The Business Blogging Network

I wish I had a pound (or even a dollar) for every time I’ve asked people what they want to achieve as an outcome, only to met with a blank look or a mildly embarrassed ‘Don’t know really’ mumble. I’d be rich and driving around in a really posh car!

When I was a HR manager I was always asking managers what they wanted their staff to deliver. They would come up with things like ‘work harder’, but often couldn’t define specific outcomes.

As a writer I ask my clients ‘What do you want your website to achieve?’ or ‘What do you want people to do when they’ve read that page?’ Astonishingly, most people don’t know that either.

I remember an old mentor of mine saying with alarming frequency ‘If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.’ When you’re in business it’s essential to get that focus on what you want to achieve.

• If you don’t know where your company is going, how will you know when you’ve succeeded?
• If you don’t know what you’re aiming to achieve, how can you decide what activities need to be done and by whom?
• If you don’t have a purpose behind the activities you do, how can you measure how successful they are?

In other words, there’s a real danger of doing a lot without getting results that help your business to be successful.

This may seem obvious, but it’s worrying how many business people don’t have a clear focus – for their business as a whole and, as a result, for their marketing activities. They spend money on things that don’t move the business forwards. At best this slows down growth; at worst it erodes the profit line, sometimes to the point of the business failing.

If you have a clear goal or outcome you’ll find it much easier to work out the activities that will help you achieve it. Everyone will get more out of what they’re doing, when they can see measurable results, including you and your bank manager!