Making confident decisions, knowing it’s the right call is the best. Just the best. You know you can’t lose. Mostly because you’ve done something like this before, you have the data to back it up, and you’re tracking the results. But let’s pause for a moment and consider a world in which you have never done this before, you don’t have metrics to back it up, and you don’t have great way to track it. Would this venture be considered a success? How would you know? “What gets measured gets managed” can be a powerful thought process while you run your business, no matter its size.
This quote about metrics can also open the door for all kinds of great conversations with your team. First, debating its true origin, its meaning, “analysis-paralysis”, then all the other imaginative caveats it doesn’t directly take into consideration. Let’s look past these silly distractions — the spirit and intent is quite wise and a worthy catalyst towards collaborative discussion. Especially when we take the time to guide that discussion by asking ourselves the right questions.
This inspired statement almost always generates a reflective thought like “hmm.. what should I measure?” If we take a moment to follow that question up with “does it need to be?” or “does it make sense to?” we’ll really be getting somewhere. What pieces of our operation are so critical that we HAVE to know those numbers and trends off the top of our head? Are we able to get that information easily? Is the process automated or do we have to rely on manual methods? Do these pieces tell us the whole picture or just part of it? How else could we possibly prove the success of any of our initiatives or team members?
Considering the Right Metrics
If you could wake up one day, grab some morning coffee, have a seat in your favorite start-of-the-day place, and ignite your phone’s screen and see that information right away in an organized dashboard that answers all your questions, what would that look like? What would that feel like? No more mystery. You know exactly where your business stands in every important metric. Do you think you’d be able to make better decisions moving forward, armed with data and trends you can trust to be accurate?
The unbearable torture that’s born from not having reliable metrics is one of anxiety. What is anxiety exactly? It’s the body (organization) reacting to what it perceives as real. In an organization that is motivated by the fear of what might happen, what might be the case — it will behave as if it were true. A dip in sales this month? Concerning, perhaps on the surface, but really, it’s just because some really big deals were being worked on that will post next month. But how does one know that? Metrics. Lead conversions. Pipelines. Margins. Order stages. Rep activity. The list continues. You should not have to deal with that. Reliable metrics are the goal because with them, everything else falls into place — in particular, peace of mind.
Like with people, anxiety in an organization is a whole other issue that requires a lot of work to manage and reframe, but having a reliable, automated source of information and trends can certainly help with it. Especially when you produce the RIGHT metrics to track. We say “right” metrics simply because the “wrong” ones can pain an inaccurate picture of reality. Let’s say that sales are all you care about. Sales, sales, sales. Revenue, quarter, revenue. Are these important? Absolutely! Are they the full picture? Noooop. Sales numbers are up, but what about GM? How about returns, credit holds, overdue payments, or perhaps orders stuck in the pending phase? Are your reps focusing on what you’ve established is important? What does their activity looklike? Where are they focusing their efforts? Why are open deals not closed? You’ve provided a steady stream of leads to them and they’ve yet to service them, what’s going on there? Are your reps hitting their targets? Is that something where they can see exactly where they are easily?
I know, I know. Too many questions, and the subject matter is mildly upsetting. But these are the things we should certainly consider when looking at metrics because a single slice won’t tell the entire picture. There’s really only one metric that will always be there as long as an organization is in business and that is the bottom line stated in the books and the bank account. If that’s the only metric you care about, that’s easy– to implement. However, while we understand that’s how businesses sometimes have to operate, especially in the early stages, it’s reactive and not proactive and, frankly, we think you deserve better!
Tools to Manage Metrics
Some of the tools you can make use of to see visual representations of data and trends include Microsoft Excel, SharePoint & SharePoint Lists, and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales. Dynamics being the king of data, with Excel & SharePoint being manageable alternatives, depending on your size and amount of data to field.
Excel has an unbelievable depth to it. It can, of course, be made to hold static tables and data that you’re just looking to dig into a bit. Easy, a formula here, a “VLOOKUP” there. Fancy. But the real depth comes into play when you navigate over to the “Data” tab. Here, you can reference other files, databases, and other slick tools to query data outside this file you’re working in. You can also utilize Microsoft’s Power Automate platform to automatically push data into your excel file. So when you open it in the morning, you can see the latest information right away. If pivot tables are your thing, you’ll be glad to know those can automatically update as well. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, that’s cool too. Basically, they’re dynamic tables that let you slice and dice the data so you can see trends, especially when paired with a pivot chart.
If you’re working with a smaller dataset, this is absolutely an option, but be warned, if you’re pulling a large amount of information, Excel will tell you it’s had enough. It’ll do that by chugging like the Big, Fat Engine that couldn’t. Inspiring rage clicks and rising blood pressure, especially if you’re in a hurry. When the file size bloats above 15-20 MB, that’s when you know this is likely not the long-term solution for you. Assuming we’re not working with a preposterous amount of data, Excel is a wonderful solution to track important metrics but know that as we grow, the data grows, and so those Excel pants will get a little tighter every day and will fail to do the job because it’s simply too much.. data.
SharePoint Lists are also wonderful solutions to manage data and assets. SharePoint is essentially a platform in which you can build out any internal or external “website”. The benefit is you can make use of the incredibly flexible Microsoft 365 suite of tools. In this case, Microsoft Lists. Lists are essentially small, cloud-based databases in which you can store all sorts of data.
Things you can use Microsoft Lists for include:
- Employee Onboarding
- Issue/Complaint Tracking
- Itineraries
- Event Calendars
- Tracking Assets
- Recruitment Tracking
- Employee Requests
- Employee Information & Skills
- Work Progress Tracking
- Content Scheduling
- Playlists
- Expense Tracking
- Product Support Tracking
Or really, any type of data, this is an excellent place to do so. Paired with Power Automate, you can put that data to work to create some impressive items, in an automated way. Think of it as a sort of database. This too, however, has “short-term” solution written all over it — your data’s depth and rate of growth will determine how short that “short-term” is. That said, this tool has an unbelievable level of flexibility to it and we’re always amazed by what can be built by leveraging the platform with collaborative creativity and imagination.
Dynamics 365 is for the strategic, long-game-minded folks. This platform is the solution for those who can see the big picture. You know what you want and want to do it right from the beginning to avoid having to address it again in a few years. Dynamics is built to store, field, and make your data invaluable. It is built to allow you to recognize trends while flexibly scaling with your business as you grow. It’s meant to be a partner you can always rely on. It is here to make your life easier so you can focus on the things that you want to be doing and less on what you don’t. It’s a tool that’s meant to align your team with your vision.
Chief among the obvious benefits to the Dynamics platform is the ability to create Dashboards. You can have dashboards for days to slice and dice your data ’til your heart’s content. It’s also “dynamic” so as more data is inevitably added to your system, the charts, trends, and KPI’s displayed will change with it, automatically. No more digging. It’s right there. Two seconds looking and you can make some critical decisions or move on with your day.
I won’t bother listing out all the things you can track in Dynamics becaue it is virtually limitless. The Dynamics ecosystem is a fascinating one. Should you utilize that platform for your ERP, CRM, Customer Service, Field Service, etc., every piece of data can be natively leveraged in each of the other platforms. Meaning every piece of your business organically benefits the others. You can hobble along if you’re using other platforms with a single slice through developing your own tools or through third party connectors. There’s nothing wrong with that, even a little bit. Mostly because a single slice of Dynamics is an unbelievable advantage to your team vs. another other system.
The Secret Weapon
Let’s face it, we’ve almost all worked in or been exposed to broken, incomplete, missing, or siloed business technologies. Some of us have also been able to work within some stellar ones. Oddly enough, sometimes these things were built on the same platform, but one was incredibly well-designed while somewhere else, it was a disaster!
To be sure you win, you need the secret weapon. It’s you. You are who makes all the difference in world. You are who gets to determine how successful your metrics and business systems are. But you never have to be alone in this. We are in your corner. We are here to collaborate, plan, and build out your vision so you can have the peace of mind and assurance in metrics that are meaningful and allow you to make decisions based on sound data. The numbers and trends tell the true story. Just be sure that they’re the right ones that deserve your attention. So let’s get started. Today.