Want automation success? Time to get smart with your automation goals

If you were to make contact with me about automating your business, one of the first questions I would ask you would be “What are your goals with automation?”

Some of the typical responses I hear are 

to save time, 

to stop being so manual, 

to not have to do the things that don’t light them up.

While these are certainly goals, they are so general that it’s going to be very difficult to determine if you have been successful in attaining them.

It may seem cliche to say that you need to be ‘SMART’ with your goal setting, but it is actually a game-changer and will help you to really hone in on your goals, be able to determine when you’ve been successful in the goal and within a particular time frame.

When I first start working with new clients on Business Automation Strategy we focus on creating 5 primary SMART automation goals.

S - Specific: You need to be specific about what you want to accomplish and think about who needs to be involved in the process, and why it’s an important goal.

M - Measurable: How will you determine if the goal has been met? What sort of metrics will you put in place as a measuring tool?

A - Attainable: This focuses on the importance of the goal and what you can do to put it into action, to achieve it.

R - Relevance: How relevant is this goal to your bigger business picture, particularly around business automation?

T - Time-bound: The timing around your goal needs to be realistic, with timeframes and deadlines that you can work within. 

Let’s use ‘working less hours each week’ as a goal.

If we use the SMART formula with this goal it may look something like this:

Specific: Reduce the number of hours I work in my business each week

Measurable: Don’t work more than 20 hours a week

Attainable: Automating my lead capture, scheduling and program delivery processes

Relevant: It aligns with my business and lifestyle goals

Timebound: within 3 months

So instead of our goal being “working less hours each week” it is now “I will only work 20 hours each week, by automating my lead capture, scheduling and program delivery process within the next 3 months”

And that is a smart goal!

Below are some benefits of automation that you can apply as automation goals. Don’t forget to apply the SMART principle to make sure they’re a fit for your top 5 automation goals
Increase the number of leads

• Stop manually scheduling appointments
• Make sales 24/7
• Nurture my leads automatically
• Reduce turnaround times
• Create an evergreen product and generate passive income
• Reduce business expenses and overheads
• Increase productivity
• Spend more time with family
• Create a sales funnel or lead generation pipeline
• Onboard new clients
• Manage abandoned cart processes
• Stop chasing late payments
• Get testimonials and feedback from clients automatically
• Automate event registration processes 

Give this a try when you’re next setting an automation goal, or any goal in your business.