Every business needs to maintain certain metrics to ensure a profitable and successful business. While it’s common for many of these metrics to be financially related, there are other aspects of a business that are just as important, if not more important, to keep track of. For example, a company cannot function without its employees, so their satisfaction and retention are the keys to your success.
There are many tools available to capture metrics such as retention rate, KPIs, or revenue, and great leaders should implement them to ensure success and satisfaction across the board. Below, 16 businesstraverse.com Business Council members share the key high-level metrics that companies should be tracking during a pivotal point and why.
businesstraverse.com Business Council members share high-level metrics that businesses should track during key critical moments.
Photos courtesy of individual members.
1. Customer Satisfaction
When going through a critical point in your business, it’s essential to keep track of how the end user perceives the quality of the product or service you produce. Keeping a close eye on customer satisfaction can be a saving grace at such a critical time. When customer satisfaction is low, it’s time to make a shift and look at the product from their perspective. † Thomas Fields† YES Contract services
2. Yield
Keeping track of stats always comes down to revenue and cash flow. Without money we would be bankrupt. We must have the necessary resources to maintain a sustainable business. Anyone who owns a business knows that revenue is the most important KPI and that everyone should be responsible for it. † Arijana Koskarova† Creative hub
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3. Added customer value
Everyone uses standard KPIs to measure the success and growth of an organization. My team measures customer and customer retention. In my organization, the most common measure used is identifying the value we add to our customers. Far too often we follow up on consultancies that promised the world, underperformed in every way, and put the blame on others. † Brandon Glenn† Safirst
4. KPIs
This metric should be the leading and most important driver of what you want to achieve and be highly visible to the entire organization. I’m a proponent of key performance indicators over financial metrics because they tell you where you’re going rather than what happened. To ensure cross-functional reconciliation, this metric should be an important part of any employee’s bonus or incentive plan. † Greg Cohen† fortis
5. Retention through a diversity lens
Retention, viewed through a diversity lens, is a critical metric for any business to track. Just looking at voluntary turnover is not enough. You need to apply a diversity lens to understand if you have a problem with a particular demographic, which could be a symptom of a workplace exclusion. This can lead to a lot of problems. † Michael Bach† CCDI advice
6. An understanding of objectives
Does everyone understand why we are doing this? Do they understand the positive impact it will have on the customers, the company and themselves? If there is no understanding of why this new work or effort is being undertaken, most will put their own subjective thoughts into it, hindering the success of what needs to be done. Everyone must understand the end goal and purpose. † Jeff Giagnocavo† Gardner’s mattress & more
7. Win Rate
Earnings are a great tool for bragging rights, but profits will make or break a business. Keeping track of the win rate is vital to knowing how much of every dollar you bring in will be invested back into the business and how much you are allowed to keep. If you don’t know your profitability, you won’t be able to track cash flow or keep track of how much cash it takes to keep growing. † Barbara Schreihans† Your LLC Tax Coach
8. Revenue and gross margin growth
Every company should be a sales-driven organization that empowers all employees and stakeholders to take actions to achieve the common goal of growth. A company cannot grow without increasing revenue and ideally gross margins. Revenue and gross margin growth is a metric that directly measures the health of a company and can be influenced by management decisions. † Jack Chang† DGP Capital LLC
9. Retention Rates
Employees are the key to the success of any business, which is why it’s important to keep an eye on their satisfaction level and retention rates. We saw this especially during the pandemic and the big shift to working from home when many employees felt lost and overwhelmed. This shows how important it is to stay in close contact with them, especially during changing times. † Patrick Scherzinger† Scherzinger Holding GmbH
10. Employee satisfaction level
Companies can get through difficult pivots much more easily if they don’t also have to deal with high turnover rates. Employees can now be much more selective about where they work given the current economic environment. If you’re not regularly monitoring your team with a tool like Officevibe or something similar, you should start today. † Jake Hare† launchpeer
11. Business Pivot Points
Following corporate pivot values is different for every company based on vision, which is why every company should have a North Star KPI. This should be a snapshot for measuring long-term success. The chosen metric should increase sales, improve customer experience and track improvements. From that bird’s eye view, additional stats should be easily searched to identify bottlenecks or wins. † Amiee Ball† JAB Advisory Group
12. Core Values
Is your staff invested in the pillars of your company and do they live by it every day? If so, you have a more aligned and happier workforce creating a better work environment for everyone. This also seeps through in how everyone treats your customers. † Jessica Dennehy† Spin and kill
13. Lives Saved
For us, it was people who came into our program. This showed that even in the most difficult times people need help more than ever and this is when we need to double down and do more. I’m lucky with my business because saved lives are the most critical and most important KPI you can have. † Angie Manson† Increase addiction care
14. Churn Rate
At every critical point, the company and the team must remember that the company’s number one value should be customer satisfaction. Accordingly, the core indicator, which includes all possible changes in processes, technologies and so on, will undoubtedly be reflected in customer satisfaction with the company’s products and services. The easiest way to measure this is through the churn rate indicator. † Andrey Kovalev† BusinessInvitee Consulting Group
15. Team Building Initiatives
I believe in follow culture. The metric to track is how often your leaders schedule team building events that align with your company’s core values. Education and community are two of our four core values. We budget for training, conferences and coaching for our team. We also have budget to donate free roofs to deserving families and organize charitable collections all year round. † John Hogan† Blue nail roofing and siding
16. Employee morale
At a crucial point, it is important that leadership is fully procured and passed on to the rest of the organization. Morale will indicate how effective your message is. High morale increases efficiency, time management, creativity and retention of key employees. It also reduces negative conversations about water coolers, sick days and poor performance. † Robert Barbonic† Evershore Financial Group
