Most entrepreneurs keep their metrics private from employees. They don’t talk about their financial goals for the year. They don’t discuss the lead close rate or earnings for the last quarter.
While you may feel protective of that information, you need to know that withholding metrics makes it virtually impossible for your team to perform their best.
Let’s say your sales aren’t generating enough revenue. You push your salesperson to work harder. Now he’s irritated because he’s actually been doing a great job. He’s focused, he’s constantly improving his approach with customers, and he knows for a fact his close rate is above average.
What he doesn’t know is that you need his average ticket to be worth $3,500. He’s pulling in around $2,500 per job.
Think how much time and anguish you would save if he was aware of that target. He would be able to recognize the problem himself and switch his focus from booking more jobs to convincing leads to pay a higher price.
When your staff knows the numbers you want versus the numbers you’re getting, you don’t have to exhaust yourself by making locker room speeches. They see the problem. They get it. And if you hired them for their great attitude and growth mindset, they’ll motivate themselves to fix it.
This really couldn’t be simpler. It’s a two-step process.
1. Get clarity for yourself.
Before you can communicate key metrics to your team, you need to know what success looks like.
If you haven’t already, figure out:
Your revenue goals,
Your key revenue drivers,
The average price per job,
How many jobs do you need to book each month to meet revenue goals,
Your conversation rate, and
Based on the conversion rate, how many leads do you need to generate to meet your monthly goal?
2. Assign metrics to the proper person.
You don’t have to lay out your entire business plan for everyone on your staff. But you do want to create a unified sense of mission and you want to make sure each employee is equipped to take responsibility for their own metrics.
For example, the person who answers the phone needs to know what you consider a good conversion rate. When she knows that—and she knows what your actual conversion rate is—she begins to see her job differently. It’s no longer, “Am I picking up within three rings and returning calls promptly?” Instead, she thinks, “I’m the first person each potential customer speaks with. Am I handling this encounter in a way that inspires trust?”
Your sales team should also be conscious of conversion rate as well as your target for the average ticket price.
The person overseeing job production needs to be conscious of profit-per-job. After your salesperson worked so hard to meet his metrics, you don’t want your field guys blowing your profits by spending three days on a job that should be completed in one.
It’s Not Just Knowledge; It’s Empowerment
Communicating measurable goals is an extremely practical solution for motivating an underperforming team. But it has deeper benefits, as well.
When you are transparent with your team in this way, you show them how each employee plays an essential role in the success of your business. You create alignment between departments and individuals.
Perhaps most importantly, you give each team member the power to problem-solve and self-manage. They aren’t stuck “working hard” and waiting for you to tell them if it’s good enough. Your employees are able to monitor and track their own improvement. They have the information they need to take some initiative so they can take genuine pride in the success of your business.
Ultimately, our goal as business owners is to build a team that takes ownership of our mission. It’s true that when it comes to your business, no one will ever care as much as you, sacrifice as much as you, or benefit to the same degree financially.
But your team can still find daily motivation and long-term fulfillment in their jobs.
