subject: Systemizing Your Business - You Can't Improve What You Can't See [print this page] Systemizing Your Business - You Can't Improve What You Can't See
What do you measure in your business? Is there something that you monitor on a regular basis that tells you how your business is performing? If not, then you are unfortunately missing out on some great opportunities. You see, there is a saying in business, that "you can't improve what you can't see", and that is exactly what we mean by measuring important things in your business so that you can see what is working, what isn't. The beauty of this is that when you know what is working you can keep doing more of it on a much larger scale, and the things that you know aren't working, can be stopped instantly if you are measuring them and you won't waste days or weeks, wondering if they are going to turn around. For example if you don't really know where the majority of your customers are coming from, you're literally flying blind because you're not able to continually tap into that source. If you're not measuring anything in your business you won't have any idea what marketing and promotional campaigns are working, how well your sales people are doing, or even how much each sale is costing you. Measuring certain key things in your business gives you the power to make good decisions. You'll know what marketing works for your business, and where you need to spend money and where you should avoid spending money. Another highly valuable piece of information you'll discover when you start to measure what's happening in your business is you'll begin to understand where you greatest leverage point is, that is where your greatest opportunity for improvement is. For example, it may be that you're getting customers in the door, but they're not buying, or it may be that their buying but their buying all your cheap stuff, or it may be that a customer buys from you once and never comes back. There are all things you can be measuring in your business. Once you know where you need to focus you have the power to make good informed decisions and you can start to put systems and processes in place to make it work better. This is where the real hidden gold lies, where the untapped opportunity for improvement is - when you have systems and processes that virtually guarantee you consistent and predictable results, then you are on the road to success. Key Takeaway: Starting today, begin measuring the important things in your business so that you know what is working and what isn't. Start by measuring the amount of leads you get, and how many of those turn into customers (your conversion rate). From this work out which marketing and promotions are working best for you and upscale them - make them even grander, and immediately stop any marketing and promotion activities that are not generating cashflow.
