How My Client Got Control of His Sales Team with One Dashboard

"What do you think revenue will be this year?"

"I don't know. As long as we're in the black, it's a good year."

☝️ This is a real answer to a real question I asked a client a year ago.

This is called "operating blind," and it's more common than you think.

That's why I want to discuss today how you can gain predictability, hit larger goals, and gain 100% clarity on what's happening in your business with a weekly dashboard.

Life Without a Dashboard

Nothing keeps you from getting the most out of your business than operating in the dark.

If you don't have access to the 5-15 key metrics that define your company, you're operating in pure, blind faith (and not the good kind).

Common side effects of businesses operating without a proper dashboard are:

1. lack of focus,
2. lack of clarity and direction,
3. frequent pain from being blindsided by sales, marketing, operating, or finance issues,
4. frequent missing of financial goals,
5. and leadership teams that feel like they can't step away from the business.

This issue doesn't just affect the business. It affects the people in the business. 

Much anxiety and stress we feel on a daily/weekly basis comes from not knowing:

• not knowing if you're going to make payroll,
• not knowing if you're going to close enough deals,
• not knowing if your product is effective,
• not knowing if your customers are happy and engaged,
• and not knowing whether you can leave for your summer vacation ("the business needs me").

There is a simple tool to help bring clarity and order to your business, giving you the space to disengage from the business.

Weekly Dashboards.

If You Don't Like Them, You've Never Used Them Properly

I've seen some remarkable dashboards in my day, and I've seen some that could hardly be considered a dashboard.

There are some really helpful tools to help grab data from different sources, to give you access to a dynamic, daily dashboard. Domo is one I've used before, if you're looking to be tech-fancy.

But in the end, a good, old-fashioned spreadsheet is more than sufficient (and what I choose to use these days).

But, it's not as important what tool you use to track data, but what metrics you choose to track.

Revenue is a good number, but it's virtually useless without supporting data points.

If all you ever look at is revenue, then you'll never know when you're low on cash, when customers are experiencing issues, what sales may look like in the next 30, 60, and 90 days, or when spending is out of control. 

All of these data points affect the overall health of your company. 

Knowing what makes your company flourish is the key to building a dashboard that is truly helpful.

The Best Approach for Staying on Top of Your Business

My approach is simple.

Look at your pre-revenue activity numbers. These are numbers that paint the overall picture of company health before you get your monthly P&L statements. 

Doing so is quite easy. To create a first draft of your dashboard, follow the step-by-step guide below:

1. Write down the key departments in your company. If you followed my guide from 2 weeks ago, just use the top tier of your Company Structure. e.g., Sales/Marketing, Operations, and Finance.
2. List the 3-5 metrics that ultimately predict long-term health within each of the departments. e.g.,
   1. Sales/Marketing: Topline Sales, Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Conversion Rate, 90 Day Pipeline $ Probability, 180 Day Pipeline $ Probability, etc.
   2. Operations: CSAT, Retention Rate, Order to Ship Time, etc.
   3. Finance: Cash Balance, Cash Flow Ratio, A/P, A/R, etc.
3. Determine what the weekly goal should be for each of these.
4. Determine who is accountable for reaching that goal for each metric.
5. Start tracking the data and spend 5-minutes in your leadership team every week reviewing the dashboard to surface any potential issues to discuss.

In the end, you should end up with something like this:

Simply track which metrics are "On Track" and "Off Track," and spend time finding solutions to get "Off Track" metrics back "On Track."

Remember my client from the beginning of this newsletter?

He followed this process and, over the past 12 months, has gained clarity on his entire sales pipeline and can make decisions with more clarity and confidence than ever.

He's currently on track to grow his business by 30%, which he's never done in over 15 years of operating.

This simple solution will give you unparalleled peace with where your business is at, allowing you to make better decisions, see problems before they happen, and step away for vacation in peace.

Imagine being able to see how your business is doing from anywhere in the world, thanks to a dashboard that paints the picture of health.

It's not rocket science (unless you work for SpaceX...then maybe it is). It's just good business.

🚀