Goal setting has to be one of the most common phrases when setting out to gain more business. We all dislike the planning process that happens in large corporations. It seems that the goals are set and nothing really happens to fulfill them. The goals we need to set are goals for obtaining a number of business contacts that can lead to a business relationship. Goals for the number of contacts you need to make in order to gain one business relationship may vary from industry to industry. When working with professional sales staff, I find that some firms have a six to one ratio before a sale is made. In other cases it may be one hundred to one (which is fairly high).

Your goals should state how many business relationships you want to form per business quarter. If you do it monthly, you may be setting yourself up for failure. In my business, the ratio is fairly high for consulting but fairly low for selling books. My goals may be to gain three new consulting contracts and sell 300 books. This goal is short-term and the results are easy to measure. If I know my ratio then I will also know how many meetings or contacts I need to make to achieve this goal. I can then keep track and see if I can bring my ratio down.

Setting long-term goals is no different as you will want to multiply your short term goal by four. If you find you are exceeding your short-term goals, then you should adjust the long-term goal. You will want to keep challenging yourself to do better.