What do you want to achieve this year? More new customers per week? Higher average order amounts? Better customer service ratings? No matter what it is you are shooting for, goal setting is one of most important things that you will do in New Year. I’ve got a few tips to help you get there.

1. Keep it Challenging but Realistic.

Any goal that you set for your company should be challenging but don’t over do it. For example, if you had an average order amount of $700 last year, you wouldn’t want to set your goal for this year at $3000 per order. Unless you make drastic changes in how your company runs or what you are selling, that goal is just not realistic. You know best what you may be able to achieve in your particular industry, so be honest with yourself and set your goals accordingly.

2. Write All Your Goals Down.

You may say to yourself on January 1, "I want to get 20 more new customers per week this year." A few months later you will be saying "Did I say I wanted 20 or 30?" Or more realistically, you have forgotten that you even made that goal. If you have all of your goals written down you will be able to not only go back and check them, you will also be able to go down list every few months and check to see how many of them you have completed.

3. Assess Your Current Situation.

To set goals you have to know where you are at right now. In 2003 I wanted to assess our customer service rating so we sent out a survey to all of our customers on which they could rate us in each department of our operation. That helped us establish our base. Now we send survey to every customer after every order. This way we can keep track of how we are doing and if there is ever a hiccup we can fix it quickly. Don’t assume anything. Always assess current situation before setting a new goal.

It's Only Going to Hurt A Little...

Now, in financial goal setting for your business, one invariably comes to question: “How do I decide on a budget when starting a marketing plan?”

Authors/publishers are great at getting their books written. But after initial one-year honeymoon, sales slow down. To counter this make sure your print or ebook will keep on selling from first day, first year, even for life. Count on this being a two to three- year project to become well known.

Write a short sales letter for each book.

Whether you have a web site or not, you can write a first class, must-buy-now sales letter. Since you are making your book a business write a sales letter for each teleclass and service as well. I even write one for my bookcoaching services.

What Every Sales Letter Needs to Pull Orders and Profits

You can write each sales letter in less than four hours first time. As you practice, you can an excellent one in two hours.

1. Start Letter with a Benefit-Driven Headline.

Include similar headlines throughout your sales letter. Make them bold and in another font to stand out. Then, add copy below that supports your claim. Here’s one. What do your think? “Want a Quick and Easy way to Quadruple your Online Income in Four Months?”

If you answered, "yes" to yourself, headline succeeds, because you will keep reading. If you said "No, I don't believe this, " but I'm curious where this is going," headline still succeeds. You win when your headline seduces your potential customer to read on in your sales letter to discover your book’s benefits and features, some fine testimonials, to finally click "buy now" that takes them to order page.

2. Make a list of all problems and challenges your reader has.

To know your audience’s problems is half of solution. Before you can write your book’s benefits, you need to know problems. Do they want to lose weight? Do they want a lasting relationship? Note where they are now with their particular challenge. Hook your reader to go on with engaging questions such as “Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired?” “Are you ready to give up on attracting your ideal mate?”