This is part of a series of articles that I’m writing about my journey as a business owner. In the nine years since I started, I’ve failed a lot, I’ve learnt a lot, and for sure building a business is much harder than I imagined.
But I’m still learning — every day — and so each day I get better and so does my business, and I’ve realised that is the most important thing.
These articles are about some of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned along the way.
A business that doesn’t measure things doesn’t grow. That much has been proven many times over.
But are you measuring the right things?
Monthly or quarterly sales, new customers, contract renewal rate – these are all common KPIs in business. But they’re all looking backwards. They’re telling what has happened. Afterwards. When you’ve got no chance to influence it.
You could increase the frequency of these reports, weekly or daily sales, but that doesn’t really change anything.
What you need to measure are the things that influence those numbers. How many calls have been made? How many meetings? How many proposals? These are the things that will impact your sales figures, so measure them and look forward.
If you get one new customer for every five proposals, then you know how many more you need to send to hit your target.
Get your team focused on forward-looking KPIs, and you’ll be able to influence the outcome far more effectively.
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