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What to measure to be phenomenally successful in business

Written by: Peter Lawless

Article Overview: We all have to measure our finances, using an approved accounting system. We may hate it, but it is a requirement by law. Thus we all get an accountant to tell us what we did, how much money we made or lost, how much tax we have to pay, and then most of us sigh a collective sigh of relief, and forget about it. Large businesses use the financial figures, to create management accounts that we use on an ongoing business.

What to measure to be phenomenally successful in business

However, there is much more than just finance we need to measure. This article provides list of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that every small business should monitor.

Have you got a KPI List?
You should set up measurement and monitoring of the at least some of, but not limited to the following KPIs. These need to in turn be discussed and reviewed at all of the management meetings. It is vital that you put steps in place immediately to ensure that you as the owner of your business have a business that you are proud of.

* Number and value of leads for the month
* Sales made for the month
* Value and number of new sales
* Value and number of outstanding opportunities
* Referrals gained
* Testimonials given
* No of sales calls per rep
* Number of telesales calls made
* Marketing expenditure for the month
* Customer complaints
* Standard Cash flow reports such a cash, debtors, creditors etc

Are there any standard symptoms, that one can spot, that lead to a lack of business success?

Many nearly successful companies, who have great goals and ambitions like you, however encounter many problems. Some of the key issues that they may be facing are as follows;

* The sales team is converting less than 10% of opportunities into sales.
* There is no process for lead qualification and many leads are falling through the cracks.
* The sales team is not following defined sales processes.
* There is a lack of adequate sales management.
* There is no consistent process for communication between telesales and sales.
* There is no measurement of Key Performance Indicators.
* There is no consistent format for pricing proposals being used.
* There is no process to gauge customer satisfaction levels.
* There is no process to gather customer testimonials
* There is no process to obtain customer referrals
* It is not clear what leads are generated by the marketing spend

Do any of these seem familiar? It is vital that you put steps in place immediately to ensure that you as the owner of your business have a business that you are proud of.

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Article Tags: business success, cash flow, consistent format, creditors, customer complaints, customer referrals, customer satisfaction levels, customer testimonials, debtors, falling through the cracks, goals and ambitions, great goals, key performance indicators, management meetings, measurement, proposals, sales management, sales processes, successful companies, telesales



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