4 Steps to Move the Needle on Your Big Picture Goals

A BLANK TEXT BOX with a flashing cursor awaits while you ponder the answer to: “Tell me what goals or objectives you are wanting to cover during this meeting…” When my members request a meeting with me this is what we ask.

I imagine they pause for a moment to reflect… recalling impactful changes needed … or relentless struggles they are facing within the optical. I think the question provides the perfect opportunity to identify specific items or detail the uniqueness of their office so they can obtain proven solutions from us, but the answer I get from nearly every new member is: “Improve our capture rate.”

Yes, it is a goal, so it does qualify. However, the most interesting part is how all you optical leaders answer that same question for every subsequent visit following the initial meeting. Booking notes look more like this: “Review our current frame restocking and improve. Create a plan for more sunglass sales. What can we be saying during the handoff to help?”

What changed from our first meeting to every meeting thereafter? Leadership learned trackable achievements are what move the needle on big picture goals.

“Increase capture rate” is the number one big picture goal I hear from optical leadership. Most opticals get stuck in a capture rate vortex, hovering around the same number month after month because they lack a plan of trackable achievements for their team to put into action.

The problem is leadership has goals yet falls flat on team involvement and engagement because big picture goals, like capture rate, are calculated at the end of the month. Putting in place trackable achievements for your team allows for big picture goal improvement because staff can act on smaller trackable achievements/goals monitored daily. Here are four steps you can take to move the needle on your big picture goals:

What will it take? Ask yourself in the most practical way: What will it take to improve this big picture goal? In the example of capture rate, the most practical answer would be, “sell more glasses.”

What actions will contribute? Ask yourself what actions can be taken to contribute to more glasses being sold. Try:

• If ______, we would sell more glasses.
• If we sold more of a featured frame brand…
• If we improved multiple pair sales…
• If we refined our prescribed recommendations from the chair…

Set trackable achievements. Your team needs a tangible achievement that can be monitored daily. At Spexy, we encourage using trackable goals to solidify a habit. Focus on one trackable goal for two months until it becomes a habit before switching focus.

Let the team track their progress. Let them feel the wins and the losses. Set the goal and allow the team to track their progress throughout the month. Micro-managing types will want to track the progress for them. Don’t do this! Allowing the team who is putting in the work to feel the success of reaching a daily goal encourages accountability.

Scan the QR code for instructions on implementing a progress tracker that has proven successful for independent teams.

Take this moment as your blinking cursor. You already know your big picture goals. Now tell me what goals or objectives you are willing to tackle to achieve them.