Written by: Arna Van Goch, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
This is the article every business coach should be writing. Because if you don’t, are you even a business coach? It sounds like a harsh question, but the more time I spend in the online world of business, the more I realize that no, no one really knows their numbers.
Sure, they can tell you whether or not they achieved their $10k month or if they bagged a new client, but that’s pretty much where the fun stops. And the thing is… numbers can be fun. As long as you know how to put them together properly. This is why I love being in automations. Because you don’t have to spend hours every month determining what your numbers are. Once set up, it can be quite easy to figure it out.
KNOWING YOUR NUMBERS
All it takes? Total discipline. Hah, did you cringe too? I still do sometimes. I’m not going to take you through my whole process in the space of a 5-minute read, that would be near impossible. But what I can do is give you the top 3 numbers you should be tracking.
Your leads
Your sales calls
Your sales made
They all lead into each other, which is why it’s so crucial to know all these figures. Especially in the service-based business, what is a lead? Is someone I do a 5-minute favor for a lead? And what is a sales call? The only thing that seems tangible is a sale made, because that’s when the money hits your bank account. So let’s work backwards, to make it easier to digest.
Sales Made
Ok, this one is super easy. As I noted above, sales made is literally money in the bank. As I tell all my service-based clients, until they’ve paid it’s not in the bag yet. I’ve had a few people in my own business where they have said yes on the phone and a day later they’ve backed out or canceled the follow-up call without a word. Sales made can be easily tracked in your payment system like Paypal or Stripe. It’s easy to set up a couple of automations so that they are tracked in the same spreadsheet for you to look at whenever you fancy as well.
Sales Calls
Sales calls or sales opportunities are wide and far-ranging. It is up to you how you decide to mark your sales calls. Especially in this online world, it can feel a bit messy to figure out what is a sales call.
On most booking systems you can search specific date ranges for specific call types. For services, though, sales calls are really our bread and butter. If you’re in the service space, you really need to be using a booking system and specific links.
I have one particular booking link I send people for sales calls in particular, so I know to be able to count them up. You can even set this up as an automation with your google calendar so that spreadsheets get updated every time events are added to your calendar. At the end of the month, I go in and I look at the sales calls I’ve made. It even serves as a great reminder to follow-up with people, so I like looking at it more than once a month!
Your Leads
Your leads! This is always an interesting one. In some schools of thought, every person you don’t personally know, but speak to, are leads. Every person is a potential lead. Is that entirely true for you? Maybe it’s a good way for you to start off with, especially when you’re new to being super gung-ho about tracking your work.
This one can feel a little harder to manage, but again depends on your business. If you’re in e-commerce, it can be every person that visits your website. Or perhaps every person that puts something in a shopping cart, or every person that signs up to your newsletter for 10% off their first order. Better yet, maybe it’s all three.
If you’re in a service-based business like myself, I like to note down people that I speak to that I know would benefit from my services. I have a spreadsheet that I keep handy, open all the time to jot down names and dates, and even little comments. I find it easier to keep track this way, because then I can also easily go back. I do this in an Excel spreadsheet so that I can easily look over it. Yay for Excel tabs am I right?!
Now what?
So it’s cute if you know what your numbers are. But then what? Let’s put them side by side:
Sales calls divided by total leads =
Total calls divided by total sales =
Total leads divided by total sales =
What does that mean to you? Are the numbers higher or lower than you thought? Are the numbers spot on? What do you want to improve?
It’s no secret that if you increase your leads, you will ultimately be able to increase your sales too. So now, we look at what we did to get leads this month. This is why it’s so important to have a very aptly named “Where” column in my leads pages.
So this way, when I look through last month’s leads, I can take a look at where the majority of the leads came from. I can even make pie charts or count percentages of where my leads are coming from. It’s very important for us to be able to really get granular about it. I can see where successful sales have come from, I can see where I’m more successful, or (importantly) less so.
And now, action!
Right team, this is down to the wire now. We are planning for the month ahead. The question now is: what do we do to improve our leads? What are 3 things we’re going to do?
We’ve looked at where we’ve been successful, what is working well, what isn’t. Where do I need to put more effort? Is Facebook returning the most on investment? Is it maybe Instagram instead? Where is somewhere I can focus on, and somewhere else I can improve? Maybe I can make a commitment to do more Instagram Lives, or even to just post to LinkedIn already. Other times it’s about honing your craft. Maybe you saw on your numbers that oh, perhaps you can improve on your sales skills. Maybe you just need a quick class on it or a few practice sessions with an accountability buddy.
What are three things we’re going to do?
Commit to at least 2 hours a week to the goals. If it’s going out of your comfort zone, if it’s learning something new… whatever it is, take out 2 hours a week of your regular scheduled programming to really focus.
Ideally, you’d focus 2 hours a day, but I’m not your coach and I’m not going to police you. But you need to be pushing the envelope if you want your business to change.
YOU GOT THIS
At the end of the day, team, you got this. You are exactly where you’re supposed to be right now- and there is greatness in you. You are capable of what you set your mind to, what you are excited about, and how you want to change your business. I know people that have done it alone, I know others that have done it through group programs or 1 to 1 coaching. Whichever way to do it, commit. Believe in yourself and give yourself the benefit of the doubt.
Arna Van Goch, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Arna van Goch is a business automations coach. She helps 5 figure entrepreneurs hit 6 figures by streamlining their businesses and strategies to work less & earn more. Over her own entrepreneurial journey she has worked online businesses to land 6 figure contracts and supported businesses reaching 7 figures. Besides working online, she has an avid passion for travel, energy work and awesome Netflix series like Next in Fashion.
