Besides tracking vital metrics, KPIs can be a valuable tool for priming your team for success. Here are the benefits your team can get from proper measuring and reporting.
One of our clients came to us because their company had several issues.
To start with, they were constantly missing sales goals. Worse, they were breaking project deadlines regularly. The untimeliness extended even to minor matters, like responding to emails. Naturally, our client's customer satisfaction was falling rapidly. They needed to figure out what was going on and fix the problem as soon as possible.
Discovering the core issue didn't take us much time - the client's team lacked accountability. Project objectives and expectations weren't clear so the team couldn't get engaged with the work. They struggled with following processes and weren't ready to own their mistakes.
The solution we proposed was straightforward.
We helped our client establish their key performance indicators, or KPIs, through which they could provide direction and track their team's progress. Once the issues were made clear, improvement came astonishingly fast.
And in just three months, our client reached a point where they completed 100% of their projects on time.
KPIs can be a powerful tool when it comes to improving your processes and getting more reliable results. You can use this tool to track testing results, finetune the work process, and show your clients how your work impacts their business.
Of course, these aren't the only benefits of tracking KPIs.
In this article, we'll discuss what KPIs your agency should focus on, as well as how you can leverage them to motivate your team better.
What Should You Measure?
Admittedly, there's some confusion when it comes to KPIs and it stems from the various types of KPIs available and numerous ways of getting reports.
However, measuring certain business aspects is universal. And the metrics that will always require your attention are:
- Sales activity
- Sales calls
- Sales presentations
- Your budget
- Weekly, monthly, and yearly number of proposals
Even though you should measure those metrics, some values will be more important than others. The crucial data that you should get out of your KPIs include:
- The percentage of reached goals
- Your margins
- Quick ratios
- Accounts receivables
- Accounts payables
You can measure data across all departments and organize it on a dashboard that will give you a clear picture of everything that's going on. In most cases, if you're focusing on something, it will start to improve.
Once you have all of these metrics and the respective data on display, you can create valuable reports for every department and your agency as a whole. These reports will help you determine the actions that bring the best results and make course corrections and changes that allow your company to keep growing and become even more efficient.
However, a particularly valuable aspect of KPI reporting is that you can use it to motivate and better leverage your team.
How KPIs Help You Motivate (And Leverage) Your Team
You can set KPIs and generate reports for every individual in your team, different departments, and the entire company. This can help the team and your agency in several ways.
Through observing specific metrics, everyone can understand the company's vision and the direction it's taking. Furthermore, active team members will welcome accountability and knowing what their goals are.
The motivational factor here is that team members will have a clear grasp of their place in your company and an overview of how their performance impacts the team.
On the other hand, KPI introduction will show you a clear picture of which employees might not want to be there or aren't interested in having an active role in your agency. With this knowledge, you'll be able to refine your team to a group of individuals who want to participate in your company's efforts.
With your team members motivated, carefully selected, and moving in the same direction, you can leverage your team to produce better results.
However, this isn't the only aspect of KPIs that will profoundly affect your team.
You can make your KPI reporting transparent and available to the entire company. This is something that many companies avoid doing, most likely to their detriment.
Why?
If relevant data isn't shared on a company level, employees won't understand the reason behind significant changes that affect their work. And in many cases, this can lead to a severe morale drop.
If you look at Fortune 500 companies and how they handle reporting, you'll see a much different picture. These companies share their annual reports with both the general public and all of their employees.
Transparency in reporting is crucial for raising the level of engagement in your agency.
Your team members need to understand the long and short-term goals before they start feeling safer and become more committed to the company. The more this understanding grows, the more your employees will want to become a part of the desired forward movement.
Creating Better Teamwork With KPIs
Monitoring various metrics is the foundation of every successful company. However, the data you get isn't only useful in making changes to processes, strategies, or the direction your agency takes.
KPIs and transparent reporting can make the difference between a team that's struggling to find its bearings and a teamwork powerhouse that drives your company's progress.
With clear goals and expectations on the individual and company level, your team members will feel like a part of the endeavor. They'll be ready to contribute to the best of their abilities.
If you need assistance with setting the right KPIs for your business, as well as creating dependable processes, we can help. Contact us to book your profitability accelerator call and see how we can work together to optimize your business.
