Whilst its great to have an overview for the year, 12 months is too long. It lacks focus. 90 days provides more motivation.
Set the vision for next 90 days
Every plan starts with a vision of what you want to accomplish.
Take a whole day off to plan, ideally do this offsite. Your normal working environment is full of distractions – distractions that can interrupt fresh productive thinking.
Make sure you take someone from your business with you. Not only is this critical for sound-boarding and idea development but they will also be able to hold you to account. It may seem obvious, but accountability is probably the single most important element fuelling successful organisations.
Choose your top priorities and try to stick to a maximum of three focus areas. Try to pick one major priority and a couple of smaller supportive ones. Are you looking to launch a new product or service? Increase repeat business within your existing client base? Break into a new market? Increase lead flow into your sales pipeline?
Establish how you will judge success
Now that you’ve picked your three focus areas for the quarter, it’s time to clarify your criteria of success for each one.
This can be tricky. First, be honest and realistic about what’s possible within just three months, and second, look for concrete signs of progress. It’s important to pin down criteria that are as objectively and quantitatively measurable as possible.
With your priorities established, break down the steps needed to accomplish your vision. Remember that goals are specific and timed. Goals identify not only what will be done but also
Diarise the goals. Add them to your calendar or project management tool and take action.
Hit goals, celebrate, repeat
At the end of the 12 weeks, it’s time to take stock. Get out of the office again for the day with the person who will hold you to account and review.
Did you accomplish what you set out to? If you did, celebrate. Rewards yourself and the team and then plan the next 90 days.
Did you fall short? If you did you need to establish why. Were your goals just too ambitious for the time period? Did people in the team let you down?
Learn from the mistakes and put processes place to ensure the next 90 days are a huge success.
Need a hand putting your next 90 day marketing sprint together? We assist many clients every quarter and have several tools and workshops that we run that will help you and your team establish clear goals and create a visual path to follow for growth. Interested? Well why not make this your first 90 day sprint goal – contact one of our team today.