SMART Goals: 4 Examples for your Business

You want to implement the SMART method in your business but don’t know how? We’re here to help. In this blog, we formulate SMART goals based on 4 examples for businesses.

1. SMART Goal: Increase in Revenue

Example: Over the past 5 years, your business has achieved an average annual revenue increase of 10 percent compared to the previous year. Now, new employees need to be hired to prepare for entering a new market. This requires additional financial resources.

In this example, the SMART goal for the company can be formulated as follows:

“In the next fiscal year, revenue should be increased by 15 percent compared to the previous year to create resources for additional personnel. To achieve this, a project management and time tracking tool will be introduced, allowing for transparent representation of working hours, revenue per customer and employee, and optimization of task distribution.”

• Specific: The goal is clearly defined, and corresponding measures are set.
• Measurable: Revenue is a quantitative metric and can be easily measured.
• Attractive: The additional revenue can finance the new market entry.
• Realistic: Compared to a regular annual revenue increase of an average of 10 percent, 15 percent is quite realistic with the introduction of the new measures.
• Timed: The 15 percent increase in revenue will be achieved within one fiscal year.

2. SMART Goal: Get Customers to Use New App

Example: Your company offers time tracking software, and 60 percent of your customers currently use the existing mobile app. Based on a survey regarding reasons why the app is not being used, you have developed an improved version of the mobile app with significant feature enhancements. Now, customers are to switch to the new app.

According to the SMART method, the goal for this example company is formulated as follows:

“Within the first three months after the launch, 90 percent of the existing app users should have switched from the old to the new version. To achieve this, pop-up messages will be sent within the app at regular intervals at the beginning of the period. Simultaneously, through pop-up messages in the web tool and social media posts during the same period, the overall percentage of app users should increase to 80 percent.”

• Specific: Instead of the formulation “users should download the new app”, a clear distinction is made between existing app users and new app users.
• Measurable: The percentage of app users is quantitatively measurable. Additionally, app reviews can provide insights into the actual user-friendliness (qualitatively).
• Attractive: The survey makes it clear why the new app is better than the old one.
• Realistic: Based on the survey data, it can be inferred that the new app is more attractive to users and, therefore, will be used by more customers.
• Timed: The deadline for this goal is three months after the app launch.

3. SMART Goal: Increase Customer Satisfaction

Example: Your customer service team has received more frequent complaints about individual products in your range in recent months. You want to find out where the problem lies and increase satisfaction among your customers.

This SMART goal can be formulated as follows:

“Within one month, the following measures will be implemented: The customer service team will send a questionnaire with 15 questions via email to the top 50 customers with the highest revenue. The questionnaire will focus specifically on 5 products that have generated the most complaints in recent months, asking about the challenges, desires, and needs of customers. At the same time, the return period for these products will be extended from 14 to 21 days.”

• Specific: Concrete measures for achieving the goal are mentioned.
• Measurable: The evaluation of the questionnaire provides clear results. Attractive: Improving customer satisfaction enhances sales figures.
• Realistic: I can change the return period in my payment system and also receive data on the top 50 highest-revenue customers from there.
• Timed: All measures will be implemented within one month.

4. SMART Goal: Recruiting New Employees

Example: Your sales representatives have acquired 15 major clients in the last year, causing the customer service team to be maximally occupied. However, there are already additional potential major clients in the sales pipeline. To prevent excessive workload in customer service, you need to hire additional employees.

The formulated SMART goal for this example company sounds like this:

“To relieve the team, three additional customer service employees will be hired in the next quarter. To achieve this, a personnel service provider will be engaged to contact potential candidates and invite them for interviews. The team leader will then ensure that the new employees are fully trained and ready for duty within two weeks.”

• Specific: It is clear how the goal will be achieved. Measurable: The ratio between incoming customer service requests and the average response time of available employees is clearly traceable through the use of a CRM system.
• Attractive: Additional employees contribute to better team utilization, reducing workload and increasing employee satisfaction.
• Realistic: By engaging a personnel service provider and creating an onboarding plan through the team leader, new employees can be quickly deployed.
• Timed: Clear time frames have been set for both recruiting and onboarding.

Tip: Achieve Your Goals with Minimal Effort

Setting SMART goals as in the examples above provides a clear direction in your company and is the first crucial step in project planning. However, to ensure that all the gears in your business continue to mesh smoothly after goal setting, progress must be tracked to act quickly if needed.

A project-based time tracking tool can help: TimeChimp combines simple time tracking with clear project management. This way, you can track your workday with minimal effort and simultaneously ensure maximum efficiency in achieving your business goals.