Another Year, Another List of New Year’s Resolutions
Okay, I don’t mean physically measuring… your self. I mean, are you measuring what you do? Whether you are in sales working for another company or you own your own business, measuring activity and results is key to success. Too often the only thing being measured with any regularity, is revenue. Unfortunately, increases in revenue only happen when specific and consistent activity is occurring. When decreased revenues are discovered, there is no quick fix, only an implementation of that specific and consistent activity can turn the tide.
Sales is the simplest analogy to demonstrate the importance of measurement. In order to make 1 sale, a salesperson must research the market, find her target prospect, and identify the decision maker. Once she does that, she must make contact with the prospect, set an appointment for a meeting, question, probe and present, follow up and then finally, go for the close. Market research, vetting out the decision makers and setting appointments are not the “sexy” part of sales, however, these steps are the only way to get to the end result which is a sale. And when I say, “measuring results” revenue isn’t the only result. Contact with a decision maker is a result, setting the appointment is a result. These are all necessary steps in reaching the ultimate goal, which is the sale in this case. Need more sales? Then take a look at your call activity and your appointment setting ratios to get you back on track! If all of that is in place, but the orders aren’t coming in, perhaps training is necessary?
Another great example of measuring in business is organic SEO. Everyone wants their business to appear at the top of the first page of search results, right? What consistent activity is taking place to make sure that happens? The old adage of “if you build it, they will come” simply doesn’t apply to digital, particularly search engine optimization. You must make sure the website is set up from the get go with rich and relevant content, key words, proper metatag structures, and follow Google best practices. Once that is done properly, your website needs to be consistently updated with new and fresh content whether it be regular blogging, updates to your products, backlinks, etc. In addition, you need to be out in the digital making sure you are represented properly with social media sites, business listing sites and naturally, engaging your potential audiences with fresh and relevant content using these channels. This all takes time and requires consistent activity in order for it to be effective. We often say to our g2 media pros customers, that organic SEO is a marathon. If you would rather sprint, buy some Adwords while your organic efforts brew. The measurements in this case would be the percentage of your business listings that are represented accurately, identifying sources where your web traffic comes from, what are the top search terms used when people land on your site, etc. If you see a high percentage of referral traffic coming from irrelevant sources, it is time to take another look at your strategy.
Measurement requires discipline, and most of us out there really need to work at it. If you are in sales, you should know at any given time how many appointments you need to make each week to reach your sales goals, and if you are running a business and want to rank high in search results, you should know off the top of your head the top 3 sources that drive traffic to your site. Do you have the answers to those questions? If not, do you know how to obtain them? How important is it to reach your goals? If you need some help measuring your activities and creating disciplines in your business, make sure you contact us!
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