To this day, it floors me to see how many entrepreneurs and leaders operate their business, their marketing initiatives and their whole life for that matter, in the dark, when it comes to numbers. If you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it. Period.
To thrive and increase business performance, you simply cannot drive blindly. You must increase your overall level of awareness of what’s working well and what areas need “pivotal shifts” to improve, and numbers truly tell it like it is. The right numbers can provide invaluable insight to help you focus your energy on what drives results and give you the opportunity to strengthen the areas that need it most in order to reach your goals.
Those numbers are called Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and with the right KPIs, you can quickly identify the areas that need your focus and attention as well as help you benchmark and monitor your progress during your quarter. If you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it, and that is the whole point of KPIs. It’s about tracking the important numbers that let you know how you are doing and indicate the progress of reaching your goals and targets.
Sounds simple enough right? What’s the catch? The catch is that most entrepreneurs are way too busy to review their numbers and reports on a regular basis or simply don’t know how to read their reports effectively without getting totally overwhelmed.
Here is what you can do to keep it simple while getting the data you need to succeed.
- Make sure you have crystal clear goals and financial targets for the year.
- Look at your Year Goals and Desired Outcomes and clarify your TOP 3 Priorities/Goals for this quarter: the TOP 3 that will propel you forward the most to reach your year goals and targets.
- Determine who the “Priority Leader” is for each Priority: the Priority Leader may or may not be the executor of this priority, but is responsible for its consistent progress and goal achievement.
- Determine your KPIs: how will you measure your progress for each of the TOP 3 Priorities? (% of growth, number of new clients/alliances, number of new sales, number of people reached…you get the point.
- Determine the frequency of the KPIs: daily, weekly, monthly? Pick the frequency that will be most effective for each priority.
- Repeat for each quarter of your year.
The important thing is that you keep it simple and commit to sticking with it. As I said, numbers don’t lie. If you want to increase your business performance and achieve massive success, you have to drive by numbers. The good news is, if the KPI numbers get better, then typically all numbers get better. As entrepreneurs, when we have a clear goal, we always find a way to make it happen.
EXAMPLE:
Say an entrepreneur wants to increase their revenue and knows that doing so is a direct result of “increasing the average amount of students per class”. She also knows that for each 10 client calls/follow-ups that she makes, she typically gains 1 new student and 3 renewal students. The number to track here then becomes 10 client calls, because that action produces bottom line results. By knowing that, she can be very consistent at making her calls every day and continually increase her student average per class, thereby increasing her gross revenue, which is her priority.
LEAP of the day
- Set up a simple system to help you track the numbers that will give you the biggest bang for your buck.
- Determine your TOP 3 goals for the next 3 months and pick the TOP 3 KPIs that will help you perform.
Remember, what gets measured…gets DONE!
TOOL: KPI Dashboard Sample
