Set aspirational targets

Establish aspirational targets to try and take on the mindset of an outside investor look outside of the business for benchmarks and analysis. To be truly aspirational when setting financial targets, companies must not be restricted by focusing on cost savings.  Instead, the focus should instead be on boosting productivity, introducing pricing initiatives, ensuring the sales force are more effective and confronting any customer dissatisfaction. McKinsey & Co says that when companies set targets, it recommends starting with what’s theoretically achievable and adjusting this figure downward only when there’s clear evidence that certain actions are unrealistic.