Numbers don't lie. But we often lie to ourselves when we don't know the numbers. Gut decisions are good, but if we can access the numbers to help us make better decisions, the numbers are invaluable.
What numbers am I talking about? I'm talking about results-based numbers, including the following:
1. Future sales:
A number, presented monthly, of new prospects, hot prospects, potential sales, future clients in your pipeline, number of new clients, and sources. These will give us a goal and awareness of what we're expecting in the near future.
2. Referrals:
The number of referrals from clients, prospects, strategic alliances, etc. are invaluable to track. These numbers, viewed and discussed monthly, can help determine trends up or down, and help to identify areas of focus if the numbers are of concern.
3. Website analytics:
Website analytics are critical. Accessing the data on how many people are coming to your website, when, what pages they visit, how long they are staying, where they came from, what is the bounce rate, etc. These are critical numbers to look at, probably weekly, to see if there are trends or problems.
Problems could be that visitors are "bouncing" off your website before going anywhere but your home page. That is a bad sign for the compelling nature of your home page and probably needs to be changed. You probably already have analytics set up on your website and if not, you can set them up for free at www.google.com/analytics.
4. Social media analytics:
For professional purposes, we usually don't spend time on social media reaching out to clients, prospects, and strategic alliances for fun. We are doing it for business. So, compare the number of followers, interactions, connections, how many people are actually engaging with your social media sites, and the views on the content you post.
