Oct

11

Measuring: It’s The Power To Know

Posted In: Management

Maybe you’ve heard those old cliches: you get what you measure; you can’t manage what you can’t measure; what gets measured gets done. And perhaps you’re already well aware of the extent to which big companies measure performance - things like customer satisfaction, staff productivity, product quality and unbelievably much more.

So what are your thoughts about the role of measuring in micro or small business?

Think about something you really wish could change in your business. Something that matters because it impacts its success. Is it getting more customers? Or finding more time for your dream lifestyle? Or increasing your profit margin? Or reducing the proportion of your time that’s non-billable? Or finding new leads? Whatever it is, this is where measuring has a role. Measuring gives you the power to know.

Do you know how many new customers you’re getting, on average, from month to month?
Do you know how many hours you’re giving to your business, typically, each week?
Do you know where your profit margin is now, and how that’s changed as time has gone by?
Do you know what proportion of your time is billable (or directly revenue earning), and how that varies month by month?
Do you know how many new leads you get for each marketing campaign you run, and whether your hit rate is getting any better?

Unless you measure, you can’t know these things. If there’s a result in your business you want more of - or less of - then measuring it regularly over time will give you three kinds of power you can’t have otherwise:

the power of focus, that keeps your attention on what matters most in your business rather than letting it meander and snap from distraction to time-wasting distraction
the power of feedback, which gives you a balanced and objective reality check on where your business is at so you don’t succumb to biased conclusions based on what happened today or last week or what your customer Bob said
the power of a fulcrum, a way to leverage your efforts so you get bigger improvements in your bottom line for the same or less time and money

Sharper focus, regular and balancing feedback, and a leverage-boosting fulcrum. And especially in small business, where time and money and energy are in very limited supply, we all need more of that. That’s what measuring does for us.

What’s one result that matters enough to measure in your business?

Stacey Barr is the Performance Measure Specialist, helping people to measure their business strategy, goals and objectives so they actually achieve them. Sign up for Stacey’s free ezine at www.staceybarr.com to receive your complimentary copy of her e-book “202 Tips for Performance Measurement”, and get more control over the destiny of your business.

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