Tag: metrics

The tool I often use is the Lean Canvas, though rarely without some adjustments. The fact is that this along with every other template or model was devised in response to one type of business and one type of business challenge, when in reality there are different scenarios that you as a business leader might need to solve for.

In 2005 Alexander Osterwalder created the Business Model Canvas; and by 2010 Ash Maurya had begun developing the Lean Canvas, as he found there were elements missing which he felt were actually more important than some that had been included, so he began trading elements…

The most important trade he made was to include Key Metrics, since businesses “often drown in a sea of numbers in an attempt to bring order to the chaos of uncertainty“.

Choose the right metrics and focus on them without compromise. THIS is where to start. If you get this right, you’ve won half the battle.

Big metrics traps to avoid

Bottom line metrics

Key metrics are never, ever related to the bottom line (revenue or profit), they should be metrics that DRIVE the making of money, not that reflect it – you care about the money, of course, but backward looking £ values should not be what drives forward-looking day-to-day activity.

KEY metrics

You shouldn’t ever have more than three or four – more than that and they’re no longer KEY! You’ll eventually want to make sure that everyone in the business is aligned to pursuing these metrics to make sure all activity is heading in the same direction.

Vanity metrics

This is a tough one. It demands that ego takes a back seat…

People who found or run businesses have to be resilient; they have to believe in themselves; they have to be able to keep going even when people inevitably tell them their idea won’t work. Being able to do that takes ego – ego is not a bad thing! The skill comes in knowing when to put the ego in a box and take a cold hard look at what REALLY drives the business so you’re not distracted by vanity metrics.

Yes, the “reach” of your brand can be measured by the number of people that see it (views, visits, registrations, etc.), BUT you could mistakenly spend loads of money inflating that figure only to find that there’s no return on the investment, because reach doesn’t convert to payments and renewals!

Vanity metrics are just that – metrics to boast about, not metrics that make a real impact on business goals.

Commitment, time and space

Here’s a scenario you might recognise: you’ve identified something you need to do for your business, but the time you’d planned to use for it got swallowed up by firefighting – the latest operational jam or the urgent need to smooth a client’s ruffled feathers.

Perhaps you know that key metrics are a good starting point for growth and you do want to start moving your business forward, but the risk is that this becomes just another item on a long list of tasks abandoned as you once again get stuck in a firefighting loop.

How can you avoid these traps and defend the time and space you need to focus and grow the business?

Consider booking that time in with someone from outside your organisation with the EXACT skillset to make this task happen so you don’t waste time making mistakes. Not only will you avoid mistakes, but it’s much harder to be knocked off task once you’ve made the commitment to spend the time with someone else.

It’s also much easier to “put ego in a box” with the help of someone with distance!

That person should keep you on track and have the experience to ask the right questions, design and even execute on some fast, targeted tests to ensure you’re working with data not assumptions. They should push you to make and stick to difficult decisions – those are the decisions that make the most impact, pushing your business forward with the greatest pace.

Bring that person in as a freelance consultant for an initial 2 hour discovery session with you and/or your existing team. Out of that session will come a playback of your vision or mission, recommendations for choosing, testing and monitoring key metrics, some immediate action points, and probably a partially or fully completed lean canvas as a bonus!

If you then run with those recommendations yourself, you got what you needed;

If you’d prefer help to action those points and bake those metrics into your organisation, arrange check-ins on a regular, ongoing basis;

Either way, you win, without spending loads of time or money on something that doesn’t work for you.

Does this sound like the solution for you as you try to scale or develop your business?

Then get in touch.

Now, go get those key metrics!

---