Want to know how to take your business to the next level in 2025? As…
Want to know how to business goals using the Good, Better, Best method? Setting goals is fairly standard practice for a business, but there are a number of ways you can set goals. A fairly common way to set business goals is using the SMART method, but there are other methods to set business goals, including the Good, Better, Best method. Keep on reading to find out how to set goals using the Good, Better, Best goal-setting method.
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HOW TO SET BUSINESS GOALS USING THE GOOD, BETTER, BEST METHOD
What is the Good, Better, Best goal-setting method?
Whereas normally when you set a goal you will have one clear goal, when you use the Good, Better, Best goal-setting method you’ll set three different levels of success for a goal.
Good is the minimum level of achievement that you feel you should hit. Achieving the “Good” level will be an accomplishment, but it is likely to be set at a level that feels realistic to achieve.
Better is set at a level of achievement that is higher than your “Good” level. It will feel more of a stretch to achieve.
Best is set higher than your “Better” goal and if you hit that level it should feel like a massive achievement. This is where you are ambitious. You might question whether the goal is possible, but it is something you’d love to achieve and if you did you’d be very excited and proud.
What is an example of how a business would set a goal using the Good, Better, Best method?
Good, Better, Best goals work really well for quantitative goals. So a business, that is aiming to hit the six-figure revenue level could decide that rather than having one goal for their annual revenue they’ll use the Good, Better, Best method.
They could decide for the year ahead their goal for their annual revenue is
Good = £100,000
Better = £125,000
Best = £175,000
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The advantages of using the Good, Better, Best method
You might be thinking that having more goals is more stress and not understand why it is beneficial to set business goals using the good, better, best method. But there are multiple advantages.
Supports motivation
The Good, Better, Best method is a great goal-setting option if you are someone who likes to achieve your goals, but wants to be able to stretch yourself at the same time.
Traditionally in goal-setting traditionally you can either set a fairly realistic goal that you are fairly confident you can achieve and then feel great about being able to tick off achieving that goal. Or you set yourself wildly ambitious goals, that challenge you to really up your game, but the likeihood of you achieving that goal is slim and so it can be massively deflating when you continually don’t achieve your goals.
The Good, Better, Best method allows you to have the best of both worlds. You can set your Good level at something that feels achievable. This means you are likely to be able to tick off achieving that goal and have that satisfaction. But you’ll also be able to set that big stretch goal for your Best goal. This will mean you still have something big to strive for and can up your game for that.
And if you really want to up the motivation you could set a different reward depending on the level achieved.
Allows for easy progress tracking
The worst thing you can go is set a goal and then never track progress. The Good, Better, Best method forces you to really quantify your goals. This will mean you’ll be able to easily track your progress along the journey to achieving your goals.
Reduces overwhelm and pressure
Setting goals can be difficult, especially if you don’t have many reference points. Most business owners don’t want to set themselves, or their team, up to fail. This can result in agonising over what is an appropriate goal to set. By using the Good, Better, Best method you can reduce some of the overwhelm and pressure because the tiered approach means you can set a realistic and stretch goal at the same time.
Balances realism with optimism
Not all goals are in our control and one of the downsides of using the SMART method is that SMART goals are meant to be achievable. In the world of business what is achievable is very subjective. Very often you’ll have business owners with big ambitions, but at the time of setting the goals the how isn’t known or the team doesn’t entirely agree with the achievablity. By using the Good, Better, Best method you can use the Good level to be that level that feels achievable, but then the Best level to be the ultimate ambition.
When is a good time to set goals using the Good, Better, Best method?
The Good, Better, Best method works best with numerical goals because you can set values for each level. With that in mind, it is an excellent method to use for goals around:
- Revenue
- Profit
- Volume of sales
- Number of new clients signed
- Number of tickets sold for an event
- Number of press mentions
- Number of awards won
- Number of leads
- Customer satisfaction level
- Employee satisfaction level
- Conversion rate
- Geographic expansion
- Market share growth
That’s it. You now know how to set a business goal using the Good, Better, Best method.
Setting goals in business is essential, but sometimes just having one goal isn’t the best option. The Good, Better, Best method is a powerful goal-setting methods that enables you to use a tiered approach to goal setting that balances realism and optimism and will keep you and your team motivated.
Let me know in the comments if you will use this goal-setting method in the future.
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Setting your business goals is just the beginning. Once you are clear on WHAT you want to achieve you need to work out HOW to achieve them. Over the last 5 years I’ve developed a process to allow small business owners to put together their business and marketing strategy together in just one day. So if right now you don’t have a strategy in place for 2024 and you’d like to be guided through reviewing 2023, setting your goals for 2024 and then having the right business growth and marketing strategy in place to get there – book a 2024 Strategy Day. For more information and to book a 2024 Strategy Day click here.
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