Many entrepreneurs talk about setting 7goals, but how many really understand their importance? Especially if you’re starting a new business and need to ensure your company has a future, goals create the roadmap that can get you there. That being said, not everyone fully understands the reasons why goals are so important to set each quarter if you truly want your business to succeed.

While there are a variety of reasons to set goals for your company on an annual basis, it can be difficult to communicate this value to your staff. When you need a quick cheat sheet, here are just three of the many reasons why you need to set goals for your business.

Goals keep your employees on the same page.

One of the most important reasons to set goals as a business is because of the unifying structure that goals provide for everyone on your team. It’s important that everyone is focused on the same priorities in order for you to actually achieve everything you want to. For example, you may have an overall goal to retain more customers this year in order to boost your sales year over year. It’s important that every department in your business, top-to-bottom, is able to move the ball forward if you truly want to achieve that goal.

If you need a system to help track where everyone in your business is in terms of achieving their goals, an OKR framework might be worth adopting. OKR stands for objectives and key results, and a website like workboard.com specializes in software that can help you define and analyze the OKRs your team is following in order to reach the results you’re looking for. Especially if you aren’t quite sure how to create and monitor your business’ OKRs, a software solution like Workboard can be incredibly helpful for achieving your goals.

The right goals allow you to pace yourself.

Another important thing to remember about goals is that they serve as benchmarks for the growth you’re interested in and where you currently are in business. If you don’t have these sorts of mile markers in your business strategy, you may feel like you’re moving too slowly or too quickly. It’s much more useful to know what the goals you’re looking to reach each quarter are so you can work toward achieving them. Having this sense of perspective (not to mention an organized calendar with manageable tasks each month) can be critical to staying positive and persevering in the first few years of business when you might be in a tough place.

Goals can inform where you need to invest in new tech.

Another benefit of using goals is that they can help you determine when the time is right to purchase a new piece of technology or upgrade another component of your business, too. For example, you may know that customer service is an important aspect of leveling up your sales platform; however, you might not be totally sure of what the next step is. If you know that improving customer service is a vital goal to your company’s growth, you’ll be able to research the best strategy to improve this critical component of your business.

For example, you may discover that you don’t have personal enough interactions with your customers when they talk to your sales or support agents. This might lead you to invest in a new CRM call center software solution that makes it easier to integrate this sort of data into your support process. By seamlessly pairing with platforms like Salesforce, you can ensure that your agents have all of the important details about any customer who might give you a call or reach out via email with a question. From what marketing campaigns they’ve received to when their last purchase was, knowing this information wouldn’t be possible if you hadn’t set a goal and found the tech to make it happen.