It’s essential to set clear and inspiring goals for your bridal boutique. Goal setting is a powerful tool that can drive success and create a roadmap for achieving your business aspirations. Here’s how to effectively set (and then pursue) goals for your bridal shop to ensure you smash it in the rest of 2024!

Establish Clear and Achievable Goals

Initially you need to start by deciding on clear, achievable goals for your boutique. These can include sales targets, conversion rates, revenue goals, and profit margins. You could also consider setting goals for non-financial aspects such as growing your social media following, enhancing your brand identity, gathering reviews or introducing new labels. Ensure that your goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. You may have heard of the reference (SMART) - So decide what ‘smart’ goals you will now work towards within your business.

Many of our goals are based on previous year’s performance data, we’re always driving at growth (in turnover and most importantly net profit) and this is achieved by driving at increased appointments, sales and conversion rates. So start by analysing your data.

Share Your Vision

It’s important to let your team know what you, as a business owner, are aiming for in any given week / month or year and (perhaps as importantly) why you are aiming for it? 

If you don’t have goals set yet then this is the moment when you realise that for success you really should! So if you haven’t a clue what they are, abandon this article for a while and go and decide on them and then come back to learn more…. If you have some goals in mind (well done) but know that for success they need to be shared.

It’s important to communicate your goals with your team for a sense of shared purpose and to cultivate a motivated team! When everyone is aware of the boutique’s objectives, your people will usually work towards them together more effectively. Display the goals prominently on the office or staff room wall, to keep them visible and at the forefront of everyone’s minds! This constant reminder helps maintain focus and motivation.

In our boutique everyone knows (based on our available sales opportunities) what our team goals are in terms of units and conversion rate for all departments, it’s discussed at our weekly meeting and shared on a group Whatsapp for those not in the business on the weekly meeting day.

Roadmap for Success

Develop a detailed action plan outlining the steps needed to achieve your goals if required. Break down larger goals into smaller, manageable goals and assign responsibilities to team members where relevant. A roadmap provides a clear path to success and helps keep everyone accountable and on the same page. Goal roadmaps can be useful, but are not essential - it often depends on the complexity / size of the goal.

Celebrate Small Wins

On the way to achieving goals, recognise and celebrate small victories to keep team and boutique morale high. Celebrating achievements, no matter how small, reinforces the importance of steps towards the larger goals and the bigger picture. It also keeps the team motivated and focused on the end result.

Encourage Open Communication

Foster an environment where open communication is encouraged. Regularly check in with your team to discuss progress, address any challenges, and gather feedback. Ensure that each team member understands their role in achieving their part of the goals that have been sent and the broader objectives.  Make sure that they feel valued for their contributions. Staff need to be heard and seen: their input counts and their ideas should always be valued.

Conduct Regular Reviews / Appraisals

Schedule formal interim and annual reviews to discuss performance, goals, and areas for improvement. These reviews provide an opportunity to reassess and set new targets, and address any concerns. I find one-on-one reviews are really important. Commit time and personalised attention to your team members it’s a chance to build stronger and closer professional relationships with your team.

(I always conduct our reviews off site so that interruptions are less likely, I switch off my phone and am present with my team member, I focus on them entirely, it’s always appreciated and we don’t always only talk about work).