Do You Base Your Decisions On Reliable Data?

Do you know where the money goes in your business?

Or where your best customers come from?

Most business owners don't so if you answered "no", then don't feel bad about it.

But, what if you did know the answer to those questions? I think you might be surprised at what you are spending your money on and which channels are working best for you to find new customers. Quite often the answer isn't what you think.

Knowing your numbers can make a massive difference to the way you run your business. You can make informed decisions based on reliable data. If you could do that, why wouldn't you?

I was talking to Maria Wilson Assoc CIPD ✨️ on Friday about HR costs and many businesses don't realise the cost of a high turnover of staff or high sickness absence levels. The consequences of one or both of these is a high percentage of income being spent on agency staff and/or recruitment costs.

If you saw these figures on a spreadsheet, you might not realise the impact they are having on your bottom line but what if you could see them regularly on a graph or chart?

By tracking key numbers in your business, you will start to see trends. If you have a high turnover of staff, then you should be asking why and doing something about it.

I worked in a business once where 5 people left in the same week. Did the management look at why they left? No, they just said they could easily replace them and carried on as before!

The same goes for customers. Do you know how many customers come back and buy a second product or service? How much your key customers spend with you? Which products or services are most profitable?

If you don't know, you could be focussing all your time and effort on the wrong things.

Business growth and learning are also key components. Do you have a budget for training? Do you upskill your staff so that they are the best that they can be? Training and retaining staff is much more profitable then keep hiring and firing. Just look at the numbers and you'll see what I mean.

I worked in the House of Commons and was responsible for performance management in the Department for Information Services. I provided this information to the directors so that they could make informed decisions based on reliable data at their monthly board meetings.

Not only did it give them data but the outcome was an action plan with names and dates so that there was accountability too.

How often have you said that you will do something and never get round to it? What difference would it have made to your business if you'd actually done what you said you'd do? It could well have made all the difference and added to your productivity and profit.

Want to know how you can learn more about the numbers in your business?

Message me and let's have a chat