May 2025

Written By Sam Totten
 

Data & Metrics

“The goal is to turn data into information, and information into insight.”

– Carly Fiorina (Former CEO of HP)

OVERVIEW

Key indicators and metrics are critical for organizational success.  We must have ways to consistently measure our progress and evaluate our performance.  Having transparency about the state of the business also drives engagement among team members because they have confidence in knowing what the company needs and how they are performing.  With more and more data at our fingertips, it can be overwhelming to determine what to track and when to track it.

Mark Twain said, "If the metrics you are looking at aren't useful in optimizing your strategy - stop looking at them.  Data is like garbage, You'd better know what you are going to do with it before you collect it."

The numbers you focus on should align with your overall strategic goals as a company and provide guidance for your team to know when they are on track to reaching those goals.  This month we encourage you to spend time evaluating your approach to data and numbers.  This should be two-fold:  The first goal is building awareness for your team around important metrics, and the second goal is to leverage those metrics to help your team make better business decisions.


BEFORE YOUR MEETING

Take a moment to evaluate what you currently do by reflecting on the questions below.  You may do this individually or at a high level with your executive team:

  • Do you have a monthly dashboard that you review with your team?

  • What metrics are on that dashboard?

  • How familiar is your team with those numbers and the corresponding expected targets?

  • Do you have different metrics for different groups/levels of team members?

  • How confident are you in the timeliness and accuracy of your numbers?


DURING THE MEETING 

Start with a quiz about the numbers you feel your team should know, or that you would like to build awareness of.  We have created an editable document for you to work from.  Modify the questions to fit your business.

Once everyone has completed the quiz, go over each question and engage with your team on how those metrics impact the overall health of your business and why they are important.  If your team is very familiar with your metrics and you have a solid tracking system, spend time analyzing what the numbers are currently telling you and then discuss the questions below:

 

  • How does our data help us make decisions about our business?

  • If any metrics are off target – Why?

  • What do we need to change to today to help us meet our strategic initiatives for the year?

  • Are there metrics that we need to start tracking?

  • Are there things we are tracking that are no longer necessary?

 

METRICS MENU

Business owner/executive level (7 Numbers Every Business Owner Should Know)

  • Cash

  • Revenue

  • COGS

  • Net Income

  • Proposals

  • Close Rate (dollars and events)

  • Culture Score

 

Operations

  • Specific COGS (food cost)

  • Labor cost

  • Breakage/Inventory management

  • Customer satisfaction

  • Customer retention

  • Efficiency metrics (On time departure, pack list accuracy, missing items, event issues)

 

Sales

  • Forecasting/Projections

  • Average sale

  • Average spend per person (events)

  • Customer acquisition cost

  • Length of time from proposal to close

  • Conversation rates throughout sales process

  • Revenue breakdown (event type/products)

 

Additional Materials:

Sam Totten
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