• How to stay on course with OKR Tracking Best Practices
• What are some of the good and bad OKR examples and how to set OKRs ?
• How to align OKRs at every level of the company? 

Ready to set your business goals and automate the goal tracking process using a dedicated OKR software?

Business Goal-Setting for Excel, Google Sheets

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Template Highlights

• Add a summary of the primary goals your business aims to achieve, both short-term and long-term.
• Break down your goals into achievable milestones.
• Customize the template with your own branding and logo.
• Download it as an Excel document or in Google Sheets.
• Print it so you can keep tabs on your business goals.

What is goal setting?

Goal setting refers to the process of creating an action plan for guiding your organization toward success. It helps align the efforts of all team members with the company's overall business strategy. 

Importance of goal setting

Goal setting is critical to success for organizations, as it shapes the overall strategic approach of the entire entity. Instead of dealing with disjointed plans across different teams, your business brings everyone in the loop by setting organizational goals. 

Plus, you can expect several organization-wide benefits:

• Higher motivation : A 2023 Microsoft report found that 50% of employees get motivation and an improved sense of purpose from clear goals. So, you can start off on the right foot by sharing your company objectives with your team via goal setting. 
• Easier performance tracking : You can tie goals to key performance indicators (KPIs) and other performance-related metrics to measure the organization's performance over time.
• Efficient resource usage : Goal setting lets you divide your long-term plans into small milestones with deadlines and key results. As a result, you can allocate in-house resources much more efficiently.  

Best tips for setting business goals

Setting clear business goals is essential to your organization’s success. Here are some of the best tips to help you set clear and achievable business goals:

• Make your goals SMART : Opt for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART) goals. For example, instead of “increase our monthly sales revenue,” go for “increase the monthly sales revenue of Product A by 8.3% within the next three months.”
• Use a goal-setting template:  Rather than creating a goal-setting document from scratch, rely on online templates for ease of use — HubSpot’s free goal-setting template is available for both Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets. 
• Break down larger goals : Divide extensive, long-term goals into smaller, manageable tasks. As a result, you’ll have an easier time assigning tasks and more opportunities to adjust if necessary. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What are business goals.

Business goals are the targets a company wants to achieve in a set period. You can split these goals into short-term and long-term objectives.

For example, you can plan to hire 12 customer service reps before the year ends (short-term) or increase employee satisfaction by 30% in five years (long-term).

You can employ the 5 R's for effective goal setting. The 5 R’s of goal setting are relevant, realistic, results-oriented, resourced, and reviewed. And if your goals tick off these 5 R’s, you can attain the results you need to drive your organization toward success. 

What's the purpose of a business goal-setting template?

What are the key components to include in a business goal-setting template.

Here are some key components to include in your template:

• Specific goals: What exactly does your business want to achieve?
• Measurable targets: How will your company know it's achieving its goals? 
• Time frame: When do you want to achieve these goals?
• Responsibilities: Who will do what? Highlight the teams in charge of different parts of the plan.
• Monitoring: How will you keep an eye on progress? 
• Collaboration tools: If different teams are working on the same targets, they need tools to help them collaborate.

Is the business goal-setting template free and editable?

HubSpot’s free goal-setting template for Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets is 100% free and fully editable. You can make it your own by populating it with your organizational data. 

How do I create a goal-setting plan?

To create a goal-setting plan, download HubSpot’s free goal-setting template. After that, enter your organizational data in the template to define your goals, objectives, results, and respective timelines. 

You can also customize the template with your brand's colors and logo.

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• Spreadsheets
• Project Management
• Agendas & Schedules
• Google Sheets

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More From Forbes

Goals vs. objectives: why it matters, and how to set them.

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Josh Thompson is the founder and leader of Thompson Exterior Services , a construction and building maintenance company.

Anyone who is familiar with leadership will tell you that goals and objectives are essential to being a successful leader. That being said, when starting your business, it can be hard to set goals and objectives for yourself. My time as an entrepreneur and company leader has taught me a lot about the do's and don’ts of setting goals and objectives that I would like to share.

Understanding Goals And Objectives

Before you start setting goals and objectives, you need to understand what they are. Goals are typically long term, overarching ideas concerning what you want for your business. Objectives, on the other hand, are usually short-term and measurable. Many objectives may lead you to your goal. Both are necessary for the success of your business.

Goals Need Objectives

Don't start going for your goals until you have made objectives. Objectives help break your goals into manageable steps and ensure you are going in the right direction. If you solely focus on your goals, you can easily get lost in the process and lose sight of the work you are doing. The same can occur for your employees; objectives help them understand the bigger picture and what is expected of them.

Objectives Must Be Measurable

Decide how you will measure your objectives. If it's not measurable, it's not really an objective. This measurement is what sets an objective apart from a goal. When you look at your company's records, you should be able to say, for certain, whether you met an objective or not.

For example, in construction, a measurable objective may be to reduce project schedule delays by 15% within six months. This measurable objective fits into the general goal of improving construction project efficiency by streamlining processes.

Specificity Is Key

Be specific in your goals and even more specific in your objectives. The more specific you are, the easier it is to follow through. Everyone wants to start a successful business that brings in money and that customers will like. Your goal needs to be more than that. It should center on what makes your company unique.

Additionally, you should have a "why" factor. In this case, the "why" factor refers to the underlying purpose or motivation behind the goal. It represents the reason or significance behind pursuing a specific objective and helps provide clarity, motivation and a sense of meaning to the goal. For example, in the construction industry, a goal could be to implement renewable energy solutions in building projects. The "why" factor behind this goal might be to reduce environmental impact, promote sustainable practices and contribute to the transition toward a greener future in the construction sector.

Your objectives are your stepping stones, so they need to be specific. The more detailed your objectives, the simpler it is to recognize the path and meet your goals. Being specific with objectives also means making them timebound to ensure the completion of the objectives in a timely manner.

Balance Optimism And Realism

You want the best for your company, but you also want a goal that is attainable. Optimism provides the motivation and inspiration necessary to set your goals and push the boundaries of what is possible. It fuels innovation and encourages striving for excellence. Realism ensures that goals are grounded in practicality and attainability by taking into account the current resources, capabilities and market conditions.

Align Your Goal With Your Vision

A company's goal and vision are representative of the organization as a whole. The vision is what a company hopes to become or see as a result of working toward its goal. In the construction industry, a company's goal might be to create sustainable construction practices within the company. A vision that aligns with that goal could be to be recognized as a leading sustainable construction company that transforms communities through innovative and eco-friendly building practices.

Alignment between goals and vision promotes consistency in decision making and actions throughout the organization. When goals align with the vision, it ensures everyone is working toward common objectives in a coordinated manner.

Your company’s goal gives you direction. Your objectives will help you reach that goal. In order to create goals and objectives, you have to understand what they are and know how to make them. Goals require objectives, must be specific, balanced in realism and optimism and align with the company vision. Objectives must be measurable and specific.

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Free OKR Template & Examples for Goals, Planning, Reporting

Setting clear and achievable goals is essential for any organization. It helps align teams, measure progress, and maintain a competitive edge. Using OKRs, or Objectives and Key Results, is a practical goal-setting framework to support these ends.

In this article, we explore the significance of OKR templates, their benefits, and how they can transform the way your organization sets and reaches its goals.

Streamline your goal-setting process with PerformYard's robust performance management software. Learn More

What is an OKR Template

An OKR template is a structured document or tool that helps organizations define, track, and manage their goals effectively. It simplifies the goal-setting process by providing a clear framework. It articulates two main aspects of your team's goals: what you want to achieve (Objectives) and how you will measure success (Key Results).

The template typically begins with the Objective. This is a qualitative statement that outlines a significant goal. This objective should be ambitious and aligned with the broader strategic aims of the organization. 

Following the Objective, the template includes Key Results. These are specific, measurable outcomes that indicate progress toward the Objective. Each Objective usually has 3 to 5 Key Results. They should be quantitative and time-bound, providing clear criteria for success.

For example, Key Results for "Improve customer satisfaction" might include: "Achieve a 90% customer satisfaction score" or "Reduce support response time to under 24 hours."

How to Effectively Use an OKR Template

Effectively using an OKR template involves more than just filling in the blanks. It requires strategic thinking, collaboration, and ongoing management. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get started and maximize the benefits of your OKR template:

• Understand the Basics of OKRs - Ensure you have a solid understanding of the KPI and OKR framework . Know the difference between Objectives and Key Results, and familiarize yourself with best practices.
• Align with Organizational Goals - Start by aligning your team’s objectives with the broader organizational goals. This ensures that everyone is working towards the same overarching targets and the company’s strategic vision.
• Define Clear Objectives - Make sure your objectives are clear, concise, and ambitious. Objectives should provide a compelling direction for your team.
• Set Measurable Key Results - Identify 3 to 5 key results for each objective. These should be specific, measurable, and time-bound outcomes that indicate progress toward achieving the objective. Ensure that these key results are realistic yet challenging.

• Collaborate with Your Team - Engage your team in the OKR setting process. Collaboration ensures that everyone has a say in the goals and is committed to achieving them. This also helps gain different perspectives and insights.
• Regular Check-Ins - A well-designed OKR template also facilitates regular check-ins and updates. It promotes transparency and accountability by making goals visible to everyone in the organization. Use these sessions to discuss what’s working and what’s not and to make any necessary adjustments. 
• Document and Share Progress - Use your OKR template to document progress regularly. Sharing updates with the team fosters transparency. It helps everyone see how their work impacts our goals.
• Celebrate Achievements - Recognize and celebrate when key results are achieved. Celebrating successes boosts morale and encourages continued effort and engagement from the team.

Advantages of Using an OKR Template

Using an OKR template can significantly enhance the effectiveness of your goal-setting and performance-management processes. OKR templates ensure goals are clear, progress is tracked, and teams align with the organization's vision. Here are some of the key advantages of using an OKR template:

• Clarity and Focus - These templates help articulate clear and concise objectives. They ensure that everyone understands what needs to be achieved. This clarity helps teams stay focused on their goals and reduces unwanted distractions.
• Measurable Progress - By defining specific and quantifiable key results, OKR templates make it easier to measure progress. This allows teams to track their achievements over time and make data-driven decisions to stay on course.
• Alignment and Coordination - OKR templates facilitate alignment across different levels of the organization. They link individual, team, and organizational goals. This ensures everyone is working towards the same objectives.
• Transparency and Accountability - Documenting and sharing OKRs fosters a culture of transparency and accountability. Team members can see each other's goals and progress to encourage mutual support and accountability.
• Flexibility and Adaptability - OKR templates are designed to be dynamic, allowing for regular updates and adjustments. This flexibility ensures that goals remain relevant and attainable.

Click here to download our free OKR Template PDF.

Other ways to enhance an okr template.

When creating your OKR Template, many aspects of refining and tuning it can be difficult. Additionally, doing all of the data allocation for what needs to be improved is difficult too. This is where performance management software comes in. 

PerformYard is robust performance management software that enhances the implementation and management of OKR templates. The platform lets users easily customize OKR templates to align with goals, ensuring team members direct effort accordingly. PerformYard’s easy interface also fosters regular check-ins and progress tracking. 

By leveraging PerformYard, organizations can enhance their goal-setting processes, improve transparency, and drive better alignment across teams.

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