The champagne signifies much more than winning the title or the trophy. The winners spray and drink champagne because this is a momentous event – they have fulfilled their plan. It is not just about winning that game on that day. They have accomplished something important which has been their target throughout the season or the tournament.

The celebration is the culmination of their plan

Planning for Success

Taking this same approach within in a business context is hugely valuable. We are not talking about goal setting - both are important but play very different roles. Champagne moments anchor your strategy and overall approach whereas goals anchor your action plan.


Champagne moments identify what the significant milestones are for you and your business, what the ultimate achievements would be, whilst providing the opportunity to tap into the desires of the individuals within your team or business. Anchoring your strategy, they help you shape goals and provide focus and direction. Goals are still hugely important however they act as the stepping stones in the path to reaching your champagne moment.

Champagne moments are not the same as goals.

How do You Identify Your Champagne Moment?

These questions will help you pinpoint the moment that will be significant enough for you to pop some champagne to celebrate:


• What is your long-term vision? Where do you want to be in 5 or 10 years?
• Where have your successes been?
• What are the critical success factors to your success?
• What has held the business back or contributed to the failure and what can you learn from them?


From this process you will glean a heap of insight and identify that one thing that you would really like to achieve in the next 12 to 36 months. Remember to think big. You are not restricted by the framework of SMART goal setting theory.

Remember to think big.

How to Use Champagne Moments in Your Business

In our signature go-to-market workshop, identifying the champagne moments is always the first step in the process. We ask everyone in the room to think big and to articulate what they would really like to achieve. It is an effective tool to tap into the personal desires of the stakeholders as well the broader business aims and vision.


Gaining clarity on your champagne moments is a valuable cornerstone in strategy development and shapes the plan that you build. You aren’t doing this for ‘doing things sake’… here is a purpose and clear target in mind.


For more information on building your go-to-market plan check out our blog post that explores the 7 steps of building an effective Go-to-Market Plan.