How To Hit Your 2024 Revenue Goals With Strategic Planning

Are you prepared to win big in 2024?

If not, I’m going to show you the most effective way to achieve your business goals this year— and outperform 99% of your competition while you’re at it.

Entrepreneurs have a HUGE problem. Most are spending way too much time on goal-setting, day-dreaming, and telling people what they hope do when they should be building the strategies and systems needed to drive actual, quantifiable growth.

As a result, most entrepreneurs never hit their goals, achieve their dreams, or create real impact.

Top 1% performers on the other hand follow a tried-and-true process that helps them grow faster than everyone else.

What is it? They prepare to win before the game has even begun.

Before every game, what do LeBron James and Tom Brady do? They watch tape of their opponents. Study their moves. Map out a strategic plan of attack. The align with their coaches and teammates on a winning strategy. Then they execute to a tactical plan of action guided by that strategy.

Sun Tzu, the Chinese philosopher and military strategist said this:

“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win."

Just think about that for a second. That’s mind blowing-ly simple isn’t it? Winners win before the game has even started. While losers lose because they didn’t prepare to win.

That’s the secret to winning. Playing to win by strategically planning to win before the game has even started.

So if we want to win in business, which is arguably the most competitive game on the planet, then shouldn’t strategic planning be the starting point of everything that we do? If Winning is a top priority then shouldn’t strategic planning also be a top priority. And if winning isn’t a top priority, then my question for you is this: Why are we even here? Why are we wasting valuable time playing the game we’re just planning to lose?

Let’s choose to be winners and commit to the process of winning by starting with a bulletproof Strategic Plan. Then let’s design effective systems that enable us to execute at a high level every day, every week, every month, every quarter, all year long.

So if you haven’t gotten around to your 2024 Strategic Plan and you haven’t thought through the systems that you’ll need to make that plan come true, then you’re exactly where you need to be.

Here’s a quick breakdown of what you’re going to learn:

1. How to properly set up your own strategic planning process
2. How to create a winning growth strategy for the year
3. How to design systems for consistent, repeatable success

Setting Up Your Strategic Planning Process

As a business owner, having a clear and actionable strategic plan is essential. But it's not just about setting goals; it's about understanding your current position, leveraging your past performance, and mapping out a precise path to future success. Let's dive into the first steps in setting up your own strategic planning process:

• Break Down Current Offers, Products, and Services: Begin by listing all your current offerings. This comprehensive inventory should include every product, service, or package you offer. For each offering, note its price. This will help in understanding your revenue streams and identifying which products or services are the most lucrative.
• Analyze Last Year's Revenue: Next, analyze the revenue each product, service, or offer generated last year. This historical data is invaluable in setting realistic and achievable goals for the future. Understanding past performance helps in identifying trends, successful products, and areas needing improvement.
• Calculate Sales Made for Each Offering: Determine the number of units sold for each product or service. This step is crucial for understanding customer demand and the popularity of each offering. This data will also assist in forecasting future sales and setting realistic sales targets.
• Determine Approximate Number of Sales Calls Made Per Offer: Utilizing your historical sales conversion rate, estimate the number of sales calls or pitches required to achieve the desired number of sales for each product or service. This step is vital for planning your sales strategy and allocating resources effectively.

Establishing Your Revenue Goals for 2024

As we step into the strategic planning phase, the cornerstone of our focus is setting tangible monetary goals. It's essential to have clear, quantifiable targets to aim for throughout the year. This not only provides direction but also a measure of success. For businesses already making a baseline revenue, the goal-setting becomes even more strategic.

• Setting the Target: To start, clearly define what revenue growth means in numerical terms. If you're at $50K and want to 2x, your 2024 target is $100K. This clarity is crucial for breaking down the goal into actionable steps. While a 2x revenue goal may seem ambitious, the goal should stretch your capabilities without being unattainable.
• Breaking Down the Goal Into Quarterly Targets: Once you have your annual revenue target, break it down into smaller, more manageable segments - quarterly and monthly targets. This breakdown not only makes the goal seem more achievable but also allows for regular tracking and adjustments.
• Determine Required Sales Calls: Based on your historical sales conversion rate, calculate how many sales calls or pitches are needed to achieve the required number of sales for each product or service.

Example:

• Offer 1: Target 15 sales at $6K = $90K 15 sales / 40% conversion = 37.5 calls
• Offer 2: Target 5 sales at $12K = $60K 5 sales / 40% conversion = 12.5 calls
• Total Q1 Revenue: $150,000 Total Q1 Calls: 50 calls

Design for Growth with Targeted Quarterly Campaigns

To effectively reach your 2024 revenue goals, adopting a structured approach with targeted quarterly campaigns, broken down into monthly targets and supported by weekly content, is key. This strategy allows you to chunk growth into manageable segments, ensuring consistent progress towards your quarterly targets. Here’s how to implement this approach:

• Quarterly Campaign Focus Identify Key Themes: Each quarter, select a key theme or focus area that aligns with your overall revenue goals. This could be promoting a specific product line, targeting a new market segment, or capitalizing on seasonal trends. Set Quarterly Targets: Define clear, measurable targets for each campaign. These should contribute directly to your overall quarterly revenue goals.
• Monthly Milestones Break Down Targets: Divide your quarterly campaign goals into monthly milestones. This step ensures that you maintain a steady pace towards achieving your quarterly targets. Adapt and Adjust: At the end of each month, review your progress and make necessary adjustments to your campaign strategy to stay on track.
• Weekly Content and Engagement Content Planning: Develop a weekly content plan that supports your monthly and quarterly objectives. This could include social media posts, blog articles, email newsletters, or promotional videos. Engagement Tactics: Use weekly content to engage with your audience, build brand awareness, and drive traffic to your offerings. Consistent engagement is crucial for keeping your audience interested and involved.
• Campaign Execution and Monitoring Launch and Promote: Execute your campaigns with a strong launch at the beginning of each quarter. Use various marketing channels to promote your campaign extensively. Monitor Performance: Regularly track the performance of your campaigns against your monthly and quarterly targets. Use analytics tools to gain insights and optimize your strategies.

By focusing on targeted quarterly campaigns, you create a dynamic and responsive marketing strategy that drives growth in a structured manner. This approach not only helps in achieving your quarterly revenue targets but also keeps your marketing efforts focused and aligned with your overall business objectives.

Establishing Simple Systems to Drive Results

In the pursuit of your 2024 goals, setting up straightforward and effective systems is crucial. Systems, in essence, are combinations of processes and people working in harmony to achieve specific objectives. By implementing these systems, you ensure that your big goals are not just visions but achievable realities. Here’s how to set up simple yet powerful systems:

• Identify Key Areas Needing Systems: Determine which aspects of your business require systems to achieve your goals. This could include sales, marketing, customer service, or product development.
• Designing the System: Define the Objective: Clearly state what each system is designed to achieve. For example, a sales system might aim to increase conversion rates by a certain percentage. Outline the Process: Break down the system into a series of steps or processes. For a weekly workshop system, this might include planning the content, scheduling the session, promoting it, executing it, and then reviewing feedback. Assign Roles and Responsibilities: Identify who will be responsible for each part of the process. Ensure that each team member understands their role and how it contributes to the system’s overall objective.
• Implementing and Monitoring the System Set Up Tools and Resources: Equip your team with the necessary tools and resources to execute the system effectively. This could include software for scheduling and promoting workshops, or templates for content creation. Regular Reviews: Schedule regular check-ins to monitor the system's performance. This is crucial for identifying areas for improvement and making necessary adjustments.

By setting up simple systems, you create a structured approach to achieving your goals. These systems not only bring clarity and focus to your operations but also ensure that every team member is aligned and working towards the same objectives.

Conclusion: Your Roadmap to Success

Remember that outperforming in your business isn't just about hard work; it's about smart, structured planning. Success for solopreneurs and small business owners lies in aligning big dreams with detailed, actionable plans.

Your journey to success starts with a clear annual strategy, breaks down into focused quarterly campaigns, and comes to life through consistent daily efforts. It's about ensuring that every step you take is purposeful and directed towards your ultimate goals.

Let the systems and strategies we've discussed guide you. They're not just tools, but the foundations of a path that keeps you resilient and focused. As you forge ahead, use this structured approach to stay motivated and aligned with your objectives.

Here's to making 2024 a year of growth, success, and the realization of your ambitions. Let's turn your plans into achievements!

Thinking of building or scaling a highly profitable expert business? Let’s chat.