As business owners we must track and monitor our business efforts so we can tell whether our actual efforts are yielding results. How, though, can you determine what you should be measuring? What are your key performance indicators? That isn’t a trick question, but most businesses have different variables that they want to, or need to, track.
Here are a few items you may want to track for your business:
- Determine your business goal. Is it to bring in X number of new clients? Do you want to make X amount of money is sales? Put a number to it then you will know what you’re tracking and whether you’re achieving what you’d hoped.
- Break the goal down into achievable steps if necessary. If, for example, you say you want to bring in 50 new clients in December, it might be best to break that down by the week so that you’re not tempted to put off bringing in those new clients until December 31.
- Make sure you’re comparing the results with the goals you’d set. If you’re not achieving them, take a step back and determine why. Were the goals too lofty? Did you truly not work hard enough on achieving them? Procrastination can be the death of many-a-goal being met.
Your business success can hinge on whether you’re setting goals. If you don’t know where you’re going and what you consider to be a “successful endeavor” how will you know if you’ve arrived?