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How To Structure Weekly Company KPIs


As the owner of a new business, one of the most exciting things you can do throughout the year is sit down and establish different goals and objectives for yourself, your employees and the rest of your company. For a business just starting out, goals and objectives can be an important measuring stick of growth. But, in order to be able to read that measuring stick, one must be able to measure the success of the goals and objectives that have been established in real time with weekly KPIs. These KPIs should be structured to tell you where your business is succeeding or falling short, and sometimes, where changes need to be made.


In today’s blog, we’re discussing how to How to Structure Weekly Company KPIs.


WHAT IS A KPI?


A KPI or key performance indicator is a measurable value that shows how easily a company meets key objectives of their business. In most cases, companies have different sets of KPIs. Some are smaller and have to do with different departmental processes like sales and marketing. Others are larger, companywide and have to do with the overall success of the business. Some KPIs are only revisited annually and quarterly, other KPIs are measured on a weekly basis and used to gauge the overall performance of the company.


DIFFERENT TYPES OF KPIs


Of course, structuring your weekly KPIs is largely dependent on the goals that you’re looking to achieve over the long term. By first addressing these goals it becomes easier to break them down into smaller objectives and establish KPIs across different departments as needed. This also allows you to keep your KPIs elastic and alterable as the needs of your business keep growing.


Just remember, all KPIs aren't created equal and they will vary based on the department, goals and objectives. For example, if you’re looking to scale your marketing department, sit down and structure marketing KPIs based on web traffic and cost-per-call numbers. Or if you’re looking to boost sales, look at KPIs that can help dial in your cost per call, total sales volume or your sales call length as shorter calls can lead to more sales.


And if you're financially minded, set KPIs based on revenue, cash flow and profit margin. Usually, these types of KPIs are assessed yearly or quarterly, but can be broken down weekly if need be. It is important to remember that you can have more than one set of KPIs, just don’t set too many when you’re first starting out and over extend your teams.


KEEP YOUR KPIs REALISTIC


While it can be great to have high goals in mind when you're structuring your weekly KPIs, just make sure you remember to keep them realistic. As a business owner or strategist, it falls on you to be able to find a balance between expectations and reality.


Of course, you don’t want to set your weekly objectives too low because this can affect your company's growth and your employee’s motivation. You also don’t want to set them too high because employees will just become frustrated. Finding a happy medium for your weekly KPIs is a sure-fire way to lead to annual growth by meeting objectives one week at a time. One good trick to remember about structuring weekly KPIs is that they’re a combination of achievability and hard work. You want to make sure that they can be reached, but that your team is putting in maximum effort to reach them.


Also, when structuring weekly KPIs consider creating a bonus program that rewards employees who meet and exceed goals. This can be a great way to boost motivation across your company by giving employees something else to work for besides the end of the project.


BASE YOUR KPIs ON OBJECTIVES


One good way to structure weekly KPIs is to remember why you objectively got into business in the first place. Stop and think about the things that you want to achieve or be known for by customers in the business world, then structure your KPIs around that desire. If you want your business to be known for its exceptional customer service, structure your KPIs around metrics that improve the customer experience.


If you want your brand or product to have a reputation for high quality, consider setting your KPI’s around the QC process and reward quality work over quantity.


Your KPIs shouldn’t just be a checklist or high score to be achieved every week, they should measure outcomes within the business you want for growth.


ALWAYS WATCH YOUR KPIs


Performance is one of those things that never remains static and the needs for a business are ever evolving, so when structuring KPIs it is important to constantly watch them and tweak them in order to make sure that they are driving your business forward over time. If a KPI isn’t being met regularly, it could be time to revisit the objective that the KPI is rooted in. Maybe your company has completed or outgrown the objective, but in most cases, minor tweaks and a little more attention can have your teams’ smashing numbers in no time. You shouldn’t be afraid to switch the focal point of your business growth and tend to other areas, that’s what KPIs are for.


KPIs DOING THE OPPOSITE


When structuring weekly KPIs it is important to take into account all the possible outcomes of the situation as some actions can has negative unintended effects and actually decrease productivity. For example, let’s say you’re trying to boost the numbers of your sales team and your KPI was a certain number of calls per minute. The sales people taking those calls will begin to feel pressured over needing to handle more calls quickly to meet goals, leading them to end calls prematurely because the person was a hard sale, or just ultimately hanging up on people - which isn’t a good look from a customer service standpoint.


It cannot be stressed enough that when it comes to KPIs, keeping them clear and measurable is key. Otherwise, it is possible to get lost in a slew of numbers that ultimately decrease productivity. A good thing to keep an eye out for, is, when a KPI starts being a target it stops being a KPI. KPIs are meant to act as a supplement of data in relation to more broad-based goals and objectives and shouldn’t be treated as goals and objectives on their own. If and when that happens, KPIs stop being a successful tool and more like a poison to your productivity.


KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OKR AND KPI


While similar, objectives and key results and key performance indicators are different and should be treated as such. OKRs reflect areas of improvement that are meant to help you achieve KPI targets. Essentially, OKRs are the vision, and KPIs are the metrics. When structuring KPIs, it is important to take OKRs into account because that is the ultimate goal the company is trying to achieve.


In any field, KPIs are an important part of business, they are used to measure the success of objectives and key results in both short- and long-term situations. When structuring KPIs it is important to remember the different types of KPIs for each specific function of business, and that KPIs should be objective driven in design. Keep in mind that your KPIs should always be kept realistic and a fine balance of reality and hope in order to keep your team working at their maximum potential. Lastly, remember that the needs of a business are ever changing, and that as a business owner you shouldn’t be afraid to address the different needs of your business as they change.


If you are looking to establish weekly KPIs or a goals-based strategy for your business, the right advice is priceless. Contact us today and we can go from there.



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