On Measuring Success

How do you measure success in your company? Is it by quarterly sales numbers? How many 5-star reviews you have on Google? Is it employee or client retention, or perhaps the accolades that your business is rewarded?

Numbers are used to measure success because it’s the only definitive measuring device we have. Nothing else shows up on a presentation graph half as well. However, the numbers that you’re using aren’t always the best way to measure your unique business.

Use the Right Metrics

Best selling author Seth Godin has made impassioned arguments for measuring the right thing in order to actually determine how your company is progressing. Because while numbers may be our best vehicle for measuring success, they can also be easily fudged.

For example, certain pharmacies will have return-customer promotions offering gift cards to customers who have moved to other locations. However, when you’re counting how many return customers you’ve roped in with the promotion, are you counting the same people gaming the system over and over again? Are you counting the amount of gift cards you’ve given out? Is there a way to measure the amount of true-blue loyal customers that you’ve actually gained through creative measures?

Technology Can Help You Measure Correctly

We’re not saying that businesses need to eliminate measurements! On the contrary, it’s essential that you keep an up-to-date documentation of your performance and operation. It’s the only way to see what’s working and what isn’t. However, a close look at what we’re measuring will determine whether it’s actually matching up with our goals and purpose.

There are two primary reasons companies measure the wrong things:

1. Lack of inter-departmental communication, or communication between management and lower-level employees. This causes a disconnect between what the people at the front lines are seeing, and what people at the decision-making and budgeting level are deciding.
2. Software that’s not flexible enough to understand your business’ goals. When you compromise with software built for a different business format, you start measuring things that are important to other businesses, and not necessarily yours.

You can overcome both of these challenges with proper business management software. Here at Navigator, we provide solutions and develop add-ons that can answer the needs of your business. Let us show you how our integrated cloud-based platforms improve collaboration between all levels and departments of your business.  We're here to enable you to monitor the things that mean the most.

Be sure to register for one of our demo's to find out more.