Setting short-term vs. long-term goals: How to drive success for your business

Whether you want to see immediate results or are setting your sights on the future, success often comes down to the practice of setting the right goals. 

Goals help guide a business, acting as a blueprint and a way to measure your progress. 

Today, we’ll discuss why setting business goals is essential, the differences between short-term and long-term business goals, and how to start setting the right goals for your business.

Why is goal-setting important?

While both play an important role, there’s a difference between having a to-do list and setting actionable goals. Goal-setting creates a strategic path for your business, and here’s why that’s crucial:

• Direction and focus: Setting clear goals helps give your organization a sense of direction. Goals help prioritize tasks, allocate resources, and avoid distractions. For employees, well-defined goals give meaning to the day-to-day grind and ensure they’re working on the right tasks instead of wasting their efforts on things that won’t contribute to the company’s overall success.
• Motivation: Motivation is crucial to engagement, innovation, and productivity, and goals are what motivate people. When individuals have specific targets to strive for and are working towards a common objective, they feel a collective sense of purpose that empowers them to drive the business forward.
• Performance measurement: Goals allow businesses to track progress and measure performance against established benchmarks. By regularly reviewing goals, companies can adapt to changing circumstances, identify areas for improvement, and maintain their competitive edge.
• Accountability: Documenting goals increases accountability among team members. When goals are shared and tracked, employees understand what’s expected of them and feel a greater sense of responsibility toward achieving them.

Short-Term Goals vs. Long-Term Goals

Two types of goals help guide your business: short-term goals and long-term goals. Both should be included in any goal-setting strategy, and it’s important to understand the difference between the two. 

Short-term goals	Long-term goals
Focused on immediate needs and challenges	Focused on long-term growth
Can span a few weeks or months, or up to 1 year	Typically span several years
Specific and actionable	Broad, aspirational, nebulous
Measurable, quick results	Slow progress tracked over a period of time
Requires immediate attention	Provides a long-term strategic direction

What is a short-term goal?

A short-term goal is actionable and immediately contributes to a business’s daily operations. It is usually achieved within a few weeks, months, or up to one year. 

Characteristics of short-term goals include:

• Specific and actionable: Short-term goals are designed to be clear and actionable, often targeting individual or team efforts rather than the overall company strategy. They are not overarching and are more about addressing immediate needs.
• Immediate focus: They require immediate attention and are often tactical in nature, addressing current needs, challenges, processes, or market opportunities.
• Measurable progress: These goals allow for regular assessment of progress, providing checkpoints that help maintain momentum toward larger objectives.

Some examples of short-term goals are:

• Increase customer engagement on social media by 20% in the next quarter. This goal is very specific; we know what area of business will be impacted, what the benchmark for success is, and what the time frame should be.
• Boost monthly revenue by 15% by the end of the quarter through targeted marketing campaigns. Again, we have a clear benchmark for success and guidance on what tactics to use to achieve this goal.
• Implement a referral program and gain 50 new customers within the next three months. While all businesses want to grow, this goal aims to measure the impact of a new program on customer acquisition in the short term.

What is a long-term goal?

A long-term goal is broader and typically focused on strategic initiatives over a long period, like five to ten years. Because of their nebulous nature, long-term goals require flexibility and consistent efforts over time. 

Characteristics of long-term business goals are:

• Strategic in nature: Long-term goals are aspirational and often encompass significant changes or growth initiatives that will impact the company’s long-term vision.
• Flexible framework: While they provide direction, long-term goals can be adjusted as market conditions or organizational priorities change, while still guiding the organization in the right direction.
• Cohesive vision: Long-term goals help ensure that short-term actions align with the overarching mission and vision of the organization.

Some examples of long-term goals are:

• Achieve a 40% increase in total sales over five years. While this goal gives us a specific benchmark and timeline, it allows for flexibility in the methods that will be used to achieve the goal, ensuring an adaptable goal that can be adjusted as needed.
• Expand into three new geographical markets within five years to increase market share. Again, we have a benchmark and timeline but an overarching goal to expand, allowing room to analyze different regions and economic situations and adjust strategies accordingly.
• Become the solar panel  industry leader within ten years. This goal showcases a commitment to the industry and a long-term vision while still remaining broad and adaptable.

When should you use a short-term or long-term goal?

Knowing when to set a short-term goal versus a long-term goal depends on the business’s immediate needs and vision for the future. 

Short-term goals are best used when a business needs to solve an immediate issue or capitalize on an important opportunity. For example, if customer satisfaction has recently dropped, a business may set a short-term goal to improve the customer experience through more robust staff training. 

Long-term goals are best used when planning for significant growth, expansion, or transformation over an extended period of time. If an organization wants to be a market leader in the next five to ten years, it will set long-term goals around market share, market penetration, customer acquisition, and brand awareness.

How you can set goals with your team

Setting goals is not a one-person task. Managers should guide their direct reports on setting challenging yet appropriate goals, and teams should collaborate on creating goals that resonate with the entire organization. This process is truly about teamwork. 

Here’s how to set goals with your team:

• Identify broader company goals. Knowing what the company’s overall vision is will help you align both short-term and long-term goals with the bigger picture.
• Conduct a team meeting. Set a time for team members to contribute their goal ideas as a group. This ensures team members feel heard and gives them a chance to provide valuable feedback.
• Present the company’s current position. Ensure team members understand current challenges, opportunities, and areas for improvement.
• Collect suggestions. Use methods like feedback forms, surveys, or open discussions to get input from team members.
• Prioritize ideas. Once you’ve collected feedback and suggestions, categorize ideas and prioritize them based on feasibility and relevance.
• Set SMART goals. Use SMART criteria (goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) to ensure that goals are clear and can be easily tracked.
• Communicate goals effectively. Once goals are finalized, make sure everyone on your team understands what the goals and timelines are and what role they will play in achieving those goals.
• Regularly review and adjust. In a business environment, flexibility and adaptability are key. Regularly review progress toward goals and be open to making adjustments as necessary.

Examples of short-term business goals

• Boost monthly revenue by 15% by the end of the quarter through targeted marketing campaigns
• Gain 50 new customers within the next three months by implementing a referral program
• Raise customer satisfaction scores by 10% in the next quarter through enhanced training for customer service representatives
• Increase social media engagement by 25% over the next month by posting daily and interacting with followers
• Launch a new product feature in the next three months to meet customer demands
• Increase email newsletter signups by 10% over the next month by optimizing website call-to-action buttons and offering incentives
• Improve team productivity and efficiency by implementing a new project management tool within the next two months, resulting in a 10% improvement in utilization rates and a 15% reduction in missed deadlines

Examples of long-term business goals

• Expand into three new geographical markets within five years to increase market share
• Become a leader in sustainable practices in the industry within ten years by implementing eco-friendly initiatives
• Achieve a 40% increase in total sales revenue over the next three years through product diversification
• Establish the company as a nationally recognized brand for quality and service within five years
• Develop a comprehensive employee training program aimed at improving retention rates and skills development over the next two years
• Introduce three new product lines over the next five years to diversify portfolio
• Become completely carbon neutral in the next ten years to become a sustainable and eco-friendly company

How electronic signatures help make your goals official

Whether your business goals are short-term or long-term, there’s one thing all of them have in common—documents. From contracts to agreements, setting and achieving goals often involves paperwork. 

That’s where SignNow comes in. 

With legally binding electronic signatures, SignNow simplifies the process of collecting signatures, streamlining workflows, and making it easier to achieve your goals.

Customers love SignNow for its:

• Efficiency: Quickly send, sign, and store documents without needing printers or scanners and without the risk of manual errors
• Security: SignNow uses advanced security protocols to ensure that data and signatures remain secure, legally binding, and trustworthy
• Time and Cost savings: With an electronic document process, say goodbye to time-consuming manual tasks, lengthy document routing, human errors, and chasing down signatures.

Ready to see how SignNow can boost your productivity and help you reach your business goals faster? Start a free trial of SignNow and see how going digital can be the game-changer your business needs.