So now you have come up with a six month Umbrella Goal. The next step is to break it down into Intermediate Goals. These are short term goals which will finally lead up to completely the Umbrella Goal. For increasing revenue it might look like separating the areas that need to be researched before you can go forward.
As in the last blog, this might look like reviewing the past referral sources, locating what marketing techniques have produced the best benefits. You could go onto locating more demographics to find out current sources of income. A review of your marketing plan might be in order. Intermediate goals are still very broad goals. This should give you a map of what has to happen next but not specific work which comes next in Action Tasks.
This is where you get down to the very specific tasks that need to take place to meet the Intermediate Goals. In this scenario, they will look like:
ACTION TASKS
1. Locate and review all referrals sources for the past 3 years.
2. Separate referral sources into categories as to the ones which are the most lucrative.
3. Do a demographic search of your area of the law and how much potential business is in your community. (this should have been done when you started the business, but it is always a good thing to update this as there can be changes)
4. Identify the specific areas in your marketing plan that are producing the most and the least amount of revenue.
From these Action Tasks you should be able to locate your best sources of future income as well as getting a picture if some of those sources have dried up. If that appears to be the case , then you need to supplement your Intermediate Goals and new Action Task to make a decision as where to find new business. Is that in a Niche? Is that with better marketing? Is not enough time being spent on business development?
Your real goal in doing this first exercise is to get a handle on exactly what it is going to take to raise your revenue.
This technique also applies to an Umbrella Goal of ASKING FOR A RAISE. What would the Intermediate Goals look like? First, you will want to identify how much you are going to ask for. Next you will want to find out the financial condition of the firm or agency you work for. If there is no possibility of a raise because the financial condition is weak, then your decision to ask or find another place of employment or wait until the situation changes may be the alternatives you need to consider.
These situations can be hard to face, but you can see that this method gets right down to the bottom of the issue in a fairly easy fashion. If the financial viability is good, then you can go on to the Action Tasks pinpointing the steps you need to take to arm yourself with the information to make the best case for getting a raise. This will include a bumped up resume listing all the ways you have helped the employer and how your knowledge of the particular business culture you are working in has assisted the organization in profiting. Thinking creatively here is going to be to your best benefit.