Back when I had a job I was often the first one in the office. That meant that I sometimes had the responsibility to deliver shipping and sales reports to the Vice President. The first thing he did every day was to review what we produced the previous day, and what the company’s cash flow was, and what was on schedule to ship that day.
Last week I mentioned to a friend of mine that every morning, the first thing I do is check and record several key stats about my business, much like my former boss did. I track:
- Email list size
- Email click through rate and earnings per click
- Sales for the previous day
- Pending invoices
“You do that every day?” He seemed a little surprised.
Frankly, I’m surprised that he’s NOT doing the same. I’m surprised that anyone who is running a business isn’t doing this and more. Karl Pearson is often credited with saying, “That which is measured, improves. That which is measured and reported, improves exponentially.”
No one seems to know for sure if it was Pearson who said that or someone else, but I can tell you it’s 100% true.
If you want to lose weight, write down everything you eat. If you want to pay off your credit cards, write down how much you owe. And if you want to grow your business, figure out what those key metrics are and then keep track of them. Do it every day, and I think you’ll be surprised at the positive effect it will have on your bottom line.
(Click “File” -> “Make a copy” to add it to your own Google Drive. It includes formulas for calculating EPC (earnings per click), daily average sales, projected annual income and other things. Feel free to edit your copy to match your unique business needs.)
UPDATE: Your Questions
After I sent this out in an email, I had a few questions. You might be wondering, too, so I made you a quick video + I’ll answer below.
A: It depends on what I’m measuring. On the email tracker, I count affiliate commissions earned, even if I haven’t been paid for them yet. I’m measuring the effectiveness of the email campaign here, and commissions earned is an indicator of that. On the sales tracker though, I only count money actually in my account, so this number won’t match what the email tracker says. Instead, I record commissions when they are paid to me.
Q: On the email tracker, what’s the difference between “Sent to” and “Audience”?
A: “Sent to” is a number, “audience” is a segment of my list. For example, if I’m promoting a product, I won’t email those who already own it, so I would note the number of people who don’t have the product, and put that number in the “sent to” column, and note in the “audience” column that this email went out to “did not purchase [product I’m promoting].”
Q: Are you only tracking email promotions? What about blog post links and social campaigns and other promos?
A: On the email tracker, I’m only tracking email promotions. The sales tracker covers everything else. I don’t do enough selling on social media or on the blog to justify having separate trackers for these things, but if you do, I would encourage you to set something up so you can know your stats!
