Tell your staff your targets

Entrepreneurs are always setting targets, be they in formal budgets (“I will increase sales by 25%”) or in their heads (“I will sell this business for $100 million in two years, and never talk to a customer again”), but the question of who they share these targets with is vexed.

Do you tell staff that you want revenue (or customer numbers or enquiry numbers or units sold) to hit a certain level, or do you treat this as sensitive commercial information, and keep it quiet?

You might have good reason for keeping some targets to yourself (for example, profit and dividends) but making some public targets can be a great way of motivating your team and making sure they understand how the business is performing, and how they contribute to that.

Indeed, it’s important to get staff to help you set targets, and particularly stretch targets (the ones you hope to reach if it’s a phenomenal year).

If you really want to have some fun with your targets, put them up somewhere and run a sort of countdown. Every time you get a sale, the staff will be able to see the target decrease and you’ll all know that your little start-up is on the right track.

Get it done – today!