Colin Sinclair McDermott, aka The Online Print Coach, introduces methods you can utilise in the coming months to review 2025 goals and ensure they are staying on track
It’s that time of year again as the industry reboots and things ramp up for a new year as we reflect on how the previous 12 months have gone. What lessons we have learned, what have we achieved or not achieved, and how can we make 2025 better and stronger?
When heading into a new year, it’s important to set yourself goals in order to give yourself a clear direction. If you set out clear, well-defined goals, it makes decision-making so much easier within your business. It also makes it far easier to track your progress.
Constantly reviewing these goals will keep you accountable for your actions. If you’re falling short in certain areas of your business or going off track, these goals will remind you of what is important to you and what you want to achieve so you can focus on serving your initial aims.
I want to highlight what happens when we don't set goals for ourselves and our businesses.
1. Lack of Direction
Without goals, your business lacks clear direction. This can lead to ad-hoc decision-making and a reactive approach rather than a proactive approach to challenges and opportunities that may come your way
2. Financial Uncertainty
Goals, especially those tied to financial metrics, help in forecasting and financial planning. Without them, your business may well face financial uncertainty and instability.
3. Decreased Motivation & Engagement
Goals provide employees with something to strive for. Without them, it's difficult to foster a sense of purpose or achievement, leading to decreased motivation and engagement among team members.
4. Inefficient Use of Resources
Goals help in prioritising how resources are allocated. Without clear goals, resources may be spread too thinly or invested in areas that do not contribute significantly enough for your business to grow sustainably.
5. Difficulty in Measuring Success
Goals serve as a benchmark for success. Without them, it becomes challenging to measure your progress or determine the effectiveness of the strategies you are executing.
6. Poor Communication
Goals are essential for internal communication. They ensure everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet and working towards the same objectives. Without them, confusion and misunderstanding are more likely to occur.
7. Risk of Complacency
Setting ambitious goals can push a business to exceed its limits. Without goals, there is a risk you will become complacent and settle for the standard rather than strive for continuous improvement.
8. Competitive Disadvantage
From my own experiences and having worked with hundreds of other printing companies, businesses that set and pursue ambitious goals are often the ones to innovate and capture market share. Without clear goals, your business may fall behind your competition which is more strategically focused.
9. Inability to Attract & Retain Talent
High performers are often driven by goals and the opportunity to contribute to meaningful achievements. A lack of clear goals can therefore make it difficult to attract and retain such talent.
When I’m talking to businesses within our industry, they always tend to focus on the usual goals such as revenue and profit margins but what I’d like to do today is get you thinking about other specific goals you might not have otherwise considered in your plans for 2025.
For starters, something else you might want to consider when setting your financial goals are measures around cost reduction. These could be objectives you focus on to decrease expenses in various areas to improve profitability. Are you paying for software each month on a subscription basis but no longer using it? When was the last time you negotiated on your click charges or paper rates? All of your outgoings should be scrutinised to ensure you’re receiving the best value.
You might want to consider particular growth goals. Look at market expansion for one. Can you aim to enter into new industry markets or increase your market share in existing ones?
Look at your top-performing customers. Are there opportunities to go after similar types of businesses? Another growth goal could be looking at your product range and introducing new items that enhance your offering.
From an operational approach, you should consider setting some goals around efficiency and look for ways to bolster your processes to reduce waste and increase productivity. Set standards for product and service quality and implement measurements to achieve them. Can you streamline your processes to be more reliable and cost-efficient? If so, set yourself some targets around this and measure the impact.
Look at your organisation as a whole. How is your employee engagement? Can you bring in any incentives aimed at improving job satisfaction and engagement throughout your team? Are you developing talent and monitoring their progress? Focus on training and boosting your employee’s skillset and career progression. Establish a strong culture and values that guide behaviour and decision-making.
Next up, you want to look at customer-focused goals. Start by looking at customer satisfaction. What things can you put in place and measure to improve the overall satisfaction of your customers with your products and services? Do you have strategies in place to keep your existing customers and reduce churn rates? This one is really important.
The majority of printers I come across initially have no idea what their churn rates are and it’s almost always much higher than they think it is. We work so hard to bring new customers on board so why don’t we work just as hard to ensure they stick with us? Set yourself super high standards for customer support and product delivery. What’s your accuracy on jobs delivered on time? What’s your average response time to an enquiry? These are the types of numbers you should know to a tee and look to improve on every day.
Motivation is the main driving force that pushes you to take the initial steps to achieve your goals, so without it, the likelihood is that nothing will progress.
Motivation provides clear objectives. Setting goals gives you specific objectives to strive towards. The clarity that derives from this helps turn that vision into actual targets making the effort to hit them more focused and structured.
It enhances engagement. When individuals set their own goals or play a part in setting those goals, they tend to be more engaged and invested in the outcome. You should consider involving your staff if you have some. This personal investment boosts their own motivation as they are working towards something meaningful to them. With more manageable chunks, you can avoid being overwhelmed. Achieving these smaller goals will give you immediate satisfaction and it reinforces the motivation towards the overall goal.
I hope this article gives you some food for thought on what you should be working towards this year. Here’s to an amazing 2025 in an amazing industry.
