I've noticed a curious thing: Coaches (or perhaps self-employed service providers in general) seem oddly oblivious about what their business is actually doing with regards to results.
I'm not talking about client results here (that's a whole 'nother subject) – I'm talking about BUSINESS results. Ask a coach, "How's business?" and they'll usually say something like, "Well, I just got a new client the other day…" or "I was pretty busy for a stretch there, but now I've got several contracts that are ending at the same time…"
The problem is, they don't really know what their business is actually doing, because 1) they haven't established a benchmark; 2) they haven't set goals; and/or 3) they don't measure or monitor results on a regular basis (or, in some cases, at all.)
My clients often tell me they're not tracking results because they aren't sure what they should be tracking. So here are a couple of examples of key performance indicators to monitor on a monthly or (better yet) weekly basis:
* Number of prospects you're reaching (new subscribers)
* Percent of sales you're closing (conversion rate)
* Average amount of sale
* Total inflow (revenue)
* Total outflow (expenses)
* Profits (difference between revenue and expenses)
Here's what I'm wondering today:
Is your business growing, slowing or plateauing? Are you tracking actual data – or are you "just guessing?" And if you're not tracking results… what's stopping you?
Post your comments and questions about tracking results below to join in the discussion!
