Garden business owners know that a solid business plan is essential for success.

Business plans are how you communicate your vision when breaking into the field, and it's also the blueprint for maintaining success after you've gotten there.

But how can you measure success, and how do you know when you've reached it?

Any good garden business wants to answer these questions, but most of them ask a bit too late.

The best measurement strategies begin before your garden business even gets off the ground.

Keep reading to learn how to plan for your garden business' success with measurement metrics in mind.

Defining Goals

The first step of any good business plan is figuring out where you're starting and where you want to go.

To achieve that long-term vision, your garden business needs to have SMART goals.

The only way to tell if you're truly reaching your goals is to prove it, and the best way is with numbers.

Saying you want to be successful isn't good enough - "success" isn't quantifiable.

Goals are, however, and your garden business needs to define them accordingly so that you can measure achievement in a real, tangible way.

Action Planning

Once you've outlined measurable goals, the next step is to make an action plan that ensures goals are met.

Action planning is defining large goals on a smaller scale. Come up with specific actions that will make headway toward your large goals.

Checkpoints ensure that your garden business stays on track. Just like goals, checkpoints should be quantifiable.

Think about what information you need to evaluate your progress. You can adjust each step of your action plan to fit your larger goals.

If you make measurement a priority, you'll know if your garden business is meeting the goals you've set for success. And if something isn't working, you'll be able to recognize that and pivot onto a more effective strategy.

Specifics Rule

Measurement is a huge part of planning, however if the metrics you use for measurement aren't specific to your goals and action plan checkpoints, they're not worth much.

Don't just set a goal of wanting to grow - specify where and how you want to grow.

Do you have a consumer product or is your business more trade focused? Are you looking to break into a market or are you trying to get the biggest slice of the market share in the industry?

Your measurement metrics need to reflect these goals. Don't just measure the number of "media hits" your garden business gets - measure where those hits are coming from and if they're in your target market.

Then, measure ROI of those media placements by asking customers how they found out about your garden business rather than exclusively examining overall sales.

The number of available measurement metrics is endless - you just need to find the right ones and build them into your business plan from the start. 

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