The importance of setting aims and objectives for your business

If you want to build a successful business, setting clear business aims and objectives is key to getting you where you want to be. We’ve put together our top tips for setting business aims and objectives to help your business become a success.

Whether you’re writing a new business plan or planning to grow your existing business, setting business aims and objectives is key to success.

By setting clear business aims and objectives, you’ll identify your goals for a specific period. This is because your objectives will change over time.

We’ve put together our top tips for setting your business aims and objectives, with some examples of business aims to help you get started.

What are business objectives?

When we talk about business objectives, we’re referring to the goals of your business that you can write down clearly and concisely.

Most aims and objectives of a business usually relate to its key elements, including revenue, operations and processes, productivity, and growth.

One key point to remember is that the aims and objectives of your business will change over time. That’s because your business will constantly evolve and face new challenges and opportunities.

Why does a business set aims and objectives?

The aims and objectives of a business will directly impact its future success of the business. Here are some of the reasons why setting business aims and objectives are so important:

• They provide clear goals for you and your team to work towards

• They create structure to build actionable tasks

• They can improve your customer satisfaction and loyalty

• They help to establish a strong brand that attracts customers

• They can boost the productivity of your business

• They encourage team cooperation and collaboration as you all work towards a common goal

7 common types of business objectives

Every company is different; therefore, each business will have its own aims and objectives. That said, here are some of the most popular types of business objectives:

1. Establish or increase your market share

You want customers to buy your products or services; the more customers you have, the greater your market share will be.

2. Increase (or maintain) profits

If you’re a start-up business, then generating a steady profit and being financially stable might be key objectives. Increasing profits and building revenue could be the focus for a more established business.

3. Improve customer service

We all know that customers are key to the success of any business. It’s therefore crucial to create a business objective that prioritises a positive experience for them, and incentivises employees to do so.

4. Improve the quality of your products or services

The quality of your business's product or service should always be a priority. This applies to being a start-up company and an established business.

5. Boost your productivity

To focus your energy on the core of your business, remove the friction and hassle of poor admin and inefficient processes.

Think about setting an objective to install tools and systems that improve the productivity of your business. This could be route optimisation or using dedicated tools (such as the Quoting/Invoicing tool for Checkatrade members).

6. Grow the business

You might want to focus on building a team or expanding your service area. However you want to grow your business, set objectives that highlight what growth looks like for your business right now.

7. Build a strong brand

Your company's brand (how you look and sound as a business) is what sets you apart from your competitors. Good branding is what often draws in customers, so working on building a strong and consistent brand is key to success.

How to create business objectives

Once you know what your objectives are, you'll need to spend time developing them.

It’s worth spending the time on this, as investing the time now will pay off tenfold in the future success of your business.

Here’s how you can set the aims of a business:

Step 1: Brainstorm ideas

To start, sit down and brainstorm all the challenges and opportunities that affect your business now – or could do later. Make a list of potential goals you’d like to achieve based on those challenges and opportunities.

Step 2: Involve others

You don’t need to go this alone. And you shouldn’t. Speaking to other people means you can get their perspective on how you can make the business more successful.

Speak to your friends, family, and accountant, and if you have any employees, get their opinion.

Step 3: Organise your suggestions

Once you have a list of ideas from your brainstorming and collaborating, group them together. This will make them easier to translate into clear objectives.

If there are many ideas relating to a certain topic, like revenue or customer satisfaction, these are probably areas to prioritise.

Some common business aims and objectives examples include:

• Financial growth

• Customer satisfaction

• Recruitment and staff retention

• Business operations

• Research and development

Step 4: Be SMART

When it comes to writing out your objectives, it’s helpful to use the common acronym SMART. This is a tool often used by businesses to help set tangible objectives that are easy to act upon.

When setting the aims of a business, make sure they are:

• Specific – Each goal needs to be as specific as possible and state what needs to be accomplished, who’s responsible for it, and what steps need to be taken to achieve it

• Measurable – With a specific goal in mind, you need to quantify it so that you can track progress and know when you’ve reached your goal

• Achievable – You need to be realistic with your business objectives. All your objectives should be achievable with a reasonable amount of effort

• Relevant – Think about the bigger picture and check that your objective is relevant to the overall goals of your business

• Timely – Put a timeframe in place, so that you and your team know when you need to achieve your objectives and can stay on track

Step 5: Review your objectives

Once you have your business objectives in place, make sure you review them regularly. Depending on the nature and timescale of each objective, you might want to review them monthly, annually or every five years.

When reviewing your business objectives, make sure that they’re still relevant for your business at the time. If not, update them. It’s important that you always focus on the current situation you find your business in (not on past priorities).

Need help writing your business plan? Download our free business plan template now to get started:

Why do the aims of a business sometimes change?

Change is a core part of running a business, and business aims are no different! There are a number of reasons why the aims and objectives of a business will change over time, such as:

• Once you've established your business as a startup, your goals will probably shift into wanting to expand

• New competitors can enter and disrupt the market and cause knock-on effects for your business

• New laws might affect costs or how you operate running your business, so you’ll need to adapt your objectives accordingly

• The economy is constantly changing. So major shifts, such as a recession or economic boom, will affect where you prioritise your efforts

• Advancements in technology always bring about change. Innovations that affect production, commerce or customer behaviours will require your business to refocus

• Consumer tastes and behaviours change over time. What and how customers buy is different now from 10 years ago. And they’ll undoubtedly be different 10 years from now

What factors affect business objectives?

There are a number of factors that affect the aims and objectives of a business, including:

• New government legislation

• Changes in the economy

• Innovations in technology

• Consumer tastes and customer behaviour

• Shifts in environmental and ethical standards

Each business is unique; as such, it will have its own aims and objectives. For example, a start-up will have different aims than an established business, and your industry may influence your goals differently.

Key takeaways

• The process of setting business aims and objectives of a business isn’t just a box-ticking exercise

• Your business objectives set a solid foundation and clear focus for you and your business

• From surviving your first years of business to expanding, the business aims and objectives are key to success

• The sooner you understand exactly where you want to go, the quicker you can achieve your goals

*Year runs from April 21’ to March 22’. Spend based on 12,505 members. Discounts differ depending on the partner. Products range from low value items to high value items. Total amount spent on Selco is estimated at £42,380,838 by 7,298 members and based on average savings per member from 2020/21. 10% discount. Some exclusions will apply on products.