How close are you to meeting the goals you set for 2020?
Or did all the uncertainty of this year cause you to focus on just staying viable?
It’s completely understandable if you are in the latter group. Afterall it was only March when COVID 19 put a halt to your plans to achieve your 2020 goals. How did you modify your goals to adjust to the new reality? Or did you abandon setting goals because so much is unknown? Whatever your answer is – it’s time to look at where you want to be this time next year.
A goal defines where you want to be at some date in the future – one year, three years, and so on. A goal not only sets your intention, it establishes the direction for your team. Your intentions guide you in selecting specific steps that are likely to help you achieve your goals.
How do you set goals when the world changes every day? And what about capture? How do you select the steps most likely to result in contract awards in a business world that bears little resemblance to the business world of just 8 months ago? How do you make plans for a new year when everyone has made a transition to new ways of working, communicating, and selling? Will the anticipated vaccines produce a return to the way we operated pre-COVID-19? Or will some of these new ways (especially those that delivered unforeseen benefits) persist as the threats posed by COVID-19 retreat?
Of course, I don’t have the answer to any of these questions. But I can tell you what I am doing for my business. I am planning for a record breaking 2021. I’ve looked at my numbers and I’ve set big goals. And my intention is to meet or exceed all of these goals. By doing the hard work and making adjustments as the situation evolves. I’m doing my research, selecting my best targets, working to strengthen my network in all four channels required to sell to the government.
And I’m working with a coach who holds me accountable and calls foul when I go off on a wild goose chase that is not based on data, knowledge and a plan that outlines how I can help my prospect. And she’s holding my dreams with me so that when things don’t go the way I planned together we can find the lesson associated with that loss so I can be more impactful in the future.
The way forward requires you to embrace uncertainty. And really – isn’t business life always somewhat uncertain? A client changes their mind. Funding is cut. Your top salesperson or rainmaker joins another firm.
Isn’t the challenge and the chase what keeps so many business owners going. COVID – 19 is yet another uncertainty over which none of us have any control. Yet, we must move forward if we want our businesses to survive.
In GovCon, December 31 is the end of the first quarter of the government fiscal year. If you’ve already set your fiscal year 21 goals, it’s time to re-examine those goals. And if you set your goals by the calendar year and not the government fiscal year, you are in the process of figuring out where you want to be this time next year. Either way, I can partner with you to create realistic goals and to execute the plan to get you where you want to be this time next year.
