With a New Year comes the opportunity for change, growth and improvement. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) help you track your company’s performance and measure your success toward reaching goals. You’ll always need goals to keep your company moving forward, and KPIs are the way you stay on track. They affect everyone in your company, from the front office to the back office and everyone in between. And they should be updated and adjusted regularly to help you effectively maintain progress.
Types of KPIs
You can set a KPI for any function performed by your company. The key is to set KPIs that are measurable and attainable, such as the following:
- Finance (earnings before interest or tax, net profit, gross profit, projected vs actual revenue, debt vs equity)
- Sales (new customers vs upsells, regional and national sales, proposals written and won, Proposals written and lost, length of sales cycle)
- Customer service (length of customer retention, in-store repeat sales, customer satisfaction scores, call center time-to-answer, call center first call issue resolution)
- Human resources (cost per hire, time to hire, number of employee referrals, employee retention, employee satisfaction, number of interviews per time period)
When is it time to change a KPI?
Since your KPIs are meant to fit a certain purpose, they will lose relevancy over time as your goals, customers and market shift and change. The need to adjust KPIs is related to natural changes in your business environment, including:
- Shifting wants and needs of your customer base
- Company performance capabilities
- Improved knowledge of the company and industry, including what works and what doesn’t
- Adjustments to the company mission and vision to fit its true purpose
You’ll have a good indicator it’s time to change or retire a KPI when your company’s strategic goals have changed, a target has been reached, the measure is no longer a good way to track the goal, the measure doesn’t provide the information it was intended to provide, or the measure is providing unintended and negative consequences, such as increased turnaround time.
Choose KPIs that fit better with your company goals
Often, it’s simply time for an upgrade or adjustment. And Q1 is the perfect time to re-evaluate and reset your KPIs for the year. What’s no longer working? What new ideas do you have to better measure a goal, process or standard? This will help you establish your new KPIs.
Are staffing goals falling short?
It may be time to staff up if you’re understaffed and your current employees are overworked. Let Snelling Georgia Group help! We’ll work with you to understand your staffing needs and help you find the staffing mix you need. Contact us today to learn more!
