2 Things Every Business Must Measure

I love weekends in the fall.

Aside from colorful foliage here in East Tennessee, fall weekends give us football!

I actively follow two college teams and two NFL teams.

This past weekend one of my college teams won. And one lost. One of my NFL teams won. And one lost.

According to those outcomes, it was a 2-2 weekend for my teams. If I were keeping tabs of only how many net wins I booked, you could say it was a zero weekend.

But that would be far from telling the whole story of this football weekend.

There were three action-packed games (two of my teams played each other). I saw phenomenal plays alongside notorious fails. There were inspiring team efforts as well as some colossal player meltdowns. And then there was the officiating.

Tough job, that officiating.

Regardless of the number of wins and losses, the net outcome was far from zero.

Results Come From Activity

Because the value in the weekend came not just from the end results, but from the activity as well.

No coach worth their weight would let a loss define their teams for the remainder of the season. Neither will the winning teams rest their seasons with just their current wins.

They must return next week and play the games, make the plays, and apply their practice all over again. Their weekly activities are what matters. Both on and off the field.

It's ultimately what produces the wins and the losses.

Sometimes in business we can become so results driven that we forget about the very activities that produce those results.

Results and activity must matter together.

It's important that we measure both. Activity and results must matter together.

Maybe it's the number of calls you'll make. Or the number of files you'll close out. Or the percent of 9's and 10's you'll get on your Net Promoter Score. Or the number of inquiries receiving their first follow-up.

You might measure an average response time. Or you might observe the number of returning customers in the queue. Daily sales, average transaction size, and cost per job are other examples of activity based measurements.

We must measure both to adequately keep score in business.

Many times we don't see the results we are looking for because we forget the activities crucial to achieving those results. Measuring activity is every bit as important as measuring outcomes. We must measure both to adequately keep score in business. Week after week.

Coming quickly toward the end of the year, we likely have year-end outcomes on our minds. Don't forget about the activities that create those outcomes. Follow them all the way to the very end.

Go the distance. Practice the whole week. Play the whole game.

Sometimes it will shock you what can happen in those final seconds on the clock.

Brad Hobbs is an Executive Business Coach, Entrepreneur, Writer and Mentor who helps entrepreneurs and business leaders do what they do best - create value for others. You can see more of his work at www.bradhobbs.com.  You can also find his coaching and training programs at www.createbusinessbreakthroughs.com.