Tracking Key Metrics is Essential for Reviewing Business Performance

As an entrepreneur, it's important to regularly review how your business is performing so you can identify areas for improvement and set goals for the future. So let's discuss the key things you should be tracking and evaluating when doing an annual or quarterly review of your business performance.

Tracking key metrics gives entrepreneurs visibility into what's working well and what needs improvement. Firstly, ask yourself what worked really well over the past year or quarter. For example, did a particular sale, offer, or new product perform strongly? You should also identify what didn't work as expected so you can avoid repeating mistakes.

In addition to sales performance, it's important to track how you allocate your time. Use a time tracking tool like Toggl to audit time spent on different business activities each quarter, such as administration, marketing, client work, strategy, finances, HR, technology, and sales. This helps identify if too much or too little time is being spent in certain areas. You should also track personal time for activities like family, friends, home tasks, health, travel, and education. Tracking personal time helps maintain a good work-life balance.

When reviewing finances, you need visibility into key metrics like revenue, costs, gross profit, net profit, overheads, liabilities, and taxes. You can use our free business dashboard template available right here on the Female Fusion website to easily track these numbers monthly. Reviewing financial metrics reveals your business's overall performance and profitability. It's also important to identify the most and least profitable areas of your business so resources can be reallocated if needed.

Other non-financial metrics you should be tracking include customer counts, new business inquiries, social media following/engagement, website traffic, and press coverage. Tracking these supplementary metrics provides a more well-rounded view of your business's performance. The review process also gives you a chance to celebrate successes over the past period before planning goals for the future. Setting measurable quarterly or annual goals helps stay focused and accountable.

Overall, regularly reviewing business performance through tracking key qualitative and quantitative metrics is essential for entrepreneurs and business owners. It provides visibility to evaluate what's working well and what needs improvement. The insights gained from review allow for well-informed planning and goal-setting to continue building a strong, profitable business.