It’s no good running a business without tracking progress and knowing what success looks like. Whether you want to scale up in leaps and bounds or at a steady incline, metrics are a critical part of business management. Read these five tips to drive your business growth strategies and stay ahead of the curve.
1. Define what success looks like
What does success look like for you? Do you want to get more customers? Increase profit? Or maybe do both? With technology and the digital age changing so quickly, many businesses find they need more than just a 5 or 10-year plan so look to plan in 3-6 months blocks. Mapping out where you want to be in the short and long term through a strong and clear business growth strategy is critical.
2. Set your Key Performance Indicators
Once you’ve mapped out what success looks like, use data to then define how you will measure it. It’s no use having a plan in place with nothing to measure it against. Identify which key performance indicators are critical to achieving the goals in your business growth strategy.
3. Understand your business
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. Make sure you factor in seasonal changes, external impacts and key trends when planning ahead.
4. Set effective targets
Effective targets encompass both an achievement and a realistic timeframe. Break your targets down into manageable tasks so they don’t overwhelm you or seem unattainable. It’s much more beneficial to think how one sales per day is more achievable rather than 30 per month or 360 per year.
5. Go forth and achieve your business growth goals!
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. After all it should be a team effort!
If you can successfully place measures and key 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.
If you’re wanting more tips on how to grow your business, download our eBook The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Small Business Owners or enquire about joining Bartercard today.
