Whether you want to scale up in leaps and bounds or at a steady incline, metrics are a critical part of tracking progress and success. Want to chart your progress but don’t know where to start? Read these five tips to drive business growth and stay ahead of the curve.
1. Define success
In today’s digital world, many businesses plan in three month blocks – a 10 year plan just isn’t the case anymore when the world is changing so fast. But despite of how far out you plan, mapping out where you want to be through a strong and clear business plan is critical.
2. Set your key performance indicators
If you have firstly mapped out what success looks like, use data to then define how you will measure it. Identify which indicators, or KPIs, are critical to achieving your goals.
3. Understand your baseline
Every journey has a start and end. If you want to set measures that will drive your business forward then start by understanding exactly where you are today in terms of business impacts, costs and finances. Factor in seasonal changes, external impacts and key trends when planning ahead.
4. Set effective targets
Effective targets encompass both an achievement and a time frame. Break your targets down into manageable tasks so they don’t seem so unachievable – think how much more doable it is to achieve one sale per day, rather than 30 per month or 360 per year.
5. Go forth and achieve
Once your metrics are in place make them part of the everyday conversation in your business. They should be transparent across your team and everyone should be clear of what they are working to, and what success looks like. Empower your team to contribute directly towards your goals and structure rewards so that they support goal achievement.
If you can successfully place measures and performance indicators into your business it will become much easier to track your progress towards the growth you desire. But keep in mind that these measures will only be effective if they empower you and your team to make the changes needed to make them achievable. Put effective growth measures in place today then measure, adjust and repeat to achieve the results you want.
