You may be familiar with SMART goals or SMARTR goals as a fitness professional. We will use each step as a filter to determine if you’re setting good goals. As a business owner it’s a great place to start. It’s not the end of goal-setting or development but this will give you a good basis to get started. It will help you ensure that you are setting goals that are good for you and your fitness business. This means setting the right goals so you don’t get overwork or burnt out.
Goal Setting 101:
S-Specific
When setting goals you need to be specific. You can do this by defining the four W’s:
- What?
The first question is, “What is your goal?” Is it about increasing your closing rate? Is it about increasing your monthly revenue? Is it about getting your staff trained properly? Answering what is the first step to getting clear on your goal.
- Who?
The next question is, “Who does your goal involve?” Is it about your prospects, your current clients, yourself, or your staff? You want to be clear about the people involved in the goal. Who does it benefit and who are the people doing the work to get there.
- When?
The third question is, “When do you want your goal to be achieved?” You can start by setting a long-term date. Think of this as monthly or quarterly. Then work yourself back and see what needs to be done on the daily or weekly to achieve that long-term goal.
- Why?
The final question you need to answer is, “Why do you want to achieve this goal?” The why is the driver that continues to push you forward in achieving your goal. There could be many reasons why. It could be about your own personal financial freedom or you may want to get more clients just so that you can provide more jobs for staff members. You want to identify what your stake in this goal is with a very strong “Why”.
Make sure the four W’s are defined in your goal when it is complete. You may not have all the specifics at the start of this process, but make sure you go back and have the four W’s clear and complete. Otherwise, your goal doesn’t have the power and the level of intentionality that’s needed to give your goal substance.
M-Measurable
Your goal needs to be measurable. If your goal is not measurable then you are essentially lost at sea. The action plan that you create to achieve your goal may not get the results that you’re looking for. So if you don’t have a measurable and quantifiable goal, then how will you know if your plan is working. Looking to add more leads to your client getting pipeline? You want to be specific in how many leads per week or per month that you need. When you put together a lead generation strategy and deploy it, then you can know within two weeks whether it’s working or not. From there you can make adjustments so you can achieve your goal.
A-Attainable
You want to make sure that your goal is attainable. This means that you and your team have the attitudes, skills, and competencies to reach your goal. You would never let a new client that lacks upper-body strength set a goal of being able to do handstand push-ups in their first week. They do not have the strength to be able to attain that goal. So you want to make sure that you aren’t creating unattainable goals for you and your team. Your team will be left feeling frustrated because they don’t have the tools they need to get the job done. And you personally might lose confidence because you aren’t able to reach the goal. So when you’re creating your goal, make sure that your team has all the training they need, you’ve built the right culture through your core values, and everyone clearly understands what needs to be done.
R-Realistic
Get real about your goal. This step refers to the time, people, money, and materials necessary to achieve your goal. So, if you have plans of growing your membership then there are things that you need to put in place to make that a realistic goal. You need to make sure that you have the staff to handle onboarding. You need to make sure that you have the physical space to fit the new members. Finally, if giving out a swag bag is part of your customer care plan then you need to make sure that you have the materials to make them. This sounds like common sense, because it is. But often when we make goals we don’t take into account every piece of the puzzle that we need to achieve the goal. So before you rush into 2022, wanting to 10x your membership, make sure that you have the people, money, and materials necessary to do it.
T-Time-Bound
Vet your goal and see if you have created an accurate timeline for achieving your goal. You need to have a deadline and milestones that you hit along the way to that deadline. A deadline will help drive you toward your goal. Oftentimes, any project only gets complete by the deadline date because the deadline exists. Without a deadline then the project may linger and never get complete.
Your milestones will allow you to make sure that you are getting important parts of the project complete on the way to the deadline. These milestones may be quantified. For example, if you are wanting to grow your membership then your milestones may be based on the number of clients signed up. But you may also use milestones to drive different parts of the greater project. For example, if you’re looking to use Facebook ads to build your email list then your first milestone might be “get ESP” , your second might be, “Build landing page”, etc.
R-Results-Based
Your goals must be related to your long-term results and vision for your business. While growing your business, you want to grow it in line with your long-term vision. That vision may change over time, and that’s okay. Part of running a business is going off the rails a little at times. It’s not always perfect. But it can give you some contrast and help you get to where you really want to be. Most importantly you want your goals to be in line with the core values that you’ve created for your business. This way, even if your vision changes, you know the milestones and goals that you hit along the way are an extension of the values of your gym.
Fitness Business Goals
The SMARTR system allows you to vet all of the goals that you create for your fitness business. At first, it can be a lot to think about, but once you get into the habit of thinking like this, it’s easy. You will become confident at creating goals and attaining them. Another thing that can seriously help you stay on top of your goals is a fitness business coach. A coach can help you with creating the right goals and keeping you accountable. Our coaches work with people like you every day. They already know the in’s and out’s of your business. They know what will work and won’t work. When it comes to goals they can guide you in making the right goals at the right time. This way you can grow your gym the right way. (Learn more about fitness business coaching)
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Justin Hanover
Success Coach, Fitness Revolution
