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Your insurance business is a labor of love. It requires goal setting and hard work to achieve optimal performance throughout the year. Now that 2023 is coming to a close and 2024 is around the corner, it's time to assess where your business stands and what you can do to make next year even better.

Goal setting (and goal achieving) is an art. As you continue to set goals year after year, you'll get better at writing realistic goals and motivating yourself to achieve them. These tips will help you set goals for the coming year to strengthen your insurance business.  

Collaborate With Team Members

Remember the old saying, two heads are better than one? Gather team members together for specific goal-setting discussions to ensure that your business goals are wide-ranging and meet your company's needs. Your goals are more likely to vary in their scope and solve more problems when you work with other team members. Some tips for the meetings:

• Know the mission. If you still need to write a business mission, now is the time. Kick off your goal-setting meetings by working with team members to write a mission and then create goals to support that mission. 
• Have team members do their homework. Ask your team members to come prepared with goal ideas for 2024 so they can arrive ready to discuss those goals at the meeting.
• Devote the time. Hold more than one meeting, if necessary. Goal setting is big, so be prepared to devote time to this task.

Set SMART Goals

The SMART acronym is a system for setting goals. SMART is taught to business school students and managers around the country because it's an effective way to achieve reasonable goals. 

The acronym SMART stands for: 

• Specific - Goals need to be precise in their scope
• Measurable - Goals need a metric for success, so you'll know when you're accomplishing what you set out to do
• Achievable - Don't set lofty goals that you can't achieve - set goals that you and your business can attain
• Relevant - Set goals that support your mission
• Time-bound - Set a deadline for achieving your goals

There's a lot of literature on how and why to set SMART goals. For a good SMART goal-setting guide, see this instruction manual from the University of California.

Write a Plan

Once the goals are set, write a plan to accomplish them. Having a plan in place makes achieving your goals realistic.

• Break each goal into steps. Know how to accomplish the steps and tasks needed to work toward and reach each goal.  
• Set a timeline. Establish a timeframe for each step. 
• Loop in the right people. Get others from your office involved as needed. 

Track Data and Progress

Tracking data and your progress throughout the year will help you know when a goal has been reached. Monitoring data and progress also gives you information you can use next year when setting goals again. Whether you're tracking a percentage increase in sales or the number of cold calls made, keep spreadsheets on that data.

Communicate Your Goals

Ensure everyone in your office knows the goals, even if they weren't involved in the goal-setting process. Keeping others involved in the action helps keep you accountable for making the goals happen. It also helps ensure that everyone is working toward the same goals together. When you meet your goals at the end of the year, you'll have more people to celebrate with, too. 

Plan to Revisit Goals Periodically

Schedule a time to check your progress throughout the year, either quarterly or more frequently. Assessing your progress from time to time helps ensure that you're on track to finish your goals on time and also keeps your goals at the top of your mind as you progress throughout the year. 

If you collaborated with team members to set your goals, assess your progress with them in a meeting. Take the opportunity to ask yourself whether your tactics are working, and if not, why not? 

Make 2024 the Best Year Yet With Voldico

Meeting your goals is easier when you have access to some of the best carriers in the country. The more products available to you, the more you can offer to your clients. Contact Voldico to learn how the right insurance carriers can help make 2024 the best year yet.