Do you use KPI’s in your business?
Key Performance Indicators
What’s a KPI? It’s the number of things that you track that tells you that your business is … headed the right way or you need to do something to make the difference. In accounts receivable, a KPI would be number of days for collection and trying to make the number to go from 45 days to 30… or at least not heading toward 60 days.
KPI is but one of the ways a business measures its data and performance. Many opt for the OKR method instead, where they get help from articles from sites like Tech Breath to learn more about what this may entail. OKR stands for “Objectives and key results”, which works in a similar function to KPI, or a “Key Performance Indicator”. Some firms even choose to use both together. After all, we all know “what gets measured, gets managed better.”
Many firms choose to stick with KPIs alone, however. They find the way of working with them to be suited to their business needs, and all companies want to ensure that anything they are doing is working as intended. Having quantifiable data to help measure that helps immensely. What are your KPI’s for your Marketing? Some might be:
- Website traffic
- Ranking in Google for certain keyword phrases
- Phone inquiries
- Trade show leads
- Press Release circulation impressions
- Press Release column inch totals
- Advertising impressions
What do you track for your business and how are you trying to improve it in 2008?
Chris, a good tool, like KPI, is key to assessing your rating a year ago compared to today. If you’re flat, by looking at all the components you list here, you can see at least one or two areas to focus on more.
Thanks for your continued quest to bring great tools to readers! :-)
Robyn - You’re so right. Just gathering data and setting goals isn’t enough — you’ve got to go back and compare!
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Chris
Thanks Chris, it is so true.
Another indicator for my business is “refund rates” and number of “support tickets”… which I adapted from James D. Brausch’s teachings… beause after all, if you marketing is good, you will have happier customers.