How do we decide what results to measure in our business? The answers come in many different forms such as market research, asking a mentor, personal experience or observation from your business, client feedback etc. There are some things that all business owners can do today to get a better understanding of what results should be measured in your business.
The first thing that entrepreneurs should measure is their time. Where you are spending your time and how you are spending can give you some important feedback on what structural needs and time management needs that you may have. Entrepreneurs can be notorious for spending time on things that don’t really matter to the long term success of their business so get a handle on this early will not only save you money but may save your business as well.
Another thing that you can start to test and measure right away are your assumptions that you had about your business going into it. You can start to examine things like: how long it takes you to close a lead, how long it take clients t0 go through your process, how many clients you close vs how many you meet with etc. Think about the things that you believe to be true and measure that with what the reality is. This is easy to do with regards to online business since you can use tools like Google Analytics to help test how your web page is doing.
Looking at standards for your industry can help guide you on what’s possible. A mentor who works in the same field as you can give you a lot of insight into how the business functions and what results are important to measure.
It’s important to look at your measurement functions from the start so that you can establish an understanding for what results are necessary to measure and what are not. Understanding the key measurements that help keep your finger on the pulse of how your company is truly doing can take timeso it’s important to start as soon as possible.