The series is from Chartered Accountant, consultant and author, Jeff Borschowa, from his book, 8 Pillars for Exponential Business Growth. The series is focused on how to find new and better ways to integrate innovation and technology to enhance the customer experience and improve efficiency in the accounting process.
The best run businesses focus on key performance indicators in order to determine areas that need improvement. Monitoring business results and seeking improvement are critical aspects of working on your business. Gross and net revenue are two easy numbers to determine, though they may not yield much in terms of overall business insight. Find the right key performance indicators based on your personal objectives for your business. Track them, monitor them, and make business decisions that are consistent with your objectives.
This may sound very high level and theoretical, so we will break it down into the following areas:
• Critical Success Factors
• Key Performance Indicators
• Customer Selection and Ranking
Part 1 – Critical Success Factors
Critical success factors (“CSF’s”) are the core things that your business needs to do well in order to succeed. Your business’ very survival depends on doing the CSF’s well. For example, a restaurant may have serving meals to customers at the top of their list of CSF’s.
Regardless of your business or industry, there will be at least one or two activities that will essentially determine whether or not you will stay in business. If you do not know what your CSF’s are, you need to spend a bit of time to clarify this for yourself.
Success is a personal topic, it can really only be defined by each participant in the business. As a business owner, you owe it to yourself and your business to have a clear picture of what success in the business means to you and how to leverage CSF’s to get you on the shortest possible path to success.
Any business that wishes to survive or thrive will have to consider CSF’s as they impact customer satisfaction and perception of the products or services offered. Once you have decided how you defined success in your business, you need a way to measure whether or not your efforts are taking you closer to success.
Next Time: Key Performance Indicators