If your wheels are spinning, but you don't feel like you're getting anywhere, this one's for you.

Today I'm going to teach how to focus on metrics that move the dial.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of metrics that aren’t useful.

There are also metrics that can damage your business.

So, how do you avoid them?

If you’re anything like me, you take pride in:

Your ability to produce content
Your ability to start conversations
Your ability to win new customers

And when the numbers drop, it's hard not to take it personally.

Take me as an example. In the past few weeks I've:

Had LinkedIn posts tank
Had a load of my DMs ignored
Had people respond to my outreach with ‘hell no’

But, in the same breath, I also won a customer (and got paid) within 24 hours of speaking with them.

All of this was a reminder of this:

Vanity vs Sanity

A few years ago (OK, so like 10 years ago) I started working for a company.

It was a software reseller who made money from:

Software licensing
Support services
Consulting days

We took a cut of the software licensing
We uplifted the licensing to cover support
We charged a day rate for our consultants

Revenue looked great.

But the end of the year showed single digital profits.

The next year?

We stopped reporting on revenue
We started reporting on margin

And profit doubled.

Why?

Reporting on margin shone a spotlight on:

• Which deals were being discounted

• Which licenses gave the biggest pay out

• Which staff weren’t being used (but being paid)

So that more profitable decisions could be made.

I can’t stress how much it matters where you focus your attention.

Some more examples.

LinkedIn

• Impressions - Vanity

• Followers - Useful

• Subscribers / Lead - Sanity

Email

• Open rates - Vanity

• Reply rates - More useful

• Positive replies - Sanity

Calls

• No. of dials - Vanity

• No. of connects - Useful

• No. of meetings booked - Sanity

Money

• Revenue - Vanity

• Profit - Useful

• Cash in the bank - Sanity

The Final Word

Vanity metrics have their place (they are still a metric)

But if you:

Chase LinkedIn impressions with no leads or subs
Send 1 billion e-mails with no positive replies
Book a load of revenue without being paid

You won’t grow.

So, find the metrics that matter.

And reverse engineer your process to achieve them.

Your sanity (and your business) depend on it.

Until next time.

Adam